Warm or cold? Soft or hard? Could you eat it for supper? In Why Bread Turned Into Stone, a folktale from Poland, a hardworking mama of five meets the richest farmer in the village on a cold, hungry road… and his bag smells like fresh-baked bread. One tiny fib later, the farmer is about to learn that words can be a whole lot heavier than they sound. What happens when the thing you said starts to come true?

Story artists, grab your crayons! Today we travel to a village near the Bsea for a story about honesty, sharing, and a mama who stands tall no matter what. Kids will knead dough, make a big CLUNK! and draw along through four music-filled drawing breaks.

🎨 What You’ll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. The mama and her five children in their little house, or the mama hard at work at the mill or the bakery
2. The rich farmer and his big, bulging sack, meeting the mama on the road
3. A loaf of bread that has turned to STONE (crust and all!)
4. A cozy, surprising supper scene (no spoilers!)

📦 Supplies You’ll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils)
• A brown and a grey crayon or marker will come in extra handy!

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club: a monthly old-school envelope full of a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter: podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives
• 🌱 Loved this one? Listen next to The Run Away Bun, a story about bread (and how fast it can run!)

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Slow, slow… quick, quick… LOUD. Young Ayo just got his very first drum, and he practices every single day, which is great news for Ayo and VERY bad news for Auntie's terrible toothache. In The Gaga Monster, a folktale that traveled from the Yoruba people to the African American community of the Appalachian Mountains, Ayo is sent to pick strawberries in the deepest, darkest part of the forest, right where the googly-eyed Gaga Monster is said to gulp people up in one big gulp. Ayo has a quick, clever mind and a drum full of rhythms… but can one little drumbeat really outsmart a monster?

Recorded live at Buunni Coffee in Inwood, New York City, with West African drummer Lamin Thiam bringing every beat to life. Kids, get ready to drum, chant and shout along: "Googly, oogly, GAGA, OOOOO!"

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (3 Drawing Prompts):

1. Ayo in the deepest, darkest part of the forest with his strawberry basket and his drum
2. The googly, oogly Gaga Monster spinning around and around as Ayo plays
3. A BIG surprise moment for the Gaga Monster and Ayo's whole family (no spoilers!)

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 3 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils, anything that adds a little pizzazz!)

📚 Story Source: Rachael learned this folktale from Boo-Tickle Tales: Not-So-Scary Stories for Ages 4–9 by Lyn Ford and Sherry Norfolk, shared here with Lyn's kind encouragement. Find more tales like this one in their book → https://www.parkhurstbrothers.com/boo-tickle-tales.html

💜 Thank You to Our Fall 2026 Sponsor: Prelude Opera introduces opera to children! Based in Washington Heights, Prelude Opera presents family-friendly works by both historical and living composers and employs local professional artists. → preludeopera.com

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club: a monthly old-school envelope full of a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more → https://www.rachaelharrington.com/the-fairy-snail-art-cart
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter: podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives → SIGN UP HERE
• 🐘 Loved this one? Listen next to Aran Aung and the Elephants, also recorded LIVE at Buunni Coffee, where a giant sneezes a whole herd of lost elephants out of his nose!

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What's inside a pumpkin? Seeds? Ooey, gooey, stringy goop? In today's draw along folktale from Iran, The Pumpkin Child, a farmer's wife wishes for a daughter so hard that she rocks a freshly picked pumpkin back and forth like a baby… and then something VERY surprising happens. Now there's a round, orange, bumpy girl with a green top rolling bumpity-bump through the village, and not everyone is kind about it. But this pumpkin girl has a brave, adventurous heart and a secret she only shares with people who love her just as she is. So who will be the one to see what's truly inside?

What You'll Draw Today :

1. The pumpkin baby in her cradle, and Mama's face when she first sees her
2. The pumpkin girl having fun in the village, the meadows, or the hills (in one of her twirly dresses!)
3. The ring with the round stone that gets left behind
4. The pumpkin girl reaching out her hand as the whole town watches

Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils, anything that adds a little pizzazz!)

Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club: a monthly old-school envelope full of a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter: podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives
• 🧥 Love this one? Listen next to Joha and the Sleeve, another folktale about not judging people by their appearance

⭐ New here? Subscribe and leave a review so more creative families can find the show!

Psst… have you ever hunted high and low for something that was right under your nose the whole time? In today's draw along folktale from England, The Peddler of Swatham, a hardworking peddler named John pushes his little cart of odds and ends and dreams of fixing up the leaky old house he shares with his wife, Hannah. Then one night, John (who has never, ever had a dream) hears a big, booming dream voice telling him to go find treasure. A sensible man doesn't follow a silly dream… does he? And if he does, will the treasure be where the voice says it is?

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. John and Hannah sitting under their big, beautiful tree beneath the moon and stars
2. John asleep in bed, with his mysterious dream floating in the air above him
3. John standing quiet and still in the middle of a busy, bustling city bridge
4. John and Hannah digging for treasure — you decide which moment to draw!

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — anything that adds a little pizzazz!)

🌿 Words to Know in This Episode:

• Peddler — someone who travels around selling small things, like trinkets and odds and ends, often from a cart
• Cloak — a long, loose coat without sleeves that wraps around your shoulders
• Push cart — a little cart with wheels that people push by hand (no cars in this story!)

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club, a monthly old-school envelope full of a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives
• 🐓 Love this one? Listen next to The Bremen Town Musicians, another folktale about going on a journey to chase a dream

⭐ New here? Subscribe and leave a review so more creative families can find the show!

Grumble, grumble! Today's draw-along folktale from Malaysia and Indonesia is Sang Kancil Counts the Crocodiles, starring a teeny-tiny mouse-deer with a great big hungry belly. Across a wide, muddy river sits a tree dripping with juicy red bell fruits — but between Sang Kancil and his lunch is a river full of snappy, hungry crocodiles. He isn't big, and he isn't strong, but he's about to learn that a quick, calm brain can be the mightiest muscle of all. So how in the world does one little mouse-deer get across a river full of crocodiles… without becoming their lunch?

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. Sang Kancil the mouse-deer at the river's edge, staring across at the fruit tree
2. The crocodile rising out of the river to face Sang Kancil
3. The crocodiles lined up across the river
4. Sang Kancil safe on the other side, munching his fruit while the crocodiles swim away in the river

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — anything that adds a little pizzazz!)

🌿 Words to Know in This Episode:

• Mouse-deer (Kancil) — a teeny-tiny, deer-like animal that lives in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, and the clever hero of lots of Malay folktales
• Sang Buaya — the crocodile! (say it: sung boo-AH-yah)
• Bell fruit — a juicy red fruit that grows on trees in the story's rainforest

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — a monthly old-school envelope stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more → [LINK]
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives → [LINK]
• 🍊 Love this one? Listen next to The Magic Orange Tree, another folktale with a fruit tree and a character who uses a clever idea to get out of a tricky spot

⭐ New here? Subscribe and leave a review so more creative families can find the show!

Season three is officially here! We're kicking it off with a bubbling, rumbling, wildly fun tale from Japan called The Magic Tea Kettle. When an old priest brings home a strange looking tea kettle from the market, all he wants is a quiet cup of tea. But what he gets is a fluffy, furry, spinning surprise!

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. The magic tea kettle springing to life — a furry tanuki (raccoon dog) racing around the kitchen!
2. The tinker and the tanuki kettle, chatting together in the tinker's cozy little home
3. The tanuki performing its most amazing trick for a clapping, cheering crowd
4. The tea kettle at rest on its fluffy cushion in its forever home

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — anything that adds a little pizzazz!)

🍵 Words to Know in This Episode:

• Tanuki — a raccoon dog, a real animal from Japan that shows up in lots of Japanese folktales
• Haggle — going back and forth on a price until both people agree
• Tinker — a handy person with tools who fixes up old things to make them work again

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — a monthly old-school envelope stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives
• 🎧 Love this one? Listen next to The Perfect Pot — another folktale starring a very special pot

⭐ New here? Subscribe and leave a review so more creative families can find the show!

In today's draw along episode, we travel to Mexico for a folktale that answers the question: Why do lizards sunbathe?

One morning, the sun doesn't rise and one by one, the biggest and strongest animals in the world go looking for it and give up. There's just one small animals who keeps looking. This is a story about what happens when everyone says it can't be done, but someone keeps going.

Could the tiniest animal alive be the one who saves the entire forest?

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. The world without the sun
2. La lagartija, the small but mighty lizard who won't stop searching
3. La roca, the glowing rock with el sol (the sun) sleeping warmly inside
4. La fiesta, the wild, joyful celebration that calls the sun back out

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — whatever adds warmth and color!)

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — monthly envelopes stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more → [link in description]
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early event access & newsletter exclusives → [link in description]
• 🎧 Love this episode? Check out Why Mosquitos Buzz In People's Ears, another folktale where the sun goes out of the sky

In today's draw along episode, we travel to Korea for a beloved folktale called Heungbu and Nolbu. It's a story about two brothers whose choices about helping and kindness are very different, and a tiny injured swallow and magic seeds that bring some very unexpected rewards (think: gold, goblins, and debt collectors.)!

This is a story about generosity, jealousy, and what it really means to give without expecting anything back. And along the way, your kids will draw four illustrated scenes!

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. Two very different homes side by side
2. The swallow returning in spring, carrying a tiny seed in its beak
3. One of Heungbu's magical gourds spilling open with riches
4. One of Nolbu's gourds...and Nolbu's face when it opens

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — whatever adds a little pizzazz!)

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — monthly old-school envelopes stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & stories → [link in description]
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early event access & newsletter exclusives → [link in description]
• 🎧 Loved this episode? Check out "The Calabash Children". It's another story about magic gourds!