The Snail and the Whale Small World

So this week is Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme for this year is Find Your Brave. I wanted to find a children’s book which showed a character being brave as I often find a great way to start a discussion about a topic is to read a book first. ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson is a great book for this theme as the snail needs to “Find her brave” in order to save the whale. I set this small world activity up so that my children could explore being the characters in the story and act out what was happening and potentially even what they might have been feeling.

Set Up

For this ‘The Snail and The Whale’ small world I set it up originally in an oven tray. I used tissue paper, glass pebbles and aquarium gravel for the sea. I also used pebbles and shells we had collected on various seaside trips. We didn’t have a whale at home so I found instructions online for an origami whale which was surprisingly easy to make.

So first we read the story together. We have read this story lots of times before but this time as we read it I focused on moments of bravery throughout the story. I modelled thinking out loud how the snail and the whale might be feeling. I was impressed with how much we actually could discuss together and it wasn’t just me making suggestions. Then I gave my children some time to explore the small world. They instantly took on the role of the different characters and began to act out the story.

They then decided they wanted to incorporate other parts of The Snail and the Whale story into the small world activity including the places they visited and the school in particular. So we all set off on a hunt for various items that we thought could work. I was impressed with what we created together. But more than this they really took from this story the importance of having to be brave at times even when it is difficult. I think it is particularly great that it is the small snail in this story who “Finds her brave” as it shows that you don’t have to be big and strong to be brave.