Flitter
KEEP THE SECRET
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Flitter is a soft little moth. She is cream and fluffy, with pale lilac wings and two curly feelers on top of her head. She lives in Hollowmere Valley, where the burrow doors are round and the logs are mossy.
Flitter has a treasure. It is the Moonstone, a smooth round stone that glows a gentle silver, like a tiny moon you can hold.
"Let's play a hiding game," Flitter whispers. "Close your eyes. No peeking!"
Flitter flutters to three little dens. She tucks the Moonstone under one of them. She does not say which one. She folds her wings and smiles.
Now Flitter knows where the Moonstone is. You do not know yet. That is the secret. Flitter keeps it safe and quiet, just like a hug you hold inside.
"Open your eyes!" says Flitter. "Where do you think it is?"
You lift the first den. Nothing there. Flitter's feelers wiggle, but she does not tell. You lift the next den. And there it is, glowing! "You found it!" Flitter cheers, and spins in a happy circle.
"Now you hide it," says Flitter. "I'll close my eyes."
So you tuck the Moonstone under a den, and now YOU know the secret. Flitter looks under the wrong den first. "Oh! Not here!" she laughs. "Silly me!" Flitter never minds a wrong guess. A wrong guess is just a turn on the way to finding.
A grown-up can play too, taking turns to hide and to seek.
When the game is done, Flitter tucks the Moonstone under her wing.
Here is what Flitter loves best: that wiggly, waiting feeling of keeping a secret, and then the big bright moment when someone finds it. "I hide it, I keep it, I don't tell," Flitter hums, "and then you find it, and that feels swell!"
Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up
For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.
Let them finish it
Say “Flitter says: I hide it, I keep it, I don't tell — …” and stop. Let them finish it.
Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.
Circles together: 0
The HollowTots ensemble
Flitter is one of the friends in HollowTots. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
