Elephants are such fascinating and amazing creatures that they cannot help but capture the imagination.
Add that to sensory play and the alphabet - and you’ve got a winning combination.
First - some story telling.
There is a fable about six blind men and an elephant. Read it here.
Six blind men wanted to learn about elephants. They each learned very different things from their observations.
The first touched the elephant’s big, firm stomach, and declared that an elephant must be like a wall.
The man who felt the elephant’s smooth, pointed tusk said that an elephant was like a spear.
The third man felt the elephant’s trunk. He “knew” that an elephant must be like a snake.
One of the men felt the elephant’s leg - and said that an elephant must be like a tree.
The fifth man felt the elephants ear and determined that an elephant must be rather like a fan.
The last man who was at the back of the elephant and touched its tail, was sure that an elephant was like a piece of rope.
This story is fabulous for retelling. I wanted to be able to retell it with things that I had around the house or could make quickly and easily. Quick and easy.
First - some story telling.
elephant - dollar store elephant
elephant’s stomach - wall - corrugated cardboard
elephant’s tusk - spear - pencil wrapped in brown paper; point coloured brown with a marker
elephant’s trunk - snake - dollar store toy snake
elephant’s trunk - snake - dollar store toy snake
elephant’s leg - tree - piece of a tree branch
elephants's ear- fan - homemade fan
elephant’s tail - rope - piece of heavy twine
Another not so quick and dirty elephant project is an elephant sensory bin.
Add them all to a sensory bin (mine was filled with decorator sand) - and listen to the story re-telling and new story creating.
Create an elephant collection from thrift shops, international craft shops, and friends and family who travel to far off places and have room to sneak a small elephant into their bags before coming home.
Relocate the elephants to a decorative sand base sensory bin and watch the games that they play. Enjoy children’s imaginations at work. 
Elephants can be sorted by size. In or out of the sensory bin.
Other elephant sensory activities
walk like an elephant - Martha Stewart
walk like an elephant - animal movement game - Craftulate
walk like an elephant - animal movement game - Craftulate
Check the rest of the activities in the Alphabet Sensory Activity series; click on the image below.
As always, some really awesome ideas!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with tomorrow's start up:)