Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

• A copy of the story, How Coyote Lost His Songs, Music, and Dance
• Optional: Pictures, masks or puppets (Leader Resource 1) for Coyote, Rabbit, Moose, Bird and White Buffalo Woman
• Optional: "How Coyote Lost His Songs, Music, and Dance" coloring sheet, and crayons

Preparation for Activity

• Read the story. If you can, prepare to tell it rather than read it from the page.
• Optional: To tell the story in an active way, use Leader Resource 1 to make puppets or masks. Use these as props to indicate different characters in the story. Or, ask for five children to volunteer to wear a mask, or hold up a mask or puppet when their character is talking.
• 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

Invite the children to get comfortable for listening to a story. If some children will participate in the telling, gather them around you where the whole group can see them. Read or tell the story.

Including All Participants

Offer children the opportunity to color the illustration provided for “How Coyote Lost His Songs, Music, and Dance” 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.