Let’s play together. An elephant tries to make friends at jungle school. Can the animal find a game that everyone enjoys? This is a fun story about the importance of including others so that nobody feels sad and left out.
Make your child the main character. Replace this (_____) with your child’s name.
Let’s play together
_____ Elephant lived in the jungle with his family.
The elephants loved to splash and spray each other with water from the river. Swoosh! Splosh! It was their favorite game to play together.
But when _ went to Jungle school, there weren’t any elephants to play with.
The teacher, Mrs. Parrot, greeted the class with a smile. “Good morning, everyone!”
_____ sat down and listened to Mrs. Parrot read a story.
When the bell rang for playtime, all the animals charged outside.
Feeling sad and lonely, _____ trudged along after them. I wonder how I can make a friend, he thought.
“Would you like to play with me?” _____ asked Monkey, spraying her with water.
“No!” shrieked Monkey, jumping out of the way.
She climbed up a tree and hid from _____.
“Can I play with you?” _____ sprayed Zebra and Giraffe with water.
“No!” they shouted and sprinted away from him.
At the end of the school day, _____ plodded home, feeling very sad.
“I couldn’t make a friend,” he said to Mommy Elephant. “Nobody would play my game.”
“Oh dear,” said Mommy, giving him a cuddle.
“Maybe you need to learn what games the other animals like to play.”
The next day, trying his best to be brave, _____ found Monkey and said, “I’m sorry I squirted you with water. What games do you enjoy?”
Monkey smiled shyly. “I like playing hide and seek with my brothers and sisters,” she said.
That sounds fun,” said _____.
“Can we play?” asked Zebra and Giraffe.
“Yes!” cheered Monkey. “Everyone can play.”
“You all run off and hide,” said Zebra, “And I’ll look for you.”
_____ hid behind a big, grey rock.
Monkey climbed a tall tree and hid in the branches behind the leaves.
But the poor Giraffe couldn’t anywhere to hide. He was just too tall.
“Let’s play a different game,” said _____, seeing Giraffe’s sad face.
“I like Playing hopscotch with my brothers and sisters,” said Zebra.
Giraffe and Zebra were really good at hopscotch.
But _ tripped over his trunk. Crash!
“We need a different game,” said Monkey, hanging upside down from a branch. “Let’s have a race to see who can reach the top of the tree first.”
Giraffe stretched up his long neck and easily reached the top before anyone else could even try!
“We need to find a game we can all play together and then nobody will feel left out,” said _____.
“Let’s play chase. We’re all good at running.”
The animals dashed and dodged around the play area, trying to catch each other.
Zebra Squealed in delight when Monkey leaped out of a tree and landed on her back. “Tee-hee-hee!” she cried.
Giraffe giggled happily when _____ caught him with his long trunk. “That tickles!” Chase was truly the best game!
When he got home, _____ was so excited to see Mommy Elephant and tell her all about his day.
“Momy, I made lots of friends, and we found a game we could all play together! I love Jungle school!” _____ couldn’t wait to go back.
