Theatre For Primary Schools

MFL Theatre productions and workshops

Bring Language to Life at Your School with Joy 4 Kids!

Imagine your students diving into French and Spanish through vibrant storytelling, games, song and interactive activities—all designed to ignite their love for language and boost confidence. We bring our immersive Theatre in Education shows and workshops right to your school, making language practice exciting, memorable, and effective.

Our performances offer:

Engaging Content: Interactive shows and workshops tailored for primary-aged students, full of storytelling, mime, song, and movement.
Language Skill-Building: Techniques that develop listening, speaking, and critical thinking through fun, hands-on activities.
A Lasting Impact: A fun, energetic way to boost confidence and inspire future linguists!

With glowing reviews from schools across London and the South East, we’d love to bring this experience to your students. Explore our approach and discover our immersive French and Spanish experiences. options for both languages below.

Our Amazing reviews!

I can highly recommend Lucy and her company, J 4 Kids, for school MFL performances. From the very first communication, Lucy was so helpful and professional, making the whole process of organising her visit seemless and easy. Despite a long journey, Lucy and Ali arrived at school bang on time and were a joy to work with. They performed their French play for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils, and it was fabulous. A super mix of French and English... read more

Zuri Pine
25 October 2024

Lucy and her fellow actor performed "Chasse Au Trésor" at my school for pupils in Y3-6. Email communication beforehand was excellent and the pupils loved the play. It was engaging, interactive and the language was clear and accessible. I would thoroughly recommend!

Sophie Milne
30 July 2024

We were delighted to welcome Lucy and Sara to our school to perform 'Au Musée' to our Key Stage 2 pupils. The performance was engaging, professional, perfectly pitched for the age of the pupils, and delivered relevant French language in a skilful and effective way. We would have no hesitation in recommending Joy4Kids and are hoping that they will return to us next year.

Julie Inns
30 June 2024
Lucy and Ligia performed their Spanish workshop ‘La Búsqueda del Tesoro’ this year in our school. Their show was dynamic, engaging and so entertaining! Children enjoyed it immensely (many actually thank us for bringing this extra activity to school). I highly recommend it as a great way to learn, practise and revise vocabulary while having fun.

Teresa Velasco
30 March 2024

Joy 4 Kids came to our primary school to perform the French theatre play ‘Au Pays Des Lutins’. From the first enquiry the service was very professional and prompt. Lucy performed two shows, one for KS1 the other for KS2 and they were pitched perfectly. There were a multitude of opportunities for different volunteers to participate and the whole performance is geared toward the pupils speaking as much French as possible. Lucy was an absolute pleasure to work with and... read more

Steph DaCosta
30 March 2024

What a pleasure to have had Lucy and Beatrice performing their French Theatre Play "Chasse au trésor" in our school this month. Their energy and enthusiasm are fantastic and their show is very engaging and inspiring for students learning Foreign Languages. Our students loved having this opportunity to learn and practise French outside of the classroom, in a beautiful and interactive performance they won't forget! Thanks a lot ladies 🙂

Sonia B.
30 March 2024
Lucy and Beatrice came to our school with their French show 'Chasse au Trésor' and what a treat that was! Our Year 6 children absolutely loved it! It was pitched at the perfect level in terms of the French, and the children said afterwards that they were amazed at all the French they were able to speak during the show. Well done to Lucy and Beatrice for engaging our budding linguists in such a fun and interactive way. We will... read more be booking again!

Anne Spikes
30 March 2024

A dynamic and immersive approach

Engaging each one of your pupils

Storytelling

The pupils play an integral part in all of my stories! In both our language plays, our main English character encourages the children to help them on their quest, making them active participants in the story. Along the way, they interact with three native French or Spanish characters, providing an immersive and engaging experience that enhances their language skills and cultural understanding.

Activities

To help our English character on their quest, the pupils will take part in a variety of activities. Those include role-play, dancing, singing and other game-like challenges, such as finding the lost paints when practising colours. Our activities are not only entertaining and exciting, bringing us one step closer to achieving our goal, but also enriching, as they build the pupils’ language skills.

Boosting your pupils' confidence

Translation and recall

We strongly believe that when children figure things out for themselves, they are more likely to remember what they have learned. To facilitate this, we provide clear contextual clues and use mimes throughout our performances. This approach empowers pupils to both deduce the English meaning and, through association, recall key French or Spanish sentences and vocabulary.

Discover, repeat and consolidate

We tailor our delivery to match the age and language proficiency of our audience, whether they are beginners, intermediates, advanced learners, or a mix of abilities. Our approach not only helps pupils consolidate what they already know, but also prepares them for their ongoing journey in mastering French or Spanish.

Our French and Spanish experiences

Our French and Spanish two-actor performances | Year 1 to 6

Both language plays are performed by a team of two actors: one English and one native Spanish or French speaker. Together, they bring to life one English character and three native characters from the target language.

Throughout our 1h performance we encourage assembly participation and invite over a dozen volunteers to join us on stage.

Our two-actor Spanish show, Búsqueda Del Tesoro – for 6 to 11 year olds. Bookings are open for the 2024/2025 academic year! Get in touch, if you’d like us to perform at your school.
Our French two-actor show Au Musée Magique – for 6 to 11 year olds. Bookings are open for the 2024/2025 academic year! Get in touch, if you’d like us to perform at your school.

Our French EYFS workshop and One-Woman Show | Year 1 To 6

Our one-actor theatre play or workshop is delivered by our bilingual performer, Lucy Dreyer.

Our French one-actor show Au Pays Des Lutins! It is available to book any time of the year in Greater London, Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Sussex. Take a look at the feedback Lucy got from her performances.

Our French EYFS and KS1 workshop! Lucy will sing, dance, play games and role-play with your pupils, teaching them French throughout her 40 to 60-minute-long sessions.

Get in touch, if you’d like Lucy to perform her theatre play or workshop at your school.

Búsqueda Del Tesoro

Our Spanish play is performed by an English actor and a native Spanish performer. We’re excited to share with you our Spanish production’s story, the Spanish we explore and our complimentary resources! You may also meet the team and view our rehearsal pictures and videos!

Throughout our 1h performance we continuously encourage assembly participation and invite over a dozen volunteers to join us on stage.

Búsqueda del tesoro - an immersive experience

Fruits and vegetables magic trick
Body part flamenco dance
Don Quixote’s clothes packing game
A paints and colours hunt
Ribbons and counting
Useful sentences throughout

pictures of our interactive show

Au Musée Magique

We are excited to announce that our second interactive show Au Musée Magique, has been just as well received as our first production Chasse Au Trésor. We will be touring this theatre play throughout the 2024/2025 academic year.

In our 1h performance, our native French and English actors will continuously encourage assembly participation and invite over a dozen volunteers to join them on stage.

an immersive event for year 1 to year 6 pupils

Our 1h performance is packed with activities, key sentences and vocabulary.

Introductions
Numbers
Colours
Emotions
Fruits and Vegetables
Jungle Animals
Sports

Au Musée Magique trailer - A glimpse into our rehearsals

A picture summary of our story and activities

Alex's mum practising French at the Louvres museum — Meet Alex’s mum! She has no idea her curious teenager is about to be whisked away into the magical world of the Louvre!

Alex is tickling a snake on one our Louvres' French paintings. — Bored and mischievous, Alex can’t resist playing with the art—and things are about to get surreal! The explorer, the ballerina, the animals and the fruits and vegetables are about to come to life!

Our French artist — Alex is stuck in the magical Louvre and the paintings have disappeared. Luckily, our French artist knows how to bring Alex back to the real world! But first, Alex and the students need to track down the runaway characters and objects from the paintings.

The French explorer is selling fruits and vegetables. — We’ve tracked down the explorer, and they’re selling our missing fruits and vegetables! The children will jump in to buy them, and together we’ll count the explorer’s euros in French.

Our French ballerina has made new jungle animal friends. — We've found our missing French ballerina and she has made some new friends! Can the children guess which jungle animals she’s hiding in her bag?

Our French jungle animals are all getting ready to dance! — We need to return the animals to the paintings, but first, we’ll have to teach them how to dance! Let’s warm up our voices for this fun jungle animal song!

Our French ballerina is trying a new sport! — The dance is done, but we still have 6 animals to retrieve. Maybe if we help our ballerina learn a new sport, she’ll be swayed to give them up!

The French artist is happy to have found all of his colourful paints! — Yes, it worked! We've also successfully found the artist's lost paints. Now, with the students’ help, we'll practice our French colours and recreate the missing paintings before returning to reality!

Would you like us to perform at your school? We’re available to book throughout the 2024/2025 academic year! Get in touch for more information or to book our dynamic and immersive show! You’ll also get access to our amazing complimentary resources, which can be used in addition to our performances and your school’s French curriculum!

Solo performance: au pays des lutins

Do your pupils love pantomime? How about The Wizard of Oz? With the pupils help, bilingual actress Lucy will enact her own French version of the story: Au Pays Des Lutins. Lucy and her cat Pistache are swept off to… Elf Land. Will she be able to get back home?

Lucy will get 19 volunteers to join her on stage, acting out different parts and characters of her story. With mimes, repetition and translations if needed. All pupils will be engaged throughout the performance, with games, singing and dancing. Different themes/vocabulary will be explored such as:

Introductions
Emotions
Colours
Numbers
Animals
Family

An amazing experience! But That's Not All...

If you wish to further enhance your pupil’s experience, we provide complimentary resources including a PDF with all of the show’s French and high quality recordings of the show’s songs.