Stone Soup Activity

stone soup activity

Yesterday we made stone stoup with our homeschool playgroup co-op and I was amazed at how the children gobbled up the soup afterwards.  I remember making stone soup at the Waldorf Daycare I worked at years ago and how magical the story was as it was presented to the children. Stone Soup is a wonderful activity to do with your daycare group on a cold winter day so I thought I would share the process with everyone.

First of all, you need to get the book from your local library.  There are many different versions of the story.  The homeschool mother who lead the activity yesterday at the co-op read a nice version using animals as the characters.  My version uses monks as the main characters.

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You can also find shorter versions of the story online if you can’t find a hard copy.

You will need a bunch of vegetables to add to the soup.  Look through your copy of the story and add the vegetables mentioned if they appeal to your daycare group.  Carrots, celery, corn, peas, potatoes, onions and beans are all kid friendly options.

Have the children help you wash the vegetables and prep them in individual bowls.  You can judge, depending on the age of your group and number of children, how many vegetables to have already pre-chopped and how much the children can help with the process.

My group loves to watch me chop up veggies. I bring a cutting board to the table and chop while I chat with them at snack time.  The little ones like to eat their snack and watch while the older ones like to try their skills at using the vegetable peeler.

Once you have each vegetable washed and cut up put them in individual bowls or containers.  Make sure you have enough vegetables so each child in your group can add one.  The story also calls for a large pot and a clean stone.  You can add an imaginary stone or get a river stone (from a craft store) and wash it so that you can put it into the pot. I would suggest removing it when you actually cook the soup!

Have the children gather around the table with their vegetable and the story.

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Read the story to the children pausing to allow each child to add a vegetable as it corresponds to the storyline.

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The story held the children’s attention since they were drawn into the activity and waiting eagerly for their turn.

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Once all the ingredients had been added, the pot was passed around the table and each child had a chance to ‘stir in their love’ as the end of the story was told.

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We had a short discussion about the story afterwards and then the children played while the soup cooked.  We added pre-cooked pasta to the soup before it was served.

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The soup was DELICIOUS.  My pickiest eater (who is not a soup fan) declared she loved it and asked for seconds! You could extend this activity by providing the children with toy vegetables and a big pot so they could make their own stone soup.

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It would be easy to cut out vegetables from felt and make your own felt board story for your group. Maybe you would like to focus on the sharing aspect of the story and extend it into an art collage.  Each child contributes a craft material at art time and you make a group collage.  You could also have each child add their own musical sound and create a song together. There are many different possibilities to extend this theme if the children are interested.

May your stone soup activity nourish your daycare children’s stomachs and their hearts.