Stone Soup
Pick a favorite soup recipe, or a packaged mix. Have your child choose some extra ingredients to add, such as carrots, potatoes, and beans. Then have them help drop the ingredients into the pot and stir it around. While the soup is simmering, read together the story, “STONE SOUP,” by Marcia Brown. (Get it ahead of time from your local library)
Explain to your child that you are making soup to share with others who don’t have enough to eat. Place the soup in large plastic containers and deliver them, with your child, to a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen. You can locate a charity by looking in the phone book under “Social and Human Services Organizations.” Make sure to call ahead of time to arrange the delivery. You could also bake some cookies for dessert.
I found a great website, DLTK’s Growing Together, that has wonderful additional activities for younger children. You can make a clay pot, read and color the Stone Soup Poem, read the Fable, make felt board characters, play Bingo and much more. You could plan an activity a day for a week which would build up to making and delivering the soup. What a wonderful way to spend some fun quality time with your kids while teaching them an invaluable lesson on caring and sharing.