Teaching Shakespeare to a four-year-old is no small task.

Teaching Shakespeare to 20 kids ranging in age from four to seven is even more daunting. But the artistic apprentices at Key City Public Theatre took the task on with ease, teaching some of the Bard’s most famous lines, jokes and insults to a group of kids who love the limelight at their first summer camp of the season.

“We did different Shakespeare exercises, such as making a mad-lib style sonnet and learning some of Shakespeare’s best insults,” said Brendan Chambers, an actor with Key City Public Theatre who was one of the instructors.

The class started off with the history of the Bard, learning about the place he grew up and his family. They also began to understand rhyme schemes and played games that strengthened their creative skills.

The students also took a deep dive into Shakespeare’s famous characters, creating silhouette stances of famous scenes such as the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene and the prophetic hags of Macbeth.

The week-long class, called “Be Merry With Shakespeare” was one of two summer camps Key City is offering for kids. This class was for the younger kids, teaching basic improvisation, role-playing and character-building skills for ages four to seven.

“They were a delight to work with,” said Genevieve Barlow, who is an artistic apprentice at Key City, as she introduced the students’ final showcase.

This week, an older group of students will be taking the stage, so to speak. Key City’s Shakespeare Merry Wives Immersive class will take students through the techniques of learning and performing Shakespearean plays. The students will also take part in an immersive rehearsal with the cast of Merry Wives of Windsor, which Key City performs in the month of August for their Shakespeare in the Park production.

Merry Wives of Windsor opens August 2 and is performed every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in August at 6 p.m. in Chetzemoka Park.

The cast includes the return of comedians from 2017’s hilarious “The Book Club Play,” Brendan Chambers as Shakespeare’s famous buffoon Falstaff, Crystal Eisele as an eponymous merry wife and Eric Newman as one outrageously jealous husband.

KCPT apprentices Genevieve E. Barlow, Bry Kifolo and Ciel Pope are also featured, as are Shakespeare in the Park veterans Maggie Bulkley, Sam Cavallaro, Tom Challinor, David Wayne Johnson and D.D. Wigley. Newcomers include Tristan Riley, Krista Curry, Jeff Groves and Port Townsend High School “Cabaret” emcee Orion Pendley. Selena Tibert, who starred in this summer’s Cole Porter Revue, will appear, as will the ensemble of children from the summer camp.

Play-goers are encouraged to bring picnics, camp chairs, beach chairs, blankets and warm clothes for the cool evenings. Some blankets are available for lending, and a golf cart is waiting at the park gate for patrons who’d like a lift down to the venue.