The Nutcracker

Activity Pack 1
Rage Arts is a professional arts organisation & educational charity creating stories using
film, theatre and music and giving others the opportunity to work with professional
artistes to create productions. Through these they develop their self-esteem and
confidence and cultivate skills which help them take the next step in life whether that is
at school, continuing in education, seeking employment or furthering their careers.
We assist people to create their own productions by providing resources, advice and
expertise.
Rage Arts, established in 1996, is based in the West Midlands, England and works
throughout the region including Birmingham and surrounding counties.

Primary Theatre Company is the name of our professional theatre company taking
theatre and workshops to primary schools.
Website: www.primarytheatre.org.uk
For more information on our company and the work we do, please visit our
Website: www.ragearts.org.uk
 Nutcracker Activity Pack

Dear parents and carers,

We are creating an exciting and stimulating show based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "The
Nutcracker and the Mouse King“ for children aged 4 to 11 which we will be touring to
schools this Christmas if it is safe to do so.
We actively involve children in creating the show through running workshops which
introduce them to the story and gather their ideas for various aspects of the show.
We haven't been able to run the workshops this year so we are producing Nutcracker
activity packs which have activities and exercises to entertain and educate children
during the lockdown.
We have put together a range of activities for the different ages and abilities, some they
may be able to do on their own and for some they will need a helping hand.
Some of the exercises will ask for things to be emailed in. We need your permission and
that of your child to use this on our website or in the show.
 Nutcracker Permission Form

Child’s Name …....................................................................................

Sign

Legal Guardian’s Name........................................................................

Sign

Date..................................................
I am happy for my submitted contribution to be used either on the website or in the show
YES/NO
I am happy for my Name to be acknowledged YES/NO

We hope you find this edition of The Nutcracker activity pack useful. We’d love to hear
from you about any activities you like doing so that we may share with others during
these difficult times.
Hi everyone, my name’s Fritz. I’m the
younger brother of my bossy sister
Marie.

My friends and I are creating a show

which we hope to take to primary
schools this Christmas if it is safe to
do so.

We have put together this activity pack

with lots of exciting and interesting
things for you to do at home.

I want to tell you all about my story.

It’s a very exciting adventure and I’d
love you to help me and my friends
create this show by sending in your
own ideas that we can use to create a
story for children of your age.

We’ve come up with some activities to

help you think about it.
There’s lots of different versions of the story; here’s my own special version...….

One Christmas Marie and me (her brother Fritz) got lots of presents including a toy
Nutcracker from the inventor, Uncle Drosselmeyer. The Nutcracker was made of wood
with a big head and great strong jaws to crack nuts with and a little wispy beard for
decoration. He was dressed in a smart soldier’s uniform.
We loved him but when I tried to crack a big hard nut, the Nutcracker's jaw broke. We’ve
all done that to our brand new Christmas toys haven’t we?
Uncle Drosselmeyer promised to repair the Nutcracker the next morning and that night
Maria promised him that he would be fixed as good as new.

In the middle of the night, the Nutcracker grew to life size and battled with an army of
sweets and gingerbread soldiers against the fearsome Mouse King and all of his mice,
which came out from under Marie’s bed! Marie helped win the fight by throwing her
slipper at the Mouse King. And then, she fainted. I think she’d eaten a bit too much
Christmas chocolate.
I ate so much last Christmas I was sick!
 The next morning Marie tried to tell
her parents about the battle but they
thought she had had a bad dream.

Anyway, when Uncle Drosselmeyer

arrived, he believed Marie’s story
and he told her another story that
explained how the Nutcracker came
to look the way he does.

It was a story of when

Drosselmeyer was a court inventor
to an Angry King and his spoiled
daughter Princess Pirlipat.

In this story, the evil The Mouse King

cast a spell, making Pirlipat look like a nutcracker, with a huge head, a wide grinning mouth,
and a cottony beard. The Princess was saved by the handsome Prince Hans-Peter who
broke the curse with a magic nut. Sadly the spell rebounded making Hans-Peter look like a
Nutcracker instead and the ungrateful Princess banished him from the castle, (ooh, that’s
a bit harsh!)

That very night when Marie went to bed after hearing Drosselmeyer’s story, the Mouse
King whispered to her that he would bite the Nutcracker to pieces unless she gave him all
of her sweets and toys, (what a bully!). Marie agreed, but the King only wanted more and
more, (bullies always do). To save Marie, the Nutcracker borrowed my toy sword and
everyone helped to beat the King in battle.

Marie promised the Nutcracker that she would always be his friend whatever he looked
like. With that, the curse was broken once more and the Nutcracker came to life! He really
was Hans-Peter!

They travelled together to the Land of Dancing Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy,
where Marie was crowned Queen.
 Wow! Quite a lot happened in that story! Lots of magic and adventure and baddies and
goodies! In some versions of the story the Mouse King has twelve heads, Yuck!
The story has even been turned into a ballet with lots of fantastic dance and music!

You can watch an online version of the Nutcracker Ballet by Matthew Bourne.
Age guidance 7+ (with your parents’ permission!)
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jIeSq2FFhs

So now you know the story, have a think about it as you try the activities in the pack and
come up with some tremendous ideas of your own.
 Activity Pack One
The Theme - Storytelling Journeys!

The Activities in this pack can help you think about stories; their settings, the characters
and the plot, places to read stories, How to make them up or act them out like we do. And
some of the activities are just fun..

Enjoy yourselves!
1. Grow a Nutcracker Cress Head
The Nutcracker has a great look, you’d recognise it anywhere. It’s a bit like all the
different faces that clowns have. Why don’t you have a go at growing your own
Nutcracker head?
All you’ll need to do is to keep the shell from your next boiled egg and buy a pack of
cress seeds.
Wash out the empty egg shell, dry it and decorate it with felt tip pens or glue and bits
of paper and material. Scrunch up a piece of kitchen towel or cotton wool to fit inside
the shell and wet it with a squirt of water. Sprinkle cress seeds onto the top of the
paper. Keep it on a sunny window sill and water it carefully as the seeds grow.
You can decorate it to look like the Nutcracker!
It would be great if you could email us your photos of your Cress Heads, we’d really
like to see them!
 2. Character Study,
The Nutcracker.
Some people say that the
Nutcracker looks quite scary;
they don’t like the look of him
at all. Read through my story
again and try to find out what
the Nutcracker was actually
like as a character.
Was he scary? Was he kind or nasty?

Underline the words that describe the Nutcracker, for example, we know he has a huge
head, a wide grinning mouth, and a cottony beard” but the story also says that he borrows
a sword and beats the evil Mouse King in battle, so he must be brave and good at sports!

Do you think the Nutcracker is a good character to have as the star of the show? Label the
picture of the Nutcracker with words you think could describe his or her character?

Write a few sentences describing your favourite television or film character. Could the
Nutcracker be like them? Could they be in the story of the Nutcracker?

Please email us to let us know what you think...

Here’s a more complicated way of thinking about the character of the Nutcracker or any
other story characters, for some of you older children.
 3. Write a song!
We always have lots of songs in our
shows. We’d love you to help us write
some, if you email yours in we might be
able to use them in our Nutcracker show!

Song writing is good fun. Just make sure you know the story and which bit you’d
like to write about.

For example, let’s take the idea of Marie’s sweets!

Make a list of words about sweets! Just write down, anything that comes into your
head. I love sweets! What are they like? Why do you like them? What are your
favourites? What do they feel/look/smell/taste like?

Here are some words to help you.

sugary, sweet, hard, crunchy, yummy, sticky, chewy, round, square, brown green,
white, chocolatey, stripped, wrapped up, boiled, toffee, nutty, liquorice, powdery,
lovely, Christmas, birthdays, parties, prizes, Sweetshop, treats

Have a look to see if any of them rhyme,

For instance: crunchy, yummy, sticky, chewy, and: birthdays, prizes, treats and
sweets.
Now write down some sentences that end with those words:

I love sweeties, they’re so yummy …

(Oooh, that word yummy reminds me
of the word tummy, I can use that to
write another line about sweets, so):
I love sweeties, they’re so yummy
They feel tickly in my tummy...

(That’s great, I’m very pleased with

that so I can carry on with some more
sentences)

I love sweeties, they’re so yummy

They feel tickly in my tummy...
They’re round and hard or soft and runny
Sometimes chewy sometimes crunchy!

Brilliant, I’ve written a verse already, I think I’m going to make it the chorus.
It’s that easy!
For the verses, all I need to do is think about one sweet at a time and have a verse
for each.

Let’s think about Jelly Babies.

They come in lots of different colours; red, orange, green, black, yellow.
They taste: fruity, lemony, sugary, tasty, gorgeous, mouth-watering, appealing.
They feel: squidgy, chewy, slippery, jelly, gummy, gluey, soft, gooey.
They look like: babies, boys and girls, people, human-shaped.
They might be: scary, funny, alarming, weird, giggly.
 We can try a different rhyming scheme for the verses. I’m going to have the first
line rhyme with the third line, and the second line rhyme with the last one, but you
can do anything you want. They don’t even have to rhyme at all!

So:
Jelly babies don't wear nappies
They’re orange, green and red
It’s weird to think of eating babies
‘They might giggle in my head!

That’s great, I can use the chorus each time and write some more new verses.
Four verses is a good number for a song, so all I need to do is think about three
more types of sweet…and there’s so many to choose from!

Once we’ve got the words for our Nutcracker show songs, we can think about the music
afterwards, but if you have ideas for tunes, you could record them and send them as well!

Go ahead and write a song! We’d love to hear all of them; please email them to us.
 4. Peppermint Creams
Oooh, all that song writing about Marie’s sweets has made me hungry. I’ve got a great
recipe for some simple peppermint creams.
You can make your own like this! All you’ll
need is:
400g icing sugar,
1 tablespoon of condensed milk,
1 teaspoon of peppermint flavouring
and a few drops of green food colouring.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the icing
sugar, condensed milk, peppermint flavouring, green colouring and 2 tablespoons of cold
water to form a stiff paste.
If the mixture feels too dry, add a splash more water, or more icing sugar if it feels too
runny.

Dust a work surface and rolling pin with

icing sugar and roll the paste out to about
half a centimetre thick. Cut out about 20
circles with a small pastry cutter or large
bottle top and let them dry. Dust them with
icing sugar.

Of course you don’t have to colour them, or

even make them round. Go mad, make them
any shape you want or even make them like characters from the Nutcracker

Don't worry if you don't like Peppermint you can find recipes for Orange, Lemon, even
Coffee … you can coat them in Chocolate or …..

Please email pictures of your creations and we can add them to our gallery.
 5. Sweet Characters!
In the story of the Nutcracker, lots of
sweets come to life to help me and the
Nutcracker and all the toys battle
against the Mice!

When we put on our show we want to

have some Sweet Characters to dress
up as. In plays and films everybody
needs a proper character to be
interesting and keep you watching. We
need about three really good Sweets.

Draw or find pictures of your favourite

three types of sweets. Do they remind
you of someone for some reason? It
might be the colour or the shape or the
fact that someone you know likes them. If you have a favourite sweet you could give it
your character.

Like you did for the Nutcracker’s character, label your three sweets with those describing
words that most fit them, Here is a list of some good words to help you.

bossy childish colourful show-off

quiet shy wary unhappy
brave active adventurous angry
messy brainy harsh nervous
calm fearless jealous old
confident faithful kindly peaceful
cowardly excited leader quiet
daring eager mean naughty
 dishonest mysterious skilful upset
fizzy responsible sneaky useful
funny safe strange trustworthy
gentle rich sweet wise
greedy talented tired wicked
happy silly selfish rough
Another way of doing this is to print out the list and cut out each word. Fold them up and
mix them up in a pile. Then pick 5 words at random for each sweet and those are its
characteristics! Easy!

It’s great fun to give objects characters, they’re always brilliant to have in plays. Try to
make them as interesting as you can, with a mix of good and bad qualities. Don’t have too
many, about 5 or 6 is good.

We can’t wait to hear about your ideas, please email them to us!
 6. Draw your own Selfie!
We’ve been talking a lot about character traits. You can draw your own selfie to help you
think about your character traits, or a friend or characters from stories like the
Nutcracker. Start by making one for yourself. You can use the character traits from the
last activity to start you off!

Draw a picture of yourself in the space on the phone to begin with…and then label your own
character traits. You could do this for other members of your family; how about your dog
or cat?
 7. Short Story Writing: “Super Sweets!”

I love writing my own short stories, I tell them to my sister Marie or Uncle Drosselmeyer
or the Nutcracker (or even my toys if there’s no-one else about!)
Here’s a series of steps to help you plan your short story.

A: Think of an idea
We could use the idea of the Sweets.
How did they first meet Marie?
Or perhaps you wake up in the middle
of the night and find some of your
favourite sweets have come to life;
what adventures would you have?

B: Create a character and a setting

We’ve already got some characters
like your sweets!
Or you could base the story on yourself and perhaps the Nutcracker meeting up?
Where would you meet? Under the bed? In the toy cupboard or perhaps on the darkened
stair case of your house with everyone else asleep?
Let your imagination run wild and use any ideas that come to you.

C: The Beginning
All good stories have a beginning, middle and an end.
Start with your opening scene. What’s special or different about your characters? They’re
Sweets, (or you could use toys) that have come to life! What would they do or say first?
How would you react to them? Would you be scared? Might they be scared of you and run
away and hide?
D: The Conflict
Stories need conflict,
like our characters being scared or cross with each other. The Sweets might not like you
at first or they may be scared that you want to eat them? What would they do?
Their characters are also different, they may try to make you laugh, or trick you?

E: The Turning Point

The turning point is usually in the middle of the story, and helps to make it more
interesting. It can be a time where a character discovers a hidden superpower, or a
surprise that gives the whole story a twist.

Think of something that the reader would

least expect.
It doesn’t always have to make sense – be
imaginative.
In my story, the Nutcracker borrows my
sword to fight off the Mouse King.
Perhaps the Sweets have super-powers?
Special stickiness,
or special chewy-rays so that people can’t
open their mouths to speak?

F: The Resolution
A good story doesn’t finish without a final resolution.

How is the conflict sorted out? How can we resolve the turning point? Do the Sweets save
you with their super-sticky-powers, or can you save them from a Bad Sweet by eating it?

If you write a really good resolution your readers will be very satisfied, they may even
cheer!
G: The End
A satisfying ending is the perfect way to finish a story.
What happened to the characters once their conflict was resolved? Were they able to
finally achieve something, or did they learn an important lesson as a result? Or did you?
Will you ever eat sweets again? It would be like taking a bite out of your best friend!
If you’re pleased with your story you could turn it into a scene for your puppet theatre or
perhaps an animation. We’d like to read or see anything you come up with.
The more imaginative and bonkers the better!

8. Cardboard Box Puppet Theatre

Another way of staging a story is to
make some puppets and a puppet
theatre for them to star in!

You can make the puppets as easily as

sticking picture cut-outs to lolly sticks,
or make finger puppets from felt. Have
a look on the internet with your parents
for loads of ideas! Here’s a link to a
great video to give masses of ideas!

In fact your theatre can be as simple

as a cardboard box with a few holes
cut in it. (Remember to get adults to
help you with anything sharp!)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-52583126/making-puppet-theatres-from-
lockdown-parcel-packagingpuppet
 9. Musical maracas or the Kitchen Roll Shaky Stick!
This a quick and easy way of making some fun, effective percussion instruments
which you can use to accompany your singing or for background sounds in plays.
Take a used kitchen roll tube and tape up one end.
Pour in a small handful of lentils or dried peas.

Then tape up the top so that the peas can’t escape.

You can decorate the tube with paint or sticky paper and
there you have your shaky stick maraca!
Make two if you want and practice shaking them for the
best sound.

10. Musical Sounds

What sort of music do you like in films, plays, television or
games?

Is it fast and furious or calm and thoughtful? Do you think

music is important for drama or don’t you notice it?

How do you think background music helps you enjoy shows?

The next time you play a video game or watch your favourite show or film, listen carefully
to the music.

How does it match the action? Is it sad when something bad happens or fast when there’s
a chase on?
Try to notice background music like this, and understand how it helps you feel the
emotions of the show! Think of some music that makes you feel excited or calm, is that
why you listen to it?

If you have any ideas for the sort of music that might be great in our Nutcracker show
please email us a list!
 11. Crazy Indoor/Outdoor Golf

Here’s an idea that you can turn

into a real journey.
Think of all the characters and
places in your favourite stories and
use cardboard boxes, tins and anything else from the toy cupboard or recycling box (make
sure it’s all clean and not yucky dirty) to bring your journey to life!
You can label things, paint them or make models with targets and holes for you to use as a
golf course.
If you put each of the story elements in order you can experience the story as you go
round the course. You don’t even need golf clubs, you can roll the balls by hand or make
your own clubs out of sticks. See whose story is the hardest to play!
You could even make the story of the Nutcracker and follow it through to the happy ending.
If you make a Nutcracker Crazy Course please email us some pictures of it. We might be
able to use it to design our show set!
 12. Make a Sunflower Den

When the weather is warm and sunny I love to have a private place to read in the
garden. Even in a small garden you can grow yourself a Sunflower Reading Den..

It takes time and patience and you can watch it grow ‘til you’re completely screened
and surrounded by tall yellow sunflowers.
I’m growing sweet-peas around mine this
year as well so it smells nice too!
All you have to do is stake out a circle
somewhere in the garden with sticks and
string to remind people not to walk on it.
Make the circle big enough for you to get
inside or even for an old chair?

I always grow my sunflower seeds in pots or

old yoghurt cartons on the kitchen windowsill
until the young sunflowers are old enough to
be planted out in the garden. Just one packet
of seeds should do it or you can sow the seeds straight into the ground..

Then watch your Sunflower Reading Den grow!

Why don’t you tell us about your favourite books and where you like to read them
most?
Would any of them help us with re-telling the story of the Nutcracker?
Perhaps some more action, or another adventure in the Land of Toys?
 13. A letter to Father Christmas from Fritz
Well, I don’t know about you but I wasn’t expecting a Nutcracker that came to life as a
Christmas present so I thought, just in case, I’d better write to Father Christmas about it.

Dear Father Christmas,

I hope you are well and having a bit of a rest.

What I wanted to write to you about was the toy Nutcracker my

sister and I got for Christmas. I know Uncle Drosselmeyer
brought it round but I’m pretty sure you may have had
something to do with it.

It’s not exactly a complaint but it certainly wasn’t what we had

expected. Normally when you get something useful like a
Nutcracker or a rolling pin or a new pair of pants you think it
might just do the job it’s supposed to do but oh no not this Nutcracker!

For a start after a little bit of a fight with my sister Marie I managed to accidently break it when I tried to
crack a nut… shouldn’t it have really been up to the job?

Could we have a stronger one next time? And perhaps something that doesn’t have such a big head,
massive jaws and a wispy beard? That might actually crack nuts properly?

And then after my Uncle had fixed it, it came to life, grew as big as me and had all sorts of fights with
sweets and gingerbread men and toy soldiers and giant mice.

Well, you don’t expect that sort of excitement with a Nutcracker do you? What would happen if the curtains
and all the furniture in my bedroom kept coming to life? I’d never get a wink pf sleep? Things shouldn’t
really come to life should they? Mind you, a pair of pants that come to life might be fun.

Could you perhaps fix that for next year?

Finally, and most surprisingly the Nutcracker changed into a Prince and married my sister in the Land of
Sweets and although I enjoyed the dancing and meeting the Sugar Plum Fairy I don’t know when I’ll see
my sister again and I do miss her although she was a bit bossy.

So next year except for the pants could you send us something a bit less exciting?

A box of hankies perhaps?

Yours Sincerely

Fritz
We would like to involve another different object in our show that comes to life I think my
letter explains the Nutcracker quite well!

Could you come up with a new character and write to Father Christmas asking him to give
it to you as a present, explaining it in as much detail as you can to make sure he gets you
exactly the right thing.

We would love to hear about your characters; if you can email us a copy of your letter we
might include your character in our show.

14. New Character. New scene

The Nutcracker story and the Ballet are quite different in places. The Sugar Plum Fairy
has her own dance, to very famous music, in the ballet.

Here’s a version of it:

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Nina Kaptsova - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy / 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz_f9B4pPtg

Could you write a scene for our story

that has a completely new character in
it?

Have a think about a new character. It

could be one you’ve already invented in
this pack, a Sweet or the object that you
write about to Father Christmas.

Or a favourite character from a film or

television programme or from your favourite book.
Now answer these questions to help you write the scene.

Describe your new character.

What is their name? What do they look like?
What are their main character traits and what do they want to do in the story?

What does your new character do in the scene?

Do they cause trouble, by mistake or on purpose? Do they try to solve a problem by
fighting off the baddies or being kind and helpful? What do they do?

How do the main characters react to your new character? Do they like them, or are they
afraid, or hopeful that they will be saved? Or something completely different?

Where would your scene come in the play and how would it affect the story?
Would it be at the beginning when we first meet the Nutcracker…are they friends or
enemies? Perhaps they meet in the battle, on the same or different sides? Or at the end.
Does your character help? Do they win or lose? Or do they cause something completely
new and exciting to happen?

Would your new scene replace one of the old ones?

If it did, which one would it replace and why?
Or would it expand on a scene already in the story and how?
 15. Make your own Model Nutcracker.
Like with the kitchen roll maracas, all you’ll need to start
with is an old kitchen roll.

Use poster paint to colour the main body of the kitchen

roll red and the last centimetre green for the base. You
could paint all of the details of the Nutcracker’s uniform
or make them from coloured paper or material and stick
them on. Use wool to make his hair and wispy beard, a
feather and another piece of wool for his hat and a
painted drink stirrer for his gun.
And there you have your own Nutcracker….

16. Change-about Characters

The Nutcracker story has a lot about my sister Marie and
not much about me, Fritz.
I wonder what it would be like if the main character was a
boy and, to be fair, we could make the Nutcracker a girl! So
what would the story be like then? How do you think it would
change the action?

Choose a scene and re-write it from

your own point of view…so if you are a
girl you can pretend to be the
Nutcracker, and if you’re a boy you
can be Fritz in place of Marie. How
would you behave? Would you do exactly the same things or would
you change the action? Which bits and why?

Do you think boys and girls behave differently or is it their characters which make them
behave in the way that they do?
You could try writing the scene from the point of view of your opposite character. That
would be fun and might make quite a difference to the story!
 17. Calming Colouring!
Have a bit of a rest and carefully colour in this picture of the main characters in the
Nutcracker. You can email a photo of your coloured pictures in if you like we will include
them in our gallery.
 16. Daring Dance

The Nutcracker has all sorts of dances in it. The ballet version shows sweets from different
countries dancing their own special dances and every character has a different style.
Think about how you like to dance and the music that goes with it. Can you make up a short
dance that would fit into the Nutcracker story, perhaps using some of the ideas that you’ve
had by doing this pack? You could make a short video of your dance, we’d love to see it if
you email it to us!

Phew, that’s a lot of activities, you must be exhausted, just like I was after all my
adventures!

Please get an adult to help you send in all your character and story ideas for our Nutcracker
show.

You will probably have some large files that are not possible to be sent by most emails. If
you like you can collect them altogether in a folder. You can then email them to me for free
by visiting the website www.wetransfer.com and uploading your files or folder and then
emailing them to me fritz@primarytheatre.org.uk

We will be setting up a gallery and including your ideas on the website.

www.primarytheatre.org.uk which is where you will also find future activity packs to
download.

We will use as many of your ideas as possible in the show and we hope that one day in the
future we can visit your school and put on a show for you and your friends.

Goodbye, from your friend Fritz!