Flannel Friday! Conejito by Margaret Read MacDonald

Conejito, retold by Margaret Read MacDonald, is based on a folktale from Panama. It’s a fun story with lots of repetition and, of course, a happy ending. I have been sharing this story with the preschoolers as part of my Bunnies storytime, and they’ve been enjoying it – even those who don’t speak any Spanish (there are Spanish words throughout, but they’re all explained and easily understood in context).

We start with conejito (little bunny) talking to his mother, and preparing to go up the hill to visit his Tia Mónica (Aunt Monica). When he gets there, she is going to feed him “cakes, cookies and every good thing” until he is gordito, gordito, gordito (fat, fat, fat!).

I gave mom some rockin’ glasses.

Conejito heads up the mountain, singing…

I have a sweet old Auntie,

My tía Mónica,

And when she goes out dancing,

They all say “Ooh la la!”

…until he runs THUNK into a Tiger. Señor Tigre.

Señor Tigre wants to eat conejito for lunch, but conejito convinces him to wait until he returns from Tía Mónica’s house because he will be gordito gordito gordito. Right now he is too skinny – flaquito flaquito flaquito!

Tigre agrees and conejito continues on his way singing and dancing until he runs smack into Mr. Lion – Señor León.

Conejito also convinces Señor Leon to wait to eat conejito, and he continues up the hill until he runs THUNK into Tía Mónica.

She’s fancy. She has a flower tucked behind her ear.

Conejito spends the summer with her, dancing, playing, and eating cakes, cookies and every good thing (but also fruits, vegetables, and fresh mountain water so he will be strong, strong, strong!). But when it’s time to head back to his Mamá, he tells Tía Mónica his problem.

Her solution is this: He will roll down the hill in a barrilito (little barrel). If Lion or Tiger stop him, he will tell them the mountain is on fire (Tía’s made a fire to make smoke) and they’d better run for it.

Conejito fits under the barrel.

Conejito DOES meet Lion and Tiger, but tells them:

The mountain’s on fire,

conejito is too,

you’d better run Señor León

or you’ll be barbecue!

They, of course, run away so conejito is able to continue rolling down the hill until he reaches his mamá. All’s well that ends well!

I’m going to learn this story so I’ll be able to tell it without the book. It shouldn’t be too hard to learn. I won’t know it perfectly, but well enough! I think this would make a fun readers’ theater too! The book contains the notes for singing the song about Auntie Monica, but I ended up making up my own tune. The kids liked chiming in on the “ooh la la!” The book also has a fox in addition to tiger and lion, but I decided to shorten the flannel version a little.

I got all the animal templates from Clker.com: rabbit, lion and tiger. You can also get the lion and tiger in two parts – head and body separated – from the same site.

Today’s roundup will be hosted by Katie at Recipe for Reading. To see all past flannels, click the icon to the right.

Happy flanneling!

Flannel Friday: Stone Soup

Hi all! An old folktale today, one that many of us know/have used: Stone Soup. The version I use is from Judy Freeman’s Once Upon a Time: Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and Reader’s Theater With Children in Grades PreK – 6, however, there are lots of other retellings and versions.

A beggar shows up in a village asking for food. One by one, the villagers tell him they don’t have enough to share. But the beggar tells them if they let him borrow a pot, he will show them how to make soup from a stone. He puts the stone in the pot, stirs it, and pretends to taste. He tells them it’s good, but would taste even better with a potato. A villager brings a potato, and that goes into the pot. This continues, and he one by one adds an onion, carrot, tomato, and broth. In the end, of course, he has a delicious soup for all to share. And the villagers will, from then on, always share what they have.  Nice message, eh?

I made a giant black pot and a stone, to start:

And then, all the veggies (and a bowl of broth) to go in:

To make it interactive, I attached a second piece of felt to the backside of the pot, leaving the top open. Kids can bring the vegetables up, one by one, to put in the pot, if the group allows. Or I can make them “disappear” into the pot:

Mmm, soup!

How have you used folktales like this in storytime? Have you ever used a variation on Stone Soup?

Check with Andrea later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup! And click on the FF icon to the right to go to our Pinterest page and see all the flannels helpfully categorized in an easy-to-browse picture format!

Flannel Friday! The Bossy Gallito/El Gallo de Bodas

You DO know Lucía M. González’s great retelling of the Cuban folktale The Bossy Gallito, no? You DON’T? Well then, go get it, now! I had the great fortune of hearing Ms. González herself tell the story at the recent REFORMA National Conference, and it reminded me how much I love the story and inspired me to create this flannelboard.

The Bossy Gallito is a classic cumulative tale involving a Gallo (Rooster) who’s going to the wedding of his Tío Perico, and so is all dressed up in his finest. When he sees some yummy corn, sitting in the dirt, on his path, he eats it, and dirties his beak. Well, he CAN’T go to the wedding looking like this! So he asks the grass (not very nicely) to clean his beak. Grass refuses, so the Gallo asks Goat to eat the grass since it won’t help him. This continues (Gallo asks stick to hit goat, fire to burn stick, and water to douse fire), until he FINALLY  politely asks Sun to dry up the water. Sun agrees, and so water, not wanting to be dried up, agrees to douse fire. Fire, not wanting to be doused, agrees to burn stick…and so on, until grass cleans Gallo’s beak and he is able to go to the wedding of his Tío Perico.

Here’s the Bossy Gallito in all his glory (sans paint accents, which I haven’t yet had time to add). I used this clipart pattern.

Note spiffy bow tie.

And in order of appearance. here’s the grass and the goat (from this clipart pattern):

The stick and the fire (both freehanded, obviously):

And, finally, the water and the sun (also freehanded):

Everybody’s got eyes and smiles as they’re all kind of anthropomorphized in the story. I also got ideas from Katie Cunningham’s Bilingual Children’s Programming blog – scroll down for pictures of her flannel pieces; they’re really cute!

Visit Rain Makes Applesauce later today for the full Flannel Friday roundup! ¡Diviértense!