I’m creating a class this year that is a Pre-Musical Theater Class for 4-5 year old kids during which we do jazz, tap, and acting. We are working on a mini-play to show our parents at the end of October and I’m just so tickled about how much fun we’re having with it, I wanted to share it with you!
Our script is the Five Little Pumpkins Song, but I’m only using 3 of the pumpkins to fit with my class sizes better and I made it present tense. Here’s my edit:
Three little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one says, “Oh, my! Its getting late!”
The second one says, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one says, “But we don’t care!”
Ooooo, goes the wind and out goes the light.
And the three little pumpkins roll out of sight.
First, we learned the poem together and talked about what each pumpkin was feeling. We decided the first pumpkin is sleepy, the second one is scared, and the third one is feeling brave. We all try saying the pumpkin lines together using the emotions we decided on. Then we get to put it on its feet!
Three students get to be the pumpkins and sit in a row down stage. The rest of the students stand off stage right and get to play the witches and the wind. We do the play more than once so that everyone gets a chance to be a pumpkin. I say the narrator lines and the pumpkins say their own. When the second pumpkin speaks, that is the cue for the witches to fly around up stage and off to stage left. They get to cross the stage again as the wind. At the end of the poem the pumpkins lay on their back and all roll off stage which sparks lots of giggles =)
The next step I’d like to take is exploring as a group creating a wind dance that we could add into the play when the wind enters. At this point they’ve been blowing through only on the line.
I have been so pleased with how much the kids have taken to this activity. I love that they are speaking with expressiveness by themselves, learning about cues and how to listen for them, enthusiastically working together, and asking to do it again and again–music to a teachers ears!!
Do you ever do mini-plays with your littles?
For more pumpkin fun check out this spinning and spiraling pumpking dance at Maria’s Movers!
