Letting children act out the story will give them a chance to move around as it enhances their ability to relate to the characters. Lead preschoolers in well-defined pretend games that roughly follow the main points of the story. For example, start by having all of the children pretend that they are slow and steady tortoises, crawling on all fours while they chant "slow and steady, slow and steady." When pretending to be the hare, they can mime running in three short bursts, and then suddenly lie down for a nap, chanting "fast, fast, fast, flop."
After reading the story of the tortoise and the hare aloud, provide children with crayons and paper and ask them to draw pictures of the story. Some children may need help focusing their drawings on the story. Talk with them about which character or part of the story they liked best to help them decide on a subject. Alternately, you can divide children into tables and assign one table to draw the tortoise and hare at the starting line, another table to draw napping hares and another to draw the tortoise winning. Hang the results on a bulletin board.
This craft project results in a pair of toys that children can use to re-enact the story on a small scale. Prepare in advance by painting walnut shell halves green. Make green felt cutouts of a tortoise body by cutting 1-1/2-inch circles with six protrusions for legs, head and tail. Make white felt cutouts of a rabbit's head by cutting 1-inch circles with two tall bunny ears at one edge. Let kids glue a rabbit head to a cotton ball and a walnut shell to a tortoise body, then glue each animal to a craft stick.
The story of the tortoise and the hare provides an opportunity to reinforce the concept of opposites. Announce that you are going to read a story and that the children should watch for opposites as they listen. Show the pictures from an illustrated children's version of the story as you read, pausing frequently to help the children point out opposites like fast vs. slow, soft (hare) vs. hard (tortoise), sleeping vs. awake, beginning vs. end (of the race) and win vs. lose.