Historically, providing local 4-H clubs with ideas for entertaining their club members was an important service from the national level, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. And, an expanded audience always included parents, other family members, and the community at large.

The National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work (now National 4-H Council), pushed many of these efforts. The leader magazine, "National 4-H Club News," carried promotions for short plays and skits in nearly every issue. The 4-H Handy Book, forerunner to the National 4-H Supply Service Catalog, promoted plays, skits and drama. The National Committee often contracted with various writers and educators to create new plays and skits for 4-H audiences. National 4-H events - including National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago and the National 4-H Camp on the Mall in Washington, D.C. - often premiered these plays and dramatic presentations. When delegates and chaperones saw these plays and skits performed at the national events, they went back to their respective states and counties and replicated them in their own clubs, at local and state 4-H camps and at county fairs and achievement nights.

In addition to the plays written specifically for 4-H, the National Committee also promoted and sold other plays written for a wider audience, but appropriate for 4-H groups, as well.

There is a section on 4-H Plays, Skits and Drama under National 4-H History on the National 4-H History Preservation website.