Raccoon and the Magic Fish

I wrote a version of this story for a "Night Animals" storytime in 2012. It is based on the popular folktale theme, be careful what you wish for. I never posted it because I did not use original art work but instead used a template from one of the crafts. Since I made an original raccoon for "Mole's New Hole" last summer, I decided to use it for this story. I did make some changes to make the raccoon look younger. Although I wrote this for the flannel or magnet board, it could also be a prop or folder story.

Raccoon and the Magic Fish 

by Linda Meuse

Notes from the Story Room

March 28, 2014

Ryan Raccoon was hungry one night. He came across a stream and decided to catch a tasty fish. He stuck his paw into the water and soon pulled out a fish. "Dinner!" said Ryan with a smile. "Oh, please don't eat me!" cried the fish. "My goodness, why not?" asked Ryan. The fish replied, "Because I am a very special fish. I can grant wishes. All you have to say is, 'Magic fish, magic fish, please grant me a wish,' and I will grant your wish." "I'll give it a try," said Ryan. "Magic fish, magic fish, grant me a wish." "I can't," said the fish. "You didn't say it right." What did Ryan forget? He forgot to say please. Ryan tried again and this time he remembered to say it correctly. "Magic fish, magic fish, please grant me a wish." "What would you like?" asked the fish. "I'm tired of being plain and boring." said Ryan. "I want to be interesting. I want to be green!" "Wish granted," said the fish as he jumped back into the stream. Moonlight was shining on the water. Ryan looked at his reflection. He was indeed green. Ryan ran to show his friends. They were quite surprised to see how he had changed. Possum said, "I'm not sure green is a good color for a night animal. Green is the color of grass in the daylight but it stands out in the moonlight. We don't want to stand out for we are creatures of the night. We think you should change your color if you want to play with us."  Ryan was disappointed that his friends did not like his new color. He went back to the stream and called, "Magic fish, magic fish, may I please change my wish?" The fish poked his head out of the water and asked, "What would you like?" "May I please be blue?" asked Ryan. "Wish granted," answered the fish. Ryan looked at his reflection and indeed he was blue. Blue blended well with the night shadows. Ryan heard a noise. It was his brother and sister foraging for nuts. "Hi," said Ryan. "Find anything good to eat?" His brother and sister stared at him and then ran away. "Oh no," said Ryan. "I think I scared them." I need a happier color." He returned to the stream and asked, "Magic fish, magic fish, may I please change my wish." "What would you like?," asked the fish. "May I please be orange?" asked Ryan. "Wish granted," answered the fish. Ryan looked at his reflection in the water and he was indeed orange. "It's a happy color," he thought, "and it shouldn't scare anyone even if it is very bright." Soon Ryan was very hungry and not very happy. He was so bright that when he tried to have a bug snack, the bugs saw him coming and were able to get away. Even the worms saw him soon enough to hide in the ground. Ryan decided that orange is not a good color for a raccoon and he returned to the stream. Ryan called, "Magic fish, magic fish, may I please change my wish." Again the fish asked, "What would you like?" "May I please be purple?" asked Ryan. "Wish granted!" said the fish. Ryan saw his reflection and indeed he was purple. Purple blended in well with the night. Ryan went to show his mom his new look but when he got home she didn't recognize him. "You are not my Ryan," she said. "My Ryan isn't purple." Ryan ran back to the stream and called again. "Magic fish, magic fish, please change my wish." "What would you like?" asked the fish. Ryan decided that being plain wasn't so bad after all so he asked, "May I please be my plain self again?" "Wish granted," said the fish. Ryan was back to his plain self which he decided was the perfect color for a raccoon to be.

Ryan and Magic Fish - Plain

Ryan and Magic Fish

 

Colorful Raccoons

Folder Version

 

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Brooke of Reading with Red. The Flannel Friday blog has everything you need to know about Flannel Friday.

Guess the Animals as the Snow Melts

Use card stock and clip art to create a simple scene (or draw it if you wish). Put the animals in size order with the smallest on top and the largest on the bottom. I used a mouse, squirrel, raccoon, fox and bear. Cover the scene with white card stock or heavy white paper to represent the snow. As it "melts," slide the white piece down to reveal the top of the animal and have the children guess. Slowly reveal more of the animal to help them guess. Continue sliding the piece down to reveal each animal.

I painted the background using poster paints. Markers streak too much when covering a large surface, I did use markers to color the animals. In order to make the background long enough to fit the animals I taped a smaller piece of card stock to the bottom. That is the "grass." I also trimmed the sides so that the "snow" could fit around it. The piece is about 17 inches long and 7.5 inches wide.

The photo above shows the "snow" that fits over the animal scene. Yes, I did add some glitter glue to make it sparkle. This piece is made up of two pieces of card stock glued together. The sides are folded over. The photo below shows the pieces together from the back.

The animals as they are revealed when the snow melts:

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Kathryn of Fun with Friends at Storytime. For complete information go to the Flannel Friday blog.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams is another story that is popular with Flannel Friday folk this time of year. Jenna of Stories with Ms. Jenna just posted her version last week. There are three more versions on Flannel Friday's Halloween Pinterest board - one by Jane of Piper Loves the Library, one by Meghan of Busy Crafting Mommy and one by Mary of Miss Mary Liberry.

I liked the idea of taking the pieces off the board to make the scarecrow in Meghan's version. I was able to find a suitable piece of wood to hold the scarecrow at a craft store. I also used "Velcro" clear dots to attach the pieces to the wood and to each other. I also added magnets to the back so that I can put the individual pieces on the board as I tell the story.

 

The Pieces

 

 

 The Scarecrow

 

 

This was an easy prop to make. Coloring the pieces took the most time. I drew my own figures because I wanted them to be bright and colorful.

 

 

This week's Flannel Friday Round-up is hosted by Katie of Storytime Katie. Check the Flannel Friday pages for everything you need to know about Flannel Friday.

The Proud Artist and the Clever Boy

While I was searching for worm stories for an upcoming program I came across a story called "The Art Contest" told by an ESL student from Viet Nam which can be found here. I changed the story to suit my audience putting more emphasis on the artist, keeping in mind the proverb, "Pride goes before a fall."

The Proud Artist and the Clever Boy

Adapted from a Vietnamese Folktale

Linda Meuse

Notes from the Story Room

A long, long time age there was an artist who was very good at drawing animals. He practiced his drawing every day and became better and better as he grew older. He could draw any animal and it was perfectly rendered. People admired his work and he became quite successful. He continued to practice until he became so good that he could draw with a brush in each hand. He was able to draw two animals at the same time! Not only that but he could do it in only one minute.

The artist became quite proud of his accomplishment. He was sure that not one else could draw two animals at the same time and do it in only one minute. Indeed he was so sure that he offered ten gold coins to anyone who could draw more than two animals in one minute. A few other artists tried but none were able to draw more. In fact, none could even draw two animals as fast as he could.

One day a young boy came to take up the challenge. The artist smiled because he thought that the boy was very foolish to challenge him. The boy was far from foolish. He was very smart.

When word got out that a young boy had challenged the artist, a crowd gathered to watch the contest. The artist loved showing off his skills though in this case he thought it was going to be too easy. The artist went first. He picked up his brushes, one for each hand, dipped them into the ink and started to draw. On one piece of paper a magnificant tiger took shape and on the other a majestic lion. He finished faster than he ever had before. It took him only fifty seconds to do the drawings. The crowd was amazed. Surely there was no way that the boy could do better. "It's a shame that you can only draw two animals," said the boy. "I will draw ten!" The boy did not bother with brushes but dipped all ten of his fingers into the ink and placed them on a piece of paper. He moved his fingers down the paper and lifted them off. "Ten worms in less than ten seconds," said the boy. "I win!"

The artist realized that he had been outsmarted. Worms were animals. He had to give the boy the ten gold coins. The artist said, "You may not be the best artist but you are certainly a very clever young man! You have made me realize that I have become overconfident in my abilities and I thank you for that." The boy thanked the artist for the gold coins and returned home.

Tiger

Lion

Worms

The props were simple to make. I used clip art from Microsoft Publisher for the tiger and lion. I drew my own worms. Since I have a magnet board, I just put magnet strips on the back of each paper. Put the tiger and lion up when describing what the artist drew, take them down and put up the worms when describing what the boy drew. You could also simply hold them up to show the audience thus making this a good story to take "on the road." To make them last, print/draw them on card stock or mount them on stiff paper.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Bridget of What is Bridget Reading? 

The Fisherman and His Wife - With Props

This post is part of a series of posts about "Telling One Story Five Ways." It is also my Flannel Friday contribution for this week.

Next up - using props to tell the story of "The Fisherman and His Wife." I love using props in storytime. Not only do props appeal to the audience but they help me as a storyteller, working much like the board figures do by providing clues to what comes next in the story. Props can be very simple or quite elaborate. They can be found objects or silly hats. Almost anything can be used as a prop as long as it fits the story. See the "Prop Stories" page for some of the props I have made.

I have chosen two types of props for "The Fisherman and His Wife." One is quick and easy. The other uses the figures I have already made but takes them off of the board and puts them on a "stage."

One of the easiest to make are what I think of as storytelling cards. Basically I paste clip art or a figure I have drawn to card stock. I simply hold up the appropriate images as I am telling the story. If you need to, you can put information on the back of the cards. I often do this when I use a rhyme or poem in storytime. (For an example see my "Shell Silverstein's 'Snowball' post. This is also a great way to take a story "on the road" without having to bring a felt board. The story that goes with these props can be found in "The Fisherman and His Wife - Board Story" post.

I also like using stand-up figures. It's fun to move them around on a "stage." I usually use a table if the the figures are large or an upturned box if the figures are small. (For an example of larger figures see my post "Aliens at Bedtime"). It is not necessary to make the buildings. The figures and story from my "The Fisherman and His Wife - Stick Puppets" post does not require buildings. I used Velcro to hold the crowns on the fisherman's wife. I colored over the Velcro with marker so it will be less noticeable. I taped rolls of paper to the back of each figure for a stand.

The photo above shows all the figures on a table. For storytelling I would use a large box turned upside down as a "stage." I actually have a box large enough for the palace figure. I use it to store my storytelling props. The box in the photos below is another one I use as a "stage." It stores my craft samples.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Andrea of the RovingFiddlehead Kidlit blog.

Penny Penguin's Magical Meal

Originally I was going to use "Pippa's Penguin" by Susan Daily for my penguin program. Then I decided to use a similiar concept but a different story. I wanted the story to go with "Porter Penguin's Adventure" so I wrote my own. Rather than penguins in a zoo, I wanted them in a more natural habitat. I used a prop for this story but it can easily be used with flannel/magnet board pieces instead.

Penny Penguin’s Magical Meal

by Linda Meuse

Notes from the Story Room

(http://meusenotes.blogspot.com/)

February 19, 2013

Penny Penguin lived on an island almost always covered in snow. Only during two months of the year is there no snow. It was that time of year now. The snow was gone leaving behind a hilly, rocky landscape. Penny decided to explore to see if she could find something new. Last year she found tiny flowers blooming in wind-protected crags in the hillside. Penny started climbing over the rocks. It took her a while and she was starting to get hungry. Just then she spied a small pond hidden among the rocks. It was something new that she had never seen before. She looked into the crystal clear water and couldn’t believe what she saw. It was full of colorful fish. Just then Penny’s tummy started to rumble and grumble. Those fish looked mighty tasty. Penny grabbed one and ate it. It was delicious. Then something strange happened. Her tummy felt funny. She looked down and her white front had turned blue – the same color as the fish she had just eaten! “Wow!” said Penny. “That fish has turned my tummy blue! I wonder what would happen if I ate a green fish.” She decided to find out. She ate a green fish and sure enough her tummy felt funny again and this time when she looked down her tummy had turned green. “This is fun,” said Penny and she promptly ate a purple fish. Sure enough she had that funny tummy feeling and when she looked down her front had turned purple. Then she saw a fish with lovely spots. “I have to eat that one,” said Penny. “Then I’ll have the fanciest front on the island.” Penny ate the spotted fish and sure enough when she looked down she had a fancy spotted front. After a while Penny became a bit dizzy looking at all those spots. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” said Penny. “I think I would rather be my plain old self.” She looked at the remaining fish in the pond. It took a while but she finally saw a plain white fish. Well, it was almost plain. It had one black spot on it. “One spot won’t matter,” said Penny. She ate the plain fish and soon her front became white again though it did have one black spot right in the middle of her tummy. So now there is a penguin waddling around the island that looks like she has a bellybutton!

Note: This story was written to be used with a penguin prop or flannel/magnet board pieces.

This is the prop that I made to go along with the story:

Penny - front

It is similiar to the one I made for Drakestail only smaller. I drew a penguin on card stock. After I cut out the penguin, I cut out the white front and glued a piece of clear plastic on the back so that the different colored pieces will show. I used a scrap piece of laminating film. I cut around the beak so she could "eat" each fish. When telling the story I pull out each front piece to reveal the new color.

Penny - back

The "pocket" stapled on the back holds the different fronts. I also stapled on a handle so I could hold Penny. I colored the parts of the staples showing on the front with black marker to make them less noticable.

Penny - eating a fish

I cut the fronts from various colors of cardstock. The dotted front is from an inexpensive booklet of textured and patterned paper that I purchased at a craft store.

Penguin fronts and fish

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Storytime ABC's. Click on Flannel Friday for complete information.

Monster Lunch

This activity was inspired by a Flannel Friday post by Lucy of the In the Children's Room blog. Her "Monster Lunch" flannel board activity is based on the poem, "A Munching Monster" by Marian Swinger. I used the same poem but made a prop for it instead. The monster eats the monster food and then ends up with a monster tummy ache. This was made for the monster themed October 2 Family Story Time.

Sam and the Acorn

This prop story was created for my upcoming "Monsters!" family storytime. Since I do an all ages program, I like to use material that will capture the attention of both the children and adults so I find myself often creating stories with props. The concept of "Sam and the Acorn" has been used in books and flannel board stories before - wishing for change and then finding out the original is best after all. I've listed some of them at the end of the story which can be found as a Google Document here.

This prop took some time to create. (The story would also work as a flannel board story and the figures would probably be easier to make.) It was worth the effort for Sam is 50 inches tall and makes quite a visual impact when hanging from my storytelling board. Sam is drawn over 6 pieces of card stock taped together in the back. I outlined him in black marker and painted him with poster paint. I like to use poster paint to color large figures. I used hook and loop dots to fasten the "monster" parts. I painted over the dots to make them less noticeable.

Sam and his monster parts

Sam hanging on my front door

Monster!

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Katie of Storytime Katie.  Complete information about Flannel Friday can be found here.

Aliens at Bedtime

This summer I will be doing a Pajama Story Time. Bedtime will be the focus of this program. I thought it would be fun to add some aliens to the mix so I wrote the following with colorful alien props in mind. I made my aliens out of card stock. Flannel board figures would also work. Finger puppets would work for a small group. Stick puppets would work for a larger group.

Aliens at Bedtime

(Written by L. Meuse, 6/8/12 - Notes from the Story Room blog)

It was late last night when I went to bed.

I fell asleep as soon as my pillow met my head.

All was well until there was a loud beep,

Which woke me up from a very sound sleep.

I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes,

Then blinked in wonder and surprise,

For standing there as clear as could be,

Were three strange creatures smiling at me.
"Gleep," said the first who was purple and blue.
"Hello," I replied, "How do you do?"
"Meep," said the second who was yellow and red.
"How nice to meet you," I answered, getting out of my bed.
"Dreep," said the third who was orange and green.
"How may I help you?" I asked the only aliens I've ever seen.
"Gleep, meep, dreep.  Dreep, meep, gleep," was all they would say.
I answered, "I hope you are here for a nice long stay."
But sadly their visit did not last long at all,
For as I put on my slippers, they ran down the hall.
And out the front door without saying a word.
"Gleep! Meep! Dreep!" I called but I don't think they heard.
When I reached the front door, a silver ship was flying high,
And soon disappeared into the dark night sky.
So I returned to my bed and soon was asleep,
Dreaming of creatures that went gleep, meep and dreep.


Aliens

Paper lunch bags glued to the back make great stands

The bags fold flat for easy storage

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is hosted by Katie of Recipe for Reading. Information about Flannel Friday can be found on the Flannel Friday website.

How Ishikawa Became a Kite Maker

This prop story takes a bit of effort to prepare but the end result was well worth it.  It was the hit of my March Family Story Time program. 

Although the story may seem long, the narrative flows quickly.  I greatly simplified the original story, The Dragon Kite by Nancy Luenn, by eliminating all but the main characters.  I also changed the "villain" to the Shogun rather than his son.  The story has enough action and suspense to keep the audience interested.  My version can be found as a Google document here.

The two most important props are the dragon kite and the dragon it becomes.  I made stand-up figures for Ishikawa and Katsuta, but they are optional.  I looked at pictures of Chinese and Japanese dragon kites and chose the traditional style made out of circles for my kite.  This is also the style used in the book's illustrations.  I cut out several circles from yellow card stock with the circles getting smaller toward the tail.  I simply colored the edges with red marker.  On one of the largest circles I drew a dragon face with marker and used red and orange paper for the rest.  My original plan was to string the circles together like a kite but once I did that, it was difficult to keep the circles from twisting when I held the kite up.  I removed the yarn and just glued the circles together.  I did add yarn for the harness. 

Dragon Kite

I then made the dragon out several pieces of yellow textured card stock.  I used the first piece for the head and drew a body across the others.  I cut out the body pieces and taped them together.  I also made claws for the dragon and glued them on the body.  I drew a dragon face and cut out the other features from red textured paper.  The flames were cut from foil paper.  I also added scales cut from foil paper.  I used my imagination to make the dragon though I did use the same colors as the kite for I wanted the children to get the connection that the dragon was once the kite.

Dragon

The important thing to remember when creating these props is that the dragon should be much larger than the kite.  My dragon is around 42 inches and the kite is around 18 inches.

I made figures for Ishikawa and Katsuta using clip art from Microsoft Publisher.  I glued them onto heavier paper and made stands for them.  I just put them on the large table behind me when I told the story.  They seemed a bit lost sitting on the table with my other storytelling materials.  The next time I tell the story, I will set them on my Amazon theater stage (overturned amazon.com box). 

Ishikawa and Katsuta

I used paperclips as hooks and put them in Ishikawa's and Katsuta's heads.  That way I could hook Ishikawa to the kite harness when he goes up to the palace roof. 

I punched holes in the dragon's claws and hung Ishikawa and Katsuta from them when the dragon carried them off. 

I had the dragon face-down on a table behind me. When I lifted him up, several of the children oohed and ahhed. It wasn't my artwork as much as his large size that made the impression.

I really enjoyed telling this story and my audience seemed to enjoy listening to it.  It really did not take long to make the props.  I am looking forward to telling this story to visiting elementary school groups.

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Erin of Falling Flannelboards.  For complete Flannel Friday information see the So Tomorrow Flannel Friday page.

From Felt to Prop

I have a confession to make.  In the 15 years that I had a flannel board, I never once made a figure out of felt.  I truly admire those who have the patience and dexterity to create the lovely pieces I have seen on Flannel Friday.  In my previous position, I was the only youth services librarian so I was responsible for everything including programs and collection development for both children and teens.  I also had to spend time on the adult desk.  My creative time was limited so I learned to be very efficient at what I did.  I found that buying several yards of craft weight interfacing at a time and a good set of markers enabled me to make numerous story sets rather quickly - copy, trace, outline, color and cut.

My current library has a magnet board so figures are still easy to make - copy, color, laminate and cut.  However, now that I work part-time, I don't always have a chance to get things laminated.  This is partly my fault because I tend to think of things I want to do for a program at the last minute (I once changed my entire storytime program the day before).  So lately I have been making quick and easy props.

I would like to thank Erin of Falling Flannelboards for suggesting "Four Candy Hearts" from Storytime Magic and Meghan from Busy Crafting Mommy and her colleague Elizabeth for writing "Six Little Hearts." I made props for both of these rhymes.  I'm posting what I did even though most people have probably already done their Valentine's Day programs.  This one's for those last minute folks like me. 

For "Four Candy Hearts" I traced the heart pattern on neon cardstock. I added an edge to make it look more like candy.  I outlined the heart and wrote the words with marker and then cut out the heart.  It bothered me that the rhyme only had the words for three hearts so I did a little "research."  I just happened to have a bag of candy hearts available so I went through it looking for a phrase I liked. I selected "Sweet Thing."  I pasted the appropriate lines of the rhyme on the back of each heart.  I also numbered each heart so I would have them in the correct order. No memorization required.

For "Six Little Valentines" I used some envelopes I had and Microsoft Publisher.  I made 5 small hearts and one large heart and printed them out.  I found clip art for each of the animals and after making sure they would fit in the envelopes, printed them as well.  I wrote the appropriate phrase on each of the small hearts and pasted one on each animal.  I used a metallic marker to embellish the large heart.  I glued the figures to cardstock and cut them out.  I "addressed" the front of the envelopes and pasted the appropriate lines on the back of each one.  I numbered them like I did the hearts.  Each animal was in the envelope to start and I pulled it out as I read the lines.  I ended the storytelling part of my program with this rhyme.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Library Quine at http://loonsandquines.blogspot.com/2012/02/flannel-friday-roundup-for-10th-feb.html.

Pete Likes to Help

My Pete likes to "help" me whenever he can.  Today he is helping me prepare for tonight's Family Story Time program.  (The candy on the desk was purchased for research purposes.  I needed a model for making candy hearts.  Really.)

Yet Another Version of "The Mitten"

As I have mentioned before, I often take elements that I like from different versions of a story and put them together in a version that I enjoy telling.  That is how I came up with "A Few Foolish Friends" and "The Clever One."  Several Flannel Friday participants have posted versions of "The Mitten."  My version of this classic story features animals that would be familiar to local children and has the ending from a similiar story in Glad Rags: Stories and Activities Featuring Clothes by Jan Irving and Robin Currie which in turn reminded me of Who Took the Farmer's Hat? by Joan Nodsett.  I told the following version at a recent Family Story Time Program featuring winter stories.

The Story:

One cold winter day, several children were playing in a snow-covered forest.  Soon the wind began to blow harder and harder so the children decided to leave the forest and return to their nice warm homes.  One little boy was in such a hurry to get home that he dropped a mitten and before he could pick it up, the wind blew it away. 

Squirrel happened by and saw the brightly colored mitten lying in the white snow.  It looked like a nice warm place to stay until the wind stopped blowing so she crawled inside the mitten.  Rabbit soon came along and saw the colorful mitten lying in the snow.  She too thought it would be a nice warm place to stay so she crawled inside the mitten.  It was getting dark when owl looked down from her tree and saw the brightly colored mitten.  She thought it would be a nice warm place to stay so she flew down and crawled into the mitten.  It was starting to get pretty crowded it that mitten!

Fox happened to be walking by when he saw the mitten and decided that he would crawl inside it to spend the night which is exactly what he did.  Not long after, raccoon came by grumbling about his cold, cold nose when he saw the mitten.  He decided it would not only keep his nose warm but the rest of him as well so he crawled inside the very crowded mitten.  Surely it could hold no more.  Well, bear was the next to come along.  Of course when he saw the mitten he decided it would be a nice warm place to sleep so he crawled inside that very, very crowded mitten and it still held together.  Last came a teeny, tiny mouse who was shivering from the cold.  Surely, a teeny, tiny mouse wouldn't split the mitten.  But as soon as that mouse crawled in, the mitten burst apart leaving brightly colored pieces all over the forest.  Fortunately there were enough burrows and caves and hollow trees in the forest for each animal to find shelter. 

All the animals were happy when spring came.  Bird was particularly proud of the nest she had made.  She was sure it was the most beautiful nest in the entire forest.  Indeed, it was very colorful and looked very much like a certain warm, brightly colored mitten.

The Props:

I made the mitten from two pieces of colorful scrap book paper from a craft store.  The pieces fastened together with Velcro which makes a nice ripping sound when pulled apart.  I traced and simplified most of the animals from templates provided by Jan Brett on her site.  The bird on her nest is loosely based on an illustration found in Glad Rags.

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Andrea of rovingfiddlehead kidlit.  For everything you ever wanted to know about Flannel Friday go here.

Amazon Theater #2 - The Bird and the Trees

Winter is the topic this month.  I will be a substitute librarian for Toddler Time next week and telling winter stories at Family Story Time the following week.  I'll be using ideas from Flannel Friday posts for Toddler Time so thank you fellow participants.  For Family Story Time I will be telling some winter folktales.  As I have mentioned before, I like to use various methods of storytelling so I adapted a story to tell using props.  I call it "Amazon Theater" because my stage is an amazon.com box.  I simply put my props on the overturned box as I tell the story.  (See my post for 9/1/11 for another example.)

The following story is adapted from one by Rick Walton, a pourquoi tale called "Why the Evergreen Trees Keep Their Leaves in Winter."  His site is an excellent source for finding stories to tell. 

My version is called the "The Bird and the Trees" and can be told using props as I have or using felt or magnet board pieces.  I based most of the figures on clip art from Microsoft Publisher.  I made the North Wind and the Frost King into stick puppets to hold over the "stage" at the end of the story but they can be board pieces as well. 

The story:

The Bird and the Trees

Once there was a bird who could not fly south for the winter with the other birds. He had injured his wing and could not fly. As the cold winds started to blow, the bird knew he would have to seek shelter. The forest was full of trees with sheltering branches. So he went into the forest to find a place to stay for the winter.

First the bird came to a willow tree at the edge of the forest and asked, “May I please spend the winter in one of your branches? My wing is injured and I cannot fly south this year.” The willow replied, “Goodness no! My branches are much too delicate to have a bird living in them!”

The bird went a little further into the forest until he came to a birch tree and asked, “May I please stay in one of your branches until the spring comes?” “I’m sorry,” the birch tree answered, “but I have to look after myself this winter and it would be too much to look after you as well.”

So the bird hopped even deeper into the forest looking for a tree to shelter him. He came to a tall oak tree. “Please,” asked the bird, “may I stay in your branches for the winter?” “Harrumph!” said the oak, “If I let you stay in my branches, you will eat my acorns all winter long and I can’t have that!”

The bird hopped even deeper into the forest not knowing what to do for none of the trees wanted to help him. “What are you doing so deep in the forest little bird?” asked a spruce tree who saw him hopping along. “I’m looking for a place to spend the winter,” answered the little bird. “My wing is injured and I cannot fly south with the other birds.” “You are welcome to spend the winter with me,” replied the spruce. “Come, hop onto this branch,” said the spruce as she lowered one of her large, wide branches down to the ground. The pine tree saw what had happened and said to the bird, “Although my branches aren’t as warm, I will help shelter you when the wind blows for I am big and strong.” Then the juniper tree said, “I may not be big but I have delicious berries that you are welcome to eat all winter long.” The bird thanked each of the trees for their kindness and stayed safely with them throughout the winter months.

But that is not the end of the story. The North Wind was playing in the forest and wanted to blow everything off the trees. The Frost King would not let him touch the trees who had helped the bird. The Frost King declared, “These trees showed great kindness by taking care of the injured bird. Their branches will remain green throughout the year. However, you may blow the leaves off the trees who thought only of themselves. Their branches shall stay bare until the springtime comes.” The North Wind had fun blowing the leaves off of the selfish trees.

So it is today. The spruce, pine and juniper trees are green all year long while the leaves of the willow, birch and oak trees fall to the ground when the cold wind blows.

The figures:

 The Selfish Trees

 Bird with the Kind Trees

North Wind and King Frost Stick Puppets

How the props are supported

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Melissa of Mel's Desk, the one who started it all.  Please be sure to look at her post about starting Flannel Friday just one year ago.  Many thanks to Melissa and the others who have worked so hard this past year to make Flannel Friday the wonderful resource it is today.