Ideas for plays for grandkids

[Cynthia Moore]

I have a very precocious granddaughter who loves books. Since she was about 3-4, we have been doing little plays with her cousins and younger brothers. Her favorite was The Three Pigs. Each kid would be a pig, another would be the pig mother, another would be the man selling straw, sticks, and bricks, and grampa would be the Big Bad Wolf. One year I bought them little clip-on pigs ears and noses and a scary mask for grampa.

Now she is seven. This summer, she asked me to do some more plays. She wants to make up a story based on the Magic Tree House, one of her favorite books. She has about 30 of the series.

It occurred to me that I could use her fascination with stories to teach her about great literature. My idea is to select a work of literature, extract the basic plot, and make up a script for a short play. We would use the real title, the real characters, and stick as closely as possible to the real script -- just simplify it so that we can do it in 10-15 minutes and so that kids ages 5-10 can handle the lines.

I'm thinking that the kids could have fun and learn a little about great literature at the same time.

I'd love to get some suggestions for stories that could be adapted in this fashion.

Here are some ideas that I have:

One of the stories from Rudyard Kipling
Something from O. Henry
Pinocchio (the movie)
Robinson Crusoe
Great Expectations

I thought of Great Expectations because it's about a young boy. I'd leave out or simplify a lot of the darker parts about Miss Havisham and focus on the story of a boy as he learn about life.

I would appreciate ideas for any others, especially ones like Great Expectations.

Thanks

[waltzinmathilda]

you've had a wonderful idea! It's nice to know there are grandmothers like you. What about Peter Pan? It's already a play and I think it would be great fun for children. I was going to suggest some chapters from The Wind in The Willows (there are few characters and the children could have fun painting whiskers on their faces etc.), but then I changed my mind: it would convey the message "don't be curious and don't be adventurous". To my shame, I have to admit I never read anything by Dickens, so I can't help you on the Great Expectations side. Have you ever heard about "captain" Emilio Salgari? My father used to be Salgari-obsessed as a young boy, so maybe you could check him out (Salgari's target was mainly boys, though. But you could change the gender of Sandokan and make him into a brave heroin. Or, if your grand-daughter is romantically inclined, she could play Sandokan's belle, "the pearl of Labuan").

[Pompey Bum]

1. The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (for boys in my day, but times have changed)
2. The various Sherlock Holmes books (also by Doyle)
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (if she can handle it)

Those (and Dracula) are what put me on the right road for life. Good luck! :)

[Eiseabhal]

I think you should turn this talent into money and create a little bank account for these same grandchildren.

[108 fountains]

I like the idea of Peter Pan. I just read it for the first time a couple of years ago and was surprised at how seamlessly J.M. Barrie was able to integrate both adult and children's themes into the dialogue. It would also probably be fairly easy to find children's versions of the play that you could modify further. Great Expectations would be really difficult, I think, as would any Dickens novel just because of the length and the plotline covering many years. Something by Jules Verne might work - Journey to the Center of the Earth would be fun for kids, I think. Short stories would be easier to adapt into children's plays and would be easier for kids to actually sit down and read. O Henry's The Gift of the Magi is an obvious choice, and I'm sure there are other O Henry stories out there that would be fun and appropriate, as well.

[ennison]

Mercenary advice Eiseabhal - good advice too because if you can effectively turn Great Expectations into a drama script for children Cynthia then you definitely have a significant talent. Actually I think Dickens would be good because there is great dialogue and lots of description that you can excise. A Christmas Carol? Crusoe might be hard since so much of his time is spent in contemplative isolation. Treasure Island? Not enough female parts there though. What about The Railway Children or Goodnight Mr Tom. You already have screenplays there to play variations on.

[Auddfoote]

Keep recyclables available to move your maturing specialist, engineer, or artist. Make a dollhouse out of a shoebox. A racecourse for marbles out of wrapping paper rolls or a musical instrument from elastic groups and a milk container.

Host a dated tea gathering utilizing your dainty tea set or a less-valuable plastic set. Make sure to welcome your grandchild's full "companions." Sip powerless home grown tea and serve treats or crustless tea sandwiches.

[kev67]

Rudyard Kipling would be a good bet for children.

[Ecurb]

If the 3 or 4 year old is sophisticated for her age, you might try Huxley's "The Devils of Loudun". (Or not.)