Pre-K and kindergarten drama lessons, simple scripts, activities, and theatre resources.
Introduce your youngest students to the joy of drama with age-appropriate lessons, simple scripts, and creative play activities for Pre-K to first grade. This collection for ages 4–7 helps teachers quickly find resources that support movement, imagination, storytelling, language development, and early social skills. With playful and easy-to-use Drama Notebook materials, even very young children can begin exploring theatre in a way that feels natural and fun.
Teaching Resources
Getting Started and Planning
Everything you need to organize and plan a year of teaching creative drama to young children.
What is creative drama? This one-page handout defines creative drama for young children and highlights its key benefits in a simple, easy-to-read format for caregivers and administrators.
One page worksheet to help you identify objectives for your drama class.
Fill one of these in for every drama class/session and stay on track with fulfilling the goals of your class/session.
20 examples of how to write a course description for your drama class. Helpful for teachers of preschool through high school.
Classroom Management
Teaching creative drama is great fun and even better with these helpful tips and tricks.
32 ideas for getting your students’ attention in drama class or rehearsal. Perfect for all ages.
Easy, helpful guide to making a list of rules for your drama class!
This simple yet powerful framework helps students learn to give and receive feedback in drama class. This tool fosters student voice, vulnerability, and risk-taking. It can be applied to all K-12 drama classrooms.
Warmups
Begin each class with a warmup for the body, brain, and imagination. Follow along with these Brain Dance videos or better yet, use them as inspiration and lead them on your own.
Literacy / Writing
11 coloring pages to learn drama vocabulary. Features original artwork from Drama Notebook.
Drama integration activity that uses movement to convey the meaning of verbs. Includes instructions and a list of 26 verbs.
Drama Activities & Lessons
List of 75 children’s books to use in drama class. 29 pages long. Includes extra information on each title!
Collection of 150 drama games and activities that work specifically with younger students (ages 3-6).
‘Become’ is a classic drama activity in which students ‘become’ appliances, household items, flowers, and even weather! 10 pages. Includes three pages of prompts!
2 minutes. Parts for 3+ actors (flexible cast). Best suited for very young children.
SEVENTY simple movement scripts for ages 3-5. Drama activity and lesson plan for pre-school or early elementary students.
Easy tutorial for making sock puppets with students of all ages. A low-stress and creative project that can be completed in one class period.
Creative drama lesson with a winter theme. 8 pages filled with original ideas for imagination play, storytelling, singing, dancing, and more. Excellent for preschool through early elementary.
Spring-themed drama lesson for young children. 8 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Creative drama lesson with a theme of summer. 9 pages filled with original ideas for imagination play, storytelling, singing, dancing, and more. Excellent for preschool through early elementary.
Autumn-themed drama lesson for young children. 8 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Animal-themed drama lesson for young children. 7 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Art-themed drama lesson for young children. 9 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Feelings-themed drama lesson for young children. 7 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Book-themed drama lesson for young children. 8 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Creative drama lesson with a theme of home. 9 pages filled with original ideas for imagination play, storytelling, singing, dancing, and more.
Creative drama lesson with a theme of celebrating your unique qualities. 9 pages filled with original ideas for imagination play, storytelling, singing, dancing, and more.
Magic-themed drama lesson for young children. 8 pages of songs, movement activities, stories, and more.
Bug-themed drama lesson for young children. 8 pages of songs, movement activities, stories and more.
Pirate-themed drama lesson for young children. 8 pages of songs, movement activities, stories, and more.
Creative drama lesson with a theme of occupations. 8 pages filled with original ideas for imagination play, storytelling, singing, dancing, and more. Excellent for preschool through early elementary.
Creative drama lesson with a theme of food. 10 pages filled with original ideas for imagination play, storytelling, singing, dancing, and more. Excellent for preschool through early elementary.
Popular Scripts
Most of the plays on Drama Notebook have flexible casting. Here are just a few popular titles. Check out the full script library HERE.
List of 30 more children’s books to use in drama class. 13 pages long. Includes extra information on each title!
Flexible casting for 10+ characters. Approximately 10 minutes running time. Leading narration and rhyming make it perfect for preschool and elementary. Includes suggestions for adding more poetry to your production.
6 characters. Flexible cast; 3 pages in length. Approximately 1-5 minutes running time. A short play for children about acceptance by Shaneisha Dodson.
12+ characters. Approximately 10 minutes running time.
Short Dr. Seuss-style script for ages 5-7. 6+ parts. Flexible casting. 3 pages long.
6+ characters, flexible casting. Approximately 10 minutes long. Simple play for very young children based on ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’
10+ characters, flexible casting. Approximately 5 minutes long. Based on the Italian folktale, Puss in Boots.
4 characters with flexible casting. Approximately 5 minutes running time. Adapted by Val Neubecker.
7+characters. Approximately 10 minutes running time. Colorful characters like fairies, knights, witches, and butterflies share a message of kindness. Leading narration makes it easy for young children to perform.
5-30 characters (13 characters as written), approximately 10 minutes running time. When the shop owner leaves, all the toys come to life! (1 credit)
5+ characters. Approximately 3 minutes running time. Short play based on an Aesop fable.
Video Learning
Getting Started
Discover engaging, age-appropriate strategies for introducing drama to young children in this bite-sized professional development video. Learn how to nurture imagination and build social-emotional skills through playful drama activities you can use right away. Perfect for busy educators who want to bring joyful, creative learning into their early-years classroom.
Plan a year of drama with confidence and creativity. In this helpful video, you’ll learn how to map out a full year of engaging lessons that build skills, spark imagination, and keep students excited from day one to the final bow. Perfect for drama teachers ready to turn big ideas into a clear, powerful plan.
Bring clarity, creativity, and flow to every class period! In this quick, practical video, you’ll learn a simple structure for guiding students from warm-up to wrap-up with purpose and energy. Perfect for drama teachers who want smooth, engaging, and inspiring class periods-every time.
Learn how to set up your drama classroom and what things you need to make it fun, organized, and inspiring for everyone.
Classroom Management
Turn classroom chaos into creative flow! In this short, engaging video, you’ll learn practical, drama-specific classroom management strategies that keep energy high, behavior positive, and every student ready to shine. Perfect for new and seasoned drama teachers alike, it’s your backstage pass to a smoother, more joyful classroom experience. Lights up, stress down!
Set the stage for success! In this short video, you’ll learn how to co-create meaningful classroom agreements that build trust, spark collaboration, and empower students to take ownership of their drama space. Discover simple, creative strategies that transform your classroom into a safe, supportive place where every student feels ready to take bold risks. Perfect for any drama teacher ready to make the magic happen from day one!
Choice Time doesn’t have to be chaos! In this quick video you’ll learn how to create and support open play in your drama classroom so students can explore and discover on their own.
Unlock the power of meaningful feedback in your drama classroom! This easy-to-use framework teaches students to give and take feedback and also helps you assess student engagement and understanding. Watch this video and learn how to incorporate this powerful Feedback Framework into your drama classroom and rehearsal.
Boost your drama students’ confidence with five fun and engaging activities that strengthen vocal projection on stage.
This short video shares how to keep your classroom drama productions simple, and stress-free. Perfect for busy educators who want big impact with minimal hassle.
For Teachers and Students
Pop, stretch, and play! This fun video leads children through a bubble-gum-inspired drama exercise, stretching their imagination and creativity with every ‘chewy’ move.
Bring younger students into drama with Creative Drama Brain Dance video warmups that blend breath, movement, and imagination into a joyful routine.
