The story of the three little pigs is a classic tale that has been passed down through generations. It is a great story for preschoolers because it teaches important life lessons in a fun and engaging way. The story teaches children about the importance of hard work, planning, and perseverance. This Three Little Pigs preschool pack works well with any version of this story.
It also helps children understand the consequences of their actions, as the little pigs who built their houses out of straw and sticks suffered when the big bad wolf blew them down. Additionally, the story can help children develop their listening and comprehension skills as they listen to the story being read to them.
Take a turn from the traditional “three little pigs” story with a twist by integrating the “Three Ninja Pigs” story into your Three Little Pigs preschool theme.
The Three Little Ninja Pigs book by Corey Rosen Schwartz (illustrated by Dan Santat) is not only a fun story, it is a very modern tale that subtly promotes great values. In this book, the contemporary twist is that the third little pig saves the day because she trained without quitting.
Aside from being a fun book for kids, with phrases like “stay out of my hut or I’ll kick your big butt,” it makes people laugh. I also love the non-traditional roles and the melodic rhyme pattern the story is written with.
This Three Little Pigs preschool post is a two-part blog post series that I used for the Three Little Ninja Pigs book. You can find links to the Three Little Ninja Pigs puppets and Roll and Color game at the bottom of this post, linked to part two.
This post is part one of my Three Little Ninja Pigs preschool curriculum.
Keep reading to learn about the benefits of this Three Little Pig preschool printable pack activities and literacy activity ideas and STEM activity ideas to supplement any Three Little Pigs preschool story book.
Three Little Pigs Preschool Theme: Literacy Activities
The first part of the Three Little Pigs preschool curriculum unit is to read both the traditional “Three Little Pigs” story and the “Three Ninja Pigs” story. Read the books a few times so the children will become familiar with the stories. Once they become familiar with the stories, use these books as the basis for a compare and contrast exercise. Talk with the children about:
- What is different?
- What is the same?
- What was the wolf like in the 3 Little Pigs?
- What was the wolf like in the 3 Ninja pigs?
- Which one was your favorite and why?
- Which character did they like the best?
Teaching in this way builds all those critical thinking skill connectors in kids’ brains. It also allows children to practice the skills required for reading comprehension.
Make sure to use new words like “character” to introduce new vocabulary. Integrate words from the books into your discussion, like “dojo” from The Three Little Ninja Pigs.
This type of reading activity for preschoolers is called “Dialogic Reading.” According to Dr. Enid Acosta-Tello from the National University, research shows that this method serves a greater benefit for children’s language and reading development.
The second part of the Three Little Pigs preschool curriculum unit is letter identification. There are letter recognition dot sheets and sound recognition printables in the pack at the bottom of this post.
Talk about the letter P for pig. Then children can work on the letter P sheets. Talk about the letter W for wolf. Then children can work on the letter W worksheets.
Take the opportunity during circle time to point out letters W and P in the Three Little Pigs book and the Three Ninja Pigs book.
You can also ask a smaller group of children to locate the W and P in the text on the Three Little Pigs preschool page. Just make sure to have them find one letter at a time. Don’t have them search for both letters until they can recognize each letter individually.
3 Little Pigs Preschool Theme: Science and Math Activity Printable
For the preschool STEM, or science and math, activity, the children are going to build their own “three little pigs” house. Then they will test the house to see if it “blows down.”
To build their own house, each student will need:
- sliced up pool noodles
- Jenga blocks or wooden blocks
- A type of paper fan
After the children build their houses as part of the Three Little Pigs preschool curriculum, they are going to test them with the paper fan. This allows for role play and the use of the imagination. Encourage your preschoolers to be the “Big Bad Wolf” and try to blow the house down by waving the fan. Kids have a blast doing this!
By using various materials to construct their home, children can practice their much-needed fine motor skills. If you don’t use Jenga blocks and pool noodle slices, make sure to incorporate smaller items that require them to use their “pincer grasp.” Larger blocks are fine for gross motor skills, but they need smaller blocks to practice that important fine motor skill.
Using different types of things to build their house is also important because it helps kids use their problem-solving skills. As shown in the above photo, you can see Alex experimenting with trying to fit the block into the hole. The pool noodle slices are great because of their shape, the holes, and the texture. As discussed by Michigan State University, all of these factors allow students to discover lots of different enrichments on their own when constructing their houses.
Finally, have the children count how many blocks or items they needed to build their houses. They can count the amount of each material. For example, there are 5 circles and 10 blocks. They can count by color if the items are different colors.
Ask them how many brown items they used to build their house, how many green, how many red, and so forth. This way, all the children get counting practice at their skill level. One child may only be able to count to three, and another to ten. This small-group “three little pigs” activity allows all the children to participate.
These 3 Little Pigs Preschool Theme activities teach the following skills:
- Sequencing
- Counting
- Reading Comprehension
- Vocabulary
- Fine Motor
- Letter Recognition
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
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