The next time you teach your students about fairy tales, you'll definitely want to refer to these ideas and resources! I've created a wide variety of lesson plans, graphic organisers and activities to guide your students through the writing process to prepare their own creative short stories.
But first - you might like to get started with these fairy tale writing prompts!
I love teaching my students about fairy tales. Students are always enchanted by the fascinating characters and magical circumstances, and they come up with the most creative writing pieces as a result. I'd love to help you teach your students all about fairy tales and guide them through the narrative writing process at the same time.
All of the resources below will help you teach fairy tales as part of a narrative writing unit - you can download this Fairy Tales Program for FREE from the Freebee Library!
Our fairy tale resources cover everything from learning about characters to editing and publishing your own stories, and they are great for primary teachers hoping to get some creative juices flowing!
Everything you see below is available on The Hive, which is revolutionary digital teaching platform. Not only can you set up your daily lesson plans and activities in one handy place, but it also contains thousands of digital teaching tools, resources, videos, printables and more, including all of the fairy tale prompts and lessons below!
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Teaching Fairy Tales in K-2nd Grade
Teaching fairy tales as a narrative writing unit is one of the most effective ways to teach your students about the story elements. Although your students will have a general understanding of characters and settings, there's so much more to unpack.
It's always best to teach these skills explicitly and guide them step-by-step through the process. My Narrative Writing Lesson Slides are the perfect introduction to fairy tales while developing those narrative writing skills at the same time.
With these explicit teaching slides, students will learn about character traits, setting, plot, problems and solutions, and more. It's the perfect balance of instruction and action, and it will help your students learn about narrative writing in a deep and meaningful way.
There's a lot packed into the slides, including scaffolds, writing prompts, graphic organisers, and more. It goes hand-in-hand with my Printable Fairy Tale Writing Activities, where there are over 150 printable resources and activities for your students. With these two resources, you'll have everything you need to teach a 9-week unit on writing fairy tales and cover these specific writing skills:
- Character
- Setting
- Complication/Problem
- Story Endings
- Writing a Whole Story
- Creating Your Own Fairy Tale
- Publishing
Plus, there are a plethora of sentence starters, discussion questions, and printable templates to collect your students' thoughts along the way. Your students will be able to create their own in-depth fairy tale character, dream up the perfect setting, and come up with a unique problem to make their short story interesting and engaging. There are also lots of extension activities to help gifted students and fast finishers who need more challenge.
Free Writing Resources
- I also like to give my students this writing checklist to help them assess and edit their writing before they turn it in. Alternatively, if your students are a little older, they might like to use my 6 Star Editing to check their work instead.
- If you need extra writing paper, you can grab this free printable paper with primary lines.
Fairy Tale Writing Prompts
The printable bundle includes graphic organisers and writing pages for each of the prompts below and more. These are ideal for consolidation activities or for assigning during writing centers after you teach your writing lessons. There are plenty of activities for your students to work through over the 9-week unit so they can build their skills gradually over time.
1. What if they were misunderstood?
Take a good look at a good or bad character and flip the narrative! For example, what if the evil witch was good person and Snow White was the bad one? It can be really interesting to get kids thinking outside of the box, and coming up with ideas for why a character might have been misunderstood!
2. Describe a character
List the inside and outside traits of a certain main character, like the gingerbread man or the tooth fairy. This is a great way to practise character traits and adjectives at the same time.
I've also included plenty of writing pages to come up with your own character, describe a setting, and more.
3. Change the Setting
Even reluctant writers get excited about adapting a story that they know in a new and exciting way! What if the Three Little Pigs happened in your neighbourhood? Or the Little Mermaid was set in the human world? It's a great way for students to add their own unique twist to a story.
4. Make a Wanted Poster
Invite your students to choose a villain from one of the stories you've read together and create a wanted poster. Make sure they add a good picture and a detailed description to help people catch them!
5. My Favourite Fairytale
Which fairy tale do your students like the most and why? This is a nice entry-level writing activity to get those early writers thinking and sharing.
You can also have them write about their favourite fairytale character, too.
6. A Fairytale Character I'd Like to Meet...
Wouldn't it be interesting to hear who your students would like to meet? You can connect this to the characters in a specific fairy tale or across different stories.
7. I Wonder What Would Have Happened If...
Imagine what would happen if the story went in a different direction! This is the perfect way to unleash your students' creativity!
8. Choose Another Ending
This activity is a great way to explore the idea of problems and solutions in literature. What if there was a different problem or a different solution? What would the ending of the new story be?
9. If I Had a Fairy Godmother
This is a more personal style of writing, and even my reluctant writers tend to like it! What would you do if you had a fairy godmother granting your wishes? What would you ask for, and how would your life change?
10. Dear Cinderella
Write a letter to Cinderella from the evil stepmother. This is a great opportunity to see how students interpret the relationship between two characters.
I also have templates for Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, and the Big Bad Wolf.
11. If I Was, I Would Have
What would your student do if they were one of the little pigs? How would the story change? Invite them to share their stories with the class!
12. My Favourite Fairy Godmother
Of all the fairy godmothers in all the fairy tales, which one is the best? Why?
13. Replace a Character
If you could remove a character from a fairy tale, who would you replace them with, and how would the story change?
More Fairy Tale Story Ideas for Kids
These prompts are not included in my printable set, but they would be great for a quick write to prepare students for writing their own short stories! You could print them out on strips of paper and have students choose one to add to their writing journals.
- On a walk in an enchanted forest, you find a magical item that will change your life. What is it, and what does it do?
- Imagine there was a magical potion that could bring any object to life. Write a story about what would happen if the wrong character got their hands on it.
- A young girl or young boy finds a magical mirror that will reveal their true love, and it is their mortal enemy. What should they do?
- If you could have any magical power, what would it be?
- Write a story about a young prince who does not know he is a prince.
- Tell the story of your favorite fairy tale from a different character's point of view.
- Imagine two unlikely characters who must team up to save their kingdom. For example, perhaps the Big Bad Wolf has to work with Little Red Riding Hood. What would happen?
- What would happen if a modern child suddenly found themselves in a fairy tale?
- Two best friends must go on a journey through dangerous wilderness. Write about the challenges they encounter along the way.
- Write a fairy tale with a moral lesson about being a good person.
- Imagine if the villain in a story becomes a good person along the way.
- Write a story about an animal with magical abilities who must save the day.
Fairy Tale Resources
Here are just some of the fairy tale resources that you'll find at Mrs Learning Bee!
Plus, grab my Bump It Up Writing to set high expectations and help your students achieve their best! This is a great way to make it clear what you're looking for in a piece of writing and help your students get there.
Don't forget you can get all of these resources and thousands more in The Hive.
