 | An easy, flexible, 5-to-25-minute musical play for grades K-3. Comes with the script, audio recording (with both a vocal and instrumental version of each song), and a teacher's guide. No music or drama experience needed! |
 | ✓ Funny script ✓ Catchy tunes ✓ Flexible casting ✓ Dumb jokes
A collection of Aesop's Fables designed to improve students' phonemic awareness. Do the whole play or pick individual scenes. Learn more! |
MusicalGr. K-35-25 Min.
Musical Play: “Aesop’s Fables Deluxe”
Complete Script & Audio: $45 (other items also available)
We sell wonderful, short, funny plays and musicals for use in your classroom, after-school program, drama club, music class, summer school program, homeschool, and any other place where kids can thrive by participating in theater! If you are not familiar with us or how to use theater to teach, check out our Q&As.
Synopsis
We've put together a handful of Aesop's fables into a format especially written for young students. The songs are simple and playful, encouraging students to delight in the sounds of language while they practice basic word-building skills. The play is a great tool for helping students build phonemic awareness and improve reading, spelling, and reading comprehension skills. It can also serve as a springboard for conversations about character and values. The duration of the show is anywhere from 5 minutes to 25 minutes, depending upon how many Fables you choose to perform.
Preview the script and songs!Key Concepts
Featured Fables
- Fox and Sour Grapes
- The Toad and the Ox
- The Dog and the Bone
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf' (and our spin, The Boy Who Cried 'Walf')
- Androcles and the Lion
- The Crow and the Pitcher
- The Dove and the Ant
- The Lion and the Mouse
Aesop's Fables Deluxe is a great complement to your curriculum resources in elementary school language arts. Like all of our plays, this show can be used to improve reading, vocabulary, reading comprehension, performance and music skills, class camaraderie and teamwork, and numerous social skills (read about it!) -- all while enabling students to be part of a truly fun and creative experience they will never forget!
Aligned with national standards! View the standards and vocabulary.Publication Info
Author: Ron Fink (Composer) and John Heath (Book and Lyrics)
ISBN:
978-1-886588-15-8
© 1999
Bad Wolf Press, LLC
3 reviews for Musical Play: “Aesop’s Fables Deluxe”
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The Show
We want you to know what you're getting, so the cast list and first third of the script are available here! Bad Wolf shows are written for flexibility and can be edited however you like to meet the needs of your actors, school, curriculum, parents, astrological chart, latest whim, etc. If you have questions about the portions of the script not shown, please contact us.
Casting
Flexible casting from 8-40 students. You can have all your class sing every song; or you can have several students take the part of an animal; or you can have individual students take solo parts. Note that all roles can be played by any gender.
Script
This is the first one-third of the script.
CHARACTERS:
Storytellers
Fox
Toad
Dog
Hare, Tortoise
Boy, Wolf
Androcles, Lion
Crow
Dove, Ant
Lion, Mouse
(We recommend that all the songs be sung by the entire class.
Individual animals can act out the actions of the song.)
(STUDENTS act out the various activities mentioned in their song as individual students sing the first lines of each verse.)
Song 1
Listen to
a sample!
STUDENT A: We mop
STUDENT B: We chop
STUDENT C: We drop
STUDENT C: We hop
CLASS:
But we can’t top Aesop’s fables
Can’t top Aesop’s fables
Can’t top Aesop’s fables now.
STUDENT E: We pop
STUDENT F: We bop
STUDENT G: We flop
STUDENT H: We stop
CLASS:
But we can’t top Aesop’s fables
Can’t top Aesop’s fables
Can’t top Aesop’s fables now.
Lots of famous stories
Now we’ve made them choral
Lots of famous stories
Even with a moral or two
Lots of famous stories for you.
We mop
We chop
We drop
We hop
But we can’t top Aesop’s fables
Can’t top Aesop’s fables
Can’t top Aesop’s fables now.
STORYTELLER (as FOX acts out the attempt to get grapes): Our first fable is the story of the fox and the grapes. A fox tried to steal some ripe, juicy grapes off a vine. But the grapes were too high for him to reach.
Song 2
Listen to
a sample!
CLASS:
Big red grapes up on the vine
Big red grapes wish they were mine
Big red grapes too high for me
Big red grapes not ripe I see
I’m sure that they must be
Sour sour grapes
I’m sure that they must be sour grapes.
Purple grapes a lovely bunch
Purple grapes I’d love to munch
Purple grapes too high for me
Purple grapes not ripe I see
I’m sure that they must be
Sour sour grapes
I’m sure that they must be sour grapes.
Woh oh oh
No matter what you say
Woh oh oh
Didn’t want them anyway.
Chartreuse grapes best I have seen
Chartreuse grapes nice shade of green
Chartreuse grapes too high for me
Chartreuse grapes not ripe I see
I’m sure that they must be
Sour sour grapes
I’m sure that they must be sour grapes.
I’m sure that they must be sour grapes.
STORYTELLER: This is the story of the toad and the ox. One day a Toad saw an ox and wanted to be as big as he was. He took a very big breath and puffed himself out as big as he could.
TOAD: “Am I as big as that ox now?”
CLASS: NO!
STORYTELLER: So the Toad kept puffing himself out, bigger and bigger.
Song 3
Listen to
a sample!
CLASS:
A crack in his back
A pop when he hopped
A rip in the tip of his nose
A creak and a squeak
A shriek from his cheek
Oh no Mister Toad don’t explode!
Yi dee di di di dee di
Yi dee di di di
Yi dee di di di di
Yi di di.
TOAD: Look, am I as big as an ox yet?
CLASS:
A whine in his spine
A peep when he leaps
A bit of a split in his toes
A snap and a clap
A gap in his lap
Oh no Mister Toad don’t explode!
Yi dee di di di dee di
Yi dee di di di
Yi dee di di di di
Yi di di.
TOAD: Look look, now am I as big as an ox?
CLASS:
A crack in his back
A pop when he hopped
A rip in the tip of his nose
A creak and a squeak
A shriek from his cheek
Oh no Mister Toad explodes!
(accompanied by students making exploding sounds)
Yi dee di di di dee di
Yi dee di di di
Yi dee di di di di
Yi di di.
Yi dee di di di dee di
Yi dee di di di
Yi dee di di di di
Yi di di.
(There is a board of some kind in front of the stage with three very large, movable block letters that spell out D O G. As STORYTELLERS tell the opening story, we see a DOG act out the tale on stage.)
STORYTELLER: Our next tale is about the dog and the bone. Once there was a very hungry dog who found three bones that spelled out D-O-G. He picked up the D in his mouth and started home. As he crossed a bridge, he looked down and saw his reflection in the water. He thought he saw another dog with another bone. Being very greedy, he opened his mouth to snap at the D in the reflection. But when he opened his mouth, his bone fell out, dropped into the water, and disappeared.
Song 4
Listen to
a sample!
CLASS:
I once was a dog
But then I lost my D
That letter I love
Floated out to the sea.
I once was a dog
Won’t you help little me?
I can’t be a dog
If I don’t start with D.
(As CLASS sings its lines, either they hold big cards with letters, or maybe just one student holds up a big letter on the board that had the D O G and now just has O G):
CLASS: How ’bout an F?
DOG: I’d be lost in a fog
CLASS: Here’s a nice J
DOG: Should I go for a jog?
CLASS: What about L?
DOG: Do I look like a log?
CLASS: Try on this H
DOG: Now you’ve made me a hog!
CLASS:
I once was a dog
But then I lost my D
So who am I now?
What am I going to be?
I once was a dog
Now there’s just O and G
I can’t be a dog
If I don’t start with D.
CLASS: How ’bout an F?
DOG: I’d be lost in a fog
CLASS: Here’s a nice J
DOG: Should I go for a jog?
CLASS: What about L?
DOG: Do I look like a log?
CLASS: Try on this H
DOG: Now you’ve made me a hog!
I once was a dog
I once was a dog
I once was a dog.
(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)
The Songs
Click on any song to listen to a snippet. Click the cart icon to purchase any track for $1.
Standards
Common Core and Other National Standards
Language Arts
- Aesop's Fables was specifically written to improve phonological awareness for younger students, fulfilling common core reading standards
- Common Core Reading Standards for Literature: K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
- Common Core Reading Standards: Foundational Skills:
- Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards: Comprehension and Collaboration - K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
- Common Core Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use - K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
- Common Core Standard 10: Range, Quality & Complexity: Range of Text Types for K-5th
History/Social Studies
National Core Arts Standards
- Music - Anchor Standards 4-6
- Theater - Anchor Standards 3-6
- Dance - Anchor Standards 1-6
Vocabulary
| fable | flop | choral | moral |
| "sour grapes" | munch | chartreuse | puffed |
| shriek | spine | peep | gap |
| trudge | shepherd | vowel | thigh |
| calf | grateful | emperor | arena |
| recognized | plenty | spare | vowed |
| various | individual |
Terri Hanna –
My first and second graders performed this play. So cute and easy to modify if you want to drop a song. The kids loved it! The parents loved it! And it led to reading the real versions of the fables.
Jayne Wang –
We performed this musical for over a decade. These songs are so catchy and fun! Having no musical background the script and songs were real easy to follow. My first graders love performing this musical every year. With so many skits to choose from, we can change it up and do different skits every year. Definitely looking at other k-3 productions from Bad Wolf Press! Just buy it. It’s super easy and everyone will love it!
Jacquita (verified owner) –
This was too easy for my grades 3-6 Drama Club, even for them to perform for younger students,but I am going to use it with my first grade class. It is labeled for K-3, so it will be good for them. It looks like a fun way to learn fables and vowel sounds!