Hello, Yearlings! I’m excited to share our next documentary adventure today— any guess on the topic? Whenever you are ready, listen to our podcast for all of the instructions, gather your documentary tools, and get creating!
I’d love to see what you make today. If you feel comfortable and have your grownups’ permission, you can ask them to share your writing, audio, and drawings with me and other yearlings! I won’t share you full name, your location, or a photos of your face. It’s also ok to keep your creations just for yourself. Whatever you make is going to be wonderful!
Grownups, if you’d like a reminder about what the Yearlings Project is or how it works, head here.
Here’s the storytelling template on Notion. It makes recording and storing text, photo, and audio really easy. You’ll want to make a free Notion account (you only need to do this the first time), then click on the two overlapping squares in upper right Yearlings documentary template: Animal Friends
You can use this template to capture and save your kid’s responses to this week’s documentary prompts! Keep in mind— kids don’t need to respond to every question here. They should pick what look like fun, and do it till Happy sharing!
Yearlings documentary template: Animal Friends!
Describe it!
We’ve never seen your animal friend before— what can you tell us about them so that we know what they are like?
-What is their name?
-What do they look like?
-What can you tell us about their behavior (what they do and how they act)?
-Anything else you’d like to share about your animal friend?
Write it down
Record your voice
Take a picture! Draw a picture!
Tell us more
I wonder if you can share what it’s like for you to be near your animal friend! When you remember or imagine being with your animal friend, how do you feel?
Do you feel safe or scared?
Are they cute or yucky?
Do you want to get closer, or does your body want to move further away?
Do you want to play with them or snuggle them?
Anything else?
Write it down
Record your voice
Draw a picture of yourself doing something interesting in your shoes!
Let’s wonder!
I wonder what animals other kids near you feel close to. What about kids in other places around the world where habitats are different? What about kids going to the zoo today, or hiking in nature? What kinds of animals might they connect to? What do you think other kids might say or feel if they met YOUR animal friend?
Write it down
Record your voice
Draw a picture of another kid you wonder about, real or imaginary, spending time with their animal friend!
Bye for now!
Thank you so much for sharing today, my friend. Whatever you made is just right. I hope you and your animal friends connect and have fun, in good health and with much happiness. You both deserve to be safe and have when you need. Your story is so important, just like everyone else’s. And so is your animal friend’s! Talk soon!
Yearlings is written and produced by me, Anna Carson DeWitt. Grownups, you can download a templates for documenting your child’s stories, subscribe to free Yearlings kid’s documentary prompts, and receive my newsletter for adults annacarsondewitt.substack.com. All those links are also in the show notes.
If your child would like to share drawings, writing, or audio recordings for future sharing circle episodes of The Yearlings Project, email me at anna@annacarsondewittphotography.com . Please ask for your kid’s consent before sharing any part of their story. Thank you for helping our kids reflect, share, and imagine each other. They deserve the world.hand corner to duplicate the template into your own account. I think it’s worth the extra steps (no kickbacks from Notion for me, it’s just a great tool).
The template is also available below in a text format if you’d rather use it that way.
Happy storytelling, friends! Talk soon!
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