Adapted from
the poem by Bruce Lansky in If
Pigs Could Fly...And Other Deep Thoughts!, published by Meadowbrook Press.
Summary: A child finds a
substitute for thumb-sucking.
Presentation Suggestions: Have the students read or perform the poem in front of the
class. Have the students act out the different lines while they read them.
Props: This poem can be
performed without props.
Delivery: The lines of the poem need to be read with poetic rhythm.
For more information on poetic rhythm and how to perform poetry in classroom,
please read the Performing
Poetry section under the Teacher’s Resources.
Characters:
Mother
Narrator
Don’t Suck Your
Thumb
Mother:
“Don’t
suck your thumb,”
Narrator:
my mother said.
I
answered, “Why?”
and scratched my head.
She
said,
Mother:
“It’s
dumb!
Now
go to bed.”
Narrator:
That
night I sucked
my toe instead.
© 2000 by Bruce
Lansky. Adapted from the poem in If
Pigs Could Fly...And Other Deep Thoughts published by Meadowbrook
Press. This classroom theater play version of “Don’t Suck Your Thumb” is © 2008
by Meadowbrook Press.
Permission is given for individual
school classes to perform this play and to make as many copies of the play as
are needed for the students’ use. All other reproduction and performance is
prohibited under penalty of law. For use of this play outside individual
classes, please contact info@meadowbrookpress.com for permission.
Click on the book
below for more information about
“If Pigs Could
Fly…And Other Deep Thoughts”