The topic of five winter themed drama lessons you should try sounded like something I should blog about today. By the next time I blog, it will be 2024! Wow, time has really flown this year. If you want something with a Christmas theme, check out: Drama Units Christmas Theme Bundle
I’m not a big fan of the whole new year’s celebration thing. In my family, all we did was change the calendar to the next month. Exciting, huh?
However, I know teachers are always looking for thematic units to brighten up the winter months. This post concerns new years and winter units using drama as the tool for discovery.
A Story of Generosity
This is one of the only folk tales I’ve found to celebrate the new year. I like the story so much that I’ve created two short class plays of it!
This charming play, based on a Japanese folk tale Oji San and the Grateful Statues share the themes of New Year, multiculturalism, winter, kindness and forgiveness. Students strengthen their study of another culture, reading (fluency), speaking (diction) and listening skills (restating) while learning to work cooperatively. This is excellent and very suitable piece for a vocal music, social studies, reading, language arts or drama class.
Once upon a time, there was an older Japanese couple who make straw hats which they sell at the market every day. It is a struggle for them to make ends meet, but they greet each day with gratitude and kindness to everyone. On New Year’s eve the man goes to market and no one buys a hat. As he walks home, dejected and worried, beautiful snow begins to fall. When he passes the stone statues which sit on the wall near his house, he notices that the snow is falling on their heads and decides to give the statues the unsold hats to protect them from winter’s harshness.
Ojisan and the Grateful Statues
His wife doesn’t understand her husband’s actions, but forgives him. In the night a knock at the door awakens the couple. To their amazement, a large rice cake is sitting there, though they don’t know who left it. Off in the distance, they see the statues slowly walking back to their place on the wall. It’s such a sweet story.
Students will have an opportunity to dramatize a folk tale using many of the elements of drama, create straw hats, design snowflakes, sing an original song written in a pentatonic scale and use their imaginations to express emotion through movement.
Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try
In all honesty, I’m all about arts integration–it’s my goal for every classroom to integrate drama into their learning to some degree. Ojisan and the Grateful Statues is a perfect choice to use as an integration. Contact your vocal music teacher and present the play together! Your students can sing and accompany the song with metallophones, xyllophones and percussion.
You can find Ojisan and the Grateful Statues here.
Chinese New Year Celebration
Maybe you want something to celebrate the Chinese new year. Although this story is not directly related, it is a super story to dramatize. I have three lessons about–one is a readers theater, one is a play and one is an entire unit.
Li Chi The Serpent Slayer is based on an old Chinese folk tale about a young girl who lives with her family in a small village. Every few years, a serpent terrorizes her village and drags off one of the young women for his dinner. Everyone is fearful. No one wants to fight the serpent, but Li Chi asks her parents if she can fight the serpent. Want to learn about some other multicultural plays? Check out: The Reasons Teaching Multiculturalism in the Classroom is Vitally Important
Li Chi the Serpent Slayer
Li Chi is a fierce young woman with a quick wit who is cunning and brave. Her parents deny her this chance and forbid her to go. Even so, Li Chi slips out at night with her dog and climbs the mountain to the serpent’s cave. This time instead of a girl dying at the feet of the serpent, Li Chi outsmarts it. Li Chi the Serpent Slayer is full of plot twists. And it’s even more special because the main character is a female! With themes of bravery, love of family, love of community and several others The Little Girl and the Winter whirlwinds is one to beat!
You can find Li Chi the Serpent Slayer here:
A Story of Courage
Here is another story, this time a Bulgarian folk tale which shares a delightfully, sweet story about a little girl who saves her village during the late months of winter. As with Ojisan, there are other version of this story as well. With roles for 25+ The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds shares themes of winter, generosity and courage. Perfect choice for students studying the culture of Slavic countries and/or Europe in a social studies or a drama class. you can find it here:
The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds
The story, a Bulgarian folk tale, of The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds goes like this–A wicked Winter Witch decides to stop Spring from arriving on time and makes Winter the only season on Earth. She hides the Sun behind dark clouds and covers the Earth with heavy snow. One morning the people from a small mountain village awake and fing their houses buried under the snow up to the roofs.
The people decide that the best thing to do is to send someone to the highest mountain peak, where the good wizard Father Frost lived in his palace of ice and ask him for help. Surprisingly, the Little Girl volunteers to go because she has very little to hold her back. She believes her warm heart and love for everyone will melt the snow and bring spring. She never considered all the obstacles that would she would meet along her way. Full of varied characters of sizes The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwind is a lovely story.
Again, we’ve added music to this play and teachers seems to like this aspect. Since this story ends as Spring arrives, it would be perfect for February or even March.
Since first blogging about this subject, I’ve created additional resources to celebrate winter in the classroom.
The Great Santa Suit Snafu — A Winter Readers Theater Your Students Will Love
Looking for a lively winter activity that builds reading fluency and keeps your students engaged during the busiest time of year? The Great Santa Suit Snafu is a classroom-friendly Readers Theater script that brings humor, mystery, and teamwork together in one festive package. It includes twelve speaking roles with room for extras and sound effects crew.
The Story: Only one day before Christmas Eve, the elves discover that Santa’s magical suit has shrunk! A frantic team of reindeer, elves, and Mrs. Claus tries everything—from sewing disasters to “unjingling” Jingle Bells—in an attempt to save Christmas. With witty characters, playful dialogue, and an upbeat ending, students will love performing this holiday comedy. (Even includes musical score to help you learn it!) I’ve even included the lyrics to Unjingling the Bells so you won’t have to work too hard to teach it!
Because Readers Theater requires no memorization, costumes, or special materials, it’s ideal for December lessons, substitute plans, or that energetic week before winter break. The script is written especially for upper elementary and middle school students, with clear character cues, accessible vocabulary, and plenty of comedic moments that make even hesitant readers want to participate.
Sometimes, my husband and I get crazy ideas. Rudolph the Rapping Reindeer is one of them.
The story: Rudolph discovers a unique talent for rapping, bringing a fresh beat to the North Pole just before Christmas Eve. While Santa and the other reindeer are skeptical at first, Rudolph, with the help of the beatboxing elves Twinkle and Jingle, teaches the team to groove and find their rhythm.
Even Blitzen, who struggles to rap, taps out a steady beat with his hooves to keep everyone on track. The fun reaches its peak when Mrs. Claus surprises everyone by unleashing her own wild freestyle rap.
With teamwork and holiday cheer, Rudolph and the crew take flight, spreading joy and beats across the world in the most unforgettable sleigh ride yet.
This 10–12 minute holiday play is perfect for grades 4-6, with 12 speaking roles and room for a chorus. It combines humor, teamwork, and joyous fun with a unique musical twist!
Need a good laugh?
The February Doldrums
Want something fun for early February? Get everyone out of the winter blahs with this fun musical. Best for high school students, Ground Hog Day is based on the film of the same name. Laugh your way through the learning! You can find it here.
Ground Hog Day the musical is about Phil Connors, a cynical Pittsburgh TV weatherman, who is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in the isolated small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, when he finds himself caught in a time loop, forced to repeat the same day again and again…and again. Note: This musical because of language is more suitable for high school students.
The music is great and the story line is funny. We’ve all thought about what it would be like to go back and do something differently, haven’t we? I know I have.
The unit includes everything a busy teacher would need in order to be successful: themes of the musical, plot, synopsis, creative staff biographies, Broadway and musical trivia, student questions (with a teacher’s key) and several enrichment activities to secure the learning.
Hello Spring!
One more unit that I think your students will find fun is Buddy and the Evergreen Trees.
Hello Every Month!
