Introduction to Shakespeare for Kids

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Teaching Shakespeare can be a little daunting (understatement?) This is especially if you feel like this wasn’t something you were taught well enough of during your school years.

But still, we must! William Shakespeare greatly influenced Western civilization in more ways than you (or I) may ever know.

If you feel a little intimidated, I’ve got your back. Sharing with you today some ideas and tips that will hopefully equip you and also give you that boost to introduce Shakespeare to your children!

Read “How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare”

My first recommendation is to get yourself acquainted with Shakespeare yourself.

“How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare” by Ken Ludwig is easy to read, easy to implement, extremely practical and would you believe it: lots of fun! Here, he guides you through the plays, educates you (the teacher,) and provides you with fool-proof ways on engaging your children.

I can personally attest to the effectiveness of his methods. My eldest son has memorized a number of Shakespeare passages (yes, passages, I’m not kidding!) at 6 years old and he thinks it’s great fun (!) I cannot rave about this book enough. This is the first resource I recommend when somebody mentions teaching Shakespeare.

Get a copy here!

Introduce the stories through retellings

I don’t recommend diving in through Shakespeare’s plays head on by reading the books straight. After all, they aren’t really even meant to be read, but to be seen as plays. Introducing the plays as stories is a good way to start.

I highly recommended these retellings:

• Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
• Beautiful Stories from Shakeseare for Children by E. Nesbit

Both are beautifully written living booksd. I don’t recommend overly simplified retellings because much of the fun and wit are in the details! 😉 But if you prefer something with illustrations and more easily palatable to the modern day child, you can also try A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories.

But please promise you will try the Lamb’s or Nesbit’s version first? 😉

Get to Know William Shakespeare

I’m a self-confessed history nerd. I believe that learning about the history of artists, poets and writers always helps enrich our understanding of their works. It also helps us appreciate their artistic contributions more.

Here are some of my book recommendations on Shakespeare that are great for children:

• The Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley: A beautifully written biography. Content is great. It’s a bit longer than the usual children’s picture books (we read it by sections for a week.)
• William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki: Also a good background introduction for kids. More illustrations and fun tidbits. My eldest said this was one of his favorite books of the year.
• See Inside the World of William Shakespeare by Usborne Books: A nice reference picture book (with lift the flaps!) It gives a brief overview about the life and times of Shakespeare. I bought it to give my kids a glimpse “behind the scenes,” especially of the Globe Theatre.

Get crafty!

Working on crafts related to lessons is my jam. I do this a lot for history and art (well more art history!) because I believe this really helps make the ideas stick.

We’ve done 2 crafts on Shakespeare so far.

First craft: I drew a cartoon version of the Globe and Shakespeare then had my son color it. Then we cut it to make it stand and we displayed it on top of our shelf during the duration of our Shakespeare lessons!

But my favorite craft that we did was making these cute characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We used leaves and flowers we gathered around the neighborhood! A great way to mix nature study, art and literature, if you ask me. 😉

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• Lessons and activity ideas, please feel free to check out this page: Homeschool Lessons.
• Curriculum reviews, click this link: Curriculum Reviews
• More recommendations, visit my Amazon Storefront.