Germany

by Carolyn Christiansen
(Knoxville, TN, USA)

Schultute

Class format:
Read a story - 15 min.
Craft - 10 min.
Games - 10 min.
Snack - 15 min.

Story

by Leah Wilcox.

I chose this version, since all of the Grimms Fairy Tales are actually quite graphic or gruesome for preschoolers. This is a comic version, but I explained that the original story is from Germany. I showed them the covers of other German stories, like Rumpelstiltskin, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel that had exceptionally fine artwork. Paul O. Zelinsky is one of those exceptional fairy tale book illustrators!

Craft

I used clear tape to make cone shapes from red construction paper. I stapled yellow tissue paper around the open end of the cone so that the tissue paper was covering the cone. Then, I gently pulled the tissue paper up so it looked like a cake-decorator's forcing bag. The children decorated the cones with fanciful stickers and sequins. They glued gold rickrack around the top, just under or on the edge of the tissue paper. They filled their cones with individually-wrapped candy (gummies, chocolate kisses, smarties) and tied a piece of black yarn around the top of the tissue paper to seal in the candy. Most said they would give their "Schultute" to a parent.

Snack

Vernors (or other) ginger ALE and root BEER and soft pretzels (very easy and fun to make with your older children!). I covered each unbaked pretzel with melted butter and sprinkled several different things on different pretzels - cinnamon/sugar, ranch dressing mix, coarse salt. The ranch dressing was a favorite!

Game with Music

We threw a chestnut (wurfkastanien) that had a hole drilled through it and two long crepe paper streamers tied to it with yarn through the hole. The children tried to see who could throw it closest to a target, highest in the air, or throw & catch to each other. It looks really neat flying with the streamers! We listened to "Die Twinnies" - German girls playing the accordions while rolling on inline skates at an Octoberfest - traditional song. I found it on YouTube.