Apple Prints and The Story of : The Little Red House With No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside

Like many people, we have been enjoying the abundance of apples this time of year. We've been apple picking, applesauce and apple crisp making and this week we will be dehydrating apples too. With all this apple excitement going on, I also set up some apple print making following a short version of the star in the apple story. Here is the story I told. As I reached the end of the story I cut our apples open to find the star inside.

The Little Red House with No Doors 
and No Windows and a Star Inside.


Adapted by C.J.Brown

One fall day a boy named Peter was looking for something to do. His mother was busy baking in the kitchen and couldn't stop to play with him, so she suggested that he try to solve a riddle.

“Peter, “ she said. “Here is the riddle. I want you to find the Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside," his mother said.

Peter had never heard of such a house, and he had no idea where to go to find it. He put on his jacket and went outside.

He started to walk along the street looking at all the houses. All of the houses he passed had doors and windows and none of them seemed like the sort of house that would have a star inside.

Peter saw a little girl playing in the park. He decided to ask her if she knew about the Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside.

The little girl said, "I have never heard of such a house, but maybe my father knows. He is a farmer. He knows how to make the crops grow and when it will rain. Maybe he knows about the Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside."

Peter followed the little girl. They walked down the lane, over the hill and to a small white farmhouse. The girl's father was sitting on the porch.

"Daddy," said the little girl, "This is Peter. He is looking for a Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside. Do you know where he can find it?"

The farmer took off his hat and scratched his head. "I have heard of such a house once, but I never tried to find it. Maybe you should ask Granny. She is very old and very wise. Maybe she can tell you where it is."

Peter set off down the road looking for Granny's cottage. He finally arrived at Granny's gate. The old lady was sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch.

"Excuse me, Granny" said Peter, "The farmer told me that you might be able to help me. I am looking for the Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside. Do you know where it is?"

Granny smiled. "I have heard of that house, but I never tried to find it. Perhaps you should ask the Wind. He sees and hears everything."

Peter walked to the top of a high hill and called to the wind. "Excuse me, Wind, do you know where I can find the Little Red House with No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside?"

"Yes-s-s-s," answered the Wind in it's gusty voice. "I know where that hous-s-s-se is-s-s. Follow me."

Peter followed the wind. It blew him this way and that, over the hill and down the other side. Finally, the wind stopped at an apple orchard. With a sudden gust, the wind shook an apple tree and down fell an apple into Peter’s hands.

The apple was very red. With it's stiff brown stem sticking up like a chimney it did look like a little house with no doors and no windows.

"But what about the star?" asked Peter. "Where is the star?"

Quickly Peter hurried home, running as fast as he could. He ran over the hill, past Grannies house, through the farmer’s fields and into the kitchen where his mother was baking.

“Well, did you solve the riddle?” asked Peter’s mother.

“I’m not sure,” said Peter. This apple is red like a small house, with a brown stem like a chimney and no doors or windows, but I don’t know if there is a star inside?” said Peter.

Peter’s mother took the apple from his hands and with her knife she cut through the center of the apple, and there inside was the answer.

My daughters really liked the story, especially at the end when I cut our apples open to find out if there really was a star inside.

The apple prints were also fun for them. We used a paint brush to brush on the paint.

We even found the stars in (most of) the prints.

Storytelling

Our set of Ruth Elsasser fairy tale postcards (purchased from Nova Natural) has been sitting unused for awhile. While wondering how to better use them, I came up with the idea to put out one each month to use for storytelling. I found and adapted a version of Snow-White and Rose-Red for me to read and my oldest daughter to hear this month. The postcard initially drew her interest and after hearing the story she often looks at the postcard and talks about the story. For future fairy tales that we won't have postcards of, I can use our small lap chalkboard to draw a simple illustration.

I had forgotten how much I loved this story as a child. It brought back memories of my time listening over and over to this fairy tale read aloud on cassette tape and following along with the paperback book. I can still hear the voices and remember the pictures on the pages.

After hearing the story we then had journal drawing. My hope is that the story we read before journal drawing will help inspire the drawings in some way and ignite a bit more interest in journal day (after all, it is hard to compete with baking day!). After my daughter finished drawing she showed me her picture of Rose-Red and Snow-White, the prince and the dwarf (he is in the middle with the long red beard). On the side of the blog, I've added a download for the adapted fairy tales and stories we use/used. Snow-white and Rose-red is there now and hopefully this will grow to be a useful resource for those looking for fairy tales and stories to read aloud.

Storytelling: Moving Pictures

Because we have a weekly painting day, I have a collection of watercolor paintings from both my daughters. I used two of these paintings recently to create this moving picture used for play and storytelling. This idea comes from the book Creative Play for your toddler.



It was fun to create the picture and pretty simple. I used one painting to draw on with crayons and the other to cut and make the pieces. My daughters really enjoy moving the pieces. I have created a simple story that I tell them while setting the picture on my lap with my daughters sitting next to me. The first time I told a story I moved the pieces so they could see how they moved and how to move them with care.



The pieces move up and down and back and forth. This little bunny hops from the house to the garden to eat the carrots. I keep the picture on the refrigerator door where they can easily reach it. I have found my daughters like using the moving pieces and I like the fact that it is another way to incorporate storytelling into our play.

Storytelling: The Lion and the Mouse: A Flannel Board Story

This story comes from the book: The Aesop for Children. Although most of the Aesop stories I've found are better understood by an elementary aged child, there are some I enjoy using with flannel boards or props and used this way, can be enjoyed by a younger child. Last month we used these flannel board pieces to tell and retell the story The Lion and the Mouse. (I changed the words used in the story but the storyline remains the same.)



Deep in the forest, a great lion was resting among the fruit trees. He was tired from a long day of hunting and very hungry because he did not find much to eat.





A tiny mouse was scurrying about looking for berries to eat. She saw a bush covered with wonderful colored berries. She was hungry too but she could not reach the berries because they were too high up in the berry bush. Looking around she noticed the lion resting. "If I am very quiet I might be able to climb up on that lion and reach the berries." Up she climbed, carefully, quietly, until suddenly "Roar! Who is on my back?"





"It is me, squeaked the mouse. I was trying to reach those berries. I am so hungry that I thought if I climbed on your back I might be able to reach them. I am so sorry to wake you from your rest." "You did wake me, and I am hungry too. I think I will eat you now." "Oh, please, spare me Lion. If you let me go I will help you someday, I will surely repay you." The Lion laughed and laughed some more. "You help me? How?" You are so small and I am so big! I will let you go because you made me laugh!" The mouse thanked the lion and then quickly scurried away.



The next day the lion went deep into the forest to go hunting again for food. As he walked, suddenly, a hunters trap caught his legs and the next thing he knew he was tangled in the hunter's strong ropes. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with angry roaring.





The mouse, who was out looking for more fruit, heard the roaring and recognized the voice. Quickly the mouse found the lion struggling in the net. When the lion saw the mouse he said "It is no use. These ropes are strong and the more I pull the tighter the net becomes." Quickly the mouse went to work gnawing at the pieces of rope until at last the lion was free.




The lion was glad to be free and very surprised that the mouse freed him. I am sorry I thought you were too small to help me and I am sorry that I laughed at you. You were right, it doesn't matter if you are big or small, everyone can be a help." So the lion invited the mouse back to the berry bush and let the mouse climb on his back to reach the biggest and juiciest berry he could find.

Storytelling: The Enormous Turnip

This month I have introduced The Enormous Turnip for storytelling. I did this as a standing puppet play for circle time. As you can see we have a very eclectic cast for the presentation. I managed to make the turnip easily. I made the mouse following directions from the book Felt Craft, by Petra Berger. The story is fun and simple. Here is one version of it. Anytime I do a puppet show for my daughters' they immediately want to present one to me. We will revisit this story more and then they can take turns presenting it to me.

Storytelling: The Gingerbread Man

This month we are using The Gingerbread Man as our story for storytelling. I introduced it by reading it (words no pictures) to my oldest daughter (almost 4 1/2) during a quiet time. I forgot how much I liked the story and I am excited about the activities we can do with this during the month. The version I am using comes from Waldorf educator Donna Simmons in her manual Kindergarten With Your 3-6 Year Old. I found a similar version here.



After a few readings, I set up a reenacting area. Somehow I had everything we needed for the scene, including the little gingerbread man (that I think is supposed to be a pencil topper) Of course my daughter wanted to be the gingerbread man "Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!"




This meant I got to be the tricky fox (funny how it fits right on top of the fox's head). Later, my younger daughter (2 yrs) was playing with it and I told her the story using the props. She loved it! Other activities we will do include acting it out (play-like), playing a game of Gingerbread Man outside (tag-like), using the felt gingerbread man in the play kitchen and of course baking some gingerbread people.

Storytelling: 3 Billy Goats Gruff

We used the 3 Billy Goats Gruff for storytelling. Over a number of days I read the story (just words, no pictures) to my daughter. She really enjoyed listening. Like so many of the other traditional children's stories this one makes use of repetition and order so that the child can follow along easily while appealing to their inclination for order.



After a few readings, I created a place for the story to be acted out. We used this area to recreate the story, taking turns who was the troll and the billy goats. This was also really fun to do. I left this out for my daughter to use whenever she wanted. Later, we also acted out the story ourselves and had fun with that too. (I found an online version of the story 3 Billy Goats Gruff here)