Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Welcome back to you all!
Summer has officially arrived!
YAY!
Well, what do you know?
It’s Wednesday!
The weekend got away from both of us
since we were each busy, busy, busy with our Littles!
At the end of it all, our hearts were filled with joy and love
but, boy oh boy, were we POOPED!
As retired Grands we decided that we have the luxury of saying “oh well”
and so we simply postponed this week’s post while we grabbed a nap or even two!!
😉
We hope you all had a lovely Father’s Day
celebrating those special men in your lives
and the lives of your Littles!
Laurie’s Little D was able to spend time with her uncle, her grandpa
and her great-grandpa
while her own dad and mom were out of town for the week!
Little D spent several days exploring, playing, snuggling and reading
while staying with Grammy Laurie and her BaBa!
Meanwhile, during Father’s Day weekend,
Laura’s family was 14 strong (with 5 dogs in tow) at the lake!
It was a fun filled, sun soaked few days with Little L and extended family
and Gramma Laura and Grampa got lots of cuddles in, too!
FAMILY TIME IS SIMPLY THE BEST!
❤️
Last week we shared our ideas for Going Buggy!
Did you happen to see it?
that spotlighted the story, The Hungry Caterpillar… one of our faves!
Here’s a glimpse at a few of the activities shared!
Moving on…
Today’s topic, Fairy Tale Fun, explores the world of make-believe!
We all remember those beloved stories we first heard ourselves as children
and then years later when we repeated them to our own little ones!
These days, we are sharing these stories with our grandchildren… our precious Littles!
If you are a Grand, a parent or a caregiver
who will spend time with Littles this summer,
this post is definitely for YOU!
You could have fun with one fairy tale each week
OR
make a week or weekend out of it with lots of activities sprinkled
throughout each day!
Younger Littles will enjoy these activities,
but they will primarily have fun watching and listening.
Meanwhile, older Littles - two year olds through mid elementary aged
will particularly enjoy them all
A fairy tale is a rich and imaginative story
that has often been retold and passed on from generation to generation!
If a story takes place in a magical land, with fantastical creatures or talking animals
it’s more than likely a fairy tale!
And while most end with the words,
they all lived happily ever after,
fairy tales offer so much more!
You might be surprised to learn just how important fairy tales are to a Little’s early development! In fact, studies have shown that fairy tales provide many benefits for your Littles as they learn and grow!
Fairy tales help our Littles understand the world around them!
Fairy tales spark imagination and offer moral lessons! Our Littles learn from the mistakes of the characters in the story. Our Littles discover, through the characters, what virtues are (such as strength or loyalty) and also what vices are (.such as greed or envy) and discover how to react to each. Through these stories, our Littles learn to recognize their own emotions! Our Littles then see examples of resilience over and over again when listening to fairy tales! (And these are great conversation starters for Grands and Littles once you’ve read/told the fairy tale, too!)
Fairy tales teach our Littles to problem solve!
Fairy tales are important because they give our Littles the opportunity to experience things in their minds before they experience them in the real world. In these stories, the characters encounter a problem but by the end of the story, there is a solution! Our Littles learn critical thinking skills and ultimately confidence in themselves!
Fairy tales enrich our Littles’ literacy development!
Fairy tales play such an important role in helping our Littles be ready for more learning! Their vocabulary power grows from the words they hear when listening to these stories! Our Littles are exposed to the elements of a story… characters (who is in the story) and setting (where the story is taking place) as well as the sequence of events. And, perhaps most importantly, fairy tales create a greater love of reading!
There are so many wonderful fairy tales out there, you may have forgotten some of your favorites from when you were little. Here is a list of beloved titles. Pick one or two, head to the library, and share them with your Littles. Libraries usually have them in the children’s nonfiction section marked simply Fairy Tales.
In addition to the three we’re sharing in this post,
The 3 Little Pigs
Goldilocks & The 3 Bears
The 3 Billy Goats Gruff
we also recommend the following fairy tales for our littlest Littles!:
The Little Red Hen
The Ugly Duckling
The Gingerbread Man
Cinderella
Jack and the Beanstalk
(look for a version that tames down the giant).
Other well known titles to consider for older Littles include:
The Princess and the Pea, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel,
Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, The Elves and the Shoemaker, T
he Emperor's New Clothes & Thumbelina
What’s YOUR favorite fairy tale?
Be sure to share it with your Littles!
We’ve chosen three well known fairy tales to explore with little ones
AND
we’ve compiled activities to do this summer with your Littles
as well as a few more that sound simply magical!
NOTE:
Laura has the above set of fairy tale books by Mara Alperin with illustrations by Ag Jotkowska
that she has used in school and with her Littles!
THE 3 LITTLE PIGS & THE BIG BAD WOLF!
We all know this fairy tale!
While the first two little pigs quickly built homes and had more time to play and relax,
the third little pig worked hard and made his house of bricks!
The moral of this story:
Hard work and dedication pay off!
Here are some fun activities to go along with this favorite!
The first three were activities Laura did with her great nephew and niece
as well as Little L!
🐷 Setting the Stage!
This activity was especially fun for Laura’s great nephew who will be a kindergartner in the fall!
After we talked about the story and the sequence of events we decided to recreate the setting by building the three houses that the pigs built. We looked around and found materials for each house - we used straws for the first house, made of straw and we found kabob sticks for the second house, made of sticks (I had cut down the kabob sticks, removing the pointed ends). For the third house, we decided to use legos! My great-nephew built all the houses on a sheet pan and I just let him create! He used some play dough (like glue) for the first two houses, but that was all!
Read on below to see how we tested his building skills!
🐷 Can You Blow My House Down? A STEM Activity!
For a few years, Laura taught a week long Summer School class that explored fairy tales in fun new ways!
One of the activities we did, that my great nephew and I recreated this past weekend, was to use toothpicks and mini marshmallows OR Dot candies to build a house. Each child was given 20 toothpicks and about 12-16 marshmallows/Dots to complete their task. You can see below, what my great nephew created this weekend:
When he was finished, it was time to see if his houses (this one and the ones he created in the above activity) would stand up to the wolf’s huffing and puffing! I taped a picture of a wolf to the top of my hair dryer and soon the wolf was trying to blow each house down!
SUCCESS! My great nephew’s hard work and careful planning paid off, although the straw house and stick houses from the first activity quickly bit the dust... just like in the story!
🐷 The 3 Little Pigs - Popsicle Stick Art!
For the littlest Littles (Little L at 17 months and great niece at almost 3 years old) Laura created three pigs and a wolf out of popsicle sticks and construction paper. She glued the popsicle sticks in a triangle fashion to a piece of paper (pink for pigs, brown or gray for the wolf).
After the glue had dried, the details were added. Laura’s Littles had fun adding the noses (or snouts as we called them) and ears… and we taped tails to the pigs)! All 3 Littles had fun using the props (the popsicle stick characters and the houses described above) as we retold the story… one more time!
🐷 Huff and Puff Snack!
After all that hard work of blowing down houses, your Little(s) will be hungry! Here is a simple snack to fill their tummies!
In fact, it’s so simple, even your youngest Littles can make it themselves. Mix together some straw (shoestring potatoes), sticks (pretzels) and any flavor of Chex cereal (the bricks).. Shake the ingredients in a Ziploc bag and you are set to eat!
GOLDILOCKS AND THE 3 BEARS!
We’ve got you covered with this favorite fairy tale, too!
When Goldilocks, a curious and impulsive little girl,
enters the house of the 3 bears,
she gets herself into a bit of trouble and hurts the bears’ feelings!
The moral of this story:
Respect others and their property and our actions can hurt others!
🐻 Opposite Play with THE 3 BEARS!
This is a wonderful way to work on antonyms (opposite words) with your toddlers or preschoolers. Babies will enjoy handling the different objects that are safe for them. A great chance to practice vocabulary!!
Hot/Cold - like the bears’ porridge
To keep this safe for Littles, cut out pictures of objects that are hot and cold, and have your Little sort them.
Hard/Soft - like the bears’ beds
It’s easy to find objects around the house for this activity!. Put them into a pile and encourage your Little to touch them and sort them into two piles.
Big/Little - the bears!!
This is another fun one! Find objects from around the house. It is especially helpful to find a pair of items when sorting, such as a big sock and a little sock.
🐻 A Goldilocks Obstacle Course!
Help Goldilocks make her way through the Bear’s House and work some wiggles out at the same time!
First you’ll need to prep the bowls. Place 3 bowls in 3 sizes on the floor and have your Little toss an object into each bowl to see which one is the easiest and which is the hardest.
NOTE: Laurie happened to have a Beanie Baby bear that worked great, but you could use a bean bag, ball or plastic animal.
Next it’s time to move on to the chairs! Line up 3 different sized chairs (to make it more challenging) and have your Little crawl over them! Younger Littles can walk around them or in a figure 8 pattern!
Lastly, create 3 beds that your Little will need to jump over. Since Laurie’s Little is a younger Little, she decided to make the beds using soft towels and blankets in case of a fall. If you have older Littles who jump well, you could use blocks, boxes, rocks, or even doll beds!
When your Littles finish the course, they can run back to the bowls and start over. This set up would be ideal for outside play where they have lots of area to spread out and run between the obstacles. The day Laurie played with Little D happened to be a rainy day so she did the best she could with setting the obstacles around the kitchen/living room area.
🐻 Goldilocks & The 3 Bears Paper Plate Masks!
Here’s an easy way to make masks to retell this special story! Use a simple paper plate and cut a circle from the middle of the plate as shown. Do this for each of the 3 bears. Using a brown crayon or marker, color the paper plate (without the middle). Glue on ears for each bear (we used brown construction paper). Cut 3 bows from different colors of paper - you can use patterned paper, too - One for Papa/Big Bear, one for Mama/Middle Bear and one for Baby/Little Bear. Add each bow as shown (or as your Little(s) prefer)! Tape a popsicle stick to the bottom of each plate and your masks are ready! Stage time!
🐻 Porridge Playdough!
When Laura’s daughters were little, they loved it when Hubby D made them porridge on Saturday mornings! They’d have to decide if their porridge was too hot, too cold or just right! Hubby D is looking forward to the day when he can make this breakfast with Little L!
Then, at school, as a culminating activity during /g/ week/Goldilocks week in Kindergarten, Laura would make porridge for her class! Who would have thought that a simple oatmeal recipe would be such a hit with many kindergartners having seconds!
SO… if you take time to have some Fairy Tale Fun with your Littles this summer, be sure to make them some porridge (yes, oatmeal) as a special treat!
We both wish we’d known about this simple recipe for Porridge Playdough when we were teaching kindergarten! Laura made it with her Littles this past weekend and they were very intrigued… especially when they found out it was edible!
Porridge Playdough
2 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 cup flour
1 cup water
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Once combined, knead until smooth (although the playdough will definitely have the texture of oatmeal. If the mixture is too sticky, add more flour. Continue to knead until mixture has a playdough consistency. Store playdough in a container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
NOTE: You can also add cinnamon or honey when mixing the ingredients to give your playdough a sweet flavor!
🐻 A Bear Snack!
Laura and crew also made this delicious snack this past weekend! It was the perfect addition to our 3 Bears fun! Spread peanut butter all over a piece of bread/toast. Add banana slices for ears and a nose. Then add chocolate chips (we used mini ones) for eyes and one more in the center of the banana nose as shown! Yum! Yum!
🐻 Storytime Through Imaginative Play!
Here are two fun ways to retell this story!
#1 As mentioned, Laura always celebrated Goldilocks when she introduced the /g/ sound in Kindergarten! Acting out the story with common household objects was always a highlight for her students!
Check out this great site that further explains this easy way to retell the fairy tale with your Littles, using common household items to do so!!
from Childhood 101
#2 If your child enjoys cutting and creating, retell the story with fun storytelling sticks from this site! They offer cute printables to make your own storytelling popsicle sticks.
NOTE: You will need to submit your email to receive the printables but you always have the option to then unsubscribe if you don’t like the site.
from Homeschool Share
THE 3 BILLY GOATS GRUFF!
The final fairy tale we’re focusing on today is yet another classic!
This is a tale about three billy goats who want to cross a bridge
to reach the sweet green grass on the other side,
but a mean troll stands in their way!
The moral of this story:
Don’t be greedy!
🐐 Trip! Trap! Cross That Bridge!
Oh how young children love to make noise! They also love to try and be in control of that noise!
If you are a daring Grand or parent, have your Little trip trap across a table set as the Billy Goat’s bridge (remember - safety first!). First trip trap quietly as the littlest Billy Goat, then trip trap with a medium voice as the middle Billy Goat, and finally with a TRIP TRAP that’s as loud as you can for the biggest Billy Goat! Good shoes are a must for this! Laurie did this on the low tables in kindergarten (very sturdy!) and the laughter and excitement it caused - especially if you allow someone to sit underneath as the troll and listen to it - was amazing!
These days, Little D and her BaBa enjoy trip trapping around Laurie’s backyard…
over a table
and then on a short wall in the backyard!
Another option is to make a bridge with tape right on your floor or driveway and trip trap right across that!
🐐 Cardboard Tube Billy Goats!
This were a favorite project that Laura’s Summer School kids would make to help them retell this fairy tale! Laura and her Littles made a set this past weekend!
1. You will need three cardboard tubes, cut to three different lengths. I used 1 toilet paper tube and 1 paper towel tube that I cut in two pieces, one longer and one shorter.
2. Cover each tube with paper and use glue or tape to hold it in place. Each Little chose his/her billy goat color!
3. Use the tube scraps OR an old brown grocery bag to make the billy goat ears. Here’s what they look like once cut out. (You’ll need 2 for each billy goat).
4. Fold the ear in half and use one clothespin to hold each ear in place on the tube. (The clothespins will look like the billy goats’ horns!) Glue the tips of the ears together.
5. Add googly eyes to each goat and glue some cotton balls to the top of the tube for the goats’ heads and then a little more to the bottom of each tube for the goats’ chins! Use a crayon or pen to draw a nose and mouth on each as shown.
🐐 Bridge Building! A STEM Activity!
This was another challenge that Laura would present to her Summer School students… Could they build a bridge that the Billy Goats could safely cross over? Her great nephew was up for the challenge as well! Look what he created with materials found at the lake!
Here he is, testing out his creation with some of the toy animals we had available! He found craft sticks, painters tape and red cups and was able to create a stable bridge that even all 3 billy goats could stand on!
Here he is, testing out his creation with some of the toy animals we had available! He found craft sticks, painters tape and red cups and was then able to create a stable bridge that even all 3 billy goats could stand on! We may have a new engineer in the family!
We added a river and some yellow grass on one side with a field of green grass on the other! We only needed to add one more character!
🐐 A Playdough Troll!
Laura’s great niece (almost 3 years old) noticed that we didn’t have a troll yet. What to do! We had to fix that problem! Together, we came up with the idea to use some of our Porridge Playdough to make our troll! The Littles had fun adding googly eyes and pipe cleaner hair and arms!
Our 3 Billy Goats Gruff storyboard was now complete!
🐐 One More Puppet Idea!
Here’s one more option that you could have your Littles make to retell the story of The 3 Billy Goats Gruff. We don’t have directions… just a picture of the set Laura had in her Summer School files for you to look at as a model! She and her Littles used these for a puppet show they did last weekend! (See below - near the end of the post for pics from our puppet show!)
🐐 The 3 Goats Song!
Tune: If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands
Words by Patricia Gable
If you’re hungry and you know it, cross the bridge.
Trip Trap! (stomp feet)
If you’re hungry and you know it, cross the bridge.
Trip Trap! (stomp feet)
If you’re hungry and you know, then your tummy will surely know it.
If you’re hungry and you know it, cross the bridge.
Trip Trap! (stomp feet)
If you see the angry Troll, tell him to wait.
Hold On! (put hand out to stop)
If you see the angry Troll, tell him to wait.
Hold On! (put hand out to stop)
Tell the Troll to wait to eat cause your brother has more meat.
If you see the angry Troll, tell him to wait.
Hold On! (put hand out to stop)
If you see the angry Troll, tell him to wait.
You’ll See! (shake finger)
If you see the angry Troll, tell him to wait.
You’ll see! (shake finger)
Tell the Troll about your brother, he has meat that’s like no other.
If you see the angry Troll tell him to wait.
You’ll see! (shake finger)
If you’re hungry and you know it, cross the bridge.
Trip Trap! (stomp feet)
If you’re hungry and you know it, cross the bridge.
Trip Trap! (stomp feet)
The Troll went home a’cryin’ ‘cause the Big Goat sent him flyin’
So if you’re hungry and you know it, cross the bridge!
Yum! Yum! (rub tummy)
This would be a fun song to act out as you retell the story in a musical way!
As we mentioned earlier in the post,
this past weekend Laura and her Littles
(Little L and her great niece and nephew)
had LOTS of Fairy Tale Fun together!
We took quiet moments throughout the weekend to
read the stories and make the props
which also gave moms and dads a bit of a break, too!
Once the props had been made,
it was simple to pull our puppet shows together!
After our Father’s Day dinner on Sunday evening,
everyone headed to the living room for our BIG finale!!!
The Littles performed 3 puppet shows for us all
(well, Little L actually participated a bit and then watched, danced, cheered, etc…)
😊
Our Littles’ dads were our guest performers as the troll and the wolf,
and their auntie/godmother played Goldilocks!
Gramma Laura served as narrator!
Here are a few photos from the show!
Lights! Camera! Action!
We used ALL our props for The 3 Billy Goats Gruff!
Our 3 Little Bears were simply adorable!
We ended up making simple headbands for our 3 (2?) Little Pigs to wear for the show!
That wolf tried to huff and puff and blow down our brick house,
but he couldn't do it!
YIPPEE!
We highly recommend this family activity,
filled with tons of giggles
AND
lots of memories that our hearts will hold forever!
❤️
We love fairy tales as much as our Littles do!
We hope YOU will, too!
❤️ We are delighted to join these link up parties and blog hops this week:
Sweet Tea & Friends/ The Hearth & Soul Link Party/ Sundays on Silverado/ Happiness is Homemade/ Senior Salon Pit Stop/