Kids love fairytales with castles, princes, knights in shining armor, and fire-breathing dragons. They especially love stories with fairy godmothers or magical creatures who grant the hero or princess three wishes. A good way to draw a crowd at your family storytime is to have a fairytale theme. There are plenty of quality picture books available to read to your young library patrons and lots of fun crafts and activities to go along with them. Some good books to use are "The Paperbag Princess" by Robert Munsch, "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" by John Steptoe, "The Frog Prince Continued" by Jon Sciezka, or "Princess Smartypants" by Babette Cole. Don't forget the well-loved classic fairytales like "Jack and the Beanstalk" or "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." There are plenty of children's books out there featuring dragons and fairies as well. Of course, younger children will need to listen to simple books such as "The Three Little Pigs." The younger the audience, the shorter the book should be. Another excellent idea is to perform a fairytale using puppets. Kids of all ages love puppet shows, and they're a lot of fun to present.
Instructions
1. Choose picture books for your fairytale storytime. Consider the ages of your audience. Will it be a preschool, school age, or family story time? If your storytime is for kids of all ages, you can choose more complex stories than the one you would choose to read to a 3-year-old.
2. Start your storytime off with a fun song. After the song, read the story to the children. Ask the children to participate in a silly rhyme such as "Grand Old Duke of York." Children must march as you recite the following rhyme: The Grand Old Duke of York /He had 10,000 men/ He marched them up to the top of the hill/ And marched them down again/ And when they were up they were up/ And when they were down they were down/ And when they were only halfway up/ they were neither up nor down.
3. Read another short book if you feel like the kids are willing to listen to another. Just remember to keep it short. You don't want the kids squirming instead of enjoying the story.
4. Allow the children to make royal crowns from construction paper. Use strips of paper long enough to go around the child's head. Children must cut triangular pieces along the top of the paper to make the points of the crown. Furnish fake jewels, feathers and other miscellaneous craft items so they can decorate their royal crown.
5. Help the children to make their own knight's shield. Use poster board or cardboard cut into the shape of a shield for a knight in shining armor. Children decorate the shield with fake jewels, glitter and construction paper. They can even make a fake sword with the leftover poster board.
6. Find a template of a dragon and let children glue glittery scales on the dragon. You can have them tear pieces of tissue paper and use it to decorate their fire-breathing beast.
7. Play the "Fairytale: Who Am I" game. Write the name of a well-known fairytale character on each card. Choose a child from the audience. Place an index card on her back using tape. You can also hang the index card around the back of the child's neck from a piece of yarn. The child with the card on his back must ask the rest of the children questions in order to guess the name of the fairytale character listed on the card. For example, the child may ask, "Did I go to the ball and dance with the prince?" The child continues to ask the audience questions until she successfully identifies the fairytale character.
8. Finish the storytime by offering each child a cookie in the shape of a gingerbread man. If you like, you can give the children goody bags with inexpensive prizes you can purchase from stores such as Oriental Trading (see Resources).
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