We shared Jan Brett’s delightful retelling of the story The Mitten. We connected the progression of The Mitten to the progression of the story we used for our “Kidspired Tales” story, The Enormous Turnip. We enjoyed some of the activities on Jan Brett’s website. We especially liked coloring her online picture of the Mitten. Then we had fun filling a mitten with animals in Kidspiration. It was good practice in using the mouse to “drag and place.” And more advanced users learned they could catch the corners to resize the pictures and fit in more animals. We’ve got a bit of a competition going to see who can fit in the most animals without “Popping the Mitten!”

 

Once upon a time in a village in Africa there lived a small girl.  As she walked through the jungle one hot and steamy day, she lost her straw hat, which she always wore to keep the sun off her head.  A small frog came along and climbed into the hat to get out of the sun. 

 Soon a toucan flew by and asked to join the frog.  The frog wasn’t sure there was room for the toucan but when she saw the big beak on the toucan she moved over and made room.

A monkey came by and also wanted to come in out of the sun.  The frog and toucan worried about the monkey’s tricks but made some room and in he came.

 Along came a crocodile that made them all very nervous.  But when they saw her glinting teeth they let her in. 

 A lion strolled by and forced his way into the straw hat.  There was no room left but no one wanted to argue with a lion and so they said nothing.

 It was getting hotter and hotter, even in the straw hat.  A giraffe came by and looked so miserable out in the sun that the whole group agreed to make a bit more room in the hat for her.  When an elephant insisted in coming it too the straw hat swelled and stretched.  It pulled and bulged to many times its size.  But it held fast. 

 Along came a mosquito, no bigger than a minute.  She wriggled into the one space left, and made herself comfortable inside the great elephant’s trunk.  The elephant, tickled by the mosquito’s buzzing gave an enormous sneeze.  Aaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aca-chew!  The force of the sneeze shot the straw hat up into the sky, and scattered the animals in all directions.

 On her way home the small girl saw a shape in the distance.  It was the straw hat silhouetted against the blue sky.  She raced after it to catch it and returned home, most relieved to have the shade of her hat once again.

 

Click on Image to View Full Size

Download Kidspiration Activity File