Cook up a fairy tale

Inspired by the example of Gianni Rodari we can use invent-fairy-tales-cards to enrich and distort the classic fairy tales building, starting from the original, our personal versions.
Faithful to the intentions of Maria Montessori’s nomenclature cards, this activity on the one hand is aimed at lexical enrichment and a path to start reading, on the other hand it allows to enhance the creative thinking innate in children channeling it through storytelling.

Performance

The practical development of the activity can be declined in countless and changing forms. I list one as an example.

1) Choice of a fairy tale

Once arranged all cards face up, I invite children to choose one of the classic fairy tales (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Cat in Boots, Hansel and Gretel, The Bremen Musicians) after which we extract from the pile the cards corresponding to the story and align them in front of us. Finally, all the left out cards are flipped in preparation for the next step.

2) Variations on the theme

In this phase in turn, the children discover a card introducing the new element in the original fairy tale, thus creating a different narrative line.
For example, if the starting fairy tale is Little Red Riding Hood and the gingerbread house card is drawn we can invent that the wolf on the way to get to Grandma stops to have a snack in the house of the witch of Hansel and Gretel, thus allowing Grandma to escape.
In the quoted case the kid who suggested this variation, added that the wolf was not evil at all but only a hungry puppy and the witch just a lonely old woman.
In his version of Little Red Riding Hood the old lady invited the wolf to stay with her, who was very happy with all the sweets he accepted with enthusiasm.
In turn each child has the opportunity to create a new version of the story starting from the 5 original cards plus the one he drew.

3) Drawings or acting

For this stage different variants can be considered depending on the group of children and age.
You can certainly make everyone realize a drawing that tells his version of the story. If the conditions allow it more interesting is the prospect of having them stage their remaking of the story.