Fable Day: Tortoise & the Hare

Virtue: Be Wise/Be Humble/Be Positive
Habit/Motto: Slow & steady wins the race/Try, Try, Try Again/Focus on the End Result
Verse: "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." (Alma 37:6)

Song/Finger Play: 
Little Bunny Foo-Foo (finger play)
Tim the Tiny Turtle (finger play)

Yoga Pose: Turtle, Frog (pretend it's bunny), Tree (where bunny napped)

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex
A) Group Race (emphasizing they importance to all finish, not competition) and make homemade award medals
B) Cloth Origami (bunny made out of a rag)
C) Read You Are Special

Share: Have an awards ceremony with everyone getting a medal and say something nice about each child.

Snacks: 
Make turtles: PB, chocolate and pretzels
Carrots (all bunnies love them)

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Letter: T or R
Words: tortoise, turtle, track, tree, two; race, run, rabbit
Number: two
Shape: circle (turtle shell)
Season: spring, summer, autumn

*focus on thumbs up for "positive" focus (which can look like a turtle with the other hand as a shell over it)

Aesops Fable: The Hare & the Tortoise

A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow.

"Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh.

"Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it."

The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of the thing he agreed. So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.

The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the Tortoise should catch up.

The Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully; and when at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.

The race is not always to the swift.

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Storytime Ideas:
- We defined a "race track" and then had Ethan run it to show us all where the animals had to race. Then we performed the race: Ethan had the bunny and I had the turtle. But there was a house plant halfway through it that I told Ethan the bunny was going to stop at for a nap (while turtle kept plodding along).
We zoned in on the words "steady" and "focused"...and applied it to when we do a task, to keep trying and focus one step at a time to be steady and win the race. This was great at dinner time when I told him to be steady and keep taking his bites, instead of taking a break like bunny.

Fable Day: Three Bullocks & a Lion

Virtue: Be Kind / Be Involved (kindness, unity)
Habit/Motto: Do unto others as you would have others do to you

Song/Finger Play: 
When We're Helping We're Happy

We're going on a lion hunt
Ring Around the Rosie

Yoga Pose: Lion, Cow/Cat (Cat stretch, sometimes called cow), sun salutation series

Craft/Activity: choose depending on age--listed easy to complex

A) Lion hand art: put strips of paper around thumb of hand to make the mane
B) Sunshine art: give circle and lines shapes (paper, foam, cloth, etc. and have them create suns or lions)

Share: Have them tell about a friend they have and what they like about them. Or what they enjoy doing together.

Snacks: 
use strips of something to make a mane around a circle (carrot sticks or celery sticks around a cucumber slice/cracker/Or little container of PB with raisin eyes..whatever.

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Letter: L
Words: lion, lunch, lonely, lost
Number: any
Shape: circle/lines, like the sun

Aesops Fables: Three Bullocks & a Lion

Three Bullocks & a lion

A Lion had been watching three Bullocks feeding in an open field. He had tried to attack them several times, but they had kept together, and helped each other to drive him off. The Lion had little hope of eating them, for he was no match for three strong Bullocks with their sharp horns and hoofs. But he could not keep away from that field, for it is hard to resist watching a good meal, even when there is little chance of getting it.

Then one day the Bullocks had a quarrel, and when the hungry Lion came to look at them and lick his chops as he was accustomed to do, he found them in separate corners of the field, as far away from one another as they could get.

It was now an easy matter for the Lion to attack them one at a time, and this he proceeded to do with the greatest satisfaction and relish.

In unity is strength.

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Story Time Ideas:
We told this story using Ethan's little lion stuffed animal and we were the two bulls (instead of three)--using our hands to pretend we hand horns like a bull. But we pretended to swipe each others' toys and get in a little quarrel, which made us mad and not want to play with each other. (which Ethan said "sorry" for and I hand to remind him that wasn't the story yet, but could be the "make it right" alternative ending, if he waited.)

This was a great story for wrestling like a bull, which Ethan loves, as most boys do. So he got out lots of energy during this. :)

Hand/Body Art Ideas

In introducing art, I think that starting with the body to create art is a good place to start. So here are some ideas of art projects via hands and body....

ART (finger prints, hand prints, foot prints)
1. Animals
a) Simple
ex: create a simple picnic scene--children put thumbprints all around to tell story of what ants ate
ex: create a family of animals putting all five fingerprints down at the same time
ex: hand turkey
b) Complex
ex: make a detailed ant--create three thumbprints together and draw six legs and antenae
ex: make a catepillar
2. Pictures/scenery
ex: flowers, trees, etc.
3. Coloring/Marking within Defined spaces/mazes
ex: fingerprints - dotting the way through a maze
4. Lines/borders/shapes/patterns
ex: using thumbprints to dot a border


Here is a great blog just about hand and footprint art ideas!
http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com/