Turtle Truths

What you need:

• Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood (optional) 
• smooth, flat rock 
• paints 
• paint pens 
• pencil and paper

What to do:

1. In the book Old Turtle and the Broken Truth, people discover a Truth, but it is broken and incomplete and leads them into fighting and unhappiness. Then, a little girl journeys to find Old Turtle, an ancient wise one, who gives her the other half of the Truth, which enables the people to live in happiness once more.
2. Invite your child to look for bits of wisdom that might be important in her life. Encourage her to interview grandparents or older family friends. She can ask them to share with her what they have found to be some of life's greatest truths. What do they find most helpful to think of as they move through life? Use a pencil and paper to record these ideas.
3. Help your child look over these ideas and choose one that seems the most special to her.
4. Use paint (or paint pens) to decorate one side of the rock to look like a turtle shell. Then, write the saying or piece of advice on the other side.

Learning benefits:

• encourages appreciation for knowledge learned with age