Bumper Harvest

‘Bumper Harvest’ is a set of three mini-musicals based on classic tales: 'The Little Red Hen', 'The Enormous Turnip' and 'The Gingerbread Man', all brilliantly adapted for use as Harvest presentations, but equally suitable for other times of the year, e.g. as part of a literacy project, World Book Day, etc. 

The mini-musicals may be performed independently (approx 15 mins. each), or linked together to make a ‘bumper’ show, ideal if you want to involve more than one class. 

Included in the ‘Bumper Harvest’ pack:
•  Three mini-musicals with linking script, plus director’s notes and overview
•  2 CDs, containing 18 songs, including three generic Harvest songs and a Harvest round 
•  A Harvest dance
•  Read-aloud stories
•  Colouring sheets
•  Three recipes 
•  Photocopiable pupil script, lyrics and programme template

FREE word-searches - see cast list tab below

The Little Red Hen
The hard-working Red Hen lives on a farm. She asks her friends, Cat, Dog and Duck to help her plant some wheat seeds, but they're all too lazy, so she has to do it by herself.  When the wheat has grown, she asks her friends to help harvest the crop and bake the bread, but they're still too lazy - until it's time to eat the bread, when they're suddenly very keen to help!  The kind Red Hen wants to share it with them, but only after they’ve learned a very important lesson.

The Enormous Turnip
In springtime, a man plants some turnip seeds in his garden.  One of the turnips grows bigger than all the rest, until it's enormous! At harvest time, the man can't pull up the turnip by himself. His wife comes to help, followed by a boy, a girl, a dog and a cat... but it's only when a tiny mouse provides the last bit of strength they need, they finally manage to yank the enormous turnip out of the ground. Everyone enjoys a delicious harvest supper!

The Gingerbread Man
A little old woman makes a gingerbread man out of flour from the harvest.  As it bakes, she is amazed to hear a tiny voice coming from inside the oven, calling to be let out!  As soon as the oven door is open, the gingerbread man jumps out and runs away.  He is chased by the little old woman, her husband, a cow and a horse - but he keeps on running! He manages to escape from them all until he comes to a river, which he can’t get across. A cunning fox offers to carry him, but half way across the river he tosses the gingerbread man up into the air, catches him and gobbles him up - at which point all the others arrive, very disappointed that they didn't get a bite!  Fortunately, there is plenty of flour left from the harvest to make more gingerbread men!

"This was the best Harvest celebration we have ever had. We used all three stories, with my EYFS class performing the first. What I loved was that EVERY child shone - my 4 year olds were so proud that they had done their own play and songs! The parents were ecstatic and full of praise. It was lovely to perform three brilliantly written, fun traditional tales. They fit in so well with the literacy and creative curriculum of our school! Thank you!"  -  A. Commins, Music Teacher, N Yorkshire.

Click here to listen to the COMPLETE songs on our 'Starshine Singers' YouTube channel

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