Activities Coloring Pages Word Puzzles Word Treasures Return to the Story
Get ready to discuss, share, play, create, and read your way to developing and empowering a strong character.
Imagine
Imagine the countdown for hide and seek has begun. Now it’s time to find the perfect hiding place so you can win the game.
Story Focus, Virtues, and Life Lessons
Story Focus:
Practicing Safety
The story focuses on being aware of your surroundings where you live and play, respecting the property of others, valuing the guidance of elders to ensure your personal safety, and practicing safety by observing and understanding the signs around you.
Virtues:
Courage, Wisdom, Respect, and Patience
Life Lessons:
- Courage
The fox did not act out of fear; she was thinking before acting. Fran played it smart. She stayed in hiding and was very quiet. - Wisdom
Accepting and understanding the wisdom of elders. Listening to the advice and warning of parents or elders.
“Mother always tells me to think first. Be smart and use your head. You don’t need to be stronger to win.” - Respect
Respect for the territory or property of others. Pay attention to warning signs.
Now Fran understood the warning, “Do not trespass!” - Patience
The fox remained in hiding and waited for rescue. The fox did not run out into the open when the wolf howled.
“She came out from under the leaves after she was sure the wolf had left.” - Have learners share personal experiences that illustrate each virtue.
- Extend the discussion by having learners share situations where they may have witnessed others exhibiting courage, respect, and patience.
- How did Fran show her courage when hiding from Fang?
- Who in the story showed the ability to be patient and how were they patient?
- Where and who in the story discovers what is respect for territory.
Magical Moments
Interactive Discussion and Activities
Reading Story Techniques
First, pre-read the story before reading it aloud with your learner. Use expressive language, gestures, motions, and sounds to make the story come alive:
- Sound concerned and authoritative when reading as Fran’s mother telling them to be careful.
- Change your tone of voice to sound like a young fox pup when Felix is counting. Imitate sniffing the air as Felix looked for the other fox pups. Sound fearful when Fran heard the sound of paws coming near.
- Imitate a crunching sound as Fang, the wolf, made his way to the leaves where Fran was hiding.
- Imitate a low barking sound from the distance the first time and then go louder the second time.
- Sound joyful when the fox pups were together again.
While Reading
Interject these questions to involve your learner:
- Who was looking for Fran and the other foxes?
- Where did Fran hide?
- What did Fran do when the wolf was looking for her?
- Why did Fran run into the wolf’s marked area?
- When did Wolfgang run away?
After Reading
Use the answers to these questions to recall main points of the story.
- How did Felix find the fox pups?
He listened for sounds around him. He sniffed the air for the scent of the red fox pups. Felix was a cunning hunter. - Why couldn’t Felix see Fran?
Fran covered herself in the beautiful fall leaves of red, orange, and gold. Her fur was almost the same color as the leaves. - Why did Fran hide in the wrong place?
In her rush to hide, she hadn’t checked for other animal scents. This area of the woods had been marked by wolves. - How did the fox troop find Fran?
Then a barking, “wow, wow, wow” was heard in the distance. Wolfgang turned his head to listen. The foxes had heard his howl and were heading his way. Fran heard the sound of Wolfgang running away. She came out from under the leaves after she was sure the wolf had left. Fran called back to the foxes, “wow, wow, wow” as she ran to meet them. - NOTE: Close with a discussion related to being safe when playing outside.
Behavior/Social Development (All Ages):
- To teach courage, praise your learner for trying new things, new foods, and new activities. Tell them you are proud of them for not being afraid and trying. Tell them they are brave and have courage to experience new things, opportunities, and challenges.
- To teach respect of others’ property, remind your learner how they feel when someone uses their toys or possessions without asking.
- To teach comprehension of wisdom, remind your learner of the valuable lessons they have learned from elders in their family. Share personal examples.
- To teach patience, plant seeds and watch for them to bloom.
- To teach safety have discussions related to recognizing warning signs or marked areas, such as “Danger,” “Do Not Enter,” “Do Not Trespass,” etc.
Language Development (Younger Learners):
- Antonyms: away – near, in – out, small – large, soft – loud
- Colors: gold, orange, red, gray
- Identify and explain some of the more difficult words in the story, such as
cunning, (fox) troop, and (wolf) pack. - Synonyms: season: autumn – fall, scent – smell, snout – nose
- Identify word patterns: Sounds “– ark”
Bolded words, among the following, were used in Hide and Seek — bark, dark, hark, lark, mark, park, shark, spark, stark - Recap previous discussions about courage. Ask your learner to finish the statement: I have the courage to _______.
- Ask your learner to tell you who they respect and why.
- Recap previous discussions about wisdom. Ask your learner to finish this statement to the best of their ability. Partial answers are acceptable. I learned from my ______ that I should never __________, because________.
- Patience — Ask your learner to tell you about something that took a long time to learn like tying your shoes, telling time, riding a bike, etc. Now that they are able to do the task, ask if it was worth waiting for.
Language Development (Older Learners):
- Recap previous discussions about courage. Ask your learner to finish the statement: I have the courage to ____.
- Recap previous discussions about wisdom. Ask your learner to finish this statement to the best of their ability. Partial answers are acceptable. I learned to __________ from my ________.
- Respect comes in five different types: acceptance, admiration, regard, appreciation, and honor. Have your learner think of an example for each type.
- Patience is demonstrated when we are able to handle delays in route to a goal or special occasion and to tolerate the wait calmly. Brainstorm a list of things that may be hard to wait for. Create a list of things you can do to make the waiting easier. Example: Writing in a journal anticipations of your birthday party.
- Introduce warning and safety signs that your learner should be familiar with. Identify the signs, symbols, purpose, locations, and actions that should be taken for each sign.
Making Memories
Discover the values covered in this story through guided activities and fun projects that ensure learner involvement.
Arts and Crafts ideas for Creatively Understanding the Virtues
Arts & Crafts Activities (Younger Learners):
- Patience — Choose an art activity that takes a few days to finish, like a paint by numbers project.
- Respect — Make a chain of respect by writing ways to show respect on strips of construction paper and staple the strips together creating a chain.
- Play Hide & Seek with your fox pup — (Suggestion: prior to playing the Hide and Seek game, teach your learner the “hot”/“cold” clues used in many seeking
games. If this is accomplished and understood by your learner, it can be
used to help you find the hidden pup.)- Provide your learner with a fox pup template to color.
- Help your learner cut out the figure.
- Have your learner name their fox pup and write the name on the back of the fox.
- Have your learner hide their fox pup.
- Next, look for your learner’s hidden fox pup. Talk aloud while you are hunting so as to expand your learner’s vocabulary. Examples are: “I don’t see (named) fox pup under the chair” “I do not see him on the table.” “Is he behind the computer” and “I found him beside your lunch box.”
Arts & Crafts Activities (Older Learners):
- Patience — Put together a 100+ (or larger) piece jigsaw puzzle.
- Respect — Make a poster for the Rules of Respect. List the Do’s and Don’ts and then decorate.
- Courage — Make a collage of pictures that represent the things your learner had the courage to do.
Involvement Tips (All Ages):
- Your learner is watching how you show respect to others, whether or not you are patient, and when you display courage in difficult situations! Actions speak louder than words. Share personal experiences on each virtue.
- Model Respect. Rather than criticizing others or focusing on the negative, try finding the best in others and let your learner hear praise instead.
- Explain to your learner that part of the fun of wanting something is the planning on how to get it. Small steps taken toward fulfilling a goal is an experience in itself — like buying something on lay-away or learning steps to a dance, etc. Brainstorm other examples.
Wolfgang thought, “What is that smell? Who is hunting in our marked area?”
Lasting Impressions
Continue with learning experiences to extend your stay.
Follow-up Activities (All Ages):
- Reading books that illustrates patience will provide the opportunity to discuss ways in which to handle delays.
Real-Life Activities (All Ages):
- Identify personal safety issues with your learner. Discuss ways to ensure personal safety like — never go with a stranger, use the buddy system when playing or going outside, never enter a building with a sign, “No Trespassing,” let friends or parents know when you are going somewhere, know when and how to call 911, etc.
“Fran heard the sound of Wolfgang running away. She came out from under the leaves after she was sure the wolf had left.”
Activities Coloring Pages Word Puzzles Word Treasures Return to the Story
Mother always tells me to think first. Be smart and use your head. You don’t need to be stronger to win.