Audience Etiquette and AppreciationActivities & Teaching Strategies
Young learners absorb audience etiquette best through direct, embodied experiences rather than abstract rules. Acting as both performer and audience member builds empathy, clarifies expectations, and makes abstract concepts like respect and attention tangible for six- and seven-year-olds.
Learning Objectives
- 1Demonstrate appropriate audience behaviors during a simulated live performance.
- 2Explain the impact of audience behavior on performers' concentration and feelings.
- 3Identify at least three respectful actions for an audience member.
- 4Compare the experience of a performer with an attentive audience versus a distracted audience.
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Role-Play: Performer and Audience Switch
Pairs create 1-minute skits on familiar themes like animals. One performs while the partner practices quiet focus and end-clapping. Switch roles, then share how audience behavior affected their performance.
Prepare & details
Why is it important to be quiet while someone is performing for you?
Facilitation Tip: During Role-Play: Performer and Audience Switch, circulate with a small bell to ring when distractions happen, so students immediately feel the impact on their own performance.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Whole Class: Etiquette for Story Performance
Teacher or volunteer tells a short story with actions. Class sits in a circle, follows cues for quiet listening and applause. Debrief with thumbs up/down for specific behaviors observed.
Prepare & details
What are some good things to do when you are watching a show?
Facilitation Tip: For Whole Class: Etiquette for Story Performance, assign a ‘quiet captain’ to model and remind peers, giving shy students a nonverbal role to support whole-group compliance.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Small Groups: Good vs Bad Audience Posters
Groups draw and label two posters: one for respectful actions like eyes on stage, one for distractions like talking. Present to class and vote on best examples to display.
Prepare & details
How do you think the performers feel when the audience claps for them?
Facilitation Tip: With Small Groups: Good vs Bad Audience Posters, provide examples of positive and negative behaviors drawn on sticky notes so students can sort them physically before creating their posters.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Individual: My Audience Promise
Students draw a personal pledge card with three etiquette rules they will follow. Share one with a partner, then practice during a class song performance.
Prepare & details
Why is it important to be quiet while someone is performing for you?
Facilitation Tip: For Individual: My Audience Promise, ask students to whisper their promise to a partner first to rehearse the language before they write or draw.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Teaching This Topic
Start with concrete, story-based examples of how performers feel when the audience is loud or still, using picture books or short videos to build emotional connection. Avoid lengthy lectures; instead, use quick role-plays to test one rule at a time. Research shows that corrective feedback is most effective when it is immediate and tied to the child’s own experience, so redirect missteps during the act itself rather than waiting until later.
What to Expect
Students will demonstrate understanding by sitting quietly during performances, applauding at appropriate times, and identifying specific audience choices that support performers. Their reflections and discussions will show they can connect their actions to performer needs and feelings.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Role-Play: Performer and Audience Switch, watch for students who say, 'Talking during a performance makes it more fun for everyone.'
What to Teach Instead
After students swap roles, have performers share one word about how it felt when peers talked, then have audience members compare that to how they felt when the room was quiet. Use their own words to rewrite the classroom rule together.
Common MisconceptionDuring Whole Class: Etiquette for Story Performance, watch for students who clap or cheer anytime during the show.
What to Teach Instead
Pause mid-performance to ask students to listen for a pause or cue word, then model clapping only at those moments. Keep a visual ‘timing chart’ on the board so they can mark when applause is appropriate.
Common MisconceptionDuring Small Groups: Good vs Bad Audience Posters, watch for students who say, 'Wiggling or standing is fine if you are excited.'
What to Teach Instead
Give each group three chairs: one normal chair, one wobbly cushion, and one standing spot. Have them test each position during a 30-second ‘performance’ and vote on which view works best, then draw the losing positions with a sad face and the winning one with a smile.
Assessment Ideas
During Whole Class: Etiquette for Story Performance, pause after the show and ask students to point to one friend who followed the rules. Call on two students to explain what that friend did with specific language like ‘Sofia sat quietly with hands in her lap’.
After Role-Play: Performer and Audience Switch, ask performers to hold up a green card if they felt confident during quiet audiences and red if they felt distracted. Discuss what made the difference, then have the class generate a list of ‘audience superpowers’ to try next time.
After Individual: My Audience Promise, collect the cards and look for clear, actionable promises like ‘I will clap only when the song ends.’ Circle the top three promises on the board and read them aloud as the class exits, reinforcing the most effective choices.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: Ask early finishers to create a ‘quiet game’ with a peer, where they take turns giving cues to stay focused, then reflect on which cues worked best.
- Scaffolding: For students who struggle with sitting still, provide a small fidget tool to hold in their laps during performances, paired with a clear signal to return it to their pocket when clapping begins.
- Deeper exploration: Invite a local performer or older student to visit class for a brief Q&A about how audience behavior affects their work, then have students prepare thank-you notes using sentence stems.
Key Vocabulary
| Audience | The group of people who watch a performance together. |
| Etiquette | Polite behavior and manners that are expected in certain social situations, like watching a show. |
| Appreciation | Showing that you value or are thankful for something, like a performance. |
| Respectful | Showing politeness and consideration for others, including performers. |
| Attentive | Paying close attention to what is happening. |
Suggested Methodologies
More in Characters and Creative Play
Becoming Someone Else: Characterization
Using voice, costume pieces, and gestures to portray characters from stories or imagination.
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Building a World: Setting the Scene
Creating the setting and atmosphere for a play using simple props and imagination.
3 methodologies
The Magic of Performance: Ensemble Work
Working as an ensemble to share a short dramatic sequence with a small audience.
2 methodologies
Story Elements: Problem and Solution
Identifying and acting out simple problems and solutions within a dramatic narrative.
2 methodologies
Using Our Voices: Volume and Tone
Experimenting with different vocal volumes and tones to convey character emotions and intentions.
2 methodologies
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