Characters: Guide, Chris, Emily, Heidi, Terry
• Guide, Chris, and Terry can be played by boys or girls.
• If you don't have enough performers, some people can play two roles.

Scenery, Props, Costumes
• You may want to paint, draw, or color a backdrop showing layers of the canyon.
• Scenes 2-6: Each character will need a "mule" to ride. You can make simple mules by attaching paper heads to broomsticks.
• Scene 5: The characters have lunch. If you don't want to mess with food, just use gestures that make it look as if you're eating.
• Scene 6: The characters take off real or pretend jackets.

Scene 1: A WALKING TIME MACHINE

(The guide points to the mules that will carry everyone into the Grand Canyon.)

Guide: So how do you like my time machines?

(The visitors laugh as if the guide were the biggest dork on Earth.)

Chris: Time machines?! Those are just old mules.

Guide: Those "old mules," as you call them, are going to take you nearly two billion years back in time.

Emily: I don't understand.

Guide: Have you ever seen the rings of a tree after it's been cut down?

Emily: Yes. We learned about that in science. The middle rings are real old, and the outer ones are newer.

Guide: Exactly. Well, the Grand Canyon is similar. But instead of rings, it has strata. That's a big word for layers of rock. Each layer is newer than the one beneath it.

Chris: Okay. But what does that have to do with the mules?

Guide: As you go deeper, you encounter older and older rock. By the time you hit the river, you're looking at stone that's nearly two billion years old. That's why I think of these mules as time machines.

Chris: Oh! That makes sense then.

Guide: Glad you approve, kid.

Scene 2: TALKING BIG

Guide: Before we head down, let's cover a few basics. First, a question for you, Terry. Where are we?

Terry: Well, that's obvious. We're at the Grand Canyon.

Guide: No kidding. But what state are we in?

Terry: That's easy. I read that the canyon was formed by the Colorado River. So we must be in Colorado, right?

Guide: Not exactly. Right river, wrong state. Actually, we're in Arizona.

Heidi: So why do they call it the Colorado River?

Guide: Well, the river does start in Colorado. But it runs all the way down to Mexico. That's nearly 1,500 miles. The name comes from the Spanish word for red.

Heidi: Because the canyon looks so red?

Guide: You're almost right. Early explorers thought the water looked red. That's because it carries so much red mud.

Emily: So how long is the Grand Canyon?

Guide: Guess.

Emily: Fifty miles?

Guide: Multiply that by six.

Emily: It's 300 miles long?

Guide: Almost. And it's about a mile deep. Its width varies from 5 to 18 miles.

Chris: Wow. That's huge!

Guide: Yup. It's going to take us a whole day to reach the bottom. Feel like getting started?

(Characters get on their mules and begin riding.)

Scene 3: TAKE IT FROM TEDDY

Heidi: Can you believe how narrow this path is? Not that I'm scared or anything.

Terry: So how come you've been riding with your eyes closed?

Heidi: I have not! Well, maybe just once or twice. But only when my mule gets too close to the edge. I can't believe there's no fence.

Chris: I admit: It makes me dizzy to look down. But I still can't help looking. These canyon walls are awesome!

Guide: They are, aren't they? This view takes my breath away every single visit. Did you know that President Theodore Roosevelt said every American should see the Grand Canyon?

Emily: He was right.

Scene 4: WATCH OUT FOR SHARKS!

Terry: The rock is changing color!

Guide: I've been waiting for you to notice that. The grayish rock we saw at first was limestone. It formed from the bones and shells of creatures who swam here about 200 million years ago.

Heidi: Up here? Don't you mean down in the river?

Guide: No. The limestone stratum formed long before the river came into the picture. In those early days, the entire top layer was flat and under water. Primitive sea creatures—even sharks—lived here.

Terry: How do you know what lived here then? You're not that old.

Guide: Gee thanks, kid! Scientists base their theories of ancient life on fossils. Those are the remains and imprints of organisms preserved in the rock. So what do you think of the color of this next layer?

Emily: I don't know what to call it. It looks almost like sand.

Guide: Bingo! This is sandstone. There was a desert here before the sea swept in. As new layers pressed down on the sand, it hardened into rock.

Chris: Amazing!

Guide: You ain't seen nothin' yet. But first, let's break for lunch and a stretch.

(Characters get off their mules.)

Scene 5: RIVER OF CHANGE

Emily: It feels great to get off that mule!

Heidi: Totally.

(Everyone sits down and eats lunch.)

Chris: Hey, I have a question.

Guide: Shoot.

Chris: Emily mentioned that the Colorado River formed the Grand Canyon.

Guide: She's right.

Chris: Well, if the river's way down there, how did it carve rock up all the way up here?

Guide: Good question. Time for more tree talk. Any of you ever watch someone use a saw?

Terry: Yeah. I helped my mom build a shed last summer.

Guide: So what happened when she moved the saw?

Terry: It cut through the top. Then it sank deeper and deeper into the wood.

Guide: Exactly! Well, the river worked the same way. Five to ten million years ago, forces within the Earth pushed the land above sea level. The result was a high, flat landform called a plateau.

Heidi: Then what?

Guide: Well, the river ran fast and powerfully over the plateau. The water sliced into the rock like a saw. Over time, the river cut deeper and deeper. Meanwhile, wind ate away at the exposed rock. Can anyone tell me what those water and wind movements are called?

Heidi: Erosion.

Guide: Erosion it is. Two points for Heidi! Combine water and wind erosion with a lot of time, and you get the Grand Canyon.

(Once lunch is finished, the characters clean up. To keep the canyon beautiful, they carry any trash with them.)

Chris: So when was the canyon finished?

Guide: Who said anything about being finished? The river is still sawing away. Come back in a thousand years, and the canyon will be a few inches deeper. In a million years, the riverbed should be 80 feet below where it is now.

Terry: Oh wow! That would be cool to see.

(Characters get back on their mules and begin riding again.)

Scene 6: ONWARD AND DOWNWARD

Emily: This is the first time I've ever tried digesting on muleback.

Terry: Me too. There won't be a second time!

Guide: Trust me: You'll be okay. But you may want to peel off your jackets.

Heidi: Good idea. The lower we go, the hotter it gets.

(Characters take off their jackets.)

Guide: That's right. In fact, the bottom can be 25º hotter than the rim. Descending into the canyon is like going from Canada to Mexico—at least in terms of climate.

Chris: Now you tell us!

Guide: Take a look at this flaky, red stuff. It's called shale.

Terry: What's that?

Guide: It's a kind of rock, usually formed from clay or mud.

Emily: How old is it?

Guide: This stratum is roughly 300 million years old.

Heidi: Awesome!

Guide: Now it's my turn to ask a question. What does the shale tell you about life here 300 million years ago?

Terry: It was wet, really wet.

Guide: You got it! Hard to imagine, isn't it?

(A few layers later)

Emily: Here comes another red layer.

Guide: Yes, indeed. This time it's limestone, left by a sea that washed over the area about 330 million years ago.

(A few more layers later)

Chris: Now the rock is black.

Guide: These cliffs are the oldest rock in the canyon. Two billion years ago, mountains towered here. This is all that's left of them.

Heidi: Mountains. Unbelievable! So this same area has been a mountain range, a desert, and a sea?

Guide: That's just for starters. There are about 20 distinct layers in the canyon, each with a story to tell. So what do you think of my time machines now?

(The kids grin in spite of themselves.)

Chris: I hate to admit it, but they're pretty cool.

(Everyone takes a bow.)

Text by Peter Winkler
Kids may print out and perform this play.

LINKS AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Destination: Grand Canyon National Park
Get tons of information for planning your own trip to this awesome landscape.

Park of the Month: Grand Canyon
Explore the canyon via an interactive map and check out some great photos of the park.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES

National Park Service: Grand Canyon
Check out the official site for Grand Canyon National Park.

Grand Canyon Explorer
Take a guided tour, see photos of the canyon, and get tips for visiting.