Classic, preschool – friendly fairytales offer fun opportunities to learn vocabulary, sequencing, life lessons and more. The “Three” themed fairytales below contain opportunities for your child to join in on telling the story with you, once he or she can recall the repetitive line(s) or other parts of the storyline.
For example, the Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear in The Three Bears all say similar statements: Someone has been eating my porridge…Someone has been sitting in my chair…Someone has been sleeping in my bed.
These fairytales contain a few main characters. Take the opportunity to use different voices to act out the story. Reference the pictures as necessary. If your child can initiate the storyline without the pictures, he or she is recalling and sequencing the story events. Sequencing is important for learning to read.
3. The Three Little Pigs
Other favorite fairytales:
5. Chicken Little
6. Little Red Riding Hood
Once your child becomes familiar with fairytales 3 through 6 and the nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winkie (scroll down and teach your child the first paragraph of the English version), read Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes together.
In Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes, the wolf who is usually big and bad, is sweet in this story, but still hungry and he needs help making pancakes. He asks his neighbors (Little Red Riding Hood, Chicken Little, etc.) for help and they refuse. Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes allows you to review fairytales you have been reading, reinforce vocabulary and discuss themes such as manners.
When my own children and I read books by the same author or a series of books with the same underlying subject, I’ve noticed they are more likely to carryover themes from the books we read into their pretend play.
Stephanie Sigal is a speech therapist in Manhattan. She works with children in their homes on the Upper East Side. You can contact her at sayandplay@yahoo.com.