🌿 Clever Peter (Hitar Petar) at the Market
👦🏻 Target Age: 8-11 years
⏰ Duration: approximately 40 minutes
Materials: The text (available below in Step 1) is meant to be told rather than read, preferably. Illustration materials for the students.
🎯 Learning Objectives
This workshop invites the teacher to tell a story about Clever Peter, ideally using their own words. Clever Peter (called Hitar Petar) is a very popular hero in Bulgaria. In the stories featuring him, he often appears with a donkey and wearing a kalpak. He is famous for playing tricks on the powerful, the rich, and the naive, with the cleverness always reflecting peasant wisdom.
The goal is to help students visualize the story clearly by specifying the sensations experienced throughout the events. At the end of the session, the teacher can invite them to illustrate what they imagined.
This workshop helps students develop several skills: spatial visualization, logic, sensitivity, and group speaking.
Note: This worksheet can be personalized according to students’ age group and interests. Additional questions, adapted language, or creative elements can be added to make it more engaging.
Step 1: Teacher tells a story about Clever Peter while asking logical and sensory questions
Example introduction to the story:
“Hello, little travelers! Today, we are going shopping with our favorite character. He is clever and very smart. Everyone calls him Clever Peter. To embark on this adventure, we must be creative and let our imagination guide us. I am going to tell you a story that contains hidden questions. They will help you build your own mental images. Are you ready? Let’s begin…
One day, Peter went to the market to buy new shoes. Walking along the cobbled path, he stepped on a sharp stone.
How did he feel?
He arrived at a shallow river and stepped in barefoot.
How was the water?
He crossed the river and found himself in a large clearing.
What did he see there?
His path continued through a dense forest.
What sounds did he hear along the way?
Did he see animals? Which animals?
When he reached the marketplace, he was already tired and hungry. He saw a stall with ice cream of different colors.
What did he choose and what did it taste like?
He enjoyed the ice cream and went to the cobbler. The cobbler offered him shoes made of pigskin and shoes made of sheep wool.
Which shoes were the most comfortable?
Which were best for spring?
Which did he choose?”
Step 2: Students draw Clever Peter and his day at the market
Next, the teacher invites students to illustrate Hitar Petar’s journey, the steps along the way (the river, the marketplace, the cobbler), and the sensations imagined during the adventure.