#Working [Mom/Dad] Moment- Mon April 6th

This week we start off with a classic story that everyone knows and loves!

Materials: YouTube, paper, printer, scissors, tape or glue, pencil crayons (or crayons or markers) and popsicle sticks (or straws, chopsticks etc).

Main Learning Outcomes: Developing fine motor skills and early literacy.

Steps:

(1) First, we will begin by gathering together for one of our favourite stories, “The Three Little Pigs”. If you don’t have the book at home, you can listen to it by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDh1XlGzx3w

(2) Now we are going to make our own character cut-outs. Go to this link to find the templates for all of the characters and props in the story: http://kizclub.com/storypatterns/folktales/threepigs.pdf

Now encourage your child to colour them and cut them out. (If you do not have a printer, you can have your child try to draw each of the characters themselves and cut them out.) Once they are cut out, tape or glue a popsicle stick (or other suggested item) to the back of each character to make a puppet. If you don’t have popsicle sticks, you can use straws, chopsticks, old pencil crayons, disposable cutlery or anything else around the house you can think of.

(3) Now the fun part! Encourage your child to retell the story using the puppets and props. This is a fantastic literacy tool to help with reading comprehension, vocabulary and communication. You might also find, as I did, that your child will end up playing with these puppets and props in their own dramatic play, keeping them busy and their imagination growing for quite some time J

Tips:

Though this activity is for all ages, toddlers will need help with cutting and they likely will not be able to retell the entire story. However, it is a great opportunity to engage in the retelling together!