Visual & Performing Arts · Kindergarten

Active learning ideas

Audience Etiquette

Active learning works for Audience Etiquette because young children learn social norms best through embodied practice and immediate feedback. When students act out scenarios and reflect on their own experiences as both performers and audience members, they connect abstract rules to real feelings and consequences.

• Common Core State Standards
• NCAS: Responding TH.Re8.1.K
• NCAS: Connecting TH.Cn11.0.K

• 10–20 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Simulation Game
• 20 min · Whole Class

Simulation Game: Good Audience, Tricky Audience

The teacher performs a short 2-minute puppet show twice. During the first, a small group of planted 'tricky audience members' whisper and move around. During the second, all students practice good audience behavior. Class debriefs: how did the performer feel each time?

Explain why it is important for an audience to be quiet during a performance.

Facilitation Tip

For the Simulation activity, assign one student to be the performer and the rest to be either the 'Good Audience' or 'Tricky Audience' to make the contrast immediate and memorable for everyone.

What to look for

During a brief, teacher-led puppet show, observe students. Ask: 'Was everyone sitting and watching?' 'Did anyone talk during the show?' Note which students demonstrate quiet, attentive behavior.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 10 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Why Does It Matter?

Show two images: one of a rapt, quiet audience and one of a distracted, chatty one. Pairs discuss how the performers might feel in each scenario and then share their thinking with the group.

Differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate audience reactions.

Facilitation Tip

In Think-Pair-Share, give students exactly 30 seconds to pair and share to keep the conversation focused and energetic for kindergarteners.

What to look for

After a short video clip of a performance with mixed audience reactions (some quiet, some noisy), ask: 'Which audience members seemed to be helping the performers?' 'How did the noise make the performers look or seem?' 'What could the noisy audience members do differently next time?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Role Play
• 15 min · Whole Class

Role Play: Appropriate Reactions

Teacher calls out a scenario (something funny happens on stage, the performance ends, a performer makes a mistake) and students practice the appropriate audience reaction. Discuss why each reaction is the right one.

Justify why showing respect to performers is important.

Facilitation Tip

During Role Play, provide simple visual cues like a clapping card or a talking mouth prop to help students remember their roles without verbal reminders.

What to look for

Provide students with two simple drawings: one showing a child sitting quietly and watching, the other showing a child talking loudly during a show. Ask students to circle the picture that shows how an audience member should act and explain why in one sentence.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 04

• Role Play
• 20 min · Whole Class

Class Chart: Our Audience Agreements

Students co-create a chart of audience behavior expectations in their own words. Each student contributes one rule and illustrates it. Display the chart before every in-class performance.

Explain why it is important for an audience to be quiet during a performance.

What to look for

During a brief, teacher-led puppet show, observe students. Ask: 'Was everyone sitting and watching?' 'Did anyone talk during the show?' Note which students demonstrate quiet, attentive behavior.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Approach this topic with honesty and warmth. Acknowledge that good audience behavior feels good for performers of all ages, including themselves. Avoid framing rules as rigid commands; instead, connect each rule to a child’s own experience of feeling supported or disrupted during their turn on stage. Research shows that empathy-building activities like role play and simulation are more effective than lecture for this age group.

Successful learning looks like students who sit quietly during a performance, react appropriately to the action on stage with facial expressions or gentle sounds, and clap at the end. They should explain why these actions matter to the performers and why they feel proud when their own performances receive such support.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Simulation activity, watch for students who believe being a good audience just means not talking.

  After assigning roles, ask the ‘Tricky Audience’ to talk continuously so the contrast is clear, then discuss how the ‘Good Audience’ supported the performer with engaged silence and appropriate reactions.

• During the Role Play activity, watch for students who think it does not matter how the audience behaves because the performers are just kids.

  Ask the student playing the performer to share how it feels when the audience reacts positively, then switch roles so everyone experiences both sides firsthand.

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Methods used in this brief

• Simulation Game
• Think-Pair-Share
• Role Play