The process is the product
Following is a series of stories from Explore-A-Story
Start with a story, listening and thinking,
Props, puppets, a poem and maybe some singing.
We have an idea to change a few things,
What if we say the king grows some wings?
There is no idea that can ever be wrong,
So join in the fun, come play along.
Explore-A-Story
Is : Storytelling with a twist, story retelling, trying on a story
Has : Characters, conflict, resolution, beginning, middle, end, plus alternate endings
Asks : Who? What? Why? How? Is there another way? What if? What will happen next?
Promotes : Higher thinking, Learning fueled by curiosity, Questions as a way of learning
It's okay to have unanswered
questions
The process is the product
Following is a
series of stories from Explore-A-Story
Week 1 - Lion and Mouse
Lion thought mouse was too small to be a
friend, much
less
be of any help to him. That was until the lion got trapped in a net. The
mouse came to the rescue and chewed a hole in the net that freed lion.
This Aesop’s Fable teaches you’re never too small to help or be a friend.
We use yoga positions to feel as big as a lion and as small as a mouse. We talk about feeling courageous and scared. We play it out with puppets and then dance and move like various animals.
Week 2 - Caps for Sale
Written
and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina is the story of mischievous monkeys and a
cap peddler. We balance the caps on our head and play Monkey See, Monkey Do. We
pretend we are monkeys jumping on a bed bed and bounce Monkey in a parachute
Week 3 - Butterflies
In this felt board story, butterflies get caught in the rain and want to hide inside the flowers. The flowers are afraid of the different colored butterflies. They eventually learn to trust, share and appreciate differences. Finger plays, poems, and songs help us feel like a butterfly. We fly around the room with beautiful wings and hide under the parachute/flower when it rains.
Week 4 - Frogs
Andrea Wayne-von Konigslow tells the story of what happens when too many frogs get kissed. We talk about what would happen if you kissed a fish, a dog or an elephant. One little specked frog sits on our heads, feet, arm, shoulder and other body parts. We play leap frog and other games involved finding the missing colored frog.
Week 5
- Nursery Rhymes
There are lots of rhyming words and silliness this week. We are Humpty Dumpty (note the band aids to try to put them back together again) Little Miss Muffet scared by a spider, and Jack jumping over a candle stick to name just a few. Hand clapping to Pease Porridge Hot and finger play Here is Grandma’s Knives and Forks are both a good exercise in dexterity and small motor coordination.
Where's Jack? 
Week 6 - Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Wm Steig teaches us that not all wishes are good wishes. You have to be careful what you wish for. We play out this story and then play Magic Rock. Everyone practices making good wishes with a magic rock.
I encouraged the children to find this book in the library. Ask them to tell you the story.
Week 7 - Stone Soup
The folktale Stone Soup has been told through many generations as a lesson in sharing. Several of the children wanted to share their food right away rather than hide it as the people in the story did. This changed the story and that was fine. We also used it as a lesson in fruit and vegetable identification, leeks, peas in a pod, pomegranates, avocadoes, mushrooms, cabbage, turnips and lime as well as the familiar bananas, strawberries, cherries, apples, peaches and oranges. We shared our delicious soup ...Mmm…
Week 8 - The
Remarkable Farkel McBride
John Lithgow wrote this book about a musical prodigy who tries many instruments but is not happy until he hears the whole orchestra play together. We all play different musical instruments and everyone get's to be the conductor.
Week 9 – The Great Pumpkin
This is a story I have been telling for years with the help of children. Each time we tell it, it is unique. A giant pumpkin appears in a field and when it opens the children guess what comes out. What ever the children say creates the story. Candy, bats, cats, pumpkin seeds and THEN….
Together we make up a story that is our very own original creation. Ask them about it.
huge pumpkin
Week 10 - The Three Bears
This is a simple story told in a very simple straight forward manner. I use a felt board and ask the children to stand like the daddy bear, mommy bear and baby bear and change their faces and voices to match the characters. We will talk about the beginning, middle and end of the story as well as the characters and setting.
Week 11 - Three Billy Goats Gruff
This story teaches ecology. The goats eat all the grass and now must go looking for more. We will also touch on the subject of bullying. The children get to play out being a goat and trying to sneak across the bridge without waking up the troll who only wants to sleep.
Week 12- The Three Little Pigs
Last in a series of ‘three stories of three’ the three pigs is one of the most fun to act out. I change this story quite a bit and the children can change it even more. The wolf can ask for whatever the children can think of and the pigs can respond in whatever way they wish. By now they understand that we can change a story and it is fun to see how creative the children are.
Week 13-The Elves and the Shoemaker
