The Five Chinese Brothers / by Claire Huchet Bishop and Kurt Wiese

"The first chinese brother swallowed the sea."

The Five Chinese Brothers
by Claire Huchet Bishop and Kurt Wiese

Another favorite book of mine, and highly approved by 7 of my preschool boys!  The 'powers' these 5 chinese brothers possess save them from certain death!  The activities, I will share in this blog, are so much fun to participate in WHILE reading the story!  I will walk you through it…but it's pretty easy to figure out!

Supplies needed:

water balloons 

thick stick (hard to break)

measuring tape or ruler

tea or votive candle

small glass jar

marshmallow's (I recommend the big ones)

Sit down in a circle, so you can see everyones face.  Ask a couple questions…."If you had a special power, what would it be and why?" "What special abilities do you use each and every day that make you unique?" Begin to read the story.  

Read until you arrive at page 15.

Have your child pick a water balloon.  Attach it to the end of the kitchen faucet or outside hose and fill it full of water until it bursts!   (This activity can obviously be messy…you have been warned!)  Ask your child, "How big did your balloon get before it exploded?" "Why did it explode?"  Discuss that the similarities between the balloon and the First Chinese Brother.

Read on….to page 26 and stop there.

  

Have the children grab their heavy sticks.  Ask them to break it in half.  Can they do it?  Some might and some might not, that's OK.   Ask some obvious questions, "Was it hard to break the strong stick?" "How hard did you work your muscles to break that stick?" Explain that iron is a strong material that doesn't break (or cut)!

Read on…to page 32.

Tell the children to lay on the ground and stretch!  Remind them to feel the stretching from the tips of their fingers to the end of their little toes!  Measure how long each child can stretch…reveal the "longest" stretcher and ask all, "How long did your stretch measure?" "What is something you are taller than?" (*great little math activity*)

Read on…stop on page 36.

Perform the little science experiment below…I provided a video for this one, just so you can see how it works!  Then ask, "How long did it take for the flame to go out?" "What are the rules about playing with fire?"

Read through page 41.

OK, you will need to get out your bag of marshmallows.  Stuff your mouth full of marshmallows.  "How many did you fit in there?" "Could you hold those in your mouth until tomorrow morning?" Of coarse not!  That's a super power only Chinese Brother number Five has!

Go ahead and finish the story…while munching on marshmallows and M&M's, pretzels or crackers (whatever you have in the pantry).  "What did you think about this Chinese tale?" "Which brother had the very best 'power', do you think?" This story creates a lot of discussion.  So go ahead and dig into all those curious little thoughts and questions.  

**When I have used this book for activities, in both preschool and book club, I have made sure to emphasize the importance of knowing the difference between "REAL" and "PRETEND".  Stories, like this one, are derived from old ancient tales, these are called Fable's (explain what a fable is).  Focus more on the moral of this story so that the children understand the meaning of it**

Peace as always!

Lisa

Cloudette / by Tom Lichtenheld

Spring is here (in my neck of the woods), so it's time to celebrate warmer weather, budding trees and sprouting flowers!  During spring we start to see billowing clouds, which sometimes bring with them thunder, lightning and rain.  Mother Earth NEEDS rain storms to water her plants, fill her ponds and clean her air.  So, don't be afraid of dark clouds and thunder, they're just a warning that a big drink of water is on it's way!  Let's learn a little more….

"Cloudette could see them in the distance, doing all sorts of important cloud things.

This made her want to do big and important things too."

Cloudette  by Tom Lichtenheld

Casually discuss the idea of thunderstorms.  Maybe ask a couple questions about clouds?  "Why do thunderstorms seem so scary?"  "How is a cloud made?"  "What kinds of shapes have you seen a cloud make?"  Now let's read the story about a little cloud and her adventures….

For this fun little adventure you will need:
1.  Big glass bowl
2.  Small glass jar with lid
3.  Food coloring
4.  Blue construction paper
5.  White cotton balls
6.  Glue

This activity includes a science project as well as an art project.  You may choose to do both or just one of them.  Or, maybe you will be inspired to do a project of your own creativity!?  This activity (doing both projects) will only take 20 minutes total!  The science project has the potential to be a little messy, you may want to have gloves and art aprons near by.

Science Project:  (adult supervision required!)

Follow the instruction in this photo!
Taken from "365 Science Experiments"

I learned to LOVE science when I began volunteering in the PTA program at my daughters elementary school.  My love for it grew when I began running children's learning groups out of my home.  By the time I started teaching preschool, science was my favorite subject to play around with (I mean 'teach'…he he)!
This book "365 Science Experiments" by Hinkler Books was tested and approved by teachers.  I use it all the time and have enjoyed every experiment I have tried.  Remember, it's science…sometimes we have to give it a couple tries before we get our desired results.  However, that's the fun of it (and it teaches great patience!).  I am NOT selling this book, only approving it!  I encourage 'frugal' projects!  So please visit your library and your junk drawer before purchasing the supplies I list!

the beginning of the experiment...

 the discovery!
the food coloring should rise to the top
resulting in a colored underwater cloud!
it took me 3 try's…so be patient

Take a moment for learning and explain how clouds are made due to high and low pressure created by hot or cold air.  Just like the experiment showed!

Art Project:
This project is easy squeezey and only takes a minute!  But, it is art…so if your child chooses to take his/her time THAT IS OK because this project does not need much adult supervision.  Don't ever rush an art project.  If time runs out, put it away until more time becomes available to finish it.  Art projects should be a rewarding thing, an expression of sight, feeling and personality.

Upon going outside to actually see the clouds up in the sky we found there were not any!!!  The sky was completely blue.  So we did our science project first, walked outside a little later and noticed some very fine and thin clouds up by the mountains.  These are called Cirrus Clouds!

for my project, I decided to create exactly how I viewed the cirrus clouds in the sky...

Cumulous Clouds are the big fluffy ones, that create fun and interesting shapes!  If cumulous clouds are floating around in your sky, lay down on the grass and gaze for a moment.  Pick out the most interesting clouds and what shape they seem to be making.  My 18 year old daughter and I still do this often!  It's relaxing and amazing to gaze upon.

Cumulous clouds seemed more fun for some of the 'littles' to create!
So, a rabbit in the sky it is!  

If CUMULONIMBUS clouds are up in the sky…beware!  Those are lightning and thunder clouds and can be dangerous to be outside in.  This has happened to my group of preschoolers before, we stayed inside and looked through the windows.  We took out some gray and black ink pads, patted our cotton balls on to them a couple times and then glued them on to our paper.  And, as usual, our art projects turned out awesome!

"Cloudette" has been tested and APPROVED by children ages 4 - 8!

Questions?  Feel free to ask!

Suggestions?  Feel free to suggest!

Peace!

Lisa