Folk and fairy tales…more

The Gigantic Turnip, The Hairy Toe and No Dinner can be found on the website with activities, The Orchard Book of Nursery Stories, Story Time and The Story Tree are three valuable story collections.

Why share folk and fairy tales?                             back to Top 10 folk and fairy tales

Through folk and fairy stories children meet characters such as kings and queens, giants and dragons, wizards and witches, wolves and elves. These characters and their adventures are often referred to in other stories.

These stories tend to have strong themes of good and evil, jealousy and greed, bravery and kindness which will give you lots to talk about with your child. Although the stories are sometimes scary they end happily and they are also very moral with good conquering evil.

The stories are often have a patterned structure; the hero may be given three tasks or have three wishes. There is often a repeated chorus, for example ‘Who’s that trip trapping over my bridge’ which is easy to remember and join in with.

Ideas for sharing folk and fairy tales

Sharing the story
Choose a story you like and know well. There may be stories you were told as a child which are part of your own family heritage which you know and can tell your child. See below for suggested books with collections of stories

Read or even better tell the story to your child

Re-reading
When you re-read the book or tell the story again, encourage them to join in with the repetitive parts eg ‘I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.’

Ask your child to tell the story to you using the pictures in the book to help them

Draw a map
Draw a map of the story on a big piece of paper together. Talk about all the places mentioned in the story. So for Red Riding Hood her home, the forest, the path, Grandma’s cottage. Find a small figure to be the main character and take them on their journey from one place to another on the map.

Retell the story
Retell the story together with stick puppets for the main characters or you can make finger puppets.

Act out the story
Act out part of the story wearing masks

Make story box
Make a story box setting for the story together. Using a shoe box, cut down two sides. Decorate the inside of the box with paint or coloured paper to make a scene from the story eg the pond where the princess finds the frog or the forest in Red Riding Hood. Use small figures for the main characters or make them from card. Here is an example of a story box based on the Frog Prince:

 

Listening to stories
Mantra Lingua’s stories are beautifully illustrated and are available in many languages – here is a reading of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

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