The Loch Ness Monster (and other ideas)

“Nobody has actually seen it because the Loch Ness monster is a little shy. “ - Giacomo, 4.1 years

Yesterday, while we were discussing how some water had disappeared from our paper and water experiments, Giacomo began describing the process of evaporation (blog to come soon).  At the end of his description, he shared this: 
“That’s just because Rose told me all about those things. And there was this one time when Rose told me about the Loch Ness monster that’s alive and in the lake.” - Giacomo, 4.1 years
She told you the story of the Loch Ness monster?
“Yeah, it’s just one of the pictures was just fake.  It was drawed.  It was drawed with some materials like…" - Giacomo

Giacomo's comments inspired me to look through my Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales book to see if there was a story about the Loch Ness Monster, one of Scotland's most notorious legends/folk tales.  There was a story, but it was too long for our story time.  I found a different one that mentioned Loch Ness though.  

I did, however, want to share the illustration that was included with the Loch Ness Monster story, which is a picture of a Kelpie (water horse).  

The illustration sparked the following conversation: 

In Scotland they call this a water kelpie. - Elyse
“Well, so mommy’s Loch Ness monster was a water creature.  It had flippers.” - Giacomo
Maybe there are different types of… - Elyse
“Loch Ness Monsters.” - Giacomo
I think that the  folk tale is that there are a few different kinds. - Elyse

This is a book of folk and fairy tales, so stories like Giacomo was saying, may not always true, but they’re really interesting and fun to read. - Elyse
“Yeah, the loch ness monster has a long neck.” - Giacomo
He does. I’ve seen a lot of different drawings of him. Giacomo, maybe we could think one day about creating our own imagine of the Loch Ness monster.  - Elyse
“Nobody has actually seen it because the Loch Ness monster is a little shy. “ - Giacomo
Giacomo, I’m wondering if one day we could look at some different images of what other people think the Loch Ness monster looks like, and then we could create our own. - Elyse
“Well, there’s a lot of things he had.  Daddy thinks the Loch Ness monster is nice, but I don’t even believe in that.” - Giacomo
Well, we don’t have to believe in him to create our own image (i.e. he doesn’t have to be real for us to imagine). We might have to do some research before we can draw. him. - Elyse

What do you do with a tail like this?

How do we know what the Loch Ness Monster looks like if we've never seen him? 

How can we research this? 

What do we already know? 

Can we create our own?

One-on-one conversation

This book is called, What do you do with a tail like this? , might help us to think about if we were to draw a Loch Ness monster. - Elyse
“Well, he didn’t have a tail.” - Giacomo
Oh, how do we know if we haven’t look at it before? - Elyse
“Well, we’ve never seen him because he’s pre-story.  Nobody has seen him because he was at the Loch Ness Lake, which is really big and way deep.  He lives at the bottom.” - Giacomo
That’s what I’ve heard too, Giacomo.  I’m going do a little more research, and on Monday we can look at some different images and information about the Loch Ness monster story.  And we can think about what we know, we can think about telling a new story, or creating an image. For now we’ll read What do you do with a tall like this, and maybe it’ll give us some ideas. - Elyse

What if our Loch Ness monster had a nose like that [alligator]? - Elyse
“No. Because he has a too long neck. Yeah, and it has to be taller to be the Loch Ness monster.” - Giacomo

Saul and Audrey said goodbye, and Giacomo continued to share his ideas and insight about the Loch Ness Monster (and other things).  

“I don’t know what they [Loch Ness Monsters] eat.  I think they eat kelp off fishes.  I don’t know what the Loch Ness monster of the lake is because there used to be such thing as a whale monster.  On one eye it had a small eye, and on one side it had a big eye.  IT was bigger than the gray/blue humpback whale.” - Giacomo
The Loch Ness monster was bigger than the gray/blue humpback whale? - Elyse
“Yeah, yeah.” - Giacomo 
 How do we know that? - Elyse
“Well, I knew it because I thought the Loch Ness monster was dead, but that’s how I knew it wasn’t alive.  It used to live in the monster world, where everything is just monster stuff because their world fell because there was too many dinosaurs, and the earth couldn’t hold that many dinosaurs, so it just fell.  But some of the monsters escaped, like the loch ness monster, some of them escaped, but not so many.  So, they actually didn’t have like the hole on their back to spray out the water they swallow because they actually eat clean water.” - Giacomo
The Loch Ness monster eats clean water?
“No, no. The whale monster. They lived in the dinosaur and monster world, but they fell.” - Giacomo
How did it fall? 
“Well, it failed because there was too much weight on the earth, so it just fell.” - Giacomo
What happened to the Loch Ness Monster? - Elyse
“Some of them escaped into space, but a new earth with people in it came around, and then people comed here from monkeys and chimpanzees and other guys and cave men.  All those in a long, long, long, long, long time turned into humans.  And then, they started their life.” - Giacomo
Giacomo, do you know what the word is for that? - Elyse
“No.” - Giacomo
Have you ever heard a word that describes that whole process? - Elyse
“No.” - Giacomo
I think the word for that is ‘evolution’. - Elyse
“No, evolution is just for like water that floats up and then it rains and then it goes into the dark and into a lake and keeps going around and around.” - Giacomo
That word is very similar. The word for the water process you’re describing is ‘evaporation’. - Elyse
“But this word is a little bit longer than it, so I might want to turn this [zoom] off.” - Giacomo 
Before you go, can I say thank you for sharing all of your ideas with me? - Elyse

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Also, in case anyone is unsure of the difference between folk and fairy tales (as I was), I found this simple explanation: 
Folk tales are the traditional beliefs, practices, lessons, legends and tales of a culture or of a people passed down orally through stories. Fairy tales are fanciful and imaginary stories about people, fairies, animals or things who have magical powers.