The Ugly Duckling Looks for His Family
In this version of Andersen's ugly duckling, the duckling visits different animal families who welcome him and teach him how they move. It builds movement imitation, welcoming newcomers and expressing feelings.
How to play
- The teacher tells how the ugly duckling went from home to home looking for who he looked like. Place picture cards in four corners: hens, cats, turkeys and frogs (2 min).
- Visit each corner and learn how its animal moves: hens pecking, cats on all fours stretching, turkeys puffing up with proud steps, frogs squat-jumping (3 min).
- Spread children among the corners; the teacher is the ugly duckling who visits each family, copies them and asks “Can I stay?” The family answers “Of course, come with us!” and teaches him their move (4 min).
- Now several children are ducklings, moving corner to corner to the drum; every family welcomes them and teaches them something (3 min).
- At the end, everyone slowly grows into swans and glides across the lake together with wing arms (2 min).
Rules
- When someone joins our family, we say “Come with us!”
- We teach our move slowly so they can learn it.
- When the drum plays, ducklings switch families.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, use three families and the teacher is always the duckling.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, use four families and some children play ducklings.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, each family invents a new way to greet and move.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: each family has an arm-and-head gesture that can be done from a wheelchair.
- Hearing impairment: use big picture cards and signal family changes by holding up the card.
- Autism: let the child stay with one family if switching is upsetting.
Learning goals
- Imitate different animals' movements.
- Welcome a classmate who joins the group.
- Recognize how it feels to be different.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Animal picture cards: 5
- Hand drum: 1
Teacher tip
Take a moment at the end to talk about how the duckling felt when he was welcomed. Make sure no one laughs at whoever plays the duckling.
PatioLab has "The Ugly Duckling Looks for His Family" and 8714 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
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