The Crow and the Pitcher Thematic Play (MGT)

In the Aesop Fable, “The Crow and the Pitcher,” a thirsty crow finds some water at the bottom of the pitcher, but is unable to reach it. He drops nearby pebbles into the pitcher until the water level rises and he is able to access the much needed water. The moral of the story is: “In a pinch, a good use of our wits may help us out.” Mother Goose Time provided us with several activities and a fun craft to compliment this story.

At the time of this post Ladybug is 36 months and Owl is 19 months.

In the story, the crow uses pebbles to displace the water in the pitcher until the water reaches the top and he can get a drink. Ladybug was able to reenact the story using “rocks” (glass gems) from our Mother Goose Time kit. I placed a small amount of water at the bottom of a clear container. The clear container made it possible to watch the water level rise as she dropped in pebbles one by one.

She found this activity marvelous fun and checked multiple times to see if she could reach the water with her tongue. When she was finally able to touch the water with her tongue she was incredibly excited. We repeated this activity and marked with a ruler and a marker how far up the water moved with each rock. This was an excellent exercise in measurement and early scientific reasoning.

We tried to hold as many “rocks” in our hands as possible. We then compared how many we could hold in our hands versus a variety of containers. I also had Ladybug estimate if she was holding more or less than five rocks in her hands. She then counted how many she was holding and compared that number to those remaining on the floor. She also ordered the rocks from smallest to largest.

One of my favorite things about using the Mother Goose Time preschool curriculum is the opportunity to take advantage of natural open ended learning during the completion of more organized crafts and activities. We had several pieces of paper on the floor in anticipation of the crow shaker craft discussed later in this post. Ladybug wanted to add the paper to her cup of water, so that the water level would rise the way it had when she had added rocks to the jar of water. I told her to go ahead. She was quickly able to see that the paper floated on top of the water and thus, would not work to displace the water towards the top of the cup the way the heavier, more dense rocks had displaced the water in her container in the earlier experiment.

Mother Goose Time also included material to make a “crow shaker.” Ladybug impressed me by drawing and cutting out the triangle shown here as the nose of the crow. We added two eyes and I helped her cut out the wings, which she was more than happy to glue onto the tube. She then added dried split peas into the shaker container. We used the shaker to make music along with an instrumental track from the Mother Goose Time CD.

As an added bonus, she also had a great time cutting up the leftover pieces of paper from her crow craft. She loves cutting and practicing with her scissors. She cut out several more triangles and a couple squares. Most of her cuts were just for the sheer joy of cutting.

This simple tray play activity provided by the Little Goose supplement portion of Mother Goose Time was a huge hit with both of my kids. The template for the pitcher was provided as part of the online resources available to Mother Goose Time members. I simply traced the rocks onto the pitcher for the numbers 1-5. Ladybug then continued the activity by drawing several more rocks on a larger picture of a water pitcher and counting the number of rocks she could fit inside the larger image.

For story time, we read Crows! Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle. The book is filled with wonderful insights on the natural history and behavior of crows. This book gives examples of the extreme intelligence these books often exhibit, often mimicking humans in both voice and tool usage. My little ones favorite part was learning that baby crows all have blue eyes that turn to black as they reach adulthood! It’s always fun to see what facts stick in their minds.

Are you home schooling a preschooler?

I’m looking to connect with other parents who are homeschooling preschool and I’d love to hear from you!

As a blog ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I am happy to share preschool curriculum ideas, activities, and crafts with my readers. Mother Goose Time provides our family the opportunity to use their curriculum free of charge in exchange for honest and authentic stories based on our personal experience.