Flannel Friday! The Enormous Turnip/El nabo gigante

Anne and Melissa, the originators of this wonderful Flannel Friday experiment, suggested that today we all post flannels to go along with the Summer Reading theme “One World, Many Stories”. Many libraries, including mine in Colorado, are using this theme for our summer programs. So here’s a folktale that’s been retold many times by many authors and makes for a great interactive storytime activity!  The Enormous, or Giant, Turnip is originally a Russian/Slavic story.

The version I use is from The Bilingual Book of Rhymes, Songs, Stories and Fingerplays, by Pam Schiller, Rafa Lara-Alecio, and Beverly J. Irby.  Many of the storytimes I do are in English and Spanish, and it was great not to have to translate the story myself! Plus, it’s not too long, and involves animals, which are always easier to make into felt pieces!  Contact me if you don’t have access to the book and want the words; I’ll be happy to share!

Basically, little bear goes out looking for food. He discovers something sticking out of the ground, with a purple top.  He’s not sure what it is, so he tries pulling it out of the ground, without success.

What IS that?

One by one his friends skunk, squirrel, and mouse join him in trying to pull the object out of the ground.

Yes, the skunk is backwards. Maybe hes pulling with his tail?

They’re finally successful, and roll their prize to little bear’s den to show his mamma. Mama, of course, asks where he got such a lovely turnip!

My, what a big turnip you have!

Ah! Turnip!

I’m not sure how my skunk ended up facing the wrong way, but make sure you don’t make the same mistake! You can use any animal patterns; mine were printed, colored in, and covered with contact paper, with small pieces of felt stuck to the back. I freehanded the turnip and cut a slit into a piece of brown felt for it to stick out of.

The kids enjoy helping with this story, pretending to pull along with the animals and guessing what will happen next.

Have fun telling stories!