📖🐾
The Enormous Turnip
PawSteps · Symbol-Supported Story · Book 9 · The great teamwork tale!
👴 👵 🐶 🐱 🐭
✔ The classic pulling story in short, repetitive sentences
✔ "They PULLED and PULLED…" chant in pink cells — heave together!
✔ The big idea: even the TINIEST helper matters 🐭
✔ Growing list structure trains working memory
✔ Vocabulary board · who-helped ordering · yes/no
✔ Tug-of-war teamwork game + retell planner
© PawSteps · For personal & classroom use — not for resale or sharing.
🍎PawSteps · For Grown-Ups
Reading This Book
💡 Why this story?
The Enormous Turnip is a growing list — old man, then old lady, then dog, then cat, then mouse. Recalling the line-up in order is working-memory training disguised as a story (it pairs beautifully with the Brain Coach "Packing My Trunk" game).
🎭 Whole-body reading
Every pink PULL cell is an action: grab an imaginary rope, lean back and HEAVE together — "they pulled… and pulled…" and flop dramatically when it doesn't move! When the turnip finally POPs, fall over backwards. Guaranteed giggles, guaranteed re-reads.
💚 The message to land
The mouse — the tiniest of all — makes the difference. For any child who feels small or "not enough": your bit matters. Say it out loud after the POP.
📖The Enormous Turnip
Page 1
An
👴old man
🌱planted
a
🟣turnip
🫘seed.
It
🌱grew
and
🌿grew
and
🌳GREW.
It was
💪ENORMOUS!
👴 🫘 🌱 🟣 💪
1
📖The Enormous Turnip
Page 2
The
👴old man
💪pulled
and
💪pulled.
The
🟣turnip
❌did not
↔️move!
👴 💪 🟣 ❌
2
📖The Enormous Turnip
Page 3
The
👵old lady
🤝helped.
They
💪pulled
and
💪pulled.
❌It did not move!
The
🐶dog
🤝helped.
They
💪pulled
and
💪pulled.
❌It did not move!
👴 👵 🐶 💪 🟣 ❌
3
📖The Enormous Turnip
Page 4
The
🐱cat
🤝helped.
They
💪pulled
and
💪pulled
and
💪PULLED.
The
🟣turnip
❌STILL did not
↔️move!
👴 👵 🐶 🐱 💪 🟣 ❌
4
📖The Enormous Turnip
Page 5
A
🤏tiny
🐭mouse
🤝helped.
👥EVERYONE
💪pulled
🤝together…
🎉POP!
Out came
the
💪enormous
🟣turnip!
👴👵🐶🐱🐭 💪 🎉 🟣
5
📖The Enormous Turnip
Page 6
They made
🍲turnip soup
for
👥everyone.
Even the
🤏tiny
🐭mouse
had some.
🤝Teamwork!
🔚The end.
🍲 👴👵🐶🐱🐭 😊 🤝
6
🃏PawSteps · Story Tools
Story Vocabulary Board
✂️ Introduce these BEFORE reading — then hand out the character cards and line up in story order for the big pull!
👴old man
👵old lady
🐶dog
🐱cat
🐭mouse
🟣turnip
🫘seed
🌱grow
💪pull
🤝help / together
🎉POP!
🍲soup
🧠PawSteps · After the Story
Who Helped? & Yes/No
🔢 Memory challenge! Who joined the pulling team? Write 1–5 in joining order (no peeking… then check!).
Did the turnip grow enormous?🟣💪YESNO
Could the old man pull it out all by himself?👴❌YESNO
Did an elephant help pull?🐘❓YESNO
Did the turnip come out when the mouse joined?🐭🎉YESNO
💬 Talk about it: the mouse was the smallest — did his help matter? Tell me about a time YOUR help made the difference.
⭐ Challenge: retell the pulling line-up from memory, backwards! 🐭🐱🐶👵👴
🤝PawSteps · After the Story
Teamwork Game & Retell!
💪 The Big Pull — teamwork game card:
Play the story with a scarf or soft rope! 🟣
One player is the stubborn turnip (hold tight!). Helpers join ONE at a time — old man 👴, old lady 👵, dog 🐶 (woof!), cat 🐱 (meow!), mouse 🐭 (squeak!). Chant "they pulled… and pulled…" until — POP! 🎉
Gentle pulls only — the fun is the flop at the end!
💚 Team soup! Everyone who helped gets soup. Draw YOUR team — the people (and pets!) who help you — around the soup pot 🍲:
🍲
🗣️ Retell the story — draw or write one thing in each box. Heave as you go!