One of the main reasons we love our preschool curriculum, Mother Goose Time is because the activities are so engaging and fun!

A ton of learning happens! No one notices, except me 🙂

As part of our Fables and Folktales theme, we completed some projects based on The Crow and the Pitcher.

 

The Crow and the Pitcher

5 Activities for Preschoolers

The Crow and the Pitcher is a Fable from Aesop. The crow uses pebbles to displace water in a pitcher that he can’t reach. The water rises until he is able to take a drink. The moral is, “In a pinch, a good use of our wits may help us out.”

1. Water Level Experiment (Science and Nature STEAM)

Without question my favorite activity to go along with this story is the water displacement experiment. Give it a go and see if your kids love it as much as mine do!

Set Up

• Fill a pitcher about halfway with water.
  • We used an empty coke bottle.
• Mark the water level with tape.
  • We used a marker.
• Set out gems (we used glass gems for vases).
  • Rocks also work well!
• Encourage children to explore dropping the items into the pitcher of water.
  • My kids don’t need a lot of encouragement for this!

Big Questions

• What do you think will happen if you drop a rock in the pitcher?
• How has the water level changed? How can you tell?
• How can you record the changes?
• How many rocks does it take to raise the water to the top of the pitcher?

Our Experience

I absolutely love watching my kids faces as they recognize the water level starting to rise. Without any help from me they quickly figure out that if they keep adding pebbles, the water will eventually overflow. My little ones are all about sticking their finger in and pretending to the be the crow to see if they can touch the water yet. The first person to be able to touch the water is always super excited to get to touch the water first. We keep adding pebbles until everyone can reach the water. Then, we add some more and enjoy getting to have the water overflow the pitcher. Did I mention that you should do this experiment outside or on a tray?

 

2. The Crow and the Pitcher – Focus on /p/

The Crow and the Pitcher has some great “p” words!

• pitcher
• pebble
• poor
• pinch

Play

• Read the story aloud.
  • If you need a copy, you can use this online version from the Library of Congress!
• Each time the kids here the /p/ sound during the story have them drop a pebble.
  • Dropping pebbles makes a great sound too and gets lots of giggles out of my kids. This is especially true if one of my kids hears the /p/ and the others miss it!
  • I have them drop the pebbles into a tube or container and count them at the end.
• How many gems did you drop?
  • Did everyone count the same number of “p” words?
• We often read it a second time just to be sure.

 

3. Crow Shaker

For creative art, we create a shaker for use with free play. The kids love dancing around to instrumental music with this shaker.

We use black paper, yellow paper, shaker mix (dried beans), cardboard tube, 2 lids, and 2 sticker eyes to create our shakers. The raw materials are provided by Mother Goose Time.

Helpful Hints

Use a hot glue gun to secure the lids. You do not want to have these beans all over your house. Use the hot glue gun yourself, don’t give it to the kids. That darn thing gets crazy hot!

When the kids are filling the tube, make sure they do so over a container. Again, you don’t want dried beans all over your house.

 

4. Filling the Pitcher

Mother Goose Time provides a drawing of an empty jar and some alphabet cards. The goal is to fill the pitcher with the letters by writing them down as you pull a card out of a jar. My eldest loves writing the letters and drawing the picture. For instance, when she pulls the “Q” card, she writes the letter “Q” and draws a queen. My boys aren’t writing all the letters just yet. Each makes the /qu/ sound seen in the English language with the letter “Q” and then either tries to write the letter or colors in a part of the jar.

 

A good deal of fun is had with this activity by seeing what other objects might fit in the jar besides the cards. If they can guess which letter it might start with, they get a chance to try to fit it in the jar. This leads to some pretty humorous moments too!

 

 

5. Copy the Crow Tanagrams

Shape design mats are provided with this theme. The kids make quick work of the shape mats and then set to work creating their own designs. I leave the tanagrams like this out on our game table for quick access. The kids love to play with these during down time or while waiting on me to fix a meal or change a diaper.

 

I hope you’ll try some of these activities with your kids.

If you are interested in reading more about our experience with Mother Goose Time, check out our curriculum page!

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Happy Learning!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a blog ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I am happy to share preschool curriculum ideas, activities, and crafts with my readers.  Mother Goose Time provides our family the opportunity to use their curriculum free of charge in exchange for honest and authentic stories based on our personal experience.