Penny Parker Klostermann

Feed The Knight To The Dragon

Classroom or party play activity. This will be a Pin the Tail on the Donkey type activity. You can use images from the book as a guide to draw a dragon on a large piece of poster board or use the dragon in the materials I prepared HERE.  Either draw small knights for students to color or have each student draw and color their own knight, or use the knights in the materials I prepared. If you plan to play the game multiple times, laminate the dragon and the knights. Students will take turns being blindfolded as they tape their knight to the dragon. The student whose knight is closest to the dragon’s mouth wins the game. Materials HERE.

There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Rhyme

Rhyme recognition activity. Since my book is written in rhyme, it is perfect for a rhyming game. Using the materials in the worksheet HERE. Students will cut out the word signs and glue sets of rhyming words to the signs. Each sign will hold a pair of rhyming words. There will be 8 signs.

Do this as a Group Activity: Use the image of the dragon provided in the prepared worksheet. Cut slit in dragon’s belly. Staple a Ziploc bag behind the dragon so that the words that are fed through the slit will be caught in the Ziploc bag. The teacher/leader will hold the dragon. Have students bring their cut out words to group time and feed the dragon matching rhymes. Challenge students to come up with other rhymes that would match those on the stakes. Materials HERE.

There Was an Old Dragon on the Loose

Large group tag game-Perfect for playground time or physical education class. Using images from materials found HERE, create small cards (approx. the size of playing cards) with these images: 1 dragon card (student with dragon card will be the dragon)

10 of each-knight, steed, squire, cook, lady, castle, and moat. Choose one student to be the dragon. The dragon will wear a red scrimmage vest or a red wristband. Distribute other cards among the remainder of students. Remind them to keep their card a secret. The instructor should be left with a pile of extra cards. (If you have more cards than students, make sure at least 2 knight cards are distributed) Have all students scatter except for the dragon. When instructor calls, “There was an old dragon,” the dragon will begin chasing the other students. If a student is tagged, they must hand their card to the dragon. If they have a knight card, they must take the dragon’s card and the red vest/wristband to become the new dragon. After the previous dragon hands over the dragon card and the wristband, they exchange their knight card with a new card from the instructor’s pile of cards. On the other hand, if a tagged student has any card other than the dragon card, they are free to take another card from the instructor after turning their card over to the dragon. They may continue the game with their new card. Periodically, the instructor should collect the cards the dragon has collected so they will have cards to distribute to other students. The game is ongoing since the dragon card changes hands time after time. Materials HERE.

Dragon Story Spark

There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight is a cumulative tale. In a cumulative tale, sometimes also called a chaintale, action or dialogue repeats and builds up in some way as the tale progresses.

Task

Chose a character.

Chose a setting.

Make a list of things your character could swallow and write a cumulative tale.

Preparation

Generate a list of characters and settings. A good way to brainstorm your list is to start with A and go to Z, listing items that start with that letter. Do this for the character and for the setting. Doing this as a class or a small group will help to generate a long list to choose from. Get as silly and crazy as you like.

Time to Write

From the list of characters and settings, students can choose and write their story. Or each item can be written on a slip and paper and placed into a box or bag—one box/bag for character and one box/bag for setting. Students will choose a character and a setting and then write their story.

Don’t be concerned with rhyming at this point. Students can add rhymes later if desired.

Challenge students to come up with a twist for the ending.

HERE is a worksheet to use for this activity.