Bringing The Three Bears to Life

I brought my Goldilocks and The Three Bears story bag for the little ones to play with.

I moved their little table over with one of it's hard chairs, added a softer foot stool and a little wood stool for baby bears chair.

A big bowl, a medium bowl and a little bowl with spoons were set on the table.

Blankets were set around on the couch for the bears' beds.

Here is Goldilocks trying them out.

 Each child picked a bear to play with.

C picked Momma Bear,

 M picked Pappa Bear,

and D chose the Baby Bear, although it looks like it is soon to be grabbed by one of her cousins.

The older one, who is familiar with the story, took Goldilocks through her paces.

While the younger ones played with all the props.

 After playing for awhile I moved the table back to it's spot and we set up the bowls and bears.

And the play continues.

Book Play - Three Billy Goats Gruff

I introduced the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff to the little one using props and books.

First we chose which troll she wanted to use to tell the story.

She chose the rainbow haired troll.

Gently she put it under the bridge beside the blue water.

Then we met the 3 goats and set them up on one side of the bridge.

Time to tell the story.

We had fun making the sounds of the goats crossing the bridge 'trit trot'.

The goats made it safely to the other side.

And we decided the troll could stay under the bridge.

Making and Running a StoryWalk

A while back I was asked to share how I make a StoryWalk®.

I first heard about StoryWalks two years ago when I read about

 Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT who had created the first one.

StoryWalks have now been installed in 50 states and 11 countries.

After choosing which book I want to use I buy two copies.

Many times I can find one at a thrift store.

If not Scholastic is a great place to get books

at a very reasonable price.

I then cut the two books a part at the binding and glue each page to a piece of construction paper.

I number the pages so I can keep them in order.

Laminating each page helps protect them when outside.

We live in a very rainy climate so laminating is a must.

Next they are taped to a stake that has one end sharpened.

 Sometimes I like to add props with the book and this one worked

well to include the articles of clothing that appear in the story.

Now it's already to go outside.

The article of clothing was placed with each appropriate page.

Shoes that go 'clomp, clomp'.

Pants that go 'wiggle, wiggle'.

A hat that goes 'nod,nod'

and a pair of gloves that go 'clap, clap'.

And a head that goes 'BOO, BOO!".

Once it was all set up the families started at the cover page.

 The children are encouraged to walk or run to each page

then stop and try to read the pictures.

They also wait for the adults to arrive so they can read the story for them.

As we walked and read the children collected and carried the clothing.

I've done a lot of StoryWalks and the families love them.

This one we did as a group because we were collecting the clothes

but normally they are set up so the families can go at their own pace.

If you are familiar with this story "The Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything"

then you know that the story ends with the clothing making themselves

into a scarecrow.

So that is what we did.

The children collected leaves and stuffed the pants, shirt and gloves.

 Then we tried to put it altogether on a stick.

 But the pumpkin head was too heavy.

 He stood up as long as someone was supporting him.

So we decided to lean him up against a tree trunk.

We left him there and will visit again next month.

Book Play - Dear Zoo

 Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell was recommended by one of our parents

after she and her daughter played with Goodnight Gorilla.

This is one of their favourites.

I found stuffies to go with the play so it was more

attractive to toddlers.

You can print out the pictures at Kizclub.

 This family read the story together,

then the children explored the animals.

The little girl found the frog and hopped it on her dad.

Look at the enjoyment that sharing a book together has done for

father and daughter.

But the most wonderful was when she shared the story with me after.

And I caught these friends enjoying the story together.