Rather than just having your students read the stories either to themselves or out loud, have them enact the tales in the classroom. Assign each student a role from one of the stories; taken together the stories have enough characters for each student to play a leading role. Have them work in groups to rehearse their parts. Use the chalkboard as a background for each mini play, allowing the students to draw a landscape to accompany their performance. Have the students create their own masks from paper plates and art supplies to add creativity to the project.
Kipling's "Just So Stories" lend themselves to a variety of engaging art projects. Students of all ages can work to create a collage illustrating each story. Divide your class into groups of three to five students and assign each group one of the "Just So Stories." Using a long roll of paper, art supplies, and magazines, particularly wildlife publications, have the students cut out pictures and words to tell their story, using their art skills and creativity to produce an illustrated version of each story. When each group is finished, have them present their illustration to the class, explaining the story out loud.
As a class, brainstorm a list of animals not included in Kipling's work. Have each student claim one of the new animals to write their own "Just So" story about. For instance, students can write about "How the Deer Got Its Antlers" or "How the Spider Got Its Legs." Encourage them to eschew realism and create truly wild animal stories of their own, using Kipling's original works as inspiration. Have your students share their stories with the class, and compile the stories into a book, making copies for your students to take home and enjoy.
This activity can take the form of a field trip or, if time doesn't permit, can be done in class. For a field trip, take your students to your local zoo. Have them observe the animals that they read about in the stories, such as leopards, rhinos and elephants. When they return to the classroom, have the students compare and contrast the animals they read about in the stories to the ones they saw in the zoo. Are there any similarities in the ways the animals behaved? Ask your students to think about the types of behaviors exhibited by each animal that might have inspired Kipling's representation of them. If a field trip isn't an option the same activity can be done, but replace the zoo outing with an in-class video that shows the behaviors of wild animals in Africa.