 | An easy, flexible, 25-minute musical play for grades 1-4. 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
Hosts of "Know Your Life Cycles" interview a variety of animals and plants for insights about metamorphosis, the food chain, and more. Learn more! |
MusicalGr. 1-425 Min.
Musical Play: “Life Cycles”
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
Naturally a play about life cycles will include singing tadpoles and dancing mice. But as your students learn about metamorphosis, the food chain, shared characteristics, the plant cycle, nourishment (water, food, light), and adaptation to the environment in this fun show, they'll also meet butterflies who don't want to grow up, snakes who want to pollinate flowers, and even some slimy biologists! Catchy tunes and clever lyrics reinforce the curriculum.
Preview the script and songs!Key Concepts
Life Cycles: How Plants and Animals Change is a great complement to your curriculum resources in elementary school science. And, 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:
978-1-886588-36-3
© 2006
Bad Wolf Press, LLC
6 reviews for Musical Play: “Life Cycles”
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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. Use as many fish, rabbits, butterflies, etc as you wish. Actors can easily play several roles, or a single role can be divided between multiple actors. All parts can be played by any gender.
CHARACTERS:
Hosts
Butterflies
Fish
Rabbits
Tadpoles
Plants
Snakes
Biologists
Gardeners
Forest Plants and Animals
Zoo Keepers
and a CHORUS comprised of all students who are not playing roles on stage
at the time.
Script
This is the first one-third of the script.
(CLASS enters and faces audience)
Song 1
Listen to
a sample!
CLASS:
Here's our show about some life cycles
How plants and critters grow
Here's our show about some life cycles
We'll tell you what we know.
We've been learning such a lot lately
Our brains are gonna sprout
Here's our show about some life cycles
It's gonna knock you out.
We are talking 'bout the stages
As an organism ages
And the changes it goes through
It's a basic introduction
From the birth to reproduction
And we're singing it for you.
Here's our show about some life cycles
How plants and critters grow
Here's our show about some life cycles
We'll tell you what we know.
Woh-oh.
HOST #1: Good afternoon [morning/evening]. Welcome to "Know Your Life Cycles."
HOST #2: Let's get started up close and personal with a look at the life cycle of a monarch butterfly.
HOST #3: We're here on milkwood leaf with some recently laid butterfly eggs.
HOST #1 (to BUTTERFLIES): Tell us---how's the cycle going?
Song 2
Listen to
a sample!
BUTTERFLIES:
I don't wanna grow up
I like it here in my egg
Don't have to brush my teeth
Don't have to clean my leaf.
I don't wanna grow up
I guess I don't have a choice
Bustin' out from our eggs
Look ma we all got legs!
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Don't know why or how
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
We're caterpillars now.
I don't wanna grow up
I like it here on my leaf
Munching on this milkwood
Us teenagers have it good.
I don't wanna grow up
I guess I don't have a choice
Spinning all afternoon
Trapped here in this cocoon.
BUTTERFLIES and CHORUS:
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Don't know why or how
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
The chrysalis stage now.
BUTTERFLIES:
Guess it's time to grow up
I wanna spread my new wings
Time now to blow this town
Tired of hanging around.
Glad I finally grew up
Hey look at me I'm a beaut
Look ma I got a tongue
Nectar yeah here I come!
BUTTERFLIES and CHORUS:
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Don't know why or how
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
We're butterflying now.
We're butterflying now.
(BUTTERFLIES exit. FISH, TADPOLES, RABBITS, and PLANTS enter, glancing cautiously all around.)
HOST #2: Wasn't that fascinating?
HOST #3: We're here now with some plants and animals.
(to ANIMALS and PLANTS)
Excuse me---you're looking a little nervous. Is everything all right?
FISH: It's the food chain.
RABBITS (scream in terror): The FOOD CHAIN! Run for your lives!!
(RABBITS start racing around crazily)
TADPOLE (after a few seconds): Stop that!
(RABBITS stop)
We're just TALKING about the food chain.
RABBITS: Oh. Sorry.
PLANT: We're all a bit on edge. It's this predator and prey thing---eat or be eaten.
FISH: It makes it very hard to relax and enjoy a good book.
Song 3
Listen to
a sample!
FISH, TADPOLES, RABBITS, PLANTS:
Predator or prey?
Which is it today?
It's a nervous game we play
Predator, predator or prey?
FISH:
I'm a fish and I have found a rule that must be followed
To swallow other fish is much more fun than being swallowed.
TADPOLES:
I'm a little tadpole and I rarely am the winner
I try to dine but soon I find I'm someone else's dinner.
FISH, TADPOLES, RABBITS, PLANTS:
Predator or prey?
Which is it today?
It's a nervous game we play
Predator, predator or prey?
RABBITS:
We are rabbits and it seems the world is out to get us
We're terrified by everything---look out, here comes some lettuce!
PLANTS:
We are plants and have you noticed how the food chain treats us?
Here at the bottom of the food chain---everybody eats us!
FISH, TADPOLES, RABBITS, PLANTS, and CHORUS:
Predator or prey?
Which is it today?
It's a nervous game we play
Predator, predator or prey?
Predator, predator or prey?
(FISH, TADPOLES, RABBITS, and PLANTS exit. BIOLOGISTS enter.)
HOST #1: We're lucky to have with us on the show some famous biologists.
HOST #2: They'll help explain some of the mysteries of the life cycle. So tell us...
(HOST is interrupted by SNAKES rushing onto the stage)
SNAKE #1: Look out, snakes coming through.
SNAKE #2: Pardon us, pardon us. We're migrating.
BIOLOGIST #1 and #2: Snakes! I HATE snakes!
(SNAKES stop)
HOST #3: I thought biologists liked animals.
BIOLOGIST #1: We do. But snakes. Yech!
SNAKE #1: We get that all the time.
SNAKE #2: We feel the same way about biologists.
(SNAKES start to exit)
SNAKE #1: Yeah. They just sort of sneak up on you.
SNAKE #2: And they're so slimy to touch.
(SNAKES exit)
BIOLOGIST #2 (shouting after SNAKES): Oh yeah? Well snakes don't migrate!
SNAKES (from off stage): Just watch us, big shot!
HOST #1 (to BIOLOGISTS): So, tell our audience: how can you tell what kind of offspring a plant or animal will have?
BIOLOGIST #1: That's an easy one.
BIOLOGIST #2: You're talking about shared characteristics.
Song 4
Listen to
a sample!
BIOLOGISTS:
A cat will have kittens
A mouse will have mice
A fish will have fishes
A louse will have lice.
An eagle has eaglets
A dog will have dogs
They're puppies not guppies or wet pollywogs.
Offspring resemble their parents
Animals flowers and fruit
Offspring resemble their parents
Thank goodness all parents are cute
Thank goodness all parents are cute.
The seeds from your apples
Become apple trees
And daisies make daisies
And peas produce peas.
An oak was an acorn
In its early days
A carrot inherits its carrot-like ways.
BIOLOGISTS and CHORUS:
Offspring resemble their parents
Animals flowers and fruit
Offspring resemble their parents
Thank goodness all parents are cute
Thank goodness all parents are cute.
(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
Science
Language Arts
- 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
National Core Arts Standards
- Music - Anchor Standards 4-6
- Theater - Anchor Standards 3-6
- Dance - Anchor Standards 1-6
Vocabulary
stages
chrysalis
tadpoles
stamen
blossom
hibernation
ice-age
toxin
organism
nectar
migration
pollywogs
adaptation
pollution
environmental niche
soil
acclimation
gills
reproduction
predator
offspring
kumquat
seedling
photosynthesis
global warming
extinction
cocoon
prey
guppies
pollination
leafage
General Vocabulary Building (words and phrases)
warble
knock you out
on edge
in your dreams
wraps up
paranoid
blow this town
big shot
common ground
a dud
motto
beaut
The Man
got flair
Celeste (verified owner) –
I love doing this play when school is in person, and have done so for the last 10+ school years. Now with distance learning, while doing the play in full is not feasible, I was grateful to still be able to teach my students the fun songs!
Jen Howell (verified owner) –
I did two Bad Wolf Press plays this year. Life Cycles and Hansel and Gretel eat Right. Bad Wold Press has a structure where almost every kid can succeed in the part given. The music is catchy and it build classroom community.
Tom Thieme (verified owner) –
I've turned to Bad Wolf for years now. I thought I might revisit a musical I'd done before but I saw "Life Cycles" was going to coincide academically with my lessons so decided to give it a try.
One of the first things I liked about it was its brevity. Audience attention spans are limited to about a half hour and many shows go on for forty. Quantity isn't necessarily quality anyway.
The songs are ridiculously catchy. I thought I was prejudiced because I got to hear them so much but one teacher told me the next day she couldn't get one out of her head a day later. I had one timid little mouse find her inner lion in this play. She played one of the rabbits and blew us all away with her suddenly histrionic portrayal of panic. I typecast the smart aleck snakes and the roles fit one of them particularly well. Heh. "Offspring" went over particularly well with the parents ("Parents resemble their offspring, thank goodness all parents are cute") as one might predict. It lent itself quite well to costuming too-I found a site that provided print-out masks. I found pith helmets for zookeepers, green aprons for gardeners, lab coats for biologists on Amazon. Easy.
Frankly, content-wise, it had at least as much substance to it as our science text and with all the repeated practice we got, I suspect kids will retain more from this play than the textbook.
I do my plays in May when most of my curriculum has been covered, the test season and Open House have passed and the kids smell the end of the year like a shark senses blood in the water. It keeps us focused on a goal until the end of the year, and in a school with so many superstar teachers, it's enabled me to claim my own distinctive offering. I'm the teacher whose class puts on a play for the whole school. That is most appreciated.
I hope to redo this play before I retire because little things occurred to me I could have added but opted not to because I was working with second graders, not seasoned professionals. I'd go with more visuals of caterpillars and flowers changing and I recommend, if you ever use it, to consider including these kinds of features into the play. If you have someone who hates to sing or learn lines, holding up and manipulating visuals might be just what they like.
I used to write plays for my classes but Bad Wolf does the job quite nicely, an entire package with songs, recordings, scripts and stage directions for the hesitant director. I like that the company also lets you preview their work free so you get a good gist of what each play will be like before purchasing a license. The actual company is quite personally accessible too. You can email them with specific questions and they get right back to you. If you're looking for the means to merge performance arts with curricular content, this is an excellent source. And if your principal is nervous about how much time it takes from attaining those precious test scores, there's even a musical on how to take tests. (Full disclosure: I suggested it to Bad Wolf and they followed through!)
Ms Thornton (verified owner) –
We really enjoyed producing this musical. There aren’t that many lines (outside of the songs) for the kids to memorize, so it made it possible for all of my students to have speaking parts they could access. The vocabulary they learned was fantastic and I enjoyed almost all the songs.
The only thing I will cut when I do it again is the Offspring song…I didn’t feel like it (nor the lines that came before it) explained the idea of shared characteristics as it was intended to do.
Sgarcia (verified owner) –
This play is funny while still teaching about ecosystems. It is very appropriate for second grade students. Unfortunately, one verse in the "Metamorphosis" song has the original lyrics on the recording and different (updated) lyrics in the script. If the recording could be updated, this would be a five star play for my second grade class.
Julianne (verified owner) –
My kids are so excited about this show! it is funny and educational. I love Bad Wolf Press! I have done a musical every year I have taught…15 so far! Thank you for this wonderful company.