Activity time: 5 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Copy of story, "The Magic Vase"
• Optional: "The Magic Vase" coloring sheet, and crayons

Preparation for Activity

• Read and print the story, "The Magic Vase." Prepare to tell it without reading directly from the script.
• Optional: Print the coloring sheet and copy for all participants. Place coloring sheets and crayons where children can use them when invited but will not be distracted beforehand.

Description of Activity

This wisdom tale, adapted from a story in Margaret Silf’s One Hundred Wisdom Tales from Around the World (Pilgrim Press), shows how we can sometimes look outside our family home, across the threshold, for a way to bring goodness within.

Settle children in a circle. Invite them to close their eyes while they listen to the story, "The Magic Vase."

Tell the story.

Pause at the conclusion. Then, invite discussion with these or other questions:

• Is the vase really magic?
• Why is the story called "The Magic Vase?"
• Did the vase make something happen? Or did people in the story make something happen?
• Who made something happen? How?
• Why do you think the oldest child went across the threshold, outside his home, for what he needed to get? Was something missing from his home that should have been there? What was it?

Including All Participants

Offer children the opportunity to color the illustration provided for “The Magic Vase” to engage different learning styles and to help children focus on or relate to the story. A coloring activity can be a "preview"of a story. It can work as a quiet activity to help children physically settle. You might use it afterward to help the group recall and respond to the story.