Goldilocks and The Three Bears- Book-based Activities
This is our second week into book-based activities on Goldilocks And The Three Bears. By this time, my girl is so familiar with the story plot that she can narrate the sequence of events with her own words, and I thought it will be an appropriate time to introduce a sensory bin with some props and handmade characters for her to immerse herself in role-play and imaginative play!
Benefits of Pretend Play!
There are so many benefits to your child doing pretend play! It facilitates:
- Imaginative thinking and discovery
- Abstract thinking and problem-solving
- Application of Life Skills
- Social Skills development
- Learning “Theory of mind” where they do perspective-taking
- Confidence in communicating their ideas and thought ( through story-sequencing & narrative script and use of new words acquired
There are many types of pretend play like dress up, imitation of adults and adult life, acting out stories, role-play or using materials to create play.
Her Pretend Play!
She was smiling with a look of surprise on her face when she approached the sensory bin. She was elated to meet the characters which I made from paper-cut outs and toilet paper rolls. She immediately started naming the characters- Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Goldilocks. as she explored the sensory bin, she also noticed I poured some rice and beans for her to interact with. Since the bears loved porridge in the story, she took on the role of Mama Bear and started cooking porridge for the bears. She particularly was engrossed with pouring and transferring rice into each bowl using the scoop. This is one good example of using fine motor skills in the process of pretend play.
After cooking, she decided that she must set the table for the bears. She arranged the bowls and assigned each bowl to each bear according to sizes. She also allocated one spoon to one bowl which allows her to apply the Math skill of one-to-one correspondence. She also used adjectives like “biggest” and “smallest bowl to describe the size of the object. She re-enacted the whole scene in the book where the bears tried the porridge and exclaimed ,” It is too hot!” “It is too cold!”. This kind of re-telling using her script narration hones her language skills of story sequencing and sentence construction.
With the episode of Goldilocks trying out the chairs, she cleverly places the character Goldilocks over the prop, and was amazed that it fitted perfectly! She then positioned Baby Bear over the chair with the soft cushion. Upon realising that the cushion there probably signify that the chair is soft, she then changed the character to Mother Bear. She was doing recalling of the story, which is the script she wanted to enact. In her second telling of the story on another day, she actually swapped the characters to sit on the chair as she re-invented the storyline to create a twist. She said the baby bear likes to sit on soft chairs and so Mummy bear let him.
Try creating a sensory bin based on your child’s favourite picture book! The experience for imaginative play is very enriching!
Playhood 
looks like great activities. Where did you get your props/ printouts of characters, etc?
Hi Karen! I made the characters by printing them out and sticking on toilet rolls to make them stand. As for the props, I just used my girl’s play kitchen utensils and her doll house chairs and beds. I guess you can also use recycled materials like paper package or cartons to create these props!