Pinocchio

A story that explores integrity and opens a conversation with your child.

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♥ This book teaches: Integrity. doing what is right when no one is watching.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: Integrity means being honest, and responsible and respectful all the time, whether or not people can see what you’re doing. In short: Do the right thing, even when no one's looking. Summary: This well-known dramatic tale about a puppet maker longing to be a father, and a puppet longing to be a real boy, never gets old. Pinocchio learns the hard way about the value of honesty and making good decisions as he encounters temptation on his way to school. Jiminy Cricket, his “conscience” tries unsuccessfully to steer Pinocchio away from negative influences, and the boy/puppet ends up in the mouth of a shark with Geppetto, the puppet maker. We all rejoice at the happy ending, when the puppet maker and puppet’s wishes come true. Lesson Objectives:

Students will be more aware of the voice of the conscience, and will make better choices as a result.
This is a good opportunity to assign students to journal for a week or two about their experiences with their conscience, writing down what it tells them, in order to gain new awareness of its existence.

Guiding Questions:

What is Geppetto’s wish in the beginning of the story?
What is Pinocchio’s wish and who is the one who will grant it (or not)?
What is the job of the small green cricket?
When Pinocchio started on his way to school, something happened that interrupted his good intentions - what was it?
What did Pinocchio do that helped him get his wish?
Is there a time when you were honest and told the truth even though it was difficult?
What if humans were made so that our noses would grow when we told lies. How do you think that might change the way people behave?
Did you ever catch someone telling a lie? Did you say anything or just ignore it?
Would you like to have your very own personal cricket that lets you know when you’re on the verge of making a bad decision? Why or why not?
Peer pressure can be positive, with friends helping you do the right thing, or negative, with peers encouraging you to do the wrong thing. Do you have more people in your life who are a positive influence or more who are a negative influence?

🌿 Virtue Connection: Integrity means doing what is right even when no one is watching.

Hands-On Practice

Activities for This Story.

Activity: Students review the story of Pinocchio, with a focus on the character of Jiminy Cricket, the puppet’s conscience. They discuss the various decisions Pinocchio made, how the cricket tried to steer Pinocchio in the right direction, and how the puppet’s actions against his conscience affected him. They review the definition of the word integrity: integrity means being honest, and responsible and respectful all the time, whether or not people can see what you’re doing. Students are guided to share about the benefits of being honest, especially how trust is gained through honesty. Students participate in an Integrity Bingo game, as described in the directions. Materials needed: the Pinocchio video; the teacher-made Integrity Bingo board, one per student - vary the arrangement of the integrity examples on the student boards so it can be a contest, meaning that one student will achieve Bingo before the others because of the varied placement of the examples on their board; a teacher’s copy of all the Bingo examples to read off as they play the game - cut the examples up so they can be pulled randomly out of a hat; chips to mark the Bingo boards Directions for Integrity Bingo: “These are all examples of what it means to have integrity. When I read an example, place a chip on top of it. When you have filled in a column or a row, call out BINGO! I’ll keep reading examples until everyone’s board is completely filled.”

I do what I promise to do	I always tell the truth	I don’t cover the truth with a lie	I don’t take things that don’t belong to me
I admit when I make a mistake	I apologize when I’ve hurt someone	I admit it when I’ve broken something	I do acts of kindness
I take care of my things	I do my chores	When I have a conflict with someone, I try to resolve it	I don’t cheat in games or on tests
I do my homework	I follow the rules at school	I show respect to my teachers	I show respect to my parents

Directions: Review the story of Pinocchio, with a focus on the character of Jiminy Cricket, the puppet’s conscience. Discuss the various decisions Pinocchio made, how the cricket tried to steer Pinocchio in the right direction, and how the puppet’s actions against his conscience affected him. State the definition of the word integrity: integrity means being honest, responsible and respectful all the time, whether or not people can see what you’re doing. Emphasize the benefits of being honest, especially how trust is gained through honesty. Read the directions for the Integrity Bingo game, pass out the Bingo boards and chips. Ask students to take turns reading each of the integrity examples. Play the game. Wrap it up: Explain that the purpose of this activity is to enjoy a fun way of learning about what the word integrity means. This is an activity worth repeating because we can all use reminders to help us grow our integrity.

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

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Integrity · Family Discussion Guide

Pinocchio

Guiding Questions

Students will be more aware of the voice of the conscience, and will make better choices as a result.
This is a good opportunity to assign students to journal for a week or two about their experiences with their conscience, writing down what it tells them, in order to gain new awareness of its existence.

Guiding Questions:

What is Geppetto’s wish in the beginning of the story?
What is Pinocchio’s wish and who is the one who will grant it (or not)?
What is the job of the small green cricket?
When Pinocchio started on his way to school, something happened that interrupted his good intentions - what was it?
What did Pinocchio do that helped him get his wish?
Is there a time when you were honest and told the truth even though it was difficult?
What if humans were made so that our noses would grow when we told lies. How do you think that might change the way people behave?
Did you ever catch someone telling a lie? Did you say anything or just ignore it?
Would you like to have your very own personal cricket that lets you know when you’re on the verge of making a bad decision? Why or why not?
Peer pressure can be positive, with friends helping you do the right thing, or negative, with peers encouraging you to do the wrong thing. Do you have more people in your life who are a positive influence or more who are a negative influence?

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Pinocchio

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Activities for This Story.

About the Story.

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Pinocchio

Guiding Questions