Have a discussion with the children about Japan. Show them where they are located on the map and where Japan is located. Talk to children about Japanese clothes, foods and Japanese customs. Ask the children if they've ever eaten Japanese food or if they've ever been to a Japanese restaurant. Engage the kids in a discussion about how Japanese customs differ from their own. Discuss and show the kids things that are related to Japan, such as the Japanese flag, a bonsai tree and money -- even if just in pictures.
Ask the children about ducks that they may have seen, where they've seen the ducks and the kinds of noise that the ducks make. As the children what the ducks looked like and have them draw the ducks with crayons and markers. Alternately, you can give children styrofoam balls, googly eyes and colorful feathers so they can create their own ducks. If you can't find feathers, kids can use colored construction paper to draw feathers and cut them out to glue on the styrofoam. Likewise, kids can paint wooden ducks, which are available in most craft stores.
Divide the children into groups and have each group participate in the same activities. For the first activity, each one in the group takes turns to fall backward from a chair onto the rest of the students in the group who are lined up with their arms held out to catch that student. In another activity, a student from each group is blindfolded while the other students shout out directions to get them through an obstacle course. These activities not only teach kids about honesty and caring but about trust, too.
Have the children use their imagination by instructing them to write a short folktale of their own. Aside from writing the folktale, children can also draw pictures of the characters in their story. Have each child read their story in front of the class. Likewise, you can have children write a simple report about "The Tale of the Mandarin Duck." Print out a sheet where the kids can fill up information such as the story's country of origin, the characters in the story, a summary of the story and the lessons that the kids learned. Leave enough space on the worksheet where the kids can also draw their favorite scene from the book.