Blazer to the Rescue

About Mana Puppets

Ros and Hugh Childers, the founders of Mana Puppets, believe strongly in the power of puppets to provide an educational message, as well as to entertain. In a rapidly changing world, the ancient art of puppetry still has the power to cross cultural, age and class boundaries. Over 20,000 Australian school students have seen our shows in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia since 2001. Mana Puppets developed Blazer to the Rescue as a fire safety initiative to complement and build on the existing lower primary school FIRE ED program, which has been conducted since 1995 by the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service. Most Queensland children will already be familiar with the Blazer character, which features in the play as a child-size hand and rod puppet. Mana Puppets is licensed by the QFRS to use the Blazer character as a puppet in this show.

Since 1999, the show has been performed in Southeast Queensland primary schools and at the Brisbane Exhibition in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Mana Puppets and Associate Professor John Lidstone, a world recognised disaster management educator from QUT, were awarded a research grant by a Federal agency, Emergency Management Australia, to refine and further develop the show in 2003. The study concluded that Blazer to the Rescue has a huge potential to present and reinforce fire safety messages for young children.

The Show

Blazer, the fire fighting koala, rescues the Three Little Pigs - Peter, Percy and Patty - from their burning apartment building. The pigs are amusing, colourful characters, who dance to techno music and wear reverse baseball caps. They have been very careless, putting their undies in the oven and their socks in the toaster to dry! When they decide to move to the country and build houses for themselves, they have a lot to learn about fire safety, but luckily Blazer is there to help them. They have fun too! The show is performed live with original music and songs and students are encouraged to participate actively. A variety of puppet styles and an imaginative, multi-level set are featured. After the performance, Ros, a registered teacher with over twenty years teaching experience, uses the puppets in an interaction segment in which some of the audience are able to work a puppet on a colourful mini puppet stage.

Fire Safety Content

Blazer Key learning points: Firefighters can help you; crawl low in smoke; stop, drop and roll; good fires/bad fires; contacting the fire brigade; giving name, address and phone number; match and lighter safety; exit drills in the home; cooling a burn; bushfire awareness; installing smoke alarms; recognising the sound of a smoke alarm and appliance safety.

Audience/Numbers

Prep/Pre-school - Year 2. Audience depends on venue. Please discuss with us your requirements regarding numbers.

Venue

A hall or similar large indoor venue is preferred, but outdoor covered areas may be suitable. An area of 6 metres wide by 4 metres deep is required for the set and to allow space for interaction with the audience. Access to a power point is essential.

Length

Schedule 55 minutes: 35-minute puppet play followed by a 20-minute (approx.) interaction to suit age group attention span.

Time Required Before and After Show

An hour and a half to set up and 45 minutes to dismantle set.

Cost

For Brisbane and Ipswich metropolitan areas and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, the cost per student is $4.80 including GST. A minimum charge of $360.00 including GST applies for fewer than 75 students per performance. Smaller schools/centres are encouraged to combine with other schools to maximise numbers. The charge for other areas will be negotiated.

Learning Materials

Learning materials are provided at an additional cost of $20 (including postage) per school. They include: preparation worksheets, a CD of songs from the show and follow-up classroom activities (the latter are supplied on the day of the performance).

* This show is based on the concept of "Blazer". The Queensland Fire & Rescue Service is and remains the sole proprietor of all intellectual property in Blazer & the QFRS logo.

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