Tapestry of Faith: Love Connects Us: A Program on Living in Unitarian Universalist Covenant for Grades 4-5

Activity 1: Story - The Ant and the Grasshopper

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Read the story and prepare to share it with the group.
  • Review the discussion questions and choose those that will best help the children share their interpretations of the story and relate it to their own lives.

Description of Activity

Read or tell the story to the group.

After the story, invite the group to be silent for a moment to think about the story.

Begin a discussion by asking the children to recap the story in their own words. What they recall indicates what they found most meaningful or memorable.

Lead a discussion using these questions:

  • How do you think Hard-Working Ant felt watching Grasshopper play while she was working so hard? Have you ever been in a situation where you were working hard and people around you were not? What did you do? How did you feel about the person/people not doing their share?
  • Would you have wanted to let Grasshopper in to eat some of the food?
  • If you did not want to let him in, and he came in anyway, how would you feel? What would you do?
  • What if he did not have any helpful skills like singing? Would you feel any different about him being there?
  • Do you think when the next summer comes, Grasshopper will help gather food? Do you think next summer any of the ants will choose to sing and dance rather than work to prepare for the winter?
  • What do you think will happen if Grasshopper, next year, does not work? Will he ask the ants for food again? Will Welcoming Ant and Hard-Working Ant feel and act the same as they did in this story?