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Description

Explore the different parts of your Promise by acting out some of Aesop's fables.

Source courtesy The Scout Association https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/a-fable-for-your-promise/

Resources

Promise fables PDF (doc attached) - also Word docx (replaces gender neutral language of the pdf)


Take it further
Why not meet requirement three of the Beavers Creative Activity Badge by making props or masks for your fable stories? You could try junk modelling with clean items of recycling.

Youth shaped guidance
Everyone can come up with their own stories if they want to—the fables are just there for guidance, or as a backup if people get stuck.

Instructions

Before you begin
- Make sure you have enough helpers for each group to have one each. Helpers could include older young people and parents and carers—they just need to be confident at reading a script.


Explore stories
1. Everyone should sit in a circle. People should take it in turns to share examples of stories they’ve read or heard. People may want to think about what happened, and how it made the characters feel. They could also talk about what the characters learned, and what the reader could learn from the story.

2. Stories have a meaning and a purpose. Everyone should think about the meaning and purpose of the stories they chose—do they make us laugh, do they make us feel other feelings, or do they teach us lessons about life? You may want to think about examples including stories in religions and myths, as well as books and fairy tales.

2. The person leading the activity should explain that a ‘fable’ is a type of short story. The characters are often animals, and the story teaches people a lesson about right and wrong—the lesson is often called the ‘moral’ of the story. The most famous fable writer was called Aesop. He lived in ancient Greece over 2,000 years ago.

4. Everyone should choose the version of the Promise that’s right for them, and then everyone should say their Promise out loud at the same time. It doesn’t matter if different versions overlap.


Practice the fables
1. Split into four groups, with a helper for each group. Each group should find their own space.
2. The person leading the game should give each group a fable.
3. The helper should read out the fable, and help their group talk about its meaning. What could the moral of the story be? Which part of the Beaver Scout Promise does it link to?
4. Everyone should work together to decide who will play who. Everyone should have a role or everyone should vote (or let the helper decide) if more than one person wants a role.
5. The helper should read out the story, and the group should act it out. If a group wants to use their imagination to change the story or create their own fable, that’s fine too. It’s up to each person whether they want to mime or speak, but they shouldn’t use any props or scenery.
6. Each group should practice a few times.


Showtime
1. Everyone should sit together so they can see an empty space at the front.
2. The first group should move into the empty space and act out their story. Everyone else should watch, and clap at the end.
3. At the end, everyone else should try to guess the moral of the first group’s story. The first group (and their helper) should give hints if people need them. It doesn’t matter if people don’t guess the exact words if they get the general theme.


Reflection
- This activity helped you to respect others. Each group might want to remind everyone what their fable was about, and how it linked to the Beaver Scout Promise. Do you think respecting others is part of the Beaver Scout Promise? How can you show you respect other people? Do you know any other stories (books, films, plays, or musicals) where people learned to respect others? Do you have an example of when you kept your Promise or respected others?
- This activity was also a chance to build friendships. How did the different friends treat each other in the stories? How do you think it made the characters feel? Did this activity give you a chance to make friends with other people?


Change the level of challenge
- Everyone else could also guess the part of the Promise that a group’s story relates to.
- Groups can be as imaginative as they like—they may want to change some of the dialogue of their plays, or add in extra actions.

Tags

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Badge Links

• Creative - Perform
• Faith - Read
• Faith - Tell a story
• Membership - Ceremonies