Instructions for the participatory story

Read the story slowly aloud. Whenever an animal appears in the text, the children should clap. It's especially fun if the children also imitate the sounds of the animals. You can change the activity later by having them clap for every color or every fruit.

The participatory story "The Fruit Thief"

Little raven Theo is sad. He can't find his blue basket with the beloved fruits anymore. He loves his red cherries, yellow pears and above all the green apples so much.

Theo jumps out of his brown nest. His stomach growls, he is so hungry. Then he hears a loud smacking. Could a mean fruit thief have stolen his basket?

Then he sees Picasso, the pink piglet, behind a green bush. 'Have you seen my fruit basket?' asks Theo. Picasso shakes his head, smacking his lips. Theo looks at Picasso suspiciously. But now he sees that Picasso is eating red strawberries. So Picasso is not the fruit thief.

Theo has to keep searching. He flies high above the treetops almost up to Armin the eagle, who circles in the sky. Then he sees Eddi the gray donkey. He is eating a red apple. 'Got you, you mean fruit thief!' cries Theo and flutters excitedly with his black wings. But then he realizes those are not his apples. His apples are smaller and a different color. So Eddi is not the fruit thief either.

Sadly, Theo sits down on a gray rock. A big blue tear rolls over his yellow beak. Then Felix the white lamb arrives. Felix is Theo's best friend. He has a pink box with him. Theo tells Felix the story about the mean fruit thief. 'I am the mean fruit thief!' laughs Felix. Theo is angry. He wouldn't have expected that from his best friend. Felix points to the box. 'Open it!' he says. Theo opens the box and looks inside. In the box is a wonderful fruit cake. 'Surprise! I baked it this morning for my best friend!' beams Felix. Then even more big blue tears flow over Theo's beak. But this time they are tears of joy.