Every year we find that certain books become favorites with our children. In 2010 it was ‘Little Rabbit Foo Foo’ and ‘A Nice Walk in The Jungle’. (We might talk about Rabbit Foo Foo in another post)
In ‘A Nice Walk in The Jungle’, Miss Jellaby takes her class for a nature study walk through the jungle. As they walk, Miss Jellaby is so intent on spotting a variety of animals to show the children, that she fails to register that her entire class has been progressively consumed by a Boa Constrictor. Tim constantly pleads with Miss Jellaby to listen and take note of what is happening, but she is apparently not a very good ‘listener’!
We set up this mini playscape for the children to engage with and retell the story.
Oh, and yes I ‘googled’ some Boa Constrictor images!
There are so many ‘intentional’ teaching moments in this story.
The Boa Constrictor chases a child up the tree!
Miss Jellaby ties the Boa Constrictor in a big knot around a tree!
Oops! There goes another one!
… and a teachable moment again. After acting out this story, the children asked many questions, one was, ‘How can the Boa Constrictor get a person inside his little mouth?’ Together we researched and found out that they have ‘hinged’ jaws which they can ‘unhinge’ allowing the muscles around their mouth to stretch and engulf their prey.
And an old favorite, ‘I’m being eaten by a Boa Constrictor’.
The kids love it!
Here … He’s nibbling my toes!
And…. Oh, gee he’s up to my knees!
Oh fiddle, he’s up to my middle!
Oh, dread, he’s swallowed my head!
At the end of the song, we always make a big fuss of the Boa Constrictor ‘spitting’ the kids back out again because, “… eeewwww that tastes disgusting… oh yuk!
Or, ‘festy’ as one child suggested! :))
For more “Picture Book Play Ideas”, search this category in the right side bar, or follow these links:
