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Johnny and the Playdoh
By Philip Dawson
Johnny was
a little boy.
How old was Johnny?
Johnny was a 5 year old little boy.
And most every day, his mom and dad would
drop him off at day care on their way to work. Johnny liked day care, but he was sometimes a little bit naughty.
On
this morning at day care, the children were all seated at the big table to do art. “Today,” the teacher announced, “we are
going to make animals out of playdoh. You can make any kind of animal you want and then each of you can show it to the class.”
She
took out a basket full of playdoh cans. “We’ll start by letting you pick out the color you want. Suzie, why don’t you start?”
Suzie
said, “I want green, ‘cause I’m gonna make a mean green alligator.” So the teacher gave her a green can.
Freddy said,
“I want blue. I’m making a blue bluebird.”
Jackson said, “I want yellow. I think I will make a long yellow snake!”
The
teacher gave Freddy his blue can and Jackson his yellow can.
Then it was Johnny’s turn. He said, “I want brown.
I’m gonna make a bear!” The teacher looked in her basket and said, “I’m sorry Johnny, but we don’t have brown playdoh.”
Johnny
said, “Then I’ll take black. I can make a black bear instead of a brown bear!” The teacher looked again, and said, “I’m
sorry Johnny, but we don’t have black either.”
Johnny whined, “But I want to make a beeeaaaarrrr!”
The teacher
looked sternly at Johnny. She said, “Johnny, you will have to use your imagination. Here is a red can. You can make a red
bear.”
Johnny whined again. “I want my bear to look real. There’s no such thing as a red bear! Wah, wah, wah!”
Johnny
got ignored and the teacher continued to hand out the rest of the cans of playdoh. Then she told the children they had 15
minutes to make their animal creations before doing show and tell with them. All the children, including unhappy Johnny,
got right to work.
A little while later, the teacher told the children to stop working so they could share what they
had made. Suzie held up her alligator. It had a great big open mouth with teeth and a very long tail with bumps on it.
The teacher said, “What a nice, mean alligator you made Suzie!”
Freddie held up his bluebird. It had two blue wings,
one blue tail and blue legs and a blue beak as well. The teacher said, “Your bluebird is as blue as can be Freddie. You
did very well!”
Jackson showed everyone his snake. It was longer and fatter than a pencil and had big round eyes in
front and a narrow pointy tail in back. It looked like a hungry yellow “S.” The teacher said, “That is a very good yellow
snake Jackson!”
The teacher turned to Johnny. “What did you decide to make?” she asked. Johnny looked down at the
table with his hands in his lap. “Johnny, can you show us your animal?” she asked him again. Johnny looked up at her and
shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t have anything to show the class.
The teacher started to ask Johnny where his playdoh
was.
But then…
SHE SAW…
WHAT HE HAD DONE!
Johnny didn’t have any playdoh because he had torn it into tiny
pieces and put it all over the classroom.
There was playdoh on the floor.
There was playdoh in the toybox.
There
was playdoh on the teacher’s desk.
There was even playdoh in the toilet!
The teacher said, “JOHNNY! Why did you
put playdoh pieces all over the place?”
Johnny said, “Because I wanted to make a beeeaaarrrr!”
The teacher said,
“JOHNNY, this was uncalled for!”
Johnny said, “But I wanted a brown bear or a black bear! Not a dumb red bear!”
The
teacher said, “JOHNNY, you will stay right here in the classroom and clean up this mess. We are all going to recess, and
you can’t come out until you are done!”
Well, Johnny’s favorite part of daycare was recess, so he got right to work.
All the other children lined up and went outside, and Johnny began picking up all the playdoh pieces. He worked as fast
as he could, but picking them up took a whole lot longer than putting them down did. One tiny piece at a time, he picked
them up.
Finally, Johnny got the last piece of playdoh. He rushed outside so he could play.
But just as he
got outside, all the children were lining up to come back in.
So Johnny missed recess that day. That’s what happens
when you’re a little bit naughty.
Do you think Johnny learned his lesson?
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