"Sleeping Beauty" Activities for Children
"Sleeping Beauty" activities for children bring the fairy tale to life while learning and creating art projects. The story is written on a kindergarten to second-grade reading level. While kindergarten students will likely need to have the book read to them, older students can discover the text at least somewhat independently. Use extension activities to teach the children about the plot and gain a deeper understanding of the characters.
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Character Masks
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Typically 5- and 6-year-old children are intrigued by pretend play. After you read the story to the children one time, begin an activity to construct character masks. You can use paper plates as the mask base and allow children to color and glue items related to their character onto the mask. Provide the children with printed accessories and facial body parts to choose from. Discuss with the children which pieces should adorn the mask of their assigned character. If a student is making the mask of the king, talk about choosing a crown or a beard for the mask. After the masks are complete, use a hole punch and yarn to bind them together. Read the story again and have the students act out what is happening on each page of the book. If you have more children than named characters, include fairies and animals.
Fairy Tale Storyboard
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Make a fairy tale storyboard to depict the action in the story. First- and second-graders can learn how to identify major plot points and sequencing. Use writing strips or computer-printed text cutouts to give each child a portion of the story. Students can draw a picture that represents the text or color a coloring page relating to the words. Glue a piece of Velcro to the back of the writing slips and coloring sheets to use on your classroom storyboard. Students will follow along as you read and place their creations in proper sequence on the board.
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Puppet Show and Action Song
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Use the classroom puppet show area or make a simple one with a sheet to have a "Sleeping Beauty" puppet show. Students can print paper doll-size characters to color and glue to toilet paper rolls for portability. Students who do not have a character to portray can become a part of the chorus and sing an action song from the DLTK Teach website -- or write your own version.
Edible Art
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Create a sweet ending to the "Sleeping Beauty" unit with edible art. This is mostly just a fun project, but can be used to teach story location and plot detail. Work as a group to pull specific details and adjectives from the fairy tale. Make a list of how the castle looks and the background scenes. You can cover a classroom table with wax paper and give the students small cakes baked in bread loaf containers, ice-cream cones, icing, food coloring and small candies. Supervise the students as they work together to recreate a scene from story from the story facts list they compiled. Make sure to take pictures of the little bakers in front of the creation before they begin devouring the project.
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References
- Photo Credit maternelle image by jpt from Fotolia.com
