Drama is a great way to bring stories to life. For Easter, you can have your students act out the Story of the Three Trees or one of your favorite Easter stories to embrace the full meaning of Easter.

Hi! My name is Danielle. After homeschooling my kids from Pre-K through high school, I have learned a lot of creative ways to fit drama into our homeschool and now want to share them with you. 

Act out the Story of the Three Trees

When my kids were in elementary school, we had an opportunity each year to do a family presentation in front of our group during our morning announcement time. One year my daughter thought it would be fun to tell the Story of the Three Trees through drama. Since we were paired up with another family that week, it gave us the extra time we needed to tell the whole story.

This was a great time for the dads to get involved as well. With seven of us, the kids represented the three trees throughout the story while the adults played the narrator, woodcutters, Mary, Jesus and his disciples. The narrator read the story while we acted out what was said. Each actor said a few key lines but kept it simple so there wasn’t a lot of preparation. Costumes were easy with material over the heads for the adults and brown or camouflage clothes and branches for the kids.

(one tree is now logs in a pile while another tree is a boat carrying Jesus and his disciples)

If you’ve never read the story, it’s a beautiful tale that highlights three trees and what they hope to be when they grow up. Each is surprised and humbled by what they truly become, as each realizes how God uses them to glorify Him. It ends with the third tree standing tall on the mountain as a cross. It’s beautiful!

Act out the Easter Story from the Bible

There are plenty of stories in the Bible you can use to demonstrate the story of Easter. You can write your own play using the words from Scripture or just have someone narrate the story while students act out what is being said. You can do it as a family or include homeschool friends and neighbors. 

During Christmastime, we have used this idea to present a Nativity play (read Put on a Nativity Play With Your Neighbors). We built some basic sets and thanks to a neighbor providing scrap material, we provided basic costumes as well. Neighborhood kids show up an hour before the play is to be performed and walk through the story as the narrator reads it. It doesn’t require a lot of time on their end, and it’s a great time for the neighbors to hear the story and get to know each other better. You could do the same thing for Easter!

The story of Easter is told from the Last Supper to Judas’ Betrayal to the Crucifixion of Jesus to the Resurrection of Jesus. You can find these in all four Gospels of the Bible (Matthew 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24 and John 18-20), except for the Last Supper which is only in the first three. Pick whichever book you prefer and choose the verses your narrator will read.

Costumes are simple with a hole cut in material to place over the head, then a smaller piece for the head with a strap to wrap around the head and waist. Old sheets or tablecloths can work nicely or any material you find around the house. Don’t want to cut anything? Then just take the whole sheet and place it on the actor's head and let it hang to the ground.

Act out Plays from Stories All Year Long

If you write a play from something that already exists, you do not have to come up with the dialogue or storyline. You can just choose what you want to include and what you wish to leave out. Using the Bible is an easy way to accomplish this since it is filled with a lot of interesting stories you can use year-round. Many versions are no longer under copyright and therefore part of the public domain, so you are allowed to make derivative works from them including writing a play. 

During the summer, my daughter wrote her own play called The Miracles of Jesus. She chose five miracles she wanted to include and had a narrator and the appropriate people from the Bible as the characters. (You can write one too with the help of the How to Write a Playscript curriculum.)

She recruited 13 friends to be a part of this little production. The script is only two pages long but gets to the heart of the story so well. She chose music to go along with it and coordinated rehearsals to practice the songs and the lines for the play. 

We held the performance in our living room by turning the furniture to face the “stage” which was pretty much the entry way to our home. We had the audience sit on the furniture and floor. She had a few props and some simple costumes that each person brought from home. She even created a small program to pass out with the cast list and a thank you. The whole production was simple and affordable and a great way for the neighborhood kids to spend some of their summertime.

Afterwards, one of the kids that participated in her play wrote her own play and invited friends to perform in it. It’s fun to watch kids inspire others. When telling a great story, it’s great to see it spread while others take the lead to tell it to their friends.

The Benefits of Acting out the Three Trees or Another Easter Story

First, it’s simple! All you need is your favorite Easter story book or the Bible, and you can share the story of Easter by bringing it to life through drama. It also doesn’t have to take a lot of time and can be a spontaneous activity when you pull out the story to read. 

There are a lot of benefits of acting out the Easter story: 

• Helps kids understand and remember the story better

• Helps share the story with others who are not familiar with it

• Creates fun family time as you act out roles together

• Builds community as you come together to tell the story

• Inspires kids to be creative and share their gifts with others

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Inspired to write a play from the Bible, but don't know where to start? Don't worry we've got you covered with How to Write a Playscript from the Bible drama curriculum. With this downloadable PDF you and your student can start writing a play today!

Maybe you're not ready to write a play, but still want to have drama fun during family time or time with friends and neighbors. Check out Places Everyone! – drama game fun for the whole semester. You’ll have tons of ideas right at your fingertips when you download this PDF.

Thanks for joining us!

Danielle at homeschooldrama.com