For this week’s kindness project, we focused our activity on a well-known Aesop’s fable: “The Lion and the Mouse.”

Reading the story

We first started off by reading the story with a picture book with no words which was incredible as it allowed us to discuss the plot and the feelings of all the characters. The quick summary of the plot is that the lion catches a mouse, and the mouse begs the lion to be freed saying that it will return the favor some day.  The lion sets the mouse free but scoffs thinking that such a small creature could never be of help.  Soon after though the lion gets trapped by some hunters with a snare made of rope.  The mouse sees that the lion is trapped, and gnaws the rope through to set the lion free.  And the lion realizes that even the smallest creatures can be of great help, and that no kind deed is wasted.

Our puppet show

I wanted my girls to remember this story, so we decided to put together our very own puppet show.  This became a fun art project, and we used materials that we had at home- like construction paper, popsicle sticks and some old craft pieces.  We kept the puppet show very simple and just made the lion, the mouse, some grass and used yarn for our snare.   My 5-year old wanted to be the mouse. I was the lion.  And my 2-year old was the hunter who threw the rope over the lion. We reenacted the whole plot and then at the end of the story, my 5-year old stated the moral.  We performed the show for her father, and now she wants to do a roadshow with other friends that come over.

Key Message

After doing the puppet show, I asked my daughter what she thought the moral meant especially the one about smallest creatures being helpful.  She said…”Well even me and sissy could help people out.”  And I said yes you definitely can! 🙂