Storytelling Tips for National Tell a Fairy Tale Day

by | Feb 25, 2020 | Fairy tales, Lessons From Grimm, Teaching Writing

February 26 is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day, often affectionately shortened to Fairy Tale Day.

storytelling tips for tell a fairy tale day

Here are some fun ways to celebrate telling fairy tales:

1. Tell a Fairy Tale through Group Storytelling

Story Cube Prompts

  1. Use Story Cubes as prompts to retell a fairy tale. You can make your own cubes (or slips of paper) or use these ones from Rory Story Cubes (original set, plus add-ons.)
  2. As a group, decide on what fairy tale you’re going to tell. Make sure everyone knows the main points of the original tale (or not…could be fun to see where it goes!)
  3. Then, choose a different genre or a setting. For example, the genre could be changed to sci-fi or a western. The setting could be changed to an island or the middle of Disneyland.
  4. Hand out a story cube (come in packs of 9) to each participant and have them line up at the front of the room. Instruct them to find a picture on the cube they like and use that as a prompt when it is their turn.
  5. Start with “Once upon a time…” and let the first person in line start the tale. They have to keep it going long enough so the last person can wrap it up.
  6. Have those people then go and hand the cube to someone else (probably the person who volunteered them in the first place) and repeat with either a new setting or a new fairy tale.

Alternate:
Individual activity. Follow similar steps, but have the participants write their own story. Share the stories at the end.

Fairy Tale Gossip

Each person starts a bit of fairy tale gossip and passes it around the room. (My daughter’s Spanish teacher did something similar today and apparently it was a hit. I’m adapting it to fairy tales!)

  1. At the top of a piece of paper, write a sentence of fairy tale gossip:
    “Did you know that Cinderella….”
    “I heard that there’s a nixie in the well and she….”
  2. Pass the paper around the room and everyone adds to the story.
  3. Read the stories aloud.

Tip: put some boundaries around the type of gossip so things don’t go south quickly. This may or may not work for every group. You can change it to the more traditional group storytelling starting with Once Upon a time there was a…

2. Tell a Fairy Tale through Drama

Interpretations

This idea I’ve pulled from our speech and debate club. Fairy tales are perfect for getting out of comfort zones and practicing public speaking! The stories are so well known, participants can quickly put together a couple characters, some voices, and a few actions to come up with an entertaining 2-5 minute scene.

Here’s an advanced example of The Little Mermaid (not from our club.)

ASL Storytelling

Watch stories told using American Sign Language. Notice how expressive the storytellers are.

Tableaux Vivant (Pantomime)

A tableaux vivant is a scene. A snapshot. A living picture.
You can create several to tell a story. Actors position themselves into a scene and freeze. Then they reposition and freeze again. No speaking.
They are a throw back to Victorian parlour games.

Queen Elizabeth II participated in tableaux vivants when she was a 15-year-old teenager evacuated from London during the early years of WWII. Over the years, they performed Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Aladdin. (Learn more here: Queen Treads the Boards in Wartime Royal Pantos and The Future Queen Elizabeth Takes to the Stage.

Credit: Dominic Winter Auctioneers

(See Also: The mannequin challenge of 2016 on youtube!)

3. Tell a Fairy Tale with Physical Objects

Tell a Fairy Tale through Art

Fairy tales can come alive through a variety of artistic expression:

Comics
Posters
Video games
Stop-motion capture
Clay
Mural
Diorama
Etc.

Host a Fairy Tale Garage Sale

Shout out to kidlit author Katie Davis who used to end her podcast Brain Burps About Books by asking her guests: If you could go to the yard sale of any character in literature, whose would you go to and why?

If you plan ahead, the participants could bring the items with them and put them on display. Alternatively, a discussion could be held on what they would buy and why.

Want to learn more about telling fairy tales?

Lessons from Grimm book covers in paperback and ebook

Last year I studied Grimms’ Fairy Tales and learned quite a few lessons on how to tell a fairy tale. I blogged my first impressions on this website, and now I’m sorting through all my thoughts for a new book: Lessons From Grimm: How to Tell a Fairy Tale. The preorder for the ebook is up on Kindle. Links to other stores will go live soon, as will preorders of paperbacks and workbooks as I get closer to publication this summer.