My feltboard story pieces

The Little Red Hen is a traditional tale about a hen who seeks help from the other animals in the farmyard to grow wheat. Four-year-olds enjoy this story when I tell it with my feltboard. There is quite a lot of information in it that children may not know such as what use a windmill is and how Australian windmills differ from the old European ones we may see in photos. I had pictures of windmills to show. They also learn what wheat seeds look like and the story tells us how to plant and care for the seeds if they are to grow. Preschoolers are also unlikely to know that the flour we get from the shop was actually once wheat seeds. Then there is the process of making bread from the flour.

The story can be used as a whole teaching unit and as well, there is the message about helping one another.

This was the story I told last week and my discussion with the children after was about helping at home and helping the teachers at school. Children told me how they help unpack the groceries, get nappies for the baby, help Dad with the car, Grandma to collect eggs and much more. At school they help their teachers to pack away. The children were all keen to tell me what they do and none of them was lazy like the animals in the story.

Do you know this story? It is a great one to get children thinking and learning.