The Three Little Pigs

This storytime is one of the reasons that I started using fairy tales with my STEAM storytimes. I had seen so many cool examples on Pinterest and other librarian blogs where the kids were challenged to build houses for the little pigs and see if they could withstand the big bad wolf. 

Outline: 

Hello Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Opening Rhyme: Hands Go Up

Flannel Board: Traditional Three Little Pigs

Story: The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz

Song: PIGS IN THE MUD 
Tune: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

Roll, roll, roll around 

In the mud all day. 

That is what the pigs all do. 

What a way to play!

Roll, roll, roll around 

That is how they stay, 

Oh, so very nice and cool

On a sunny day!

Source: Preschool Express

Dance break: Action cube to "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

Story: Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale by Steven 
Guarnaccia

Song: Button Factory song

Hey, My name is Joe 

And I work in a button factory, 

I've got a house and a dog and a family, 

One day the boss came up to me and said 

Are you busy, Joe? I said no, 

He said turn the button with your _____.

1) Left hand 

2) Right Hand 

3) Left Foot 

4) Right Foot 

5) Tongue

Craft/Activity: Build the pigs a new house

Final Story: The Three Little Pigs Count to 100 by Grace Maccarone

Goodbye Song

How it actually went: 

The kids absolutely loved the first book, The Three Ninja Pigs. They were attentive and commented throughout the story. There seemed to be something in the air this week, however, because during the transitions between stories and songs the children became very animated and had a hard time settling down to the task at hand. 

They seemed to simply humor me with the first song, but they really enjoyed using the action dice with different dance moves on it. 

The second story brought the opportunity to discuss the different building materials used by the architectural pigs: scraps, glass, and stone. 

The Button Factory Song was a new one for this group, but it's one that I plan to bring back. It took them a bit to pick up on it, but by the end they were laughing at me trying to sing while turning a button with my tongue. 

For craft time, the children were challenged to build a new home for the three little pigs. When they felt that they had built the best home they could, then it was time to challenge the Big Bad Wolf (aka, my hair dryer).

The Big Bad Wolf is ready to huff and puff and blow some houses down.

Before we began, I reminded the kids that as always, everything in my storytime is an experiment and a chance to learn, nothing has to be perfect. Even still, the craft didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped. I wanted it to be open-ended so that they could try different things and experiment, but now I'm wondering if I need to provide a little more structure. I have craft caddies that I put each set of supplies in. The children were given: 2 pieces of card stock, 10 pipe cleaners, 10 drinking straws, 20 wooden tongue-depressor-type sticks, 5 rubber bands, a long strip of masking tape ( I didn't measure, but each one was the same length), scissors, and a glue stick. 

This was one of those times where two out of the three houses built, were essentially done by the parents. I'm new enough in my profession and in this position, that I'm not really sure yet how to combat this. For now, I do my best to work with the kids who are working on their own; I try to encourage them with questions and ideas. Honestly, all of this is new to me too, so I'm figuring it out with them. 

House #1.

House #2. I was not able to get a picture of house #3.

After the houses were done, it was time to challenge the wolf. Overall, the houses did fairly well. They went sliding across the table, but they did not fall over. 

One of the kids catches house #1 before it can fall over the edge of the table.

House #2 goes up against the Big Bad Wolf. 

I really like the concept of this one, I just need to find a better way to present the house-building portion of the program. Live and learn. 

Also, The Three Little Pigs Count to 100 is a super fun STEAM title. It's got numbers and shapes, and it's full of other fairy tale characters. I really enjoyed it, and the kids seemed to like pointing out the familiar characters. 

*Disclaimer* As always, even though this post contains links to Amazon, I do not receive any compensation for any sales that may result from these links. I just provide them as a quick and easy way to find more information about a title.