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Building with the Three Little Pigs

Building with the Three Little Pigs

Children naturally love the story of The Three Little Pigs! Each year, my students and I try to figure out different ways we can construct houses just as the Three Pigs did. I try to stick to the materials listed in the story as much as I can when selecting building materials so that our experience can be as authentic as possible.

Building With The Three Little PigsAs I set about finding building materials, it dawned on me that we should build our homes in an environment where we might find the Three Little Pigs!Building With The Three Little PigsI immediately settled on a forest thinking that it would be a good place for the Big Bad Wolf to be lurking as he hid from the pigs.  To create the forest feeling in my classroom, I used some Extra Long Green Plastic Tablecloth Roll for the tree tops and created the tree trunks from a roll of brown Fadeless Art Paper. I kept the Green Plastic Tablecloth folded in half and cut tree-like bumps from the folded side out towards the open side. This created perfectly symmetrical tree tops. To create the tree trunks, I unrolled a 50-60 inch length of Fadeless Art Paper and folded it in half. Beginning on the open side of the paper, I made a cut at the corner and moved my scissors inward to create the look of a tree trunk. I then repeated the same cut on the folded side of the paper. I then secured the trunks to the tops with a little bit of duct tape and hung them from the ceiling tiles! I also added some fun "graffiti" to the trunks with some white chalk. In addition to the trees I created, I also added in some Pine Tree Jointed Cutouts to help my forest look real. Once I placed the Hay Bale Cardboard Stand-Ups in the front of our classroom, the room came to life!Building With The Three Little PigsOnce the scene was set, I went to work putting out some props for my students to wear as they built their houses. I wrote each child's name on a Kids' Construction Hat with a permanent marker so they would be able to find which hat belonged to them. I also gave each student a Pig Nose to wear as they worked to build their houses. I also added in a little more fun when I dressed up as a pig in this cute Pig Costume to surprise my students!Building With The Three Little PigsI chose building materials that were as close to what we read about in our version of The Three Little Pigs as I could. We used the Block Play Set to represent bricks, some Natural Wood Branch Sticks to help us build stick houses and, Bamboo Paper Straws to help us represent straw. I divided my students up into groups and let them build houses out of each of the materials.Building With The Three Little PigsBuilding With The Three Little PigsBuilding With The Three Little PigsMy students had a great time building their houses! I was impressed with how they tried different ways to build; at first they built their houses 3-dimensionally and then decided to build bigger houses in 2 dimensions. The materials were the perfect complement to our Three Little Pigs study! After we built our houses, we used our forest backdrop for a Reader's Theater production of the Three Little Pigs for our 4th grade book buddies and some family members!

 
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