Classic plays performed by elementary school students: recommended works roundup
Plays performed at elementary school arts festivals and graduation ceremonies are important events that leave lasting memories for children.
For a truly memorable stage, you’ll want to choose pieces that let each child’s individuality and growth shine.
Still, many teachers and parents may be worried that “the classics are too boring” or that “the scripts are too difficult.” In this article, we introduce enjoyable plays suitable for elementary school students.
By creating a wonderful production together with classmates, it’s sure to become a cherished memory.
Picture books, literary works, and recitation (1–10)
The Cat That Lived a Million Times
The picture book The Cat That Lived a Million Times is famous for being a real tearjerker.
Many of you may have read it as children.
How about performing that story as a musical? The tale begins when the cat that lived a million times becomes a stray and meets a white cat.
It also sounds fun to put care into making the costumes and props for the feline characters and others.
Harry Potter
If you can create the world of Harry Potter through a play, you’ll definitely set your class apart from the others.
Since there are many works in the Harry Potter series, it’s hard to decide which one to adapt, isn’t it? The production begins with discussing it as a class or taking a vote.
By the time the performance day arrives, I think your class will be united as one.
Costumes, lighting, and sound are also very important to capture Harry Potter’s unique atmosphere.
Working together to create a single production will become a lifelong memory.
Paco and the Magical Picture Book
It’s a blockbuster Japanese film.
The tagline is “A story children want to read to adults.” It has laughs along the way and a moving ending, making it easy to adapt into a play.
Let’s start by creating a script based on the movie.
The key is to bring out each character’s unique personality!
English play
To communicate with people around the world, English has become indispensable, hasn’t it? Instead of focusing on reading and writing, how about trying an English play that emphasizes speaking? Performing a play while speaking English tests your ability to concentrate on doing two tasks at once.
To make it easy for the audience to follow, we recommend choosing a well-known story, like a folktale, and letting them notice how much the impression changes when it’s performed in English.
Swimmy
This is a work by the American picture-book author Leo Lionni.
Do you know “Frederick: A Little Different Mouse,” which even has LINE stickers? That one is also by Leo Lionni.
In Japan, “Swimmy: A Little Smart Fish,” translated by Shuntaro Tanikawa, is well known.
It’s a perfect story for large class performances since many fish can appear.
It has been adapted into stage plays and musicals for school showcases in many places, so there should be plenty of example videos uploaded.
When in doubt, choose this! It’s a highly recommended piece that can be performed by lower grades as well.
The Restaurant of Many Orders
Kenji Miyazawa’s “The Restaurant of Many Orders” is especially popular among elementary school students.
How about staging it as a play? The story—where two men out hunting stray into a restaurant called “The Western-Style Restaurant: Wildcat House,” and, instead of being served a meal, find themselves about to become the meal—blends fear and humor in a way everyone can enjoy.
Eleven Cats
It’s a famous picture book series by Noboru Baba, and many of you may already know it.
It’s an exciting story in which eleven cats join forces to defeat a suspicious-looking fish, packed with elements like courage, teamwork, and friendship.
The puppet theater adaptation scripted by Hisashi Inoue was broadcast on NHK.
It has also been adapted for the stage and as an anime, so it might be a good idea to choose one of those, watch it, and then start practicing.
If you’re making it into a musical, you’ll of course need to practice the songs, so plan with a long-term perspective.
It could also be fun to change the “11” to match your class size—like “38 Cats.” It’s perhaps more suitable for slightly older elementary grades.
On a Stormy Night
Although the original work of “On a Stormy Night” is a picture book, it was also adapted into a film and became a hot topic.
It’s a story about a wolf and a sheep who meet on a stormy night; while you’re on edge wondering if one will be eaten, you can’t help but be moved by their mysterious friendship.
Sketch: “School Things Everyone Experiences”
Let’s perform a short skit in front of everyone.
There are many kinds of skits, but how about doing one based on everyday “school life moments”? There seem to be plenty of relatable themes, like school lunch, cleaning time, or teacher quirks.
The audience will surely be nodding along and saying, “So true!” Let’s prepare lots of ideas that everyone can enjoy together!
Jugemu
If you’ve watched NHK’s program Nihongo de Asobo, you might know this one.
It’s one of the rakugo pieces with the punchline that the entire string of words—“jugemu jugemu gokō no surikire …”—which sounds like a spell, is actually a person’s name.
A fun aspect of Jugemu—really of rakugo in general—is that there are modernized versions of these old stories that make them easy for contemporary audiences to understand.
For Jugemu, for example, there’s a version where, by the time the parent finishes calling out the child’s name to send them off to school in the morning, summer vacation has already begun.
Try coming up with a Jugemu that fits your own life for your mornings.
