The Fox and the Crab

I am preparing stories for my next family story time. The theme is "tails." I plan to tell "The Fox and the Crab Have a Race" using stick puppets. This story is an adaptation of a Chinese folktale and can be found in A Twist in the Tail: Animal Stories from Around the World by Mary Hoffman. In this story the slow but clever crab fools fox into thinking he is just as fast as fox by riding on fox's tail (unknown to fox) for the race. There are several variations of this type of folktale. This one is short and easy to tell.

The stick puppets were easy to make though it took some planning to make them reversible. I used clipart from Microsoft Publisher for the fox and crab. After I enlarged the images to the sizes I wanted, I then copied each image and reversed it. After printing out the images, I outlined them in black marker to make them easier to cut out. I then glued one of the crabs and one of the foxes on card stock. Before I cut out around each image I added a second piece of card stock so that when I cut around the image, the shape would match for the reverse image. After pasting the reverse image to card stock, I taped a craft stick to the back of one fox piece and then glued the other piece over it. Instead of a craft stick I used a toothpick for the crab. The toothpick is smaller and lighter and even helps support the crab on the fox's tail. I cut a slit into the crab figure so it would fit on the fox's tail.

Crab and Fox - Reversible Stick Puppets

Crab on Fox's Tail

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