Which fairytale will you be reading on National Tell a Fairytale Day?
Fairytales and folk tales are an integral part of a country’s traditions and provide a basis for many other stories that we know and love today. We have introduced our daughter to fairytales using books, magazines and other activities but there are still many more fairytales that she is not familiar with. Coming from two different cultures means she hears stories that my husband knows from his childhood which are unfamiliar to me and vice versa. My husband wasn’t familiar with Goldilocks and the Three Bears and I had never heard of Frau Holle by The Brothers Grimm.
Our daughter’s first experience of fairytales came from Stephen Tucker and Nick Sharratt’s Lift The Flap Fairytales with their accompanying CDs. Cinderella and The Three Little Pigs were a great second birthday present and later I also bought Jack in the Beanstalk. With their bold colourful illustrations and easy to read rhyming text they are a brilliant addition to a nursery or early years classroom.
I took a long time choosing a book of fairytales that we could read once our daughter was older. After a long search I discovered Favourite Fairy Tales ‘Eight classic stories to enchant and delight’. Published by Parragon it includes The Gingerbread Man, Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and The Three Little Pigs.
The stories are told using child friendly language and we love the beautiful illustrations. The stories are not scary for younger readers, the wolves in The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood escape and don’t come to gruesome ends while nothing more is said of the witch after she is pushed into the oven in Hansel and Gretel.
Our book is still very well loved and well read, the spine is starting to fall apart!! Do you have a favourite fairytale collection?
A fun way to bring fairytales to life is to create a story sack. One of the easiest fairytales to recreate is Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Fill an old pillowcase with a Goldilocks book, Goldilocks, three bears of varying sizes and three bowls. Add some oats for good measure then ask the children to pull out the items one at a time and see if they can guess what the story is.
Introductions to fairytales can also come through reading fractured fairytales. Our daughter first heard the story of The Princess and the Pea when we read Caryl Hart and Sarah Warburton’s The Princess and the Peas. The fairytale is incorporated into the story and told on a beautifully illustrated black and white double spread.
Other fractured fairytales that we enjoy reading are Ella by Alex T. Smith, Prince Cinders by Babette Cole and I Am So Strong by Mario Ramos.
Fairytales also feature in Storytime, a monthly magazine which introduces children to classic tales. Each issue includes a beautifully illustrated fairytale and we have enjoyed comparing the Storytime versions of the fairytales to those in our book.
We have lots of favourite picture books that include fairytale and nursery rhyme characters. Nibbles The Book Monster meets various fairytale characters as he chews through books and Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes is currently a favourite! We love spotting the fairytale and nursery rhyme characters in the Fairytale Hairdresser stories by Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard, What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? by Debi Gliori, Jan Fearnley’s Mr Wolf’s Pancakes and Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Each Peach Pear Plum, The Jolly Postman and The Jolly Christmas Postman. The Jolly Christmas Postman even inspired us to make our own fairytale board game.
Sometimes our favourite characters also dress up to act out fairy stories. One of our favourite stories in Old Bear’s Bedtime Stories by Jane Hissey is when the toys re-enact the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Our daughter also loves Teddy Robinson‘s version of Sleeping Beauty.
We’ve also had a lot of fun creating our own fairytales has with Story Box: Create Your Own Fairytales. Different jigsaw pieces to mix and match mean that our fairytales are different every time 🙂
Do you have a favourite fairytale? Or a favourite fractured fairytale?
You can find more fairytale inspired stories and crafts on our Pinterest Board
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