Sharing a Story: The Canoe

Sharing a Story: The Canoe is a unique puzzle to share with your class. Produced by Indigenous Affairs Canada, this puzzle is unlike traditional puzzles as its pieces do not have a specific order or placement that come together to make a scene. Instead, it is a free range puzzle that allows your class to put together their very own river full of canoes!

Introduce free play, problem solving, and creativity into your classroom by using this activity kit as a way to encourage your class to think outside the box, providing them with the opportunity to create without direction. Another option could be to ask your students to create a scene and describe what it is they created, inspiring their own storytelling. Or, encourage group work in your class by having each student contribute a piece to the puzzle, creating a scene by the whole class! Additionally, Sharing a Story: The Canoe could be incorporated into classroom storytime to assist students that may have trouble sitting still throughout story time, providing a way to occupy themselves without distracting classroom activities.

This puzzle could be introduced to grade 1-6 classrooms, depending on how you choose to frame the activity. The set contains 22 pieces and one leaflet providing historical context surrounding Indigenous uses of the canoe.