STORY 4 : HANUMAN AND BHIM
Give the story sheet of “Hanuman
and Bhim” to the children and then narrate the following story.
Children, today’s story is about Arjun’s elder brother Bhim. Bhim
was the second of the five Pandav brothers. Now all the Pandav brothers were
strong, but Bhim was the
strongest. He was taller, broader and had
bi-ig bulging muscles. But just as sometimes girls feel proud they are
beautiful and pretty, boys also feel proud of their strength. But to be proud
is not a good thing and this story tells us why!!
One day, Bhim went
to the forest to cut wood. As he was walking fast, taking big steps, he
suddenly stopped on seeing a monkey’s tail lying across his path. Now Bhim
was in a hurry and shouted at the monkey (frown), “Hey
you! Move
your tail out of my way.”
The monkey who was old and frail, turned
and looked at Bhim and softly told Bhim (lower your voice), “Sir, I am old
and ill. I have
no power to move.
Please shift my tail out of
your path.” Proud of his strength, Bhim responded, “What a bother
(nod your head),” he said, “Don’t you
know who you are
talking to? I am the
famous Bhim whom everyone is afraid of. No one
dare stand in front of me in the battlefield. And
you, an old
monkey, are telling me to touch your tail and move it out of my path! Listen. I
will
not change my path and I will not touch your tail. Just get up from
my way.” (Click your fingers as a ‘hurry up’ gesture)
But the monkey pleaded with Bhim again. Bhim grumbled again but also
realised there was nothing else to be done but to move the monkey’s tail.
Making a face, Bhim tried to kick the tail out of his way. But the tail did not
move at all. He then threw his axe down and tried to move it with his hand
(gesticulate with your hand). But
suddenly it seemed like the tail was
stuck to the ground! Angry and frustrated, Bhim held the tail with
both
his hands, took a deep breath and tried to move it. But oh God,
nothing
happened. He tried and he tried but he couldn’t move it by an inch.
And then
suddenly Bhim understood what was happening – this
was no
ordinary old and ill monkey. This had to be someone else. This
was… Okay children who can guess who this monkey was? (wait for responses)
Yes, it was none other than Hanuman Himself,(say ‘Hanuman’ excitedly)
who was strong and mighty, but not proud of His strength at all. He was only
teaching a lesson to Bhim so that Bhim could
realise that his being
proud was a mistake. Ashamed of his arrogance, Bhim fell on hanuman’s feet
and asked for forgiveness and promised
never to be proud again.
ACTIVITY: CRAFT
The questions asked in this section will be
followed immediately with sticking the relevant picture on the activity sheet.
The questions should keep to the sequence of the story. Make sure the child is
able to correlate between the question asked and the cut-out handed out. Ensure
that he/she places it in the correct place.
Q: Who was the
strongest Pandav brother?
A: Bhim was the strongest Pandav brother.
Highlight name ‘Bhim’.
Q: What did Bhim tell the monkey
lying on the ground?
A: Bhim was going to cut wood and told the
monkey to remove his tail from the way. Paste CI
‘tail’.
Q: How did Bhim understand that the monkey was
Hanuman?
A: Bhim understood that this was no ordinary monkey because
even though he was very strong, and tried with all his strength, he could not
move his tail. So he realised it was no ordinary monkey and had to be Hanuman.
Stick PCO ‘Hanuman’ as a flap over the monkey.
VALUES
Be humble: So children what have we learnt from
Bhim’s story? We should be humble, we should not be proud, we should not
be a show off or think highly of ourselves. You saw what happened to Bhim
because he was proud. He thought he was so strong but could not even lift a
monkey’s tail. So remember that if we boast about ourselves we could end
up making a fool of ourselves. We should instead learn to be like Hanuman. Even
though he was the strongest of them all, he always remained humble and modest.
Even after the completing of His heroic and successful mission to Lanka, He
introduced Himself as follows “ I am the servant of Raghupati, who is the
saviour of the weak. I am the slave of the King of Ayodhya”. In His great
humility, he explains the secret of His success. He says “ His (Hanumanji
referring to Himself) greatness is neither inherited nor a result of chanting
Mantras. It is solely because the Lord resides in His heart”.
MATERIAL LIST(per child)
1 Story Sheet
2.
Picture cut-outs (a) Hanuman
3. Craft item (a) Tail
4.
Recall card
ACTIVITY: Health food v/s Junk food
Hanumanji could do the most
difficult of bodily tasks because His body was strong and powerful. Don't we
all want to be as strong as Him? Powerful and muscular and full of energy and
vitality. Ask the children how can we make our body strong like that of
Hanumanji? How can we look after our body so that it becomes strong, healthy
and illness free? The answer is " Eat Healthy Be Healthy". The most important
way to look after your body so that it becomes strong and can fight and keep
from any illness is to eat good, nourishing and healthy food. But all food is
not healthy.
There are two kinds of food,
a) Healthy food - which is
wholesome food that provides nutrition to the body to make it strong.
b)
Junk food - which is unhealthy food which does not provide nutrition to the
body and so eating junk food weakens the body.
Now distribute the
activity sheet to the children and ask them to make a list of healthy and junk
food in the appropriate coloumns. Give the children a stipulated 10 minutes to
complete the activity. Make sure that the children do not discuss. Three
children who has made the most exhaustive lists for both types of food will be
rewarded.
The younger children can do this in the form of an oral
exercise. Below is a jumbled list of healthy and junk food. Each child will be
asked to judge if the food mentioned to them is healthy or junk.
a) Dal
b) French fries c) Chappatis d) Bread e) Cheese f) Eggs g) Burgers h)
Chocolates i) Milk j) Pepsi k) Vegetables l) Pizzas m) Dosa n) Maggi o) Fruits
p) Curd q) Water r) Paneer s) Chicken t) Tea u) Coffee v) Coconut water w)
Lollipops x) Cornflakes y) Nuts z) Fish.
Please note that interesting
foods like noodles and pastas should be promoted as healthy foods only if they
are cooked with lots of vegetables. Noodles and Pastas by themselves are
unhealthy since they are only refined flour or maida. Cakes, pastries and
icecreams should be promoted as a sweet endings to healthy meals and not as a
subsitute to a proper meal.
As each child correctly qualifies the food,
each child is rewarded with a “Best Answer” sticker with his/her name
on it.
ACTIVITY: The Mind Game (Older Children)
When we eat good
wholesome food our body remains strong i.e. we become physically strong. If we
eat dirty roadside food we can fall sick and the body becomes weak i.e. we
become physically weak. In the same way if we feed our mind on good positive
thoughts our mind becomes strong i.e. we become mentally strong. On the other
hand if we feed our mind on bad negative thoughts our mind becomes weak i.e. we
become mentally weak. Hanuman was a rare, unique combination of abundant
physical and mental strength and our aim should be to be ideally like him.
However, explain to the children that it while it is important to be physically
strong, it is more important to be mentally strong. And how can we be so? By
having a flow of good positive thoughts in our minds and by throwing out or
ignoring the bad negative thoughts from our minds.
Now hand out the
Activity sheets “How strong are you”. The sheet has been divided into
two columns, i.e. Good Thoughts and Bad Thoughts. The slips (50 pcs) that have
been sent with this activity sheet contain either a good thought or a bad
thought. Fold these slips and put them into a bowl. Depending on the number of
children in the class, the instructor will determine the number of slips to be
picked up by each child from the bowl, for example, if there are 10 children
each child will pick up 5 slips (since 50 divided by 10 is 5), if there are 8
children each will pick up 6 (since 50 divided by 8 is 48). The instructor will
take care that the same number of slips are picked up by each child. After the
children have picked out the slips, they will open it and evaluate the type of
thoughts i.e. and paste it in the respective column on the activity sheet.
After doing so, they will mark themselves and give themselves 2 marks for every
good thought and –2 for every bad thought. The child who gets the highest
score has the maximum number of good thoughts, and is therefore on paper the
mentally strongest and therefore gets a token prize.
Exercise: How strong are you? (Younger Children)
The importance
of being strong, strong like Hanuman must be impressed on the children. To be
physically strong we must eat well, rest well and excersice well. It is only
when we have a strong healthy body will we have the strength to do good things
to and for people around. C’mon, lets see who is the strongest amongst us
all. For the game, 2 dupattas will be required, which will be by organized by
the instructor. One dupatta will be used to make a line on the floor. This game
will be played by two children at a time. Each player will hold on end of the
2nd dupatta ant sit at an equal distance from the line created onn the floor.
When the instructor says “pull” both players pull at their ends of
the dupatta until one player’s hand is pulled across the line or one
player lets go. The winner keeps playing with a new child till the end. The
final winner gets a token prize.
