"The Little Christmas Tree" A Play for Four Year Olds - The Ravens: A Group for Fans of The Descendant

Group Contributor

The Descendant #1 · Dec 19th, 2015 · 3 · ·

Dear Ravens,

It's entirely natural for you to wonder at this point if your Descy, your Des, your dear Ol' Crow Face, if ever going to write anything again. Well, good news! I've been writing this whole time!

Just not Pony stuff... ...

But, hey! It's cool! What I have been writing is a number of plays.

The best thing about writing my plays is that I know that they are going to get at least one performance, and at least a smattering of applause. This is because I am usually asked to write them for a purpose, and every Christmas and Easter I write new ones for my Sunday School and Youth Group kids to perform.

I also get asked to write ones for a local Head Start program. Head Start is a low-cost daycare program for pre-Kindergarten kids, and about three or four times a year I'm asked to make a new one for a puppet theater program. These are usually well received by four-year olds and adults alike.:pinkie crazy:

So, with my "big" play being performed tomorrow, I thought I'd show you what the little puppet play that was performed on Monday looked like. I hope this proof that I can still sling the verbiage!

The Little Christmas Tree
A Play for Christmas
Based on the Book
“The Little Christmas Tree”
by Kathryn Smith
Published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. 2006

Props:
A Small Christmas tree
Clear White Lights
Pinecones
Berry Beads
Bright Feathers

Actors:
Narrator
Jack (voice only)
Fox
Dad (voice only)
Bird

(Narrator opens to Page 1.)

Narrator:
Now, not so long ago, back when the winters were cold and deep, there was a boy living in the valley. His name was Jack, and he was very excited.

Jack:
Today is the day! Today is the day that Dad and I go looking for a Christmas tree!

Narrator:
As you can imagine, Jack was very happy to be going to look for a tree, and imagined just how beautiful and wonderful it would be. This was back when people went into the woods to cut down their own Christmas tree rather than buying them from a farm or having an artificial tree, so it was a lot of work!

Jack:
Hey! Hey, Dad! Dad! Can we get a tall one? How about a fat one? Or a round one!

Dad:
Whoa there, Jack! We have to go out into the woods and find one first! I shall take my axe, and we’ll cut one down and bring it home with us when we are done. Does that sound like a good plan?

Jack:
Yes, Dad, yes it does!

Narrator:
Now, you might not know it, but there were other ears listening to Jack and his Dad as well. Just outside the window there was Bird, gathering seeds from the feeder…

(Bird appears, pecking at the ground as though eating from a feeder.)

Bird:
Uh oh! What did that big man say? Something about an axe? That can’t be good! Oh, why do people always have to be that way!

Narrator:
The more that Bird thought about it, the less that he liked it.

Bird:
I wonder which one of our little pine trees will be the one that they take?

Narrator:
The other animals nearby heard him, too. And each of them began to wonder what was going to happen next. Would it be a tree that they lived in? Would it be a tree where they roosted or the one whose branches they hid under?

Bird:
Fox! Fox, did you hear?

Fox:
Yes, Bird, I was looking in the garden when I heard the people talking.

Bird:
What can we do? They’re going to take one of our trees! Oh, my cousin would know what to do!

Fox:
Maybe you should get your cousin, then?

Bird:
Too late! He flew south for the winter!

Fox:
Well, I suppose that the only thing that we can do for now is follow them and see which tree they choose. Hopefully I can think of something along the way…

Narrator:
So, as Jack and his dad walked through the woods, Bird, Fox, and the other animals followed along behind… just out of sight.

(Fox and Bird pretend to follow along.)

Fox:
Be careful, Bird! Don’t let them see you!

Bird:
The same goes for you! Take care, Fox!

(Narrator turns the book to Page 2.)

Narrator:
Fox, Bird, and the other animals followed as Jack and his Dad looked for the tree. Every once in a while the two people would stop, and the animals would scatter, hoping not to be seen.

Fox:
Ugh oh! Run!

Bird:
Watch out!

(Bird and Fox hide beneath the stage.)

Jack:
Hey, Dad? I think this tree is too thin, and that one is too fat! That one over there is too tall, and that one is too short. Where is our perfect tree?

Dad:
Ha! Well, Jack, we’re going to have to keep looking, the? I hope that we can find one before night falls!

(Fox and Bird peek up from behind the scenery.)

Bird:
What did he say, Fox? What did the little boy say?

Fox:
He said that they are looking for the perfect tree to bring home. He doesn’t seem to think any of these are good enough…

Bird:
Humph! They are good enough to perch in when I’m tired, or to sit under when the snow is too deep! Why can’t they just leave them alone?

Fox:
Shhhhh, Bird! I’m trying to listen!

Narrator:
Like most foxes, this little fox was quite clever. She lifted her ears and did her best to understand what the people were saying.

Jack:
This is the one, Dad! We found it, we found it!

Narrator:
Jack was so excited! He’d found the tree that he knew in his heart was the very best one.

(The Christmas tree appears. The animals hide in the tree.)

Narrator:
Fox and Bird hid in the tree and listened to the people talk. The tree was nice. It wasn’t too tall of too short. It wasn’t too fat or too skinny. It wasn’t bent or twisted. No, it was just perfect!

Jack:
This is it, Dad! This is our tree! It’s nice and straight and just the right size!

Dad:
Well, Jack, that may be, but we’ve taken so long in finding the tree that it’s getting dark. C’mon, son, let’s head back home. I’m sure that it isn’t going anywhere, and we’ll come back for it in the morning.

Jack:
Oh, okay, I guess… I hope that the tree will be okay. It’s awful cold and lonely here in the forest. Goodbye, tree.

(The Narrator should flip to Page 3. Fox and Bird come out of the tree.)

Narrator:
Now, the animals gathered around the tree. They knew that come the morning the people would come back with their axe and cut the tree down. I should just have flown south with my cousin instead of stay here and have to watch this!

Bird:
Well, isn’t that just great!? Humans! Why do they always need to cut and take! What do they even want the tree for anyway? Are they going to eat it or something, Fox? Fox? Hey, Fox?

Fox:
Hmmm? Oh, hold on one second, Bird. I’m thinking.

Narrator:
Now, the little fox was quite clever, as all foxes are. She had seen what the humans had done last year. She had seen what they do with the trees that they bring into their homes. In her mind, a plan took place.

Fox:
My animal friends, please listen to me! I think I have a plan!

Bird:
Oh, good! Are we going to fight back? Are we going to make the humans leave the tree alone? My cousin could beat them up… if he hadn’t flown south.

Fox:
Oh, no Bird, fighting is not the answer! There are better ways! Listen, everyone, I know it sounds odd, but I have seen what the humans do with the trees that they take this time of year.

Bird:
Well, what do they do with them, Fox?

(Fox pantomimes decorating a Christmas tree.)

Narrator:
Fox explained that he had seen the trees that the people brought home decorated for Christmas, and how the brightly lit trees pushed back the darkness of the new winter. If the humans wanted to make the tree beautiful, why not do it here in the forest?

Fox:
The little boy human said that he was worried that the tree would be alone. Perhaps they don’t really want to cut down the tree… maybe there’s a middle way, one that makes it so that people and animals can share the tree.

(Pause.)

Fox:
Maybe… maybe if we decorate the tree, maybe then they won’t cut it down…

Bird:
That’s crazy!

Fox:
Hey!

Bird:
Crazy like a Fox! That’s a great idea! I bet my cousin couldn’t even come up with something that smart! But how do we decorate a Christmas tree? We don’t have electricity or fancy glowing ball things to put on it!

Fox:
I have an idea! We have everything we need, right here in the forest!

(Narrator should turn to Page 4.)

Narrator:
So, the Fox showed the animals all of the beautiful things that the forest could yield to their decorating of the Christmas tree. First, the rabbits woke the fireflies that were sleeping in the cold, hard ground.

(Bird and Fox put the Clear White Lights on the tree.)

Bird: C’mon little guys, shine for us!

Narrator:
Next, the squirrels placed pinecones from the forest floor around the branches of the little tree.

(Bird and Fox place the pinecones on the tree.)

Fox:
They fell off, but we need to place them back on!

Narrator:
Then the ants brought in berries that they had found throughout the year.

(Bird and Fox place the Berry Beads on the tree.)

Bird:
Good job, little guys! Thank you “berry” much!

Narrator:
But there was one more decoration that they could use…

Bird:
Okay, Fox… I guess it needs some color. Take the biggest feather you can from me and put it right on the top, and some more around!

Fox:
But your biggest feather…

Bird:
Is on my behind… yeah. Oh, I’m glad that my cousin can’t see me now!

(Bird turns around, and Fox pulls off his biggest feather.)

Bird:
Yeowch!

Narrator:
Fox placed Birds feather on the top of the tree, and the other birds placed their feathers, too.

(Bird and Fox place feathers on the tree.)

Bird:
Hey, look! My bottom is on the top!

Narrator:
As the animals finished up decorating the little tree, the snow began to fall, dusting its branches with a fine powder. They all gulped as they went back to their burrows. Had they made the tree pretty enough? Would the humans still cut it down?

(Pause.)

Narrator (to kids):
What do you think? Did the plan work?

(Narrator should flip to Page 5.)

Jack:
Look, Dad, look! The tree has been decorated! It looks so wonderful!

Narrator:
Fox, Bird, and the other animals came running as soon as they heard the humans in the woods. To their relief and joy, their plan of sharing the Christmas tree with the humans had worked!

Dad:
It looks very nice, doesn’t it Jack? Someone went through a lot of trouble to make it look so wonderful.

Jack:
We can’t chop it down now, not with how nice it looks, and all of the work that went into it.

(Fox and Bird appear.)

Fox:
Did you hear that, Bird!? We did it! We saved the tree! The humans will share it with us!

Bird:
That’s the best news ever! My cousin will be so jealous when I tell him this story!

Bird (singsong):
We did it, we did, it, we did it!

(Narrator should turn to Page 6.)

Narrator:
The beauty of the tree made Jack and his Dad want to come back. So, they did come back… with their whole family on Christmas Eve. As the bird sang, so did the people. And so it went every year—animals and people sharing the beautiful little Christmas tree again and again. The tree grew big and strong, and each Christmas it glowed with a special light, and around it gathered people and animals alike until Jack had grown into a man with children and grandchildren of his own. The birds sang, and the animals watched happily as the humans all stood in the snow, adding their own music. So it went through all of the long years of the tree’s life, adding its Christmas peace to the snowy woods.

The End.

Noble Cause