Students read from scripts while sitting on stools in the front of the classroom, which still gives them the sense that they're performing. She told Education World that inexpensive props, although not necessary, can add to the excitement of drama in the classroom. Props may also encourage shy students to participate more. Student-made props can aid teachers in beginning a drama activity. Both sites have loads of ideas for easy crafts.
Kids can build simple props in a class-produced play.
Lisa Blau's Web site offers many resources for teachers, including a new readers theater script each month, available for downloading free of charge. Blau adds that poetry can also be a great way of introducing creative dramatics in the classroom. As children learn and recite poems, teachers can encourage kids to dramatize the poems. The American Academy of Poets lists some wonderful poems appropriate for children. Shel Silverstein created very readable plays, poems, and children's books, and Jack Prelutsky writes children's poetry that would work well as an integral part of a unit of dramatic reading.