Cantata Learning - Aesop Fables for 3-year-olds, music and crafts included

We came across a series of books on Aesop Fables by Cantata Learning, made simple and beautifully illustrated. Our three-years-old love them so much that these are currently our read-aloud books almost every night.

This series of Aesop Fables come in the Read and Sing-Along format by Cantata Learning, perfect for preschoolers who love to sing and dance.

What are Aesop Fables

Fables are short stories that teach moral to children. Aesop is a Greek storyteller who is famous for writing hundreds of fables which have animals for characters.

The four Aesop fables that I managed to get my hands on from Cantata Learning are namely the Honest Woodcutter, the Crow and the Pitcher, the Dog and the Bone, and the Goose and the Golden Eggs.

We read and sang along and carried out some activities related to these stories. I love how these simple stories taught the little ones great moral values and encouraged a growth mindset.

The Honest Woodcutter

One day, an old woodcutter lost his axe in a pond while cutting down trees.

A magical spirit appeared from the water and offered the distressed woodcutter a golden axe. The honest woodcutter rejected the axe, and the spirit reappeared from the pond with a silver axe. The spirit dived in for the third time and returned with an iron axe.

The woodcutter accepted his humble iron axe. In appreciation of the woodcutter’s honesty, the spirit gave him all three axes.

Click here for accompanying music to the story.

The Crow and the Pitcher

A thirsty crow tried to get a drink from a deep pitcher, but she couldn’t reach it. She didn’t give up and tried many ways to access the water.

In the end, she realised she could drop little rocks into the pitcher to raise the water level. It was sheer hard work, but the crow was determined to get her drink. Finally, the water rose and reached the rim, and the crow took her sip.

Click here for the accompanying song and music.

A tiny science experiment for the twins.

We tried emulating a scene of the crow trying to reach for water in a deep container using our dinosaur toy. It was good fun for the twins, an experiment to raise the water level in the bottle by dropping marbles into the water bottle, and an early exposure on how matter takes up space.

The Goose and the Golden Eggs

This Aesop fable is about a farmer who kept a special goose that laid golden eggs. The goose laid one egg a day which the farmer would collect for sale. But the farmer was impatient and wanted more.

The foolish farmer assumed there would be more eggs in the goose’s tummy and thus cut open the poor animal’s stomach. Of course, there was nothing in there.

Click here for the accompanying song.

The Dog and the Bone

Another well known Aesop fable – The dog found a bone and hurried across the bridge to find a spot to bury it. On the bridge, he looked into the water and saw another dog holding on to a bigger bone. The dog wanted the bone in the water too. He opened his mouth to grab, but alas, dropped his bone into the water. The dog’s reflection was gone, and he realised his folly.

Click here for the accompanying song.

We made a paper dog craft. We should have added a bone to the art for completeness, but the twins were tired out after this activity and ran off to play something else.