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What's With All These Rules?

   

Overview/Theme: This play is designed to use a puppet to help you set or reinforce class rules. It uses an emcee and a puppet, but you could use two puppets.  Cast—1 or 2 Puppets.

Emcee:    Welcome to ________ everyone. We’re going to have a great time together…

Hank:      (Runs in interrupting) Am I late? Am I late? I sure don’t want to miss class today.

Emcee:    Hi Hank, we were just starting, so you haven’t missed anything. Boys and girls, this is Hank. Hank, these are all the boys and girls that have come out to class today.

Hank:      Boy is this going to be a great time together or what?

Emcee:    That’s what I was just telling the boys and girls. We have a lot of neat things in store for you today. For instance…

Hank:      (Interrupts.) Tell them about the great Bible lesson we’re going to hear.

Emcee:    I will Hank; but you need to give me a chance. Today we’re going to learn about some neat things that happened to people in the Bible. We’ll hear about…

Hank:      (Interrupts again.) Tell them about the really neat missionary story (or some other class aspect.) That’s my favorite part.

Emcee:    Hank, it’s not polite to interrupt like that.

Hank:      I know, but I’m just so excited about class.

Emcee:    We do have a great story about…

Hank:      Oh, tell them about the great songs we’ll hear.

Emcee:    I think Hank that the first thing I need to talk about is our class rules.

Hank:      Rules! But I want to have fun. Rules will ruin everything. Why bother with them?

Emcee:    Rules don’t stop us from having fun; they actually help us to be able to have more fun.

Hank:      I have a hard time believing that.

Emcee:    It’s true. Let me show you our rules chart and maybe I can explain it to you.

Hank:      I guess, but I doubt you’ll be able to change my mind.

Emcee:    We only have three rules in this class. If everyone keeps these rules, our class will run smoothly and we’ll have fun. The first one is, “No talking when the teacher is talking.”

Hank:      Uh oh, I already broke that one didn’t I.

Emcee:    That’s right. I was trying to tell the boys and girls about the exciting parts of class, but with all your interruptions, I still haven’t been able to talk about them. Besides that, you can only really listen to one person at a time. If several people are talking, it can become quite confusing.

Hank:      I see what you mean. Besides that, interrupting someone is rude. I’m sorry I let my excitement get in the way of you telling about class.

Emcee:    That’s ok. I think you’ve learned your lesson. Our second rule is “Respect others in class.” That means to keep your hands and feet to yourself and don’t bother those around you. If you disobey this rule, you not only miss out on what’s being said, but you cause the person you are bothering to miss out on what’s being said.

Hank:      Oh… I don’t want to cause someone else to miss out on things at class. I don’t want to miss them myself. Let me see… (looks at the chart) I would say the third rule is “Stay in your seat.” Why do we need that rule?

Emcee:    Well, let me ask you this, if you were to get up and walk around during the Bible lesson, what would the children do.

Hank:      They would probably watch me and miss out on something wouldn’t they?

Emcee:    That’s right. You would distract the children and maybe cause them to miss something important.

Hank:      I guess rules are important after all. I’m going to try real hard to keep the rules and I hope all the boys and girls will too. I guess I should go back to my seat so I don’t distract others and so you can get on with class. Bye everyone.

 

NOTE: Included in the PDF download is a rules chart. You can make a copy of the chart to show to the class as you go over the rules. You may want to laminate it and when finished post it someplace in the classroom. Then, later on, if the children begin to misbehave you can point to the chart and briefly reinforce the rules.

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