Episode Overview

Turtle’s adventure offers a starting point for conversations about belonging, curiosity, listening, and flexibility. It also connects storytelling with seasonal science.

The episode’s message leaves room for both adventure and self-acceptance. Turtle’s desire to try something new is understandable. Children can explore, ask for support, and change their plans when something isn’t working.

Questions to Explore Together

Choose a few questions and leave time for children to think, draw, or talk through their answers.

• Why do you think Turtle wanted to go with the birds?
• What was exciting about his adventure? What was difficult?
• Why did the birds ask him to keep his mouth closed?
• Have you ever wanted to do something because your friends were doing it?
• When has a different tool, extra time, or someone’s help made something easier for you?
• How could you include a friend who needs a different way to participate?
• What could Turtle and the birds discuss before planning another adventure?

Try It Two Ways

Choose a simple task, such as solving a puzzle, practicing a spelling word, or working out a math problem. Invite children to try two approaches.

They might build a word with letter tiles and then write it, or solve a math problem with objects and then draw a picture.

Ask: “What helped you with this task?”

Children can discover useful strategies without needing to choose one approach forever. Different tasks may call for different kinds of help.

Make a “What Works for Me” Turtle

Draw a large turtle with several sections on its shell. In each section, children can write or draw something that helps them participate, learn, or feel comfortable.

Ideas include:

• Seeing an example.
• Having more time.
• Taking a movement break.
• Asking a question.
• Working somewhere quieter.
• Trying alongside a friend.

Add this sentence underneath: “I can ask for what helps me.”

Invite children to share only what they feel comfortable sharing.

Build an Inclusive Game

Choose a familiar game and imagine that someone wants to join but needs an adjustment. Perhaps they need to stay seated, take breaks, or hear the directions again.

Ask children to suggest changes, then try one together. Discuss:

“Did our change help everyone take part? What should we ask the person playing?”

Practice starting with “What would work for you?” instead of deciding what someone else needs.

Create a Winter Wildlife Picture

Divide a sheet of paper into two scenes: the sky above a pond and the water below it.

Children can draw migrating birds overhead and a turtle sheltering underwater. Label the pictures:

Migration: Moving seasonally between places.

Brumation: A period of greatly reduced activity in reptiles, often during cold weather.

Explain that different species have different winter habits. Not every bird migrates, and not every turtle spends winter in the same place.

Retell the Adventure in Four Pictures

Draw:

1. Turtle making his travel plans.
2. The birds helping him take flight.
3. Turtle opening his mouth.
4. Turtle finding another way through winter.

Younger children can tell their version aloud while an adult writes their words. Older children can add speech bubbles and thought bubbles, noticing how Turtle’s thoughts differ from what he says.

Explore the Cultural Context Respectfully

Introduce the episode as a retelling of a Dakota story. Different Indigenous nations have their own histories, languages, and storytelling traditions; one story does not represent them all.

Use present-tense language when discussing Dakota people. Minnesota is part of their homeland, and Dakota communities continue today in Minnesota and beyond. Extend the conversation with resources featuring Dakota voices and contemporary community life.

Dakota homelands extend beyond the states named Dakota.

Minnesota is central to Dakota homelands. The meeting of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, known as Bdote, is a place of particular significance. Today, Dakota communities are located in several U.S. states and Canada.

Minnesota has four federally recognized Dakota communities.

They are the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Prairie Island Indian Community, Upper Sioux Community, and Lower Sioux Indian Community. Naming specific communities helps children understand that Indigenous peoples belong to distinct, living nations.

Birds aren’t simply taking a vacation from the cold.

Migration helps birds reach food and suitable breeding habitats as conditions change. Many birds can withstand freezing temperatures when enough food is available. Seasonal changes in food supply are a major reason some species leave while others stay.

A winter pond can have turtles beneath its ice.

Painted turtles can spend winter underwater in a state of brumation. Their metabolism slows, reducing their energy needs. A pond that looks quiet from above may still be sheltering wildlife below.

Migrating birds have more than one way to navigate.

Depending on the species and circumstances, birds can use cues including the sun, stars, Earth’s magnetic field, and familiar landmarks. Their journeys involve an impressive combination of senses and abilities.

Wanting to belong is something many of us understand. But belonging doesn’t require everyone to move, learn, play, or solve problems in exactly the same way.

One friend might need written directions. Another might want to watch someone demonstrate. Someone might need a break before joining the next round of a game.

A small question can open the door to a more welcoming friendship:

“What would work for you?”

We can share our own needs, too:

“I want to join in. Could we try it this way?”

Friendship grows when we listen to the answers and make room for one another.

This week’s Belief Backpack:

“We don’t all need to do things the same way.”

The birds had their way through winter, and Turtle found his. People can discover different ways of meeting their needs, too.

You can try something new, ask for help, and decide that another approach works better for you. You can also respect someone else’s way—even when it looks different from yours.

Weekly Challenge: Notice a Different Way

This week, notice one time you and someone else approach something differently.

Maybe you start a puzzle with the edges while someone else sorts by color. Maybe you like to plan a drawing while a friend starts sketching right away.

Before saying, “That’s not how you do it,” try asking:

“What do you like about doing it that way?”

Listen to the answer. You might discover something you want to try, or you might keep your own approach. Either way, you’ve practiced curiosity and respect.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, Faithfully Explore! may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Your support helps us continue creating stories, educational resources, and printables for curious kids and families.

To keep exploring, these seven children’s books by Indigenous authors offer stories about belonging, community, courage, and identity. Some are joyful celebrations of everyday life. Others introduce difficult histories through the loving relationships between children and their grandparents.

These books reflect different Indigenous voices and experiences across the United States and Canada. They aren’t all Dakota stories or interchangeable accounts of Indigenous life. Reading them together is a chance to meet distinct families, learn about specific communities, and appreciate the many stories Indigenous authors have to share.

We Are Water Protectors

Written by Carole Lindstrom; illustrated by Michaela Goade

Water connects every living thing and protecting it takes courage.

Talk about it: Why does protecting water matter to people, animals, and plants? What can people accomplish when they work together?

Keep exploring: Make a “Who Needs This Water?” picture. Draw a nearby river, lake, or pond, then add the living things that depend on it. Choose one action your family can take to care for local water.

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Written by Kevin Noble Maillard; illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

A food can carry memories, relationships, and stories along with its flavor.

Talk about it: Is there a food that reminds you of someone you love? What stories do people tell when they make or share it?

Keep exploring: Create a family food page with a drawing, a memory, and the name of someone connected to that food. If you make the book’s fry bread recipe together, include time to read and discuss its history.

Thunder Boy Jr.

Written by Sherman Alexie; illustrated by Yuyi Morales

Talk about it: What would you like people to know about you? How are you similar to people in your family, and how are you different?

Keep exploring: Make an “All About Me” collage with pictures or words showing favorite activities, important relationships, and personal accomplishments. Focus on the child’s own identity rather than inventing “Native names” or treating the fictional story as a guide to naming traditions.

Jingle Dancer

Written by Cynthia Leitich Smith; illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

Talk about it: Who helps Jenna prepare? How does she show care for the people helping her?

Keep exploring: Draw a “People Who Help Me Grow” page. Children can add relatives, teachers, friends, and neighbors, then describe something each person has shared with them. Choose someone to thank with a drawing or note.

When We Were Alone

Written by David A. Robertson; illustrated by Julie Flett

Talk about it: Why are these things important to the grandmother? What should every child be free to keep, share, and celebrate about themselves?

Keep exploring: Invite children to draw something that connects them to family or community. Explain that these personal connections can help us begin to understand why protecting other people’s languages, relationships, and traditions matters.

Stolen Words

Written by Melanie Florence; illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard

Talk about it: Why do you think the words matter so much to the grandfather? How does his granddaughter show that she cares?

Keep exploring: Ask a willing family member about a meaningful word, phrase, or saying. Write down its meaning and the story behind it. If you explore Cree words, use a Cree-led language resource with audio so you can listen to speakers and learn respectfully.

Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman

Written by Sharice Davids with Nancy K. Mays; illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

What can you do with a big voice… and the willingness to listen?

Talk about it: What is something you care enough about to speak up for? How can listening help you understand what other people need?

Keep exploring: Invite children to finish the sentence, “I would like to help my community by…” They can draw their idea, write a few sentences, or practice explaining it aloud.

Reading, Listening, and Learning Together

As you share these books, read the authors’ and illustrators’ notes, notice the specific nations and communities named, and leave room for children’s questions.

For When We Were Alone and Stolen Words, a simple introduction can help: “These stories talk about schools where Indigenous children were separated from their families and prevented from speaking their languages or practicing their cultures. That was wrong. We’re going to listen to how these families share their experiences and keep their connections alive.”

Make room for the joy throughout this collection, too: cooking together, preparing for a dance, laughing with a parent, protecting a place you love, and discovering what you have to contribute.

After listening to “Turtle Takes Flight: A Dakota Story About Finding Your Own Way,” choose a book to explore together. Carry our Belief Backpack reminder into the conversation:

“We don’t all need to do things the same way.”

What might we learn when we give someone else’s story our full attention?