Why? How? Where?- Questions Spur Creativity

This picture from Animal Planet reminds me of  the Rudyard Kipling story: How the Elephant Got its Trunk (a favourite with many children) In this story, Baby Elephant asks a lot of nosy questions about his neighbours.
Fostering  Curiousity
Young children have an enormous curiosity about the world, that if nurtured , can lead into many marvellous areas of invention, scientific discovery, and composition. Sometimes in frustration,, at not having a definitive answer,,adults will stifle this curiosity. One very successful tactic that , is to admit, “I don’t know. What do you think?” These are the times to grab a recording device and capture for posterity this peek into our child’s thought processes.
When students get a bit older ,they tend to lose a bit of this curiousity, to rekindle the creativity a study of "Pourquoi Tales", or “Just So Stories"  can be just the ticket.
Suggested Resources
Many Native legends give explanations about how the animals received their traits, some favourites with my audiences include How Bear Lost His Tale, the bitter,sweet story of Jumping Mouse (or How Eagle Came to Be), and the scary Water Monster (Bullfrog & the importance of free water for all).
Many tried and true authors authors offer explanatory tales as well. Young children enjoy these stories, for even though they will often see the silliness in the tale, they take comfort in there being a predictability to the world in which they live. Try a comparative literature study of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories or Thornton Burgess' Mother West Wind Stories , then create some of your own Pourquoi tales to explain animal adaptations  that interest your family.

Here are some questions from  students I recently met:

Why do earthworms have both genders’ organs?   Why do  daddy seahorses carry the babies?  Why do bears hibernate?

Send me your stories, and  I’ll post them here!