Ralph the Reindeer

A round of applause for the children (and teachers) in Year 1 and 2 for their wonderful performance of Ralph the Reindeer!

Rudolph gets sick and cannot fly the sleigh to deliver the presents on Christmas Day so Ralph the Reindeer comes to the rescue. He finds it tough at first, but he finally learns to fly and soars through the sky with the sleigh, along with his friend Rudolph, who shared the secret of how to fly. Ralph learned that it is always best to count down when about to fly and the trick was to make sure he “starts at number 10”. We cannot forget his trusty reindeer friends and of course, jolly Santa. The elves worked extremely hard to make presents for all the good girls and boys and helped deliver them safely to the sleigh. The narrators led us fantastically through the entire story in rhyme and shared why the elves were tapping away, why there was a sniffing reindeer and why the sleigh was always crashing.

The children had to maneuver around plenty of props and work together to use the sleigh safely. They had to figure out how close to stand to the microphone whilst also doing their actions and remember who to pass the microphone to. Presents were having to be handled, as were tools, and the reindeers had to make sure they had their hooves ready to clip-clop around the stage. Remembering their cues was taken in their stride resulting in very few reminders.

The play was filled with items made by the children. During the weeks leading up to the play, the Year 1 and 2 children made the stars for the background, using festive-coloured crepe paper to decorate the stars. They also used their painting and drawing skills to decorate the box used to store the presents in the sleigh. The final item made by the children were the ‘wings’ of the sleigh that definitely played a role in helping Ralph fly at the end. All of the amazing work done by the children made the play ‘theirs’ and really allowed them to feel as though they contributed to every element of the play. An added addition to the play was the face paint to give them an extra splash of character. The narrators had a snowflake design on their cheeks, the reindeers had black noses, except for Rudolph who of course had his signature red nose and Ralph who had a green nose. The elves also got involved in the face paint by having a splash of green freckles.

A big thanks goes out to parents for their support in so many ways to prepare for the play; from gift-wrapping boxes of every shape and size, to helping children learn lines and organising costumes (maybe even going on a trip to Mitumba), washing costumes and sending in tools for the busy elves. Thank you to all the parents for all their help, the play would not have been the success it was without it!

Isn’t it wonderful that the children were able to sing Rudolph back to health in time for Rudolph to teach Ralph how to fly! Christmas was saved and all the good little girls and boys got their special presents! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could sing all of our problems away!