Once Upon a Time...

That’s right!  I’m only a little over a year into this storytime THANG and we just got to fairy tales.  I have super mixed feeling about this storytime, as you will see, and I think I would do a lot of it differently.  How do you handle fairy tales in your storytime?

BOOKS:

I borrowed The Sunflower Sword by Mark Sperring and Miriam Latimer and King Jack and the Dragon by Peter Bently and Helen Oxenbury from the local public library across town.

Both of the stories are fun.  I really liked King Jack and the Dragon better than The Sunflower Sword, but both were appropriate for storytime.  They were a little lacking in the feel of fairy tales, if you know what I mean.  There were knights and dragons and even some danger, but there’s a certain something to a fairy tale.  I think if I were to do this storytime again I would choose one book that was a traditional fairy tale and tell another.  I didn’t take storytelling in grad school for nothing!  I would also make this a folk/fairy tales.  I like folk tales and sometimes they’re more tellable or more interesting than fairy tales.  Also I’m not sure how many of my young attendees actually knew the mainstream fairy tales.

FOLDER STORY:

This was something new to me that I discovered via Falling Flannelboards.  I’d never done a folder story before, but I would do it again.  I like the mix of storytelling plus prop.  This one was Cinderella’s Rat.  The full story can be found on Falling Flannelboards.

This was successful.  I incorporated some actions for the kids to help me with and the story told very easily.  I might cut the number of colors down to only a few or add some more narrative, but what I had worked.

SONG:

I really really really really like this song: Clapping in the Castle.  It is SOOOOOO perfect for storytime.  The words are simple and there are easy actions and the tune is damn catchy.  I can’t tell you how many times i was walking around the library or around the house humming this.  You can download the MP3 from the linked website (just right click the MP3 link and “Save Target As”).

CRAFT:

We made DRAGONS!  I am super excited about this craft.  We used green paper cups that I cut a hole in the bottom, green pompoms, googly eyes, and red and yellow crepe paper streamers.  Super super super easy craft.  The kids loved blowing in the cup and seeing their dragon “breathe fire.”