It is hard to believe that this Disney movie was made 70 years ago (in 1941), and yet remains so captivatiing and relevant to the world today.  Dana enjoyed the movie even though there were parts when she felt sad and huddled up really close to me. She empathised with Dumbo’s sadness when he was left all alone and shed tears after his mother was chained up in isolation…She was angry when the other circus animals ganged up to ridicule Dumbo…She was entertained by the fun, catchy songs…and more importantly, she felt relieved when Dumbo and his mother were reunited in the end…As a Children’s Classic, there are some valuable teaching points we can use to discuss with our kids:

• We can talk about empathy by asking kids how they would feel if everyone laughed at them the way the animals laugh at Dumbo. Why do the other elephants laugh at Dumbo’s ears? How does that make him feel? Was it right to laugh or discriminate other who are different from us? What would you do if you see a friend being laughed at or bullied?

• Talk about friendship. How important it is to Dumbo to have a friend like Timothy the Mouse? Would you be a friend to someone who looks different from you? Does Dumbo really need the magic feather to fly? Why does Timothy give Dumbo the magic feather? When does Dumbo realise that he does not need it? Do you have a good friend to cheer you on when you don’t think you can do it?

Coincidentally, the play we watched on Friday also featured a little friend who saves the day. In Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Snail and The Whale’, one tiny snail (with an itchy foot!) longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a large humpback whale. Together they travel to ‘towering icebergs and far-off lands, with fiery mountains and golden sands’ but only then does the tiny snail realise how small he is in comparison with their new surroundings. During the later part of their amazing journey, the artificial noise of speedboats caused the whale to lose his orientation and it ended up beached in a bay. A disaster will happen if the whale was not returned to sea in time. The resourceful little snail thought of a clever way to seek help from a group of local schoolchildren and together, they embarked on a rescue operation which saved the whale.

The story brings across a very positive and important message that although we may be very small indeed, we don’t have to be “big” and “important” to do big things. We can still have a positive impact, and even help others who are much bigger than us (as did the snail and the children who are the heroes in saving the big humpback whale). It also reinforces the value of Teamwork, Acceptance and Friendship just like Dumbo, the movie!). What beautiful themes accompanied by great rhyming text/narration. The theatre adaption by ABA Productions was so exceptionally well done I would definitely bring Dana again the next run!

There are tons of follow-up activities we can do with our kids with ‘The Snail and The Whale’. A teacher in USA started a ‘Snail Olympics’ with her elementary class – how cool is that!  There’s even an ingenious ‘The Snail and The Whale’ Global Collaboration Project started by a teacher in NZ which involves children from different parts of the world – simply awesome! The possibilities are endless. You just gotta check them out. For me, I’ve printed a simple maze activity which I know Dana would enjoy.

What a productive weekend where we scored two good reads. If you’ll like to watch ‘Dumbo‘, we rented ours from Video Ezy stores. To get your copy of Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Snail and The Whale’, check out these offers at Book Depository UK. I’ll strongly recommend getting the one with Audio CD accompaniment. Do take some time off this week to reward yourselves and your kids with a good read!