We recently had Fairy Tale Week in the EK classes. I introduced the basic structure most fairy tales follow, and we looked for those elements in the fairy tales the children knew.
Keeping those elements in mind, the children developed and wrote their own fairy tale. We outlined the basic plot and created characters, and then each child contributed a section. The EKAM kids got the story started and rolling along, and the EKPM kids took it in their own direction and brought it to its conclusion. Everybody illustrated the section they wrote.
You can read the finished story here: The Horse Who Wanted to Be a Unicorn. If you’re looking for a family project, here’s an unillustrated version of the story: The Horse Who Wanted to Be a Unicorn. Each family member could take on a few pages to create your family’s own special version of this fairy tale. One of the things we talked about relative to fairy tales is the different versions of the same story you can find on bookshelves. Creating a second version of The Horse Who Wanted to Be a Unicorn illustrates that point perfectly.
Here’s a little taste of The Horse Who Wanted to Be a Unicorn:
