children stories - research

Grasshopper and Toad 

It's about a Grasshopper and Toad who are good friends. People always saw them together. Yet they had never dined at each other's houses. One day Toad invited the  Grasshopper to come and dine at his house. 

The next day Grasshopper arrived at Toad's house. Before sitting down to eat, Toad washed his forelegs, and invited Grasshopper to do the same. Grasshopper did so, and it made a loud noise.

the Toad then told the grasshopper to stop chirping because he cannot eat with such a noise, Grasshopper tried to eat without rubbing his forelegs together, but it was impossible. Each time he gave a chirp, Toad complained and asked him to be quiet. Grasshopper was angry and could not eat.
so he invited the  Toad to his house for dinner the next day.The next day, Toad arrived at Grasshopper's home. As soon as the meal was ready, Grasshopper washed his forelegs, and invited Toad to do the same. Toad did so, and then hopped toward the food.

 Grasshopper told the toad to go wash his forelegs again because all the hopping in the dirt has made his forelegs dirty again.

Toad hopped back to the water jar, washed again, then hopped back to the table, and was ready to reach out for some food from one of the platters when Grasshopper stopped him and said "Please don't put your dirty paws into the food. Go and wash them again."

Toad was furious. "You just don't want me to eat with you!" he cried. "You know very well that I must use my paws and forelegs in hopping about. I cannot help it if they get a bit dirty between the water jar and the table."

Grasshopper responded, "You are the one who started it yesterday. You know I cannot rub my forelegs together without making a noise."

From then on, they were no longer friends.

Moral: If you wish to have true friendship with someone, learn to accept each other's faults, as well as each other's good qualities.

During my research into possible children theatre stories for development, i discovered the story 'Grasshopper and Toad' . this is an African folktale and i think it is a good story especially for children as they can learn a moral from it which to accept each others difference and learn to respect each others differences.

this story is suitable for a young audience because it has interesting characters and it is a also a unique story for children because it is an animal story also from a different culture / country so we have to be able to portray the actors as the animals they are playing  through their characteristics and their costumes.For example to play the grasshopper the character can wear the mask in the pictures below and also a green outfit to make it look more real. We can also give them different accents to make them sound funny and include diversity to the play. 

We can have projection of the woods to show that it is set in the woods to bring it to life. To stage the production of the play i would use proscenium staging so that there can be projection in the background and and the set can include a bowl for water on one side of the stage and a table set for them to have their dinner on on the other side of the stage . however this can also be a site specific play because it set outside in the forest so this can be performed in the park for a festival.
i would use this sound effect so the kids can imagine the characters in the forest;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLp3a_IxiGU

Anansi Goes Fishing - A Tale from West Africa

Anansi thought he could trick a fisherman into doing his work for him. "Let's go fishing," he suggested.

"Very well," said the fisherman, who was clever and quite wise to Anansi's tricks. "I'll make the nets and you can get tired for me."

"Wait," said Anansi, "I'll make the nets and you can get tired for me!" Anansi made nets as his friend pretended to be tired. They caught four fish.

The fisherman said, "Anansi, you take these. I'll take tomorrow's catch. It might be bigger."

Greedily imagining the next day's catch, Anansi said, "No, you take these and I'll take tomorrow's fish."

But the next day, the nets were rotting away and no fish were caught. The fisherman said, "Anansi, take these rotten nets to market. You can sell them for much money."

When Anansi shouted, "Rotten nets for sale!" in the marketplace, people beat him with sticks.

"Some partner you are," Anansi said to the fisherman as he rubbed his bruises. "I took the beatings. At least you could have taken the pain."

Anansi never tried to trick the fisherman again!

Moral ; don't play tricks on people and dont be greedy. Appreciate what you get from others.
i also discovered the story Anansi goes fishing and i like this story because it a story from west Africa so the kids wont be familiar with the story and the characters meaning we can do as much as we want with the play , for example ; we can add more characters to extend the story and make it interesting.
if i was to do this play i would give Anansi a friend so they can both play trick on people together and also i would give him a mother who always tells him off and tell him not to play tricks on people anymore.
To be more creative with the play i would make the characters Asians because most Asians adapt to agriculture and farming it makes sense. so they would have like an asian accent this also brings diversity to the play.
i would use props like these to make it look more realistic so the kids would be able to picture whats happening , also there would be a projection of the sea and have this going on in the background ;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGKIjh9skYw

The Lion and the Mouse

Once when a lion, the king of the jungle, was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down on him. This soon wakened the lion, who placed his huge paw on the mouse, and opened his big jaws to swallow him.

"Pardon, O King!" cried the little mouse. "Forgive me this time. I shall never repeat it and I shall never forget your kindness. And who knows, I may be able to do you a good turn one of these days!”

The lion was so tickled by the idea of the mouse being able to help him that he lifted his paw and let him go.

Sometime later, a few hunters captured the lion, and tied him to a tree. After that they went in search of a wagon, to take him to the zoo.

Just then the little mouse happened to pass by. On seeing the lion’s plight, he ran up to him and gnawed away the ropes that bound him, the king of the jungle.

"Was I not right?" said the little mouse, very happy to help the lion.

MORAL: Small acts of kindness will be rewarded greatly.
 i like this story because the kids can learn from the moral, i think it is very important for the kids to know the value of kindness.

if i was to make this into a play i would make them actor playing the lion to wear a mask like this which is easy to make with paper and cardboard with elastic and also the actor has to wear a mustard onesie or top and bottom so they would be able to look more animal like and the mouse would have this ;

i would also add singing to it and dancing, it can also help me include getting the kid involved in the play by a sking them questions to engage them.