5 Fun Prompts about the Grand Canyon

Burros, tall tales, and fears: You can find them all in the Grand Canyon.

In 1893, the Grand Canyon was made a Forest Reserve and then later a National Monument. It became a national park in 1919, just three years after the National Park Service was formed.

Which prompt about this amazing formation will your students enjoy?

1. Create a Character.

Brighty is a small burro who lives in the Grand Canyon in the early 1900s before it is a national park. He hears President Teddy Roosevelt say how the area should be preserved, and he helps find an old prospector’s killer. You can read more about Brighty in Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry.

Create a new animal character who lives in the canyon. What adventures will come his or her way?

2. Give Your Opinion.

Visitors can view amazing scenery from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. They can also take tours of it by hiking in or by traveling on the river far, far below the rim. Some visitors like to get a bird’s eye view of the Grand Canyon by flying over it. “Helicopter and ground tours of the Grand Canyon can provide you with some of the most majestic scenes ever to be found on the planet,” according to papillon.com.

You can view some of the scenery that folks see from the planes by clicking here.

While this can be exciting for them, it can also be perturbing to those below, to those visitors who wish to experience the majesty and beauty of the canyon without any manmade noises. Mary Killeen of the Grand Canyon National Park says that part of protecting our resources is also to protect the “soundscape,” the natural sounds and quiet of the parks without any noise pollution. “The Grand Canyon has up to 57,000 air-tour flights in a year, the most of any national park,” according to usatoday.com.

What do you think? Should visitors be allowed to fly over the canyon to enjoy the views and gain a greater appreciation for this natural wonder, or should air traffic be restricted to give visitors a chance to experience the canyon’s natural soundscape? Write your opinion and support it with at least two reasons. Use a few facts to illustrate your reasons.

3. Write a Tall Tale.

Tall tales are larger-than-life stories that often explain how certain geological formations got there. Is there a lake nearby? Why, that was formed when Slough-Foot Sue fell down! Do you need to straighten a road. Well, call on the oversized Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox to pull on both ends and make it straight. You can read more tall tales here and here.

Tall tales can be fun because of their exaggeration and hyperbole.

Write your own tall tale to explain how the Grand Canyon got there.

4. Describe a Fear.

True story: I’ve been to the Grand Canyon. In fact, I took the pictures in this post, and, no, I did not Photoshop in the rainbow. It was really there.

There is no way to describe how large the canyon is. One greenish river that runs through it looks like a thread, it is so far below the rim.

But there is a way to describe how frightened I felt when people stood on boulders on the very edge of the rim. Even though signs read that the boulders were not stable (see my photo), people walked out onto the boulders and smiled for photos. I felt sick to my stomach. My heart beat faster. I wanted to reach out and pull them back to safety, but if I had done that, they would have backed up. If they had backed up even one-half step or if the boulders had come loose, those people would have fallen to their deaths.

Turns out I wasn’t wrong to worry. All it takes is one misstep.

Describe a time when you were frightened. What was happening? How did you react? What did your body feel like? What did you do?