Storytelling with Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales are great for teaching: A) because they’re already familiar to lots of kids, and B) because they get our imaginations going. This printable is storytelling using Fairy Tales, but with a twist.

I had a request this week to ask if I’d make more storyboards. I previously made one focused on the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, so I thought I’d go to town on Fairy Tales instead! You can download this free printable in the ‘how to’ section below.

Fairy Tales

This printable uses a (very) short story from The Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Each option is a separate flap so it’s easy for kids to mix up the content of the story.

For example, instead of:

Cinderella went to a castle to dance with a prince. The next day was rainy so her shoe fell off.

… children can change the flaps so they might end up with:

Cinderella went to the beach to visit her grandma. The next day was foggy so she cut her hair.

Silly Motivations

We all know that it’s MUCH easier for children to learn and remember when they’re engaged and having fun. This storyboard was created to give a mix of familiarity and freshness to encourage kids to find as many different story combinations as they can.

Differentiation

Easier: for non-readers

Read through the 4 separate stories with your children. Since they all refer to the weather and therefore don’t actually follow the traditional storyline you could ask them what each character might do in other extreme weather conditions. Can they make up a new and interesting sentence that moves the story forward? Ask your child to change the flaps however they like and then read them the result. It can be tremendously satisfying for a young one to experience the power of being in control of the story that way.

For writers:

Encourage your children to find their favourite fairy tale variation and then write it out or draw a picture to represent the new story OR ask them to choose a couple of words to practice.

For readers:

Depending on their level, children might be able to work individually or in pairs to read effectively. OR you can give them just a couple of words to look for and highlight. For eg, ‘the,’ ‘to,’ and ‘was.’

For storytellers:

Are your kids game to get up in front of the class to read their chosen fairy tale variation? Or can they narrate it into GarageBand or Audacity so their parents can hear them? Can they make up their own silly story to tell by mixing up other stories they know?

How to use

1. Download the Fairy Tales Story Mat here
2. Print off the colour or black and white version pages
3. Cut out all dotted lines and fold the solid lines
4. Glue each flap onto the story mat being careful to put them in the correct sections
5. Glue the story mat onto coloured card if you wish to make it stronger

I hope you enjoy this story mat and wish you happy teaching and learning!