Stone Soup Ideas

Since it is Super Bowl Sunday, it made me think of soup(see how I can make anything be about food). Of course, this brought to mind one of my all-time favorite children’s books:

STONE SOUP

I cannot think of a children’s book that embraces the concept of sharing any better than this one.

One of the most joyous parts of homeschooling, daycare, and parenting, for me, is incorporating as many different activities into wonderful children’s literature as possible.

This book has fed this creative outlet for me for years!
Here are some of my favorite Stone Soup ideas.

I love to start out by having the kids make a clay “pot”. Giving each child some clay strips, and having them roll it out into “snakes”. Then we pile them on top of each other until it is the size the child wants it to be. We’ve never actually eaten out of these; we use them as decorations or fill them with some treasures to share with family or friends.

We have cut out lots of pictures of vegetables and made collages after talking about each one.

All of my children love acting!
So, acting out the story has always been a favorite activity for us after I’ve read the book. We’ve acted it out in a few different ways. First, by dressing as the different characters and acting out the story.
Secondly, by using stuffed animals to act it out. And thirdly, by making paper puppets of the characters and re-telling the story this way.

I’ve also told the story using a felt board that I made.
Even the children have enjoyed telling the Stone Soup story this way.

We have used kitchen toy food to make “stone soup” for the dolls.

Of course, my favorite activity with this book has always been our annual Stone Soup cooking day!
If doing this with a group, it’s fun to ask each child to bring a different vegetable or herb to cut up and add.
When doing this with just my family, I’ve taken the kids to the grocery store and allowed them each to pick 2-3 vegetables and an herb to add.

This has led to so many funny discussions and memories. One of my favorite memories was when my 5 yr old picked out an eggplant. When we got home and I had him cut it. he started crying when he realized his was “broken”. Took me the longest time to get out of him that he’d expected it to have eggs inside! After all, it was an “egg plant”. The wonderful joys of childhood.

Allowing the kids to learn to clean, cut up, slice and dice the vegetables was a great introduction to knife and kitchen skills.
Since I’m not very good at buying fresh herbs as often as I should, this has always been a great discussion time about herbs being plants, and how to dry them to make them look like the ones in my spice cabinet. It even led us to grow a few over the years–cilantro(coriander), basil, oregano, and rosemary.

I have always enjoyed spending time in the kitchen with little ones, so for me, this is always as much fun as it is for them.
Seldom, if ever, has a child refused to eat it. Most kids that won’t eat vegetables on a daily basis would at least try this soup.

A great activity that I recently saw on Pinterest that I plan to do with the kids tomorrow is to go collect some rocks. Then, after they have eaten our “stone soup” lunch, they will write on the stone “I tried Stone Soup”. We will then go and hide the stones around town for others to find and ponder. I’ve never done this before and cannot wait! I can just imagine people’s reactions as they find these stones. It’s my hope that it encourages another family to go to the library or bookstore and check out or purchase the book to share with the special little ones in their lives! Sharing favorite children’s books with the special little people in your life is a special bonding time.