The Three Little Pigs Go Bush

About Mana Puppets

Ros and Hugh Childers, the founders of Mana Puppets, believe strongly in the power of puppets to provide an educational message, to entertain and to cross cultural, age and class boundaries. Ros, a registered teacher with over 20 years teaching experience and Hugh, a specialist in Australian Studies, have been offering their innovative educational programs since 1999. Over 20,000 Australian school students have seen our shows in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia since 2001. The contribution of their German puppet show to German language education has been recognised by organisations such as The Goethe Institut Inter Nationes Sydney, which has assisted them with tours in Australia over the last few years. The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service has also recognised the importance of their fire safety puppet show by licensing Mana Puppets to use the character of Blazer, the Firefighting Koala, as a puppet in their fire safety puppet show.

Ros and Hugh have toured their educational puppet shows to metropolitan and regional areas of Queensland and New South Wales. In 2003 and 2004, they completed very successful tours to Germany with their Australian-themed English language puppet show and toured in Ireland with this show in 2006.

The Show

The story is about the Three Little Pigs, Fritz, Hilde and Peter, who arrive in Australia from Europe as young backpackers and modern world travellers. Their tour guide is Clarrie the crocodile, who has travelled a long way south from his home in far north Queensland and is very, very hungry. The pigs escape from his clutches only to be locked up by Russ, the developer. They have discovered his plan to cut down all the trees in the forest to build an "eco" resort for tourists from all over the world. The home of Blossom, the pygmy possum, and of all the other creatures in the forest will be endangered. Fortunately, the pigs meet Kate Kangaroo and Ranger Lowitja, who have other ideas!

Clarrie During the show, which is performed live with original music and songs, students are encouraged to participate actively. A variety of puppet styles and an imaginative, multi-level set are featured. After the performance, Ros and Hugh conduct an interaction segment with the help of the puppets and encourage the audience to learn about the natural environment, practise their language skills and discover how the puppets and puppet theatre work. During the interaction, some students will have an opportunity to work a puppet on a colourful mini puppet stage.

Core Learning Outcomes

The show relates to core learning outcomes in these key curriculum areas: English, Study of Society, LOTE and the Arts.

Target Audience

Pre-school/Prep to Year 3 students.

Numbers

The maximum number of students per performance would depend on the venue. Please discuss with us your requirements.

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).

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