Lessons From Anansi

It’s our last week with out Fables & Folktales box from Experience Early Learning, and I am really sad about it! We had so much fun learning through stories from Aesop, like The Crow and the Pitcher and The Ants and the Grasshopper, and ventured with Paul Bunyan as we learned about American Tall Tales. This week we have been exploring international folktales, and some of my kids most favorite folktales have been the ones out of Africa about Anansi the Spider.

Lesson: Anansi & the Pot of Wisdom

Exploring Early Learning sent us the story of Anansi & the Pot of Wisdom and as I read aloud my kiddos did certain movements which made the story even better. Then we watched a version of this story on YouTube.

Afterwards, I asked my kiddos if they could think of a way to carry the pot up the tree. My 7 year old daughter instantly thought of using a pulley and described how it would work! I was blown away that she even thought of that. We’ve worked with pulleys before thanks to Experience Early Learning…Love those STEAM stations.

Lesson: Spider Web Letters

Experience Early Learning sent us all these spider letter cards with sight words on the back of them! They are awesome! I drew a spider web outside and we placed the spider letter cards around the web. I grabbed a put from their mud kitchen and placed a different set of letter cards in it. My kiddos pretty much facilitated this game on their own. My 7 year old would draw a letter card from the pot. Then my son would find that letter on the spider card on the web. He would bring it back to his sister who would read the sight word on the back, and then my son would draw a letter card from the pot and the play would continue on.

Lesson: Pieces in a Pot

It sure was hot outside, so our next activity we enjoyed indoors. Each month we receive a puzzle in our box from Experience Early Learning. I broke up the pieces of the puzzle and placed them in 3 pots and then covered the pieces with rainbow rice. While I gave the baby a bottle, my kiddos hunted for the pieces in the pots and worked together to complete the puzzle. Then they broke it up and did it all over again!

Lesson: African Pot Design

Our day ended with the kids creating their own African Pot designs in our Invitation to Create. We observed the Inspiration Photo looking for patterns and lines. I asked them which was their favorite and why. My daughter liked the one that had a giraffe which inspired her pot, while my son liked the black pot with red circles. He said it reminded him of outer space.

Experience Early Learning sent us chalk, yarn, and 2 pot shapes per kiddo so that through sewing the 2 together the kids could actually have a pot to put things inside. I added some sequins, glue, and white crayons. My kids started with weaving the pot, but we found that our yarn was not long enough; so I pulled out some of our rainbow yarn, and they stitched their 2 pots together.

I loved how this art project gave them the opportunity to stitch (this has been our handicraft for this school term) and create a design on their pot.

After stitching their pots together, they used the chalk and white crayons to create their designs. I offered glue and sequins to add more pattern options and they enjoyed putting those on their pots as well. I mostly just left them to their own devices as I was entertaining the baby. This was a great activity to let them just do on their own without me being in the room.

One little story can inspire so much learning! Anansi & the Pot of Wisdom sent us learning about Africa, pottery, spiders, pulleys, and just having fun with pots!

Lessons: EXTRA!

Looking for more Spider or Africa lessons? Check these out:

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