Previously I wrote about the benefits of fairy tales in preschool development. If you havenʻt read it yet, click the link: Love & Fairy Tales to read more. In this post weʻll share the activities we planned to do during our "Once Upon a Time," theme. We focused on 3 popular princess fairy tales. Each fairy tale teaches a different moral but they all are about love. Love is our main theme for the month of February in honor of Valentineʻs Day.
The activities below are grouped, first by story and then by subject so you can easily fill in your lesson plan. We have a Free Weekly Lesson Plan Template that you can use for your Toddlerschool journey. Read: Toddlerschool Template, to learn more about this free tool. If an item is Highlighted this means itʻs available in our worksheet packet. We hope you enjoy this theme as much as we did. If you have any suggestions please feel free to drop them in the comment section or send us an email.
Frozen by Disney
There are multiple lessons to be learned in this story but the one I focused on with my girls was: Sisterhood. Other morals from Frozen include:
Love means putting someone else’s needs before your own.
People can make bad choices if they’re scared and stressed.
Have courage & compassion.
Your actions affect others.
Activities
Circle Time
Frozen Karaoke- If your toddlers love music, I highly recommend doing this activity at circle time. This will capture their attention and get them excited for the lessons ahead.
Frozen Freeze Dance- You can make your own freeze dance or you can just look for one online. Hereʻs one from YouTube: Frozen Freeze Dance, Brain Break.
Character Review- You can print out character photos and do a review. You can use these same photos and make puppet sticks to retell the story.
Literature
Story Time- Take this opportunity to visit your local library. You can do story time at the library and take home your favorites to read again and again. We read the following:
Disney Frozen 2: A Sister’s Connection by Bendon Pub
Disney Frozen: First Look and Find by Jennifer H Keast & Kelly Grupczynski
Letters of the Week-
Q - Q for Queen (2x), Dotted Q, Find the Alphabet
S - S for Sister (2x), Dotted S, Find the Alphabet
Core
Play with snow (science/sensory)- It doesnʻt snow in Hawaii so we purchased Instant Snow from amazon. Then we added some toys and ice for a Frozen themed sensory bin.
Frozen escape (science/sensory)- Freeze frozen characters in a cup or bowl of water overnight. Give your toddler cups of water and miscellaneous tools to break the ice.
Storm in a bottle (sensory)- Make a frozen storm in a bottle by adding water and glitter. You can even stick pictures of the characters on the inside or outside to make them look like theyʻre in the storm.
Elsaʻs Ice Castle (stem)- Add food dye to water before putting them in ice trays and freeze them overnight. When theyʻre ready give your toddler the ice and a small cup of water, then tell them to build Elsaʻs ice castle. Heads Up: this was harder than I thought it would be.
Worksheets-
Count the snowflakes (premath)
Snowman Count (premath)
Princess Puzzle
Art
Make a snowflake- Make paper snowflakes. After folding the paper you can draw lines for your toddler to cut along or you can just let them freely cut.
Make a snowman- Offer your toddler different shapes and ask them to put it together to make a snowman. Here are some shape examples: 3 circles for the body, square/rectangle for a hat, triangle for the nose, small circles for buttons, etc.
Frozen paint- You can do this by pouring paint in an ice tray, add craft sticks, and freeze it overnight.
Miscellaneous
Movie Day
Watch Frozen (Disney+)
Watch Frozen 2 (Disney+)
Watch Frozen Fever (Disney+)
Frozen Snacks- You can go out and buy these but itʻs so much more fun to make them at home
Shaved ice/ Snow cones
Ice cream
Smoothies
Coloring Pages- There are tons to choose from online. Maybe you already have some princess coloring books at home.
Snowmen Emotions- Becoming familiar with different emotions help children identify the emotions they're feeling which is the first step to begin regulating big feelings. It's so easy and beneficial to incorporate emotions into your lesson plans.
Cinderella by Disney
The moral we focused on for this story was: Kindness. We talked about what being kind looks like. Another fairy tale that teaches kindness is Snow White.
Activities:
Circle time
Cinderella Karaoke- Sing & dance to your favorite Cinderella songs
Sweep the Colors- Sweeping provides your toddler with the opportunity to develop motor skills, coordination, and independence. Scatter some colored pompoms on the floor and have your toddler sweep them all up. Once they've mastered this skill you can ask them to sweep certain colors.
Literature
StoryTime: Here's another great opportunity to visit your local library. You can look for Cinderella books or you can read books about kindness. We read the following:
Disney Princess: Royal Adventures by Studio Fun
Letters of the Week:
P for princess/prince (2x), Dotted P, Letter Maze
C for Castle (2x), Dotted C
Color by Letter
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Trace (prewriting)
Core
Crown color match (premath)- Helps with identifying and sorting colors
Make a Clock (Premath)- Helps with number recognition
Princess Puzzle (Premath)
Make a Carriage (STEM)- Offer supplies like toothpicks, a small pumpkin, oranges, and/or apples to build a carriage.
Art
Make a Wand- Use paper straws or chopsticks, ribbon, glitter, and paper to get creative and make your very own magical wand.
Cinderella's Glass Slipper- Decorate Cinderella's glass slipper with glue and gems or glitter
Make a Crown- Decorate the crown, cut it out, and choose how you'd like to wear it.
Miscellaneous
Movie Day
Watch Cinderella (Disney+)
Watch Ella Enchanted (Pluto TV or Paramount+)
Minno Day Show: What the Bible Says About Kindness (YouTube)
The Good Samaritan- Since we're learning about kindness, what better way to teach our littles about Kindness than from a Parable from the bible. We've linked our favorite version of the this story above. We include bible stories in our daily routine by using kids bible apps or watching bible stories on YouTube.
Chores- Aside from having a clean space, chores encourage your toddlers to be independent which in turn builds their confidence. Toddlers are already eager to help out around the house. It may take a lot longer to get the task done, but it'll be beneficial in the long run as your littles gain a sense of responsibility.
Attend/plan a ball- During Valentine's there are groups who host banquets you can attend. If you can't find one, then plan one. There is so much to learn when it comes to planning an event. Here's a link to one of my favorite podcasts. In this episode she talks a more about chores and celebrations.
Beauty & the Beast by Disney
The main moral of this story is to never judge a person by their outward appearance. Other fairy tales you could use to teach this moral are:
The Princess & the Pea
The Frog Prince
Activities:
Circle time:
Beauty & the Beast Karaoke- Just like the two previous fairy tales, we had another karaoke dance party with the soundtrack of this movie.
Character Identification- The characters in this movie are objects. Go over them and identify what each character is. Mrs. Potts is a tea pot, Chip is tea cup, etc.
Literature
Story Time- I mentioned a couple stories with similar morals that you can read at story time. Another one is David & Goliath. Belle loves to read, use this to your advantage and foster a love of story time or reading in your toddlers.
Make a Book: Make a little book for your little one. Tell them to create a picture book. Let their imagination run wild and give the space immerse themselves in the story.
Letters of the Week:
B for Beauty (2x), Dotted B, Letter Maze
L for Love (2x), Dotted L, Find the Alphabet
Core:
Build a Bookshelf (STEM)- Offer your toddler craft sticks, playdough, and/or tape to build a bookshelf. Allow them the freedom to plan and create.
Build a Castle- Using blocks or Legos build a castle. There are tons of benefit gained when your keiki play with blocks or Legos. They develop fine motor skills, creativity, and cognitive thinking just to name a few.
Count & Color (Premath)- This worksheet helps with counting and color recognition.
Princess Puzzle (Premath)
Art
Enchanted Mirror- Cut out the shape of a mirror from a cardboard box and glue a piece of foil in the middle. Decorate the outer parts of the mirror with markers, glitter, gems, etc.
Paint with Roses- Use a rose as a paint brush. Show your toddler how to dip the pedals in the paint and stamp the flower on the paper.
Stained Glass Art- Use a sheet protector for this project. Draw any stained glass design you think your toddler would enjoy. Give your child colored markers to fill the page. When finished, hang up your masterpieces in the window.
Make a Book Mark- There are many different ways you can do this. I like the throwback from the 90's way- glue and a pencil box.
Miscellaneous
Movie Day:
Watch Beauty & the Beast (Disney+)
Field Trip:
Go to the Library- I know I've been telling you to go to the library multiple times on this post. You don't need to go every time but I highly recommend you go at least once. Dedicate this visit to learning the about the library.
Go Watch a Play- Maybe you can do a little research and find out if there is a fairy tale play somewhere near you that you think your littles will enjoy.
I know that was a lot to unpack, because that was a lot for me too. It took me weeks to put this all together and I'm sorry it took so long to get this up. I hope you and your keiki enjoy this fairy tale theme. If you have other ideas you'd like to share drop them in the comments or send us an email. The link to our Once Upon a Time Worksheet Packet is here. Please give us a follow on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with our day to day Toddlerschool journey. If you do share something about your Toddlerschool journey, please tag us, we love to see it. However you school your toddler, make sure you have fun with it!
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