Silly Humans

Next week I will be doing the first of three summer family story times.  The first session will feature folk tales from Africa.  I wanted to read Too Much Talk by Angela Shelf Medearis but, alas, the library does not own this book.  The story is based on a folk tale from Ghana often called "The Talking Yam."  I remembered coming across the story as a reader's theater play at a workshop several years ago so I figured there had to be a version floating around the Internet somewhere.  Indeed, there were several, including a reference to a version in "Highlights for Children" (May 1, 2009) called "Yammering Yams."  I read a few versions including "Yammering Yams" but decided to tell it my own way so I wrote my own version featuring the aspects of the story that I enjoyed.  My version is called "Silly Humans."  I'm making it into a board story so I went in search of clip art for the story.  I needed a yam, a dog, a fish, a water jug, a cloth and a royal seat (search "Ashanti throne ottoman" to see what one looks like).  I traced the shapes of the objects onto paper and drew most of my own details for I wanted the pieces to stand out on the board and be seen by a fairly large group.  The water jug and the cloth are very brightly colored for this reason.  I always use black marker to draw an outline around each piece.  This helps the piece to stand out against a light background.  Since my library has a magnet board instead of a flannel board, the pieces will be laminated and magnets put on the back.  If I were using a flannel board, I would trace the pieces onto craft pellon and I would also outline them in black and color them with markers.  If anyone is interested in telling this story, my version can be found as a Google document here.

Pieces used for "Silly Humans" based on found clip art:

Outlines

Colored with Markers