Chinese New Year: Zodiac Story

I lean on the side of caution when it comes to colouring pages.
There is less room for 'outside-the-box' and more room for 'colour between the lines'.

I presented the 12 Zodiac Animals for puppet making, simply due to lack of time to prepare the puppets I had planned for storytelling.
So I enlisted the wee and made the preparation a joint effort.
It was well over an hour's worth of colouring, cutting and pasting, not to mention some colourful conversation!

Their individual processes demonstrated two ends of the artistic spectrum.

The realist and the idealist.
Ms.O was researching actual colours, running back and forth to the library as she remembered books displaying corresponding animals, figuring out their habitat and drawing it beneath their feet, staying inside the lines and taking note of details like spots, stripes and colour.

Ms. C however, was content colouring just outside the lines, losing sight of the original drawing and in deep discussions about pigs with her sister, deciding that "pigs are intinct!" (extinct) so how on earth could we acquire one!

When her sister asked why her rabbit was multi-coloured, Ms.C eloquently replied,

"we'll give him all the colours to keep him warm."

Before breaking into story, we took a 'Tea & Poetry' break.

They love this activity as introduced by fellow homeschoolers and friends.

Four of Mr. Silverstein's collection featured zodiac animals; dragon, dog, horse and snake.

We finally collected our puppets and some props (silk scarves for water, wooden blocks for stepping stones and a raft) before explaining the story.
http://adventuresandplay.com/chinese-new-year-story/