3 Billy Goats Gruff

Continuing with our tales of three, we have visited "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" - a Norwegian folktale.

Pretend play evolved when revisiting the picture of goats that one of our friends brought in for "show & share" and retells have been hilarious as the children give the characters "voice".

Inspired by the story, the children have intently building bridges. I printed up some pictures for the children to look at, and we briefly discussed bridge building.

These photos inspired some very creative structures and critical thinking.

This little engineer explains about his structure:

"I put it [the piece of drift wood] so the animals can go across.

The troll can not eat. And the big one [goat] can smash him

in the water."

The duo who built this bridge tag team each other in their description:

"It looks like a wooden bridge."

"First we line the square pieces [pointing to the bottom blocks], 

then we lined up the rectangle pieces."

"We put the rectangles in lines"

"The Troll lives under the bridge and then when someone comes

across the bridge he says, "WHOS THAT TRIP TRAPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?!"

By means of an explanation this builder shares:

 "My bridge is a little bit short and a little bit wide, like in real life."

"The Troll lives under the bridge."

"Maaaaaa [goat sound]! I want to cross the bridge."

"There is green grass [on the other side]. That's why he's crossing."

Making use of materials at the train table, these builders commiserate:

"This [bridge] is for trains and goats."

"The Troll lives under here."

Our story retells have come alive these last few weeks. The children continue to gravitate toward the bowls that contain 3 goats, 3 fish and a shark, 3 pigs and wolf dog, and most recently Goldilocks and the 3 bears.

Thank you for visiting with us at the atelier.