08 May 2008

3 - Stories, Songs and Rhymes

Welcome back to our number rhyme series - so far we've had 1 - Hickory Dickory Dock and 2 - Two Little Dicky Birds.

Three is a bit more tricky as most of the counting songs are to five or ten, however three is a popular number in fairy tales with Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Billy Goats Gruff to name but a few stories that include three. So here are some ideas linked to those popular tales.

As with one and two, practice counting - 1,2,3! Again play with
number bean bags , foam / magnetic numbers and number flashcards / number fans to help children learn to recognise the number and practice drawing / painting or chalking the number three. The number three also is great to start sequencing numbers, and investigating other properties / adjectives; for example big, medium and small.


The Three Little Pigs

Activity Ideas


  • share the story of the Three Little Pigs
  • building with a variety of materials
  • make a three houses collage, sticking on straw, sticks and printing bricks
  • make pig masks using paper plates
  • play with Three Little Pigs puppets and act out the story
  • huff and puff like the big bad wolf and practice blowing games - blow football, blow painting or just blow whistles!

Songs and Rhymes

  • Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf (Frank Churchill and Ann Ronell)

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Activity Ideas

  • share the story of Golidilocks and the Three Bears
  • make porridge
  • investigate sizes - small, medium / middle sized and big - sort them and match them
  • playing with Goldilocks and the Three Bears puppets to act out the story

Songs and Rhymes

  • When Goldilocks Went to The House of the Bears (listen here)

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Activity Ideas

  • share the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff
  • go for a walk and find a bridge to 'trip trap' over
  • investigate sizes - small, medium / middle sized and big - sort them and match them
  • play with Three Billy Goats Gruff and act out the story

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

All my boys have loved Three Billy Goats Gruff, the tale allows for lots of scope for learning.

BTW - I have a free e-book to download on my my site that you might be interested in called Planning With Kids Top 100 Tips.

Anonymous said...

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