The Fairy Tale Art Cart

Season three is officially here! We're kicking it off with a bubbling, rumbling, wildly fun tale from Japan called The Magic Tea Kettle. When an old priest brings home a strange looking tea kettle from the market, all he wants is a quiet cup of tea. But what he gets is a fluffy, furry, spinning surprise!

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. The magic tea kettle springing to life — a furry tanuki (raccoon dog) racing around the kitchen!
2. The tinker and the tanuki kettle, chatting together in the tinker's cozy little home
3. The tanuki performing its most amazing trick for a clapping, cheering crowd
4. The tea kettle at rest on its fluffy cushion in its forever home

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — anything that adds a little pizzazz!)

🍵 Words to Know in This Episode:

• Tanuki — a raccoon dog, a real animal from Japan that shows up in lots of Japanese folktales
• Haggle — going back and forth on a price until both people agree
• Tinker — a handy person with tools who fixes up old things to make them work again

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — a monthly old-school envelope stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early access to live event tickets & newsletter exclusives
• 🎧 Love this one? Listen next to The Perfect Pot — another folktale starring a very special pot

⭐ New here? Subscribe and leave a review so more creative families can find the show!

In today's draw along episode, we travel to Mexico for a folktale that answers the question: Why do lizards sunbathe?

One morning, the sun doesn't rise and one by one, the biggest and strongest animals in the world go looking for it and give up. There's just one small animals who keeps looking. This is a story about what happens when everyone says it can't be done, but someone keeps going.

Could the tiniest animal alive be the one who saves the entire forest?

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. The world without the sun
2. La lagartija, the small but mighty lizard who won't stop searching
3. La roca, the glowing rock with el sol (the sun) sleeping warmly inside
4. La fiesta, the wild, joyful celebration that calls the sun back out

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — whatever adds warmth and color!)

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — monthly envelopes stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more → [link in description]
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early event access & newsletter exclusives → [link in description]
• 🎧 Love this episode? Check out Why Mosquitos Buzz In People's Ears, another folktale where the sun goes out of the sky

In today's draw along episode, we travel to Korea for a beloved folktale called Heungbu and Nolbu. It's a story about two brothers whose choices about helping and kindness are very different, and a tiny injured swallow and magic seeds that bring some very unexpected rewards (think: gold, goblins, and debt collectors.)!

This is a story about generosity, jealousy, and what it really means to give without expecting anything back. And along the way, your kids will draw four illustrated scenes!

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (4 Drawing Prompts):

1. Two very different homes side by side
2. The swallow returning in spring, carrying a tiny seed in its beak
3. One of Heungbu's magical gourds spilling open with riches
4. One of Nolbu's gourds...and Nolbu's face when it opens

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — whatever adds a little pizzazz!)

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — monthly old-school envelopes stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & stories → [link in description]
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early event access & newsletter exclusives → [link in description]
• 🎧 Loved this episode? Check out "The Calabash Children". It's another story about magic gourds!

Ever wonder why mosquitos buzz in your ear at night? This West African folktale has the answer, and it starts with one tiny braggart who told one very big lie.

In today's draw along episode, we follow the chain reaction set off when a boastful mosquito tells an outlandish story to an iguana. One by one, the animals of the forest misread what's happening, panic spreads, an owl's nest is lost, and suddenly... the sun won't rise. All because of one lie that nobody stopped to question.

It's a beautifully layered folktale about the consequences of dishonesty, the way rumors spread, and why truth matters — wrapped in the most imaginative, kid-friendly story you'll hear all summer.

🎨 What You'll Draw Today (5 Drawing Prompts):

1. Mosquito bragging to Iguana — what does Iguana's dignified (but frustrated) face look like?
2. Python all scrunched up inside Rabbit's cozy burrow
3. Crow in mid-flight, sounding the alarm across the forest
4. The gathering of animals — King Lion presiding while each one tells their part of the story
5. Mosquito hiding in the bushes, small and tucked away, as the forest figures out the truth

📦 Supplies You'll Need:

• 5 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils, whatever helps you add pizzazz!)

🔗 Links & Resources:

• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — monthly envelopes stuffed with a bonus episode, art projects, stickers, stationery & more
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter — podcast news, early event access & newsletter exclusives
• 🎧 Love this episode? Check out "The King's Secret" — another folktale about truth-telling and the big problems lies create

📌 Note for Grown-Ups: This story includes a moment where Iguana puts sticks in her ears. Rachael reminds young listeners that we never put anything in our ears — it's just part of the old folktale.

Ever been bossed around (or, ever done the bossing)? In this draw along episode, we tell a beloved Cuban folktale about a very proud rooster on his way to his uncle's wedding. When El Gallo, The Rooster, gets his magnificent beak muddy right before the ceremony, he demands that everyone around him fix the problem: the grass, the goat, the stick, the fire, the water. One by one, they all say... nooo way.

It's not until Rooster stops demanding and starts asking that something beautiful happens. His old friend El Sol, the sun, reminds him that friendship is a two-way street and that even small, everyday acts of kindness matter more than we know.

This folktale is told with a sprinkle of Spanish (and a whole lot of heart), making it a wonderful bilingual storytelling experience for little ears.

What your child will draw:

• El Gallo the rooster, all dressed up with a muddy beak
• La hierba (grass), la cabra (goat), el palo (stick), el fuego (fire), and el agua (water) — all saying no!
• El Sol the sun and El Gallo, side by side in friendship

What you'll need:

• 2 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — whatever adds pizzazz!)

Mentioned in this episode:

• 🐓 Episode: The Bremen Town Musicians (another rooster story!)
• 📬 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — monthly envelopes full of bonus episodes, art projects, stickers & stationery
• 📧 Sign up for the Fairy Tale Art Cart Newsletter for early access to live events & newsletter exclusives

What if the days were so short that by the time you said "good morning," it was already nighttime?

In this draw along episode, we travel to the world of the Māori people and discover the folktale How Maui Caught the Sun, a story about Maui the demigod who is done waiting around for things to get better and decides, with his brothers by his side, to do something no one has ever dared to do before. Maui is clever. Maui is bold. And Maui has a plan that is either going to change the world...or go spectacularly wrong!

Will ropes really be enough to hold the fastest thing in the sky?

• 3 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials — colored pencils, crayons, markers, whatever brings the pizzazz!

Drawing Prompt #1 — Invent a Sun Trap!

Drawing Prompt #2 — Hiding at the Horizon

Drawing Prompt #3 — Maui Faces the Sun

This episode tells the Māori folktale How Maui Caught the Sun, a story about a bold young demigod who refuses to accept that the days are too short. When everyone else shrugs and goes to bed hungry and grumpy, Maui gathers his brothers, weaves ropes from harakeke plants through the night, and travels to the very edge of the world to catch the sun before it can race across the sky again.

At the center of the story is the power of creative thinking, working together as a family, and being brave enough to try something nobody has ever tried before.

Themes in this episode: creativity, bold thinking, teamwork, community, perseverance, the power of asking for change

Great for ages: 4–10 (and the grown-ups who can't help listening too!)

• 🐌 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — Become a supporting member and unlock bonus episodes PLUS a monthly envelope of art projects, stickers, stationery, and more delivered straight to your door! → CLICK HERE TO BECOME A MEMBER
• 🖍️ Free Coloring Page — Download the free coloring page that goes along with this episode at our website → CLICK HERE TO GO TO COLORING PAGE DOWNLOAD
• 🎧 Loved this episode? Listen next: Maui Brings Fire, another adventure with our bold and clever friend Maui, this time all about how the first flame came to the people!

The Fairy Tale Art Cart is a draw along podcast for kids where you become the illustrator of the stories you hear. Host Rachael Harrington, art teacher turned globe-trotting professional storyteller, guides young artists through folktales from around the world, pausing the story for drawing prompts and music so kids can bring each scene to life on paper.

Perfect for screen-free afternoons, car rides, rainy days, and bedtime wind-downs. All you need is paper, something to color with, and a wide-open imagination.

New episodes drop regularly. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review to help more families discover the magic of draw-along storytelling!

What would you do if you wanted something so badly that you'd go to the most outrageous, over-the-top lengths imaginable to get it?

In this draw along episode, we travel to the Domincan Republic and discover a story called The King and the Moon. It's the tale of a very powerful king who looks up at the night sky one evening and decides he simply must have the moon. What follows is a chain of demands more ridiculous than the last, and a carpenter who finds himself caught in the middle of the most impossible task in the history of the kingdom.

Will the king finally get what he wants? Or will his endless grabbing be the very thing that undoes him?

• 3 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials — colored pencils, crayons, markers, whatever brings the pizzazz!

Drawing Prompt #1 — The Moon Over the Island

Drawing Prompt #2 — The Great Tower of Wooden Trunks

Drawing Prompt #3 — The King on Top of the World

This episode tells the Dominican folktale The King and the Moon, a story about a king who has everything and still wants more. When the king spots the moon from his palace window and declares "I want it," he sets off a chain of impossible orders: collect every wooden trunk on the island, chop down every tree, build a tower tall enough to touch the sky.

At the center of it all is a quiet, careful carpenter who has, until this moment, led quite a peaceful life.

Themes in this episode: greed, consequences, nature, humility, the limits of power

Great for ages: 4–10 (and the grown-ups who can't help listening too!)

• 🐌 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — Become a supporting member and unlock bonus episodes PLUS a monthly envelope of art projects, stickers, stationery, and more delivered straight to your door!
• 🖍️ Free Coloring Page — Download the free coloring page that goes along with this episode on Rachael's website
• 🎧 Loved this episode? Try next: Why Sky is So Far Away — another folktale all about the mysterious distance between the Earth and the sky

The Fairy Tale Art Cart is a draw along podcast for kids where you become the illustrator of the stories you hear. Host Rachael Harrington, art teacher turned globe-trotting professional storyteller, guides young artists through folktales from around the world, pausing the story for drawing prompts and music so kids can bring each scene to life on paper.

Perfect for screen-free afternoons, car rides, rainy days, and bedtime wind-downs. All you need is paper, something to color with, and a wide-open imagination.

New episodes drop regularly. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review to help more families discover the magic of draw-along storytelling!

What would you do if you had to show up with nothing but the truth, but the truth was actually all that you needed?

In this episode, we travel all the way to ancient China for a folktale called The Empty Pot. It's the story of a boy named Ling who loves plants and gardens, and who is given a very special seed by the emperor himself. Ling waters it, tends it, sings to it, and moves it to a bigger pot...but nothing grows, not even a sprout. When the emperor asks all the children of the kingdom to return with what they've grown, Ling has to decide: does he show up with the truth, or does he try to fake it? What he discovers at the palace is a surprise that will make your heart do a little leap.

This episode is packed with four drawing prompts, music interludes, and a story that will have your little artists thinking big thoughts about honesty and bravery.

Themes in this episode: honesty, bravery, integrity, gardening, nature, doing your best

Great for ages: 4–10 (and the grown-ups who love listening along!)

• 4 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite drawing materials (crayons, colored pencils, markers — anything that brings the pizzazz!)

Drawing Prompt #1 — The Emperor's Grand Gardens

Drawing Prompt #2 — Two Flower Pots

Drawing Prompt #3 — A Pattern of Palace Flowers

Drawing Prompt #4 — Ling Becomes Emperor

• 🐌 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — Become a supporting member and unlock bonus episodes PLUS a monthly envelope of art projects, stickers, stationery, and more delivered right to your door! → CLICK HERE
• 🖍️ Free Coloring Page — Download the free coloring page that goes along with this episode at our website → CLICK HERE
• 🎧 Loved this episode? Try next: The Perfect Pot — another folktale featuring a very wise old clay pot, mentioned at the end of the episode!

The Fairy Tale Art Cart is a draw along podcast for kids where you become the illustrator of the stories you hear. Host Rachael Harrington- art teacher turned globe-trotting professional storyteller- guides young artists through folktales from around the world, pausing the story for drawing prompts and music so kids can bring each scene to life on paper.

Perfect for screen-free afternoons, car rides, rainy days, and bedtime wind-downs. All you need is paper, something to color with, and a wide-open imagination.

New episodes drop regularly. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review to help more families discover the magic of draw-along storytelling!

There's a drought in the land. The riverbed is dry. Every single animal, from the massive elephant to the squeaky little mouse, tries to stomp the water up from the ground. One by one, they all give up. But tiny little Gecko refuses to quit. The bigger animals laugh at him. They mock him. But, Gecko stomps anyway.

This is a story about what happens when you keep going even when others say you can't. It's a story your kids will be talking about long after the episode ends, and that will help them cheer on the idea of determination.

• 3 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (crayons, markers, colored pencils — whatever adds some pizzazz!)

• Elephant stomping in the dry riverbed
• Determined little Gecko standing among all the big animals
• Gecko splashing in the rising river water

This episode features hip hop and cajòn artist Randy Mason, kicking off the episode with an original rap that will get every kid in the room hyped and moving, continue to inspire your kids through all three music and drawing breaks. Check out Randy's work HERE.

• Download the FREE coloring page for this episode on my website
• Become a supporting member of the show and join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club: your kids get a magical monthly envelope filled with art projects, stickers, stationery, and a bonus episode. Not ready for the full envelope? You can also get just the bonus episode for $2/month! Sign-up link at my Buy Me A Coffee Page!

If your kids loved this episode, leave a review — it helps other families find their way to the Art Cart!

What if winter could turn into spring in an instant just because you were kind?

In this magical draw along episode, we travel deep into a snowy Czech forest and discover one of the most enchanting folktales from Eastern Europe: The Twelve Months. It's a story about a girl named Marushka who loves nature so deeply that nature loves her right back...and about what happens when greed meets the 12 gnomes who rule the seasons.

This episode is packed with three music filled drawing prompts and imaginative storytelling that will have your little artists reaching for their colored pencils before the first song begins.

• 3 pieces of drawing paper
• Your favorite coloring materials (colored pencils, crayons, markers — whatever brings the pizzazz!)

Drawing Prompt #1 — The Circle of woodland gnomes, who are The Twelve Months

Drawing Prompt #2 — The Mountain Magically Changing Seasons

Drawing Prompt #3 — The Magic of the Staff

--> Themes in this episode: kindness, gratitude, the seasons, patience, nature, fairness

--> Great for ages: 4–10 (and the grown-ups who listen alongside them!)

• 🐌 Join the Fairy Snail Art Cart Club — Become a supporting member and unlock bonus episodes PLUS a monthly envelope of art projects, stickers, stationery, and more delivered straight to your door!
• 🖍️ Free Coloring Page — Download the free coloring page that goes along with this episode on Rachael's website
• 🎧 Loved this episode? Try next: Frost and Warmth — another folktale all about the difference between cold weather and warm weather

The Fairy Tale Art Cart is a draw along podcast where your kids become the illustrators of the stories they hear. Host Rachael Harrington (art teacher turned globe-trotting professional storyteller) guides young artists through folktales from around the world, pausing the story for drawing prompts and music so kids can bring each scene to life on paper using simple art materials.

Perfect for screen-free afternoons, car rides, rainy days, and bedtime wind-downs. All you need is paper, something to color with, and a wide open imagination.

New episodes drop regularly. Follow, subscribe, and leave a review to help more families discover the magic of draw-along storytelling!