WHY LEAVES LEAVE THE TREE
This story was thought up to be told rather than being performed and it is a story I tell my students of Segundo Curso de Eduación Infantil for them, in turn, to tell their toddlers. It's the teacher who plays the leading role by doing the different voices of the characters of the story. The storyteller also uses some visuals, like the ones shown in the picture above. This link takes you to the pictures you can use for the story.
It's more than enough. Just your voice - or should I say voices? - and a set of pictures showing some key moments of the story. I think simplicity is well worth trying because sometimes we spend too long on getting things ready.
In order to make the kids part of the action, you can make them chorus some lines. For example, when the leaves call the forest queen, e.g.: "forest queen, forest queen!". Or just chorusing the last word of the sentences when the leaves tell us about their plans, e.g. "I want to see the fields" ( kids chorus: the fields..); "I want to see the sea" (kids: the sea...). These words- or rather- sounds are reinforced on the kids' minds with the support of the visuals you are using during your telling.
CHARACTERS
JEAN
PETER
THE FOREST QUEEN
THE OLD TREE
SYNOPSIS
Peter and Jean are leaves and they want to leave their tree to see what’s beyond the forest. They ask for permission to the forest queen. The permission is granted but they have to keep a promise…..
CHARACTER OBJECTIVES
JEAN: she is an adventurous leaf eager for new experiences.
PETER: Jean’s partner. He is very self-determined and doesn’t fear anything.
THE FOREST QUEEN: An old lady who really cares about her creatures living in the forest. She always tries to be fair with them.
THE OLD TREE: He is good-hearted. He loves his leaves and that is why he sympathises with their beloved leaves.
SCENE BREAKDOWN
SCENE 1: The two leaves appear in the tree. They look bored. One of them is even asleep. Peter makes up his mind and tells Jean about his plans.
SCENE 2: The forest queen comes into play and makes a deal with the leaves, who readily accept.
SCENE 3: The leaves visit the places they had in mind. Meanwhile the tree looks sad and waiting for their friends to come back. When the spring comes, so do the leaves. The old tree looks happy again.
