Little Red Riding Hood

I struggled a little bit with which STEAM activity I wanted to introduce with Little Red Riding Hood. As often happens, Pinterest came to the rescue when I saw that some teachers and librarians tie in zip line activities with this one. 

Outline:

Hello Song: Put Your Hands Up High

Opening Rhyme: Hands Go Up

Story: Peek Inside a Fairy Tale Little Red Riding Hood retold by Anna Milbourne

Song: Fairy Tale Song
Tune: Jingle Bells

Once upon a time
In a land so far away
A princess kissed a frog,
Well that just made his day

Far across the town
Red Riding Hood took fright
She found a wolf in Granny's bed
When she told her good night!

Oh!
Fairy Tales! Fairy tales!
Read them every day!
Oh what fun it is to hear
How Goldilocks got away!

Fairy Tales! Fairy Tales!
Full of joy and laughter
Do you know how this one ends?
Why it's happily ever after!

Source: First Grade W.O.W.

Song: Little Red Riding Hood
Tune: There Was a Princess Long Ago (London Bridges Falling Down)

Oh little Red Riding Hood, Riding Hood, Riding Hood,
Oh little Red Riding Hood went into the woods.

Off to visit her poor Granny, her poor Granny, her poor Granny,
Off to visit her poor Granny who was sick.

She didn’t see the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf,
She didn’t see the Big Bad Wolf watching her!

The wolf wanted to eat her up, to eat her up, to eat her up,
The wolf wanted to eat her up, Big bad Wolf!

The woodcutter he saved them, saved them, saved them,
The woodcutter he saved them, Thank Goodness!

That was the end of the Big bad Wolf, the Big bad Wolf, the Big bad Wolf,
That was the end of the Big bad Wolf, good riddance!!

Source: Let's Play Music

Story: Pretty Salma by Niki Daly

Game: Little Red Riding Hood Puzzle Game

Craft/Activity: Engineer a path / zip line activity

Final Story: Little Red's Riding 'Hood by Peter Stein

Goodbye Song

How it actually went: 

Even though board book/lift the flap/peek inside books are typically marketed to toddlers and preschoolers, I love the Peek Inside books from Usborne, so I decided to use this one for my traditional version. My kids had a lot of fun with the flaps and being able to see the wolf hiding from one page to the next. 

Pretty Salma is an African version of the story with Mr. Dog taking on the role of the Big Bad Wolf. I really like that in this version, Pretty Salma figures out that her grandmother is in danger and works with her grandfather and others to save her. 

The Little Red Riding Hood song was a new one for all of us. The site that I found the song on (linked above) was helpful enough to have a video with the tune from "There was a Princess Long Ago". It sounded similar enough to "London Bridges" to me that that is pretty much how I sang it. 

I ordered the puzzle game off Amazon because it looked like a lot of fun, and I was curious about it. I also like that you can vary the difficulty depending on who's playing. It's a 1-player game, but we worked on it as a team. Admittedly that can be a challenge when one of your teammates is only 4 and would rather take the pieces and engage in some dramatic play than actually solve the puzzle. 

Originally, when I planned my Little Red Riding Hood storytime, I created a map, that I was going to have the kids use to create a new route through the forest. Once I decided to switch it up to a zip line, I used the same map as the base. 

In creating the sample, I quickly discovered that the paper was too flimsy to hold the zip line. I had to tape the map down to large pieces of cardboard. I gave the kids tp rolls and craft sticks for each end of the zip line, with fishing line to string between the two. I used fishing line and bottle caps, to create baskets to send from Red to Granny. The final material needed was paper clips. 

The kids had fun, as they usually do. I left it up to their imaginations whether Red was just sending supplies via zip line, or if she was riding in the basket all the way to Granny's house. The children figured out pretty well on their own, that those who had a stronger angle wound up with a faster ride than those who with less of a height difference in point A and point B. 

We finished off with a transportation themed version of Little Red. It's really cute and definitely a different take on the whole fractured fairy tale thing. 

Now it's your turn. Have you tried a zip line project before? What materials did you use?

*Disclaimer* I am not an Amazon affiliate, so even though I include links to Amazon, I do not receive any compensation for any sales which may result. I am an independent consultant with Usborne Books & More, so I do get a commission from orders placed through my Usborne Books & More website.