Classic plays performed by elementary school students: recommended works roundup

reading drama

[Children’s Readers’ Theater] The Gigantic Turnip / Der Große Rübe Online Smilies × Theater Company Mori Munich

If you’re looking for an activity everyone can collaborate on, how about a radio-style reading play performed using only your voices? Choose a familiar picture book or novel as your material, and work together to bring the story to life.

A reading play involves more than just reading aloud, so it might be challenging—but that’s exactly why it’s rewarding.

If several people share the same role, each person’s burden is lighter and they can focus on their own lines.

Even though it’s a reading play, it could be fun to wear costumes that match the characters to help set the mood.

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sasashina

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Whale Cloud

School Activities in Tanegashima: Sumiyoshi Elementary School Learning Presentation — 1st Grade “Kujira-gumo (Whale Cloud)”, 2nd Grade “The Letter”, and Other Highlights (First Half) 2018

The picture book Kujira-gumo (The Whale Cloud) by Fumiko Ishikawa tells the story of a large cloud shaped like a whale floating in the sky and a group of elementary school children.

It portrays a whale-shaped cloud the children spot during PE class that lets them ride on its back and fly through the sky.

It’s a dream-filled tale, so not only will audiences enjoy the play, but the children performing it will have fun putting it on as well.

For the whale cloud, prepare a drawing and place it as a backdrop at the rear or upper part of the stage, or make it like a banner so it can be moved around freely—highly recommended.

Since the story takes place during class, everyday items like gym uniforms can be used for costumes and props!

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SAKI

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Poupelle of Chimney Town

#PoupelleOfChimneyTown #AkihiroNishino #KingKong (comedy duo) #moving #dance #kids #4yearolds #5yearolds #daycare #recital #schoolPlay #nurseryTeacher #kindergartenTeacher #handmadeCostumes #cute #costumes

This is a smash-hit work written by Nishino from the comedy duo King Kong.

It was adapted into an animated film in 2020, with popular talents like Mana Ashida joining as voice actors, which became a hot topic.

It has also been staged in various forms—plays, musicals, recitation dramas, and even kabuki.

First, check out the story and look for a format that elementary school students could recreate.

It could be fun to reconstruct and perform this fairy-tale-like story yourselves.

Since it’s a bit on the long side, it might be better suited for upper-grade students.

Little Princess (A Little Princess Sara)

Nov 4 Takakura Drama Club – Aeon Mall Nagoya Dome-mae – Part 1

The original work is by the American novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett.

This story has been performed in various forms, including anime, drama, and musicals.

The plot follows a seven-year-old girl named Sara, who was born into a wealthy family but remains kind-hearted without being conceited.

However, after her father passes away, her life and the attitudes of those around her change drastically, and she perseveres through it all.

I think playing the lead role is quite challenging, but it’s a work from which audiences can certainly take away something by watching the performance, so I strongly encourage you to take it on.

Shadow play performance

Kakashi-za Hand Shadow Performance “The Ugly Duckling”

Do you remember being amazed by shadow puppets when you were little? How about putting on a play using shadow puppetry? Basically, you express the people and objects that appear using only your hands.

It often feels more convincing to watch the projected shadows than to watch the hands themselves.

Well-known stories don’t require explanations and let you focus on the performance, so fairy tales are a great choice.

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utatane

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Meow-go

2nd Grade Learning Presentation: Play

Nyāgo is a picture book by Tatsuya Miyanishi that tells the story of three mice and one cat.

It’s about three mice who ignore the warning that cats are dangerous and end up encountering a scary cat.

Although the cat originally intends to eat the mice, he gradually gets swept along by the mice’s pace, who don’t really understand how frightening a cat can be.

The story is comical and easy to follow, making it well-suited for staging as a play.

Put on mouse and cat ears and give it your all with lots of energy!

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SAKI

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Chibi Maruko-chan

Stage play “Chibi Maruko-chan” opens! The boys of Class 3-4, eight years later, take the stage—does the friendship between Sugiyama-kun and Ōno-kun still hold strong!? A string of classic hits and a song show, too. Chibi Maruko-chan THE STAGE: “High School Days.”

Let individuality shine! Here are some ideas inspired by Chibi Maruko-chan.

When you think of Chibi Maruko-chan, it’s not just the classmates—each family member and local resident has a unique personality, which makes it so entertaining.

In particular, some characters have distinctive catchphrases or sentence endings, which should be easy to incorporate.

The gap of high school students playing elementary school kids could also be a great hook to capture the audience’s interest.

Try acting while weaving everyday, ordinary moments into your script.