This lesson plan is for the book The Empty Pot, written in 1990 by Demi. Based on Chinese Folklore, it demonstrates the value of honesty. The lesson plans below are appropriate for children ages 5-11. They include gardening and hands-on art activities.

The Empty Pot can be purchased from Bookshop.org, which is connected to QuakerBooks of FGC. For more lessons from books, see Book Reviews and Lesson Plans for Children.

Overview

These lesson plans are for ages 5-11, but the story can be appreciated by any age.

Synopsis of Story

This is a picture book that shows the many ways we can build peace in our own communities. The actions shown in the book are performed by both children and adults and are simple and easy to do (e.g., being a friend, teaching a little sister to ride a bike, visiting a friend who is old, planting a tree).

Opening

Begin with opening greetings. If the children do not all know one another, be sure to include introductions. Allow for a period of check-in. Ask how the week was for each, and if they have had experiences they would like to share. 

Then, read through The Empty Pot. If children can read, have them read a portion of the story and show the pictures to the group. For the youngest children, you may have to do the reading or ask an older child to help. 

Discussion questions

• Why do you think the king set up this contest?
• I wonder where the flowers grown by the other children came from.
• How do you suppose Ping felt when he brought an empty pot?
• Have you ever felt like Ping did?
• How did the king feel about Ping and about the other children?
• (older children) I wonder how things might have been different if the kingdom had been a truly open community where everyone shared experiences with others.
• (older children) How do you feel about the king’s deception?
• Have there been times when you were tempted to be dishonest in order to look better to others?

Activities

For the youngest children, plant seeds (radishes come up quickly) in an egg carton, with one seed in each segment. Water and cover it and see what happens in a couple of weeks. This activity helps children appreciate the work and joy involved in growing things, and makes the story more real to them. If someone suggests baking some of the seeds, try that. 

In the late spring or early summer, buy a tray of annuals with buds but flowers not yet blooming. Each child is responsible for a plant. If there is a place on the meeting house grounds where they can be planted, each child plants and waters his/her plant and the next week or two the class can go outside to look at the flowers. Otherwise, each child takes a plant home and cares for it there. 

Decorate a pot, such as a red clay flower pot. The important part of the decoration is to add selfadhesive labels on which each child has written a Friends testimony. You may have to tell them what a testimony is. The children may also include Quaker values and beliefs, and this is OK. Each child reads his/her label as it is placed on the pot. Older children or the teacher may need to do the writing for the youngest ones. Colorful pictures or patterns may, of course, also be on the labels. You may also add other decorations, such as children’s names. The pot may be used in a number of ways, depending on how First Day School is conducted. It may be made at the beginning, and placed in the center as the story is read. It may be used for worship centering at the end of the session. Finally, it may be shared with the entire meeting. 

Song

“I Would Be True,” #261 in Worship in Song (Quaker Press of FGC) 

Closing

Form a circle, holding hands, for closing silent worship. 

Credits

Lesson prepared by David Wood, Dayton Monthly Meeting