This is a good time to revisit traditional folk and fairy tales with younger readers and encourage them to enjoy the fantasy and excitement offered in many of these stories.
'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' has been published by Mantra in a series of dual language editions, priced 6.99, as part of the World Tales Series of well loved folk tales. This version of the story, retold by Henriette Barkow and illustrated by Richard Johnson, is available in 18 dual- language editions, and, along with others in the series, will enrich your library collection.
'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' is a folk tale about three hungry goats that want to cross a river to reach fresh green grass on the opposite bank. A fearsome troll lives under the bridge and guards access to the luscious fields beyond.
Each of the goats attempts to cross the bridge. The smallest goes first and although he encounters the troll, he escapes because he convinces the troll that his older brother will be fatter and tastier to eat.
The second goat plays the same trick on the troll and also reaches the luscious green meadows. The third goat is strong and thrusts the troll over the bridge into the river. The three goats are happily reunited on the further green bank.
This is a story about the triumph of wile and force over evil. Share the story with the children in your setting and use it to stimulate a range of activities across the six areas of learning.
Suit the activity to the age of the children by consulting the stepping stones and by following the interests expressed by the children.
The breadth of the simple activities set out below gives some indication of the enjoyment and interest that can be promoted by sharing books with children. The benefit of using a well-known fairy tale is that some initial familiarity with the story will be likely to make the children more confident in participating in the activities that it inspires.
Dramatic role play
Use a set of stepping stones to inspire dramatic role play based on the story.
Key learning intentions
To move with control and co-ordination
To recognise numerals 1 to 10
To sustain attentive listening and begin to follow instructions
To use their imagination for role play
Resources/preparation
*Play the game outdoors on grass or a hard surface
*Make a set of ten stepping stones using large pieces of paper and write the numerals clearly on each one. Then laminate them so that they can be used more than once
*Provide a selection of props to inspire dramatic play. These could be troll and goat masks, as well as dressing-up clothes
*Provide a large piece of blue cloth that can be laid beneath the stepping stones to represent the river that the goats have to cross
Activity content
* Place the stepping stones on the ground in sequence from one to ten, leaving gaps between. These can be varied in length according to the abilities of the children.
* The idea of the game is for the children to learn to move across the stepping stones in a variety of ways. They may wish to call out the numbers on the stones as they land on them, they may wish to jump from stone to stone, or to hop or step gingerly across them.
* With the youngest children, begin by using the stepping stones numbered one to five. As they become more familiar with these numbers, add the higher ones.
* Introduce the game by acting as leader for the children to follow.
Children learn a great deal from observation and imitation. This process will give them confidence to develop their own ideas for individual movements inspired by the three goats in the story. The smallest goat steps gingerly and lightly over the bridge, the middle-sized goat has a heavier tread, and the big goat tramps noisily across it.
* Remind the children to call out the numbers on the stepping stones to define where they are across the river.
* Extend the activity by introducing concepts that relate to moving up and down the number line.
Extension ideas
* Introduce questions that will encourage the children to solve simple problems. For example, ask them to go forward two stones and ask where they will be if they go back one stepping stone.
* Initiate further dramatic play by suggesting that the river is full of crocodiles and ask the children to imagine what they could do to escape their jaws.
* Similarly, practise physical skills indoors by setting up a low-level balance beam for children to cross. This form of exercise is challenging and essential for the development of good concentration and co-ordination.
Movement to music
A strong image in the story is of each of the goats as they trot across the bridge. Children enjoy participating in telling this part in the story and can anticipate the moment when they will be expected to join in with the repeated refrain: 'trip, trap, trip, trap'. You can pursue this theme in the story and make the most of the repeated rhythm by providing activities that promote physical and musical skills.
Key learning intentions
To move with confidence, imagination and in safety
To recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music
Resources/preparation
*Collect a range of musical instruments, including drums, cymbals, coconut shells, and shakers
*Play indoors or outside
Activity content
* Suggest children experiment with the instruments and listen to the different sounds that they make. Help them classify these into loud or soft sounds.
* Ask them to identify which instruments are best suited to represent each of the characters in the story.
* Encourage children to choose a character from the story and to walk around pretending to play the part they have selected: heavy stamping and growling to represent the troll, and a variety of trotting movements for each of the three billy goats.
* When they feel confident with these exercises, the instruments can be combined with the movements.
* Encourage the children to maintain the 'trip, trap, trip, trap' rhythm as they move. Give them time to perfect the skill.
* Then ask the children to tell their own version of the story through movement.
* Some children may choose to narrate while others play the roles of the troll and the three billy goats.
* Give sufficient scope and freedom for the children to tell their own version of the story. You will find that the more the adult withdraws, the more responsibility the children can take for their own role play and interpretation.
Box puppets
The three billy goats are portrayed differently in the illustrations. The smallest goat looks the weakest of the three and tiny beside the troll; the second billy goat is larger and a little more assertive; and the biggest billy goat is large and strong and has very imposing horns. Children will enjoy the challenge of creating models from waste materials to resemble the characters in this story.
Key learning intentions
To select materials and resources to construct models and they will discover how to use tools and techniques to assemble and join the materials To handle tools with increasing precision
Resources/preparation
*Provide a selection of packaging and waste materials, including small and large cardboard boxes
*Make available a range of paper and card
*Provide scissors, a hole puncher, paper clips, paper fasteners, lolly sticks, clothes pegs, string, rubber bands, staplers, glue and sticky tape
*Provide waste materials such as fur fabric, leather, buttons, pipe cleaners, feathers, and wool
*Prepare some paint in pots
Activity content
* Encourage children to look at the illustrations in the book and to talk to each other about the features of each of the characters.
* Suggest to the children that they work singly or in pairs to create the character of their choice.
* Prompt them to choose the right size box for their chosen character and to select all the materials they will need to complete the work.
* Support the children as they proceed with the activity by referring them to the illustrations in the book when they need to remind themselves about particular details, such as the size of the horns of the goats and where they protrude from the head.
* Also give useful support by helping cut fabric or cardboard as it is needed by the children.
* Do not have a fixed, predetermined view of what you want the puppets to look like. Follow the interests of the children and their own ideas about how they want to build them.
* Encourage children to solve problems as they encounter difficulties with fixing different waste materials together. It is hard for children to think creatively when the adults they work with do not give them the freedom to do so.
* Ensure that the children can make up their own minds about the type of puppet they want to create. They may want to make a puppet that fits on their hand or over their head, or a puppet on a stick or a string.
* Some puppets may need to be stuffed with crunched newspaper to give strength and rigidity.
* As the children work, encourage them to talk, recalling the events in the story and communicating their feelings and thoughts. Ask questions that will stimulate them to think about the behaviour of each of the characters, such as why did the little goat go across the bridge first, and how did the billy goats outwit the troll? What do they think the troll thought when he ended up in the river?
* This sort of open-ended questioning will help children reflect on how and why things happen and should make them more able to see the world from other people's viewpoints.
Investigating bridges
This tale focuses on a bridge that the three billy goats gruff need to cross to reach the luscious green meadows on the further bank. Extend the children's understanding of bridges by researching them in topic books.
Look for bridges in a variety of contexts: bridges over roads, railways and water; bridges that carry pedestrians, wheeled vehicles, trains or water.
Encourage the children to think about the way the bridges that they see illustrated have been constructed, what materials have been used and how access to the bridges has been organised. Then use a variety of blocks and small role play toys to construct your own bridges.
Key learning intentions
To ask questions about why things happen and how things work, and they will learn to build and construct using a range of objects
To express and communicate their ideas and engage in role-play
Resources/preparation
*Collect non-fiction and fiction books that feature bridges
*Provide all sorts of plastic and wooden blocks for building
*Provide a large selection of small role play toys, such as model people, cars, trains and boats that can be used to bring the bridges to life, as well as test their strength and purpose
*Ensure there is sufficient flat floor space indoors or outside for the children to build the models on
Activity content
* Support children to develop good research skills as they use the books and also encourage them to describe the bridges they have seen.
* Suggest they work in pairs, or on their own, to construct the bridges.
* Allow them to use a combination of the different bricks provided.
* Remind them to think about access to the bridges.
* Have them test if the bridges support the role play toys they have chosen.
Extension ideas
* Give children the opportunity to use sand or water with the bridges to set them in more realistic contexts.
* Encourage children to draw pictures of the bridges they have built.
* Take photographs of the models to record the children's work.
Reader offer
* We have ten copies of The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Henriette Barkow in English and German (Mantra, 6.99) to give away to Nursery World readers. Send your name and address on the back of a postcard or envelope, marked 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', to the address on page 3. Winners will be the first ten names drawn on January 9.
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Project key
The areas of learning are: Personal, social and emotional development
Communication,language and literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge & understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
