Bring Bucket Filling Fairy to your school, district, or community group!
The new play Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead uses humor, heart, and larger-than-life characters to teach students the concepts of Bucket Filling and Bucket Dipping. Based on Carol McCloud’s award-winning books, the play tells the story of Trey, a 4th grade student who learns about Bucket Filling at summer camp. Along the way he is helped by Mark the camp counselor, Professor Smarty Pants III, and Bucket Filling Fairy. This theatrical adaptation is a fun and effective way to teach students how to treat each other with kindness and respect.
Peaceful Schools has been proud to present the official production of Have You Filled A Bucket Today? The Play since 2013. After almost 10 successful years as the First Official Touring Production, hundreds of school performances and thousands of kids learning how to fill buckets…we are back with a brand new filmed streaming production for schools! Filmed part on location and part with green screen…the play has never been more fun and engaging. A fresh new cast brings new life to the show and Bucket Filling Fairy is more magical than ever with special effects that with dazzle and have students believing in the power of Bucket Filling! Film includes the hit The Bucket Filling Song written by Peaceful Schools.
We look forward to working with schools and groups to promote a socially safe and supportive environment through this wonderfully engaging and interactive production.
Meet our amazingly talented team of actors from the new filmed streaming production of Have You Filled A Bucket Today? The Play.
A leading member of the Peaceful Schools team since 2001, Dani’s unique background experiences in performance education and theatre arts have helped shape the Peaceful Schools multi-sensory approach to engaging students as active participants in their social-emotional development. A 1998 graduate of the Communications and Theatre departments of SUNY Oswego, Dani began her career as a children’s theatre educator. Through this work, she began to develop an interest in the idea of working with children to improve social skills and build social competence. Peaceful Schools provided Dani the outlet she was looking for to develop and deliver social emotional programming for youth. Dani was lucky enough to be a founding member of the PS Productions team and to play BFF for thousands of students across New York State. Every time it filled her bucket until it overflowed.
Jack is a current sophomore at Rider University studying Musical Theatre. This was his first project with Peaceful Schools Productions, and he had an amazing time working with such incredible people! He can’t wait for the world to learn more about bucket filling, and hopes that you enjoy the show!
Samantha is a recent graduate of Le Moyne college with a major in theatre arts and a minor in creative writing. Currently, she is attending the Atlantic Acting School in NYC. Samantha is so thrilled to be working with Peaceful Schools again, and getting to act in person after a year of zoom shows. They are thankful to everyone in the cast and crew for bringing so many smiles and laughs to the filming days, and for striving to be bucket fillers!
Shawn has a long history with Have You Filled A Bucket Today? The Play. Shawn served as dramaturg in the development of the play, alongside his dear friend and playwright Ann Marie, and was an original cast member for the workshop in 2010. In 2013, he wanted to tour the play to schools and directed the First Official Tour, launching Peaceful Schools Productions. Shawn has played Professor for almost 10 years on tour, teaching thousands of young minds the science of kindness! Shawn is a co-composer of ‘The Bucket Filling Song’, which was written for the tour, and charted #9 on the iTunes Children’s Music Charts. He is most proud to have been able to hire so many actors/friends to teach bucket filling to so many students in CNY & WNY, with two cast touring simultaneously. Thank you to all the people over the years who supported our production. Special thanks to producer, Lura Lunkenheimer, who believed in this show from the start and helped B-F-F to fly! Shawn is so excited to have directed and edited the new streaming production and is enjoying telling the story in a new way with special effects and music scoring. He is so proud of this new cast and the new energy they bring on film and the crew for working hard and laughing more! GO BUCKETFILLERS!!!!
Sofia is thrilled to be making her Peaceful Schools Productions debut! Currently a senior at Westhill High School, Sofia has done countless productions both in her community and professionally and is planning to obtain a BFA in musical theatre once she graduates. She sincerely hopes this is the first of many roles through Peaceful Schools and hopes all you bucket fillers out there absolutely love the production as much as both her and her castmates adored filming it!
Angela is currently attending SUNY Buffalo State studying Early Childhood Education. She made her debut with Peaceful Schools Productions in 2018 when she originated the role of Jayla in Weird! The Musical. Angela had a wonderful time working on this production alongside the cast and crew. She hopes everyone stays encouraged to be bucket fillers and wants everyone to remember their S.T.A.R. Power shine the brightest when we do the right thing!
Rhaine is ecstatic to have worked on their second show with Peaceful Schools. After years of high school performances and nationally competing in acting, they graduated in 2019 and jumped right into the professional circuit. They’ve toured with Weird! The Musical in late 2019 and stage managed many projects with the Theatre at Woodshill from 2019 on. These opportunities, as well as many local performances, have lead them to the honor of working on Have you Filled a Bucket Today? The Play. Rhaine looks forward to bringing the magic of theatre and purity of childhood to the screen with such an inspiring group.
Brady is currently a student Westhill High School, where he has performed in Freaky Friday (Wells) and Bye Bye Birdie (Hugo Peabody). He has had an amazing time working with the entire cast and crew and is excited to be able to teach people about bucket filling!
Want more Bucket Filling goodness?
Check out this great resource:
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Literature Guide
Use our Literature Guide for suggestions of how to read the book with your students and teach them about being Bucket Fillers! This Guide accompanies Peaceful Schools’ theatrical production of Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The Play.
Written by Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead, this book is based on her characters from the play. It’s an ordinary day at Strawberry Hill Summer Camp until a magical creature arrives and surprises the campers, Trey most of all. Trey has been dipping his friends’ buckets. Bucket Filling Fairy (BFF) tries to help Trey see that buckets are for filling, and making people happy can be so thrilling! Will Trey learn this important message, earn his friends’ forgiveness and become a Super Bucket Filler? Or is it too late for him to change? Bucket Filling Fairy is the winner of a Santa Choice Award and will teach your child how they can prevent bullying.
You can produce your own production of The Bucket Play! Licensing coming 2022!
Have You Filled A Bucket Today? Now a Streaming Production - After almost 10 successful years as the First Official Touring Production, hundreds of school performances and thousands of kids learning how to fill buckets…”Have You Filled A Bucket Today? The Play” is back as a brand new filmed streaming production for schools! Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The Play by Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead uses humor, heart, and larger-than-life characters to teach students the concepts of Bucket Filling and Bucket Dipping. Based on Carol McCloud’s award-winning books, the play tells the story of Trey, a 4th grade student who learns about Bucket Filling at summer camp. Along the way ...Read More
Peaceful Schools scores a Top 10 Hit on iTunes Children’s Charts with “The Bucket Filling Song” - Peaceful Schools, a Syracuse-based company, recently scored a big hit with its new release, “The Bucket Filling Song.” Released on June 16 on iTunes, the song shot up the iTunes Children’s Music Charts, breaking into the Top 10 on July 7, and currently residing at #9, nestled between popular Kidz Bop songs and classics such as “Electric Slide.” The 5 song EP also charted at #14 on the Children’s Album Charts. GO BUCKETFILLERS!!! Peaceful Schools wrote “The Bucket Filling Song” to accompany their successful touring production of Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The Play. The play, written by ...Read More
Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? – Review by Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead - “The Peaceful Schools production of my play is creative, engaging, lively, and just plain fun! The actors have brought so much life to the characters, honoring both the humor and the heart of the story, and Shawn Forster’s direction is fantastic.” “Peaceful Schools’ production, coupled with their activities and handouts, will no doubt enhance any school’s bullying prevention programming.” – Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead Playwright of Have You Filled A Bucket Today? The Play
‘Fill your bucket,’ Peaceful Schools teaches social skills - by ANNA WALTERS – Reporter In the touring production of “Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The Play,” school audiences learn about bucket filling through the eyes of a fourth-grade student named Trey. The play is written by Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead and is based on the award-winning children’s books by Carol McCloud. From characters, such as Professor Smarty Pants III and the Bucket Filling Fairy, the production combines humor with a positive concept. “It teaches kids that everyone has an invisible bucket inside themselves,” said artistic director Shawn Forster. Read the rest of the article on their website!
Testimonial Collection for The Bucket Play - “You did a great job. The students connected with the characters and the use of humor always reaches students.” -6th grade teacher, New Hartford Central School District “Could not have been a better match, and the kids are so excited about being bucket fillers. It’s the positive message – instead of the anti-bullying message – because kids know how to treat one another vs. just saying we have a no bullying school.” -Principal, Mexico Central School District “It’s great to have the play to reference when complimenting students on good behavior.” -Teacher, New Hartford Central School District “Fabulous show – ...Read More
