Fable definition, a short tale to teach a moral lesson,

often with animals or inanimate objects as characters

Distance learning Unit by T. Shaw
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Who was Aesop
Legendary Greek
Author
According to Herodotus, he was a slave who lived
in Samos in the 6th century. B.C. and eventually
was freed by his master. Other accounts associate
him with many wild adventures and connect him
with such rulers as Solon and Croesus. The fables
called Aesop’s fables were preserved principally
through Babrius, Phaedrus, Planudes Maximus,
and La Fontaine’s verse translations. The most
famous of these fables include “The Fox and the
Grapes” and “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

This unit contains a range of writing, reading, grammar and creative

activities for the Fables (excluding those already covered) in Aesop’s
Fables illustrated by Charles Santore. The book is yours to keep once
the unit is finished.
Some activities have been enlarged on A3 and some on card.
Included in this pack are watercolour paint, pastels, goggle eyes, split
pins, cotton wool, felt, coloured card (pink, black, gold, yellow, grey
and green) as well as extra coloured and white paper. (You will need
coloured pencils, writing pencil, scissors and glue)
You will need help to read some of the the fables. Check out his apps
and there are animations for most of these on the Internet. You can
complete these tasks in any order. You should discuss the moral and
the lesson to be learnt after reading and try to relate it if possible to
his own experiences. As with the first Fables unit, there is plenty here
to do so take your time and enjoy these classic tales.
Other versions online:
https://www.shortkidstories.com/story/aesops-fables/

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The Wolf and the Crane
Verbs are words that show something being done. They are doing or
action words.
Here are 10 action words:
sit, smile, sing, walk, run, talk, wave, lift, pick, eat
Can you find some in the fable? See if you can list 5 of your own.
Maybe things you can do or things you think a crane or a wolf can
do?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Match these animals with the way they move
Birds sneak
Ducks Strut
Peacocks Crawl
Worms Trot
Insects Creep
Snakes Fly
Kangaroo Climb
Monkeys Waddle
Horses Glide
cats Wriggle
wolves hop

Highlight any verbs you find in these sentences

The wolf howled in pain.
The wolf called out for help
The crane poked his head into the wolf’s mouth
The wolf promised to reward the crane.

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 The Wolf and the Lamb
Match up the wolf’s excuses with the Lamb’s answers.

You called me names

last year.

You are eating all the

lovely green grass in my
pasture.

You polluted my
drinking water by
drinking at the spring.

………………………………………………………………………
I’m too young to eat I don’t drink water. I
grass. live on my mother’s
milk.

I wasn’t even born last

year.

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The Wolf in Sheep’s clothing
Colour the wolf using pastels and add the wool to the sheep’s back
(Some cotton wool is included in the pack for you to use.)

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The Wolf in Sheep’s clothing
Fill in the blanks with the best word from the cloud or use one of
your own – so long as the sentence makes sense.

One day a wolf saw a flock

of………………………………………….
He was very ………………………………………..
He wanted to …………………………………………..
He dressed up in a sheep’s ……………………………….
The sheep thought that he was a sheep too. He could
now sneak up on them and eat all the sheep.
He became a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Eat, wolf, hungry, sheep, skin

Did he fool the sheep? ……………………

What happened to the wolf in the end?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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The Vain Jackdaw
Nouns are naming words. There are common nouns which
are the names of common objects such as:
Table, chair, window, boy, mother, house, car
There are also proper nouns which are the special names
we give things or people such as:
Ballarat, Patrick, Australia, Murray River, Uluru
Notice how these start with capital letters.
Write the words in the cloud in the correct column (Some
are from the story)

Common nouns Proper nouns

Jupiter, feather, Jackdaw King,

bird, King of the Gods, Creswick,
pencil, stream,

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Lion and the Wild Donkey
Put these in the correct order

FIRST

SECOND

THIRD
………………………………………………………………………
I will take the second I Give me the third and
because as your partner take off or else I’ll eat
I’m entitled to half you too.

I will take the first

because I am king of
the beasts.

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The Lion and the Wild Donkey
The wild donkey reels away from the greedy lion in the illustration
for this fable. Colour the donkey and insert a split pin to move his
neck away from danger.

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The Lion and the Mouse
‘T Chart’ how does the character of the Mouse and Lion change
throughout the story?
MOUSE LION

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The Lion and the Mouse
Colour the pictures. Draw a picture in frame 4 to show how the
story ends.

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The Lion and the Mouse
The Brave mouse

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The Lion and the Mouse
Colour in the picture and explain what is wrong with it.

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The Donkey and the Lion Skin
Try disguising yourself. Have someone take a photo of you in
disguise.
Colour in the picture and write what the characters might be saying
in the speech bubbles.

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The Old Lion and the Fox
Lion pop-out picture

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  Colour in the scene and the lion
 Cut the slit in the shadow of the cave
 Poke the ‘T’ through the slit (Colour what you will see black)
 Glue the lion on where it says ‘Glue lion here”
 Use the pop out scene to retell the story to someone. Don’t
forget to use appropriate voices when you are speaking in
character.

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The Monkey as King

Colour the Monkey King and put him

together (Split pins provided if you
want to use them. Gold card is also
provided to make him a crown.

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The Fox and the Grapes
pop-up book pictures

Photo of the Fox and the Grapes pop up card

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The Fox and the Grapes

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The Wild Boar and the Fox
Create a concertina folded
attachment from the boar’s snout to his head.

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The Fox and the Crow

A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its
beak and settle on a branch of a tree.
"That's for me, as I am a Fox," said Master Reynard, and he
walked up to the foot of the tree.
"Good day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are
looking today: how glossy your feathers; how bright your
eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds,
just as your figure does; let me hear but one song from you
that I may greet you as the Queen of Birds."
The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best,
but the moment she opened her mouth the piece of cheese
fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by Master Fox.
"That will do," said he. "That was all I wanted. In exchange
for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the future:
"Do not trust flatterers."
Read the story together and then select the correct words to go
into the spaces.

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 The Crow and the Fox cloze
A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of
1…………………. in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree.
"That's for me, as I am a Fox," said Master Reynard, and
he walked up to the foot of the tree.
"Good day, Mistress 2………………….," he cried. "How well
you are looking today: how glossy your
feathers; how 3……………. your eye. I feel sure your voice
must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure
does; let me hear but one 4………………….. from you that I
may greet you as the Queen of Birds."
The Crow lifted up her head and began to caw her best,
but the moment she 5……………………….. her mouth the
piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be
6………………………….. up by Master Fox.
"That will do," said he. "That was all I wanted. In
exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice
for the future:
"Do not 7…………………… flatterers."

Choose from:
trust, Crow, song, bright, cheese, opened, snapped

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The Fox and the Crow
Colour in the picture and write what the characters might be saying
in the speech bubbles.

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The Crow and the Swan
Make a crow by using your hand as a template for the tail and the
wings.

If you have black paint at home, you can make a print of your hands
on white paper. Alternatively, I have included black card in your
pack. Trace around your hands 3 times and cut them out for wings
and a tail. Black, yellow and grey card has also been included for
the body, wings and feet, goggle eyes have also been included.

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The Eagle and the Crow

“*” Talking marks tell the reader when someone is talking in a

story.

? Question marks tell readers when a question is being asked.

Add in the talking marks and question marks that I have removed
from these sentences.

1. My word said the Crow

2. I’ll do that said the crow.

3. So that’s what you’d be doing , is it asked the

Shepherd.

4. What sort of bird is it father asked the boy.

5. It’s a crow said the Shepherd

6. It wants to be taken for an Eagle but it’s just a crow

said the Shepherd.

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The Two Goats
The two goats should challenge each other on the bridge. Enlarge
the bridge picture to A3 and split pin the goat’s heads to their
bodies so they can charge each other.

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The Tortoise and the Eagle
Paint the tortoise and assemble him You can split pin his head on so
it moves from side to side.

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The Ox and the Frog

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The Crab and his Mother

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Colour in both crabs and fold the big one so that when it is stuck
down onto an undersea or beach background it looks like it is
‘popping up’ (Blue and yellow card has been provided for either
background.)

Short version of the Fable

The Young Crab and his Mother

"Why in the world do you walk sideways like that?" said a Mother
Crab to her son. "You should always walk straight forward with your
toes turned out." "Show me how to walk, mother dear," answered the
little Crab obediently, "I want to learn. "So the old Crab tried and tried
to walk straight forward. But she could walk sideways only, like her
son. And when she wanted to turn her toes out she tripped and fell on
her nose. Do not tell others how to act unless you can set a good
example.

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Making the crab

INSTRUCTIONS
Paint the template pieces and cut them
out. Fold a piece of cardboard in half and
cut a semi-circle. (You can also fold a
paper plate in half)
Glue on the legs. Attach the pincers with
split pins and tape the eyes on the top of
the body. (You can also use goggle eyes
and include a version of the fable inside
the crab’s mouth.

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The Heron
Colour in the picture. What might the heron and the perch be
saying to each other here?

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The Bear and the Bees
The Hungry Bear (Sentence sequence and match up. Draw 2 images
of your own)

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The Grasshopper and the Ants
Create your own busy ant

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The Grasshopper and the Owl
Colour the shapes in the owl
Create one of your own for the grasshopper but you add the shapes
and you decide on the colours.

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Shapes and
colour

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The Grasshopper and the Owl

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The Grasshopper and the Owl

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FABLES
What Fable is it?

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FABLES

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 Answers

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FABLES

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 Answers

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FABLES
Compare two fables featuring similar animals or with a similar
moral
Venn diagram

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FABLES
Create a dust jacket for a book version of your favourite fable.

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FABLES
Wanted Poster for a character from one of the fables you have
read.

WANTED

Reward $
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FABLES
Fables PMI (Complete a PMI for your favorite fable.)
Title: …………………………………………………………………………………..

P (Plus) M (Minus) I (Interesting)

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FABLES Additional dotted thirds writing paper.
Title ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Title ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Title ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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