Using alternative traditional stories with older children

Alternative versions of traditional stories provide a brilliant bridge between early reading and books which utilise more ambitious vocabulary. Quite often, traditional stories such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Man are the first stories that very young children hear. They know the stories, themes and dialogue off by heart which makes them much more confident when approaching an unfamiliar text that is very similar. But let’s put all that aside and concentrate on the real reason why we should use these texts with our children- they are funny. Uproariously, disastrously, wickedly funny… (who can ever forget that immortal Roald Dahl Line, ‘… and with that one eyelid flickers, she whips a pistol from her knickers…’ it’s pure genius).

And there’s just so much you can DO with these texts. Here are a few examples of activities I’ve done both in the classroom and at home:

·         -Act them out: especially Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. I always played Cinderella!

·        - Writing the same story from a different character’s perspective: i.e. The Woodcutter’s story from Little Red Riding Hood

·        - Writing non- fiction based on the stories: newspaper reports about an escapee Gingerbread Man (you could even do this as a podcast/ radio new bulletin in your best BBC voice), reports about wolves and their habitats (and eating preferences, especially girls in red hoods)

·       -  Create interview questions for the main characters – fantastic for reinforcing how to write questions using ‘who/what/when/where/why’ and correct punctuation. Then taking turns to be the character/ journalist

·        - Change the ending. Hoodwinked the movie is one of my favourite children’s films because it turns the core story on its head and is so brilliantly written. Create character profiles then simply switch them around i.e. make Little Red Riding Hood a ninja or spy, have the little old man and woman being secret dictators, trying to take over the world with their army of gingerbread men.

Phew, these are just a few ideas. As you get in to the genre, I’m sure you’ll be inspired with your own- do write them in the comments section and I’ll create another blog with ‘further adventures of the traditional tale.’ Lots of people consign traditional stories and their activities to Key Stage 1 but older children will still love the texts and films and access them at their own, higher level. The only limit is their imagination.