Literacy Extension: Acting Out "The Three Little Pigs"

I purchased this iPlay Three Little Pigs Playset for Tyler at Christmas, with dreams of acting out the story together and soon buying a book to go along with it. Well, I didn't anticipate my sensitive little guy being so upset about the wolf blowing the pig's houses down! Though I didn't use a terribly scary voice, he seemed to understand that this was frightening and mean, and after only two times of acting out the story, he didn't want anything to do with it! He's done similar things when certain songs get a little scary or violent on his CD's (the part where the man ties a goat to a railroad track in "Bill Grogan's Goat" for example), immediately turning the CD off or skipping past the song when it gets to the bad part. Anyhow, I left the play set out for him because he did enjoy playing with the pigs, the doors and putting them down the chimney, though he rarely touched that wolf!

Now, months later, I've tried again. I purchased a simple version of story [shown here]. For the first few weeks he had the same reaction to the story, wanting to us to read it, but closing the book quickly when the wolf wants to blow the houses down. My husband and I have gently helped him get past this, and we're now able to get through the book most times, though now he seems to have sympathy for the wolf falling into the pot of hot water.

I've now started to work with Tyler on acting out the story with the play set for the literacy extension I had planned. Extensions are a great way for children to create more meaning, and to continue thinking and talking about the story. Eventually the storyline will be cemented and Tyler will be able to re-create this story on his own and without the book. A feltboard with characters and houses from the story would be another great extension, or even giving roles to a group of children and letting them be actors in the story in a play. Building small houses from hay, wood and bricks would be another fun way to expand upon this story. So many possibilities, though at this time, Tyler is a bit too young for many of these.

Overall, as a review on this play set itself, Ty and I have both really enjoyed it. I especially like how the pig's overalls color coordinate with their houses and that the pig's sizes also go along with the size of their house, giving us several ways to match. There are also keys which match by color to each door to give practice locking and unlocking. The figures themselves, the doors and the chimmney are certainly Tyler's favorites. We give this one and "A" for sure!

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