Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Off to India!

This week we visited India, land of saris, turbans, elephants, monkey, and tigers. I wish I had more souvenirs from India (I've never been there) but I draped some lovely sari cloth around, and let the girls try on some beauiful scarves.

I told (without a book) the old story of The Cat and the Parrot, sometimes known as Slip! Slop! Gobble! It's basically the same story as the Danish tale of the Fat Cat, and children always enjoy a story about a greedy glutton who eats and eats until someone has to cut a hole in him to let out all his victims.

Our books were The Monkey and the Crocodile, by Paul Galdone, and Seven Blind Mice, by Ed Young. It's amazing how long  The Monkey and the Crocodile has been around. I used that book when I was a librarian in Kern County 35 years ago. Our copy here at the Orland Library is still in good shape, and the story is a natural for storytime.

We made finger puppet elephants for a craft. I got the idea from Enchanted Learning, but made a couple modifications. I enlarged the elephant pattern slightly, and separated the head from the body, so that the kids had two pieces to put together.You can use the template at Enchanted Learning, but adapt it as you see fit.

 Fasten the head and body together with a paper fastener. Add stick-on eyes, draw a mouth, and decorate your elephant if you like. (I showed the children a picture of a live elephant who had painted designs on its body.)  I gave the children the head and body pre-cut, with the hole for the trunk already cut out, but you may wish to let the kids do their own cutting.

Dance, elephant, dance!

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