Storytelling Inspired by David McPhail and The Puddle {Virtual Book Club for Kids}

David McPhail is our featured author this month for the Virtual Book Club for Kids. I think what struck me most about his books were the way the stories were told. Many of the books contain fantastical and improbable stories that my son really loves. David McPhail’s vivid imagination made for an enjoyable read. The Puddle was by far my son’s favorite story we read. It inspired a wonderful storytelling activity.

The Puddle by David McPhail

The Puddle is a story about a boy and his sail boat. The boy heads outside to sail his boat in a puddle. His mother gave instructions for him not to get in the puddle. A frog steals the boat and crashes into a turtle having tea in the puddle. An alligator offers to bring back the boat. A pig wants to swim in the puddle, and a thirsty elephant adds even another problem to the story.

Storytelling Inspired by David McPhail and The Puddle

My son {age 3} loves making up his own stories and retelling stories from books. The Puddle is a book that he loves to retell. Simply retelling a story you’ve read is a great storytelling activity in itself. Add props to the story – stuffed animals, puppets, toys, or items from around the house – to make it even more fun.

I wanted to take our storytelling a step further this time. I wanted to let Aiden make his own story using The Puddle as inspiration.

I used our large whiteboard as a backdrop for the storytelling. The whiteboard is simply a piece of hardboard marker board from the hardwood store. {It’s just over $10 for a 4 ft piece.}.

I drew a puddle on one side of the board using dry erase crayons. {Or maybe they were washable crayons. I’m not really sure since Aiden took the paper off of all of the crayons and mixed them up… Both crayon types work just fine on the whiteboard.}

I brought lots of Aiden’s animal toys next to the whiteboard.

The first thing he did was retell the story of the puddle using the props provided.

I asked him if he wanted to make up his own story about the puddle. Here are some of the questions I asked to get him thinking:

• Is it a big puddle, or is it little? Is it deep or shallow?
• How many puddles are there? Just one or a several small puddles?
• Who is at the puddle? Are there animals in the puddle? What about people?
• What is happening at the puddle?

Aiden created several different stories surrounding the puddle. Some of the stories were very similar to David McPhail’s story. Others were very different. At one point, he decided to add his planes to the scene. We had to add one airstrip, then a second airstrip, and finally a third airstrip to accommodate all three of his planes.

The Robot and the Puddle {Video of Aiden’s Stories}

I videotaped the stories he told on one particular day. This video contains two of his stories, The Robot Scares Everyone at the Puddle and The Robot Is Stuck. Enjoy!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB4-sFr791E?rel=0]

Virtual Book Club for Kids Co-Hosts

Here are the blogs co-hosting the Virtual Book Club for Kids. Be sure to see what David McPhail books and activities they chose. You can also check out the group’s Facebook page.

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Now it’s your turn! Link up your posts about a David McPhail book you read and your related activity {project, craft, recipe, etc.}. Grab a button and spread the word.

Linking up here.

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