I have just received word that the local community theatre group that normally does a musical with kids in grades K-6th is doing one for grades 3rd -8th this year and my two nieces are horribly disappointed. They have been looking forward to it all year, especially the one who was too young last year.

I would like to see if I can come up with something for the younger kids to do that I can suggest to the board.
I am looking for something in the 30 -40 minute range that can be done by a good sized group of kids (20-30 or however many show up) in the kindergarten - second grade.

I am quite flexible. It could be a skit or musical with easy parts, or a pre-recorded soundtrack that they could just act out or use puppets, or even a selection of songs, just something that gets these kids on the stage. I have done many of these things in a Christian school but I need something more suited to community theatre.

Any ideas, suggestions, resource links would be greatly appreciated.

Just throwing out an idea... I don't have any ready-for-the-stage free scripts for you, but a lot of people have had luck adapting public domain fairy and folk tales as stage or puppet shows. That is the specialty of one of our members, Miryana - who has unfortunately been absent from this site for awhile. You can do a straight adaptation, an updated version of the old story set in modern times, or a humorous adaptation, (think Shrek, or the old Fractured Fairy Tales from Rocky and Bullwinkle).

There are tons of great, free old material available for adaptation, though it takes talent and effort to do a good job of it. Think interesting characters in interesting settings, with unusual challenges to overcome - or even everyday, familiar challenges which are overcome in new and unusual ways. And then they sing about it. Otherwise, there are free scripts available online, though most of them seem to be for VBS or other Christian-oriented productions, and not the community at large.

I wish you luck with this project, it sounds like it could be a lot of fun - a whole lot of really great fun.

 

Ron G.

http://www.google.com/search?q=public+domain+fairy+tales

http://www.google.com/search?q=public+domain+folk+tales


EDITED TO ADD:
Here is a fairy and folk tale site that Miryana recommended:

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/

Is this for Christmas or for a later date?

For Christmas, how about the navitity story done with shadow puppets? or a combination of live puppets discussing the elements of the story as it's played out in shadow puppetry?

Thanks for the responses so far, I will check the links.
This will actually be February if I can get something together and get permission.

There are 5 community theatre groups in the area and only one that does a show with the kids. I would love to get something started.

How about Alice in Wonderland.  You could have some of the characters children and other character puppets.  It would be great for this group and there has to be a script out there somewhere.

Try this link - http://www.childrenstheatreplays.com/aiw2.htm