Folktales from Africa - A Family Story Time

7/13/11 - 3 to 4 p.m. 

Attendance - 28 children, 14 adults

Books

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott
Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa by Gerald McDermott
The Little Green Turtle ((illustrated by Adam Rolf, editorial by A.J. Wood and Rachel Williams)

Board Stories

"Leopard's Drum" from Teeny Tiny Folktales by Jean Warren
"Silly Humans" from an African folktale (see blog post for 7/6/11)
"The Wolf, the Goat, and the Cabbages: An African Dilemma Tale" from Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Readers' Theater by Judy Sierra

Prop Story
"The Hare and the Tortoise" adapted from the story "Hare and Tortoise: A Tale from the Thonga People of Mozambique" from the book, Trickster Tales: Forty Folk Stories from around the World  by Josepha Sherman.

Craft

"Anansi the Spider"  Instructions to make Anansi (from Wisconsin 4-H Afterschool)
Note - I made the template smaller so that the paper would be above the holes punched in the plastic cup, making it easier to place the pipe cleaner legs in the holes.

Gerald McDermott's colorful and clear illustrations read well with a large group.  Zomo the Rabbit is one of my favorite stories.  This group had a great attention span (although I did lose one 2-year-old halfway through the storytelling).  This was probably because there were more older children than usual.  For this reason, the story, "The Wolf, the Goat, and the Cabbages," went over very well, with several of the children (and parents) participating in solving the problem.  I often will add or leave out a story, depending on the make-up of the group.  This time I read and told every story I had planned. One has to be flexible when doing family story time because the ages of the children vary so much.  I place an emphasis on visual storytelling because this appeals to a wide age range and that is why I use mostly (flannel/magnet) board stories and prop stories.  I also tell mostly folktales and humorous stories which appeal to all age groups.

Anansi (the sample), looking a little worse for wear after being passed around at Family Story Time: