ZANZIBAR -A tale of individuality- ZANZIBAR is just one of a large herd of striped zebra. But he wants to stand out from the crowd. The rest of the herd are dismissive. They believe conformity is essential. In his imagination he decorates his body in glorious colours, patterns and scenes. In reality, he can only roll in the mud and gather up a coating of blossoms and fruits. In reality he looks like a rather messy chocolate sundae. The lions who hunt their stripy meat from the zebra herd are curious about the new flavour. They decide to investigate the taste of chocolate sundae as a change from stripy meat. But the taste is disgusting. From now on the lions leave Zanzibar alone. And the other zebra start to think. Learning from the story Zebras have a strong pattern on their coats but, unbelievably, although they look the same, no two zebras share the precise same markings. Very young children respond to the powerful imagery of black and white. Talk about other black and white animals and find pictures of them. Is Zanzibar wrong to want to be different? How do people try to be the same? How do they try to be different? Many kinds of animals live in herds to protect themselves. They are stronger together, particularly the younger ones, than on their own. Do people live in herds? How do we protect our youngest members? Think up other patterns and ideas for Zanzibar's coat. There are many opportunities for children's own art here. The value of imagination is that it leads to invention. Many inventors are famous. Talk about them. Encourage your child to 'invent' with practical model-making using household materials or in such activities as simple and safe woodwork or cookery.