This unit was for Abe's birthday week, so he got to choose the topic. He said he wanted either Magic or Computers. I modified "magic" a bit, to get this Illusion unit. I wanted to make sure we had a broad range of things we could cover, in case we got tired of doing magic tricks all day long. Also I found a really cool book on theater at the library, which I knew the kids would love, and for a field trip, we scheduled a tour of the Hale Center Theater too.
Side note: The HCT (the one by us in West Valley) is the most amazing place. Because they're a theater-in-the-round, they have to be creative with their sets, but they don't scale back at all---they have moving platforms and trapdoors and overhead scenery and everything you can think of. The tour didn't show us as much as the children would have liked of the hydraulics, etc., but the set designer was really nice and said we could come back and see more sometime (they were building a new set while we were there and the downstairs was too dangerous for visitors). They described some of their past sets and said when they did Treasure Island, they filled the whole stage area with a 12-foot-deep tank of water. The set was made up of boats that floated on it, and people were diving in and out during the play. What?!? It's my everlasting regret that we didn't go see it. Anyway---all that was part of stage illusion, and it was really interesting.
We made these magician's hats on the first day of the unit. You just cut out a long rectangle of posterboard, roll it into a cylinder, and then cut a small circle for the top and a big donut-shape for the bottom. They turned out cute, and the children played Magician with them all week. Fun.
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