If you’re looking to dress up as a fairy tale character this Halloween, but don’t want to spend much money on an expensive costume, there are lots of ways to make your own disguise. From a little red hoodie and a picnic basket to a witch’s broom, you’ll be able to transform into your favourite characters from stories that have been around for hundreds of years.
Fairy tales are a popular form of storytelling for young children and are a great way to introduce them to a range of traditional tales from around the world. They often teach values like kindness and patience and can be a good introduction to the idea of consequences.
Getting the children to think of themselves as a character in a story can be an effective way to engage them and encourage discussion. They can also use this opportunity to create their own story.
To get the children started, you can ask them to draw a self-portrait or use a photocopy of an image they’ve seen that they’ve wanted to try and replicate. Once they’ve created a character, you can then ask them to use a range of collage materials to help them build their story.
You could ask them to draw or cut out images from a book they’ve read or from the internet. They can then glue their own paper cut-outs onto the background of their piece to create a collage that represents a character from a fairy tale or fable they’ve been reading.
This is a great activity for learners who are just learning to recognise a number of different fairy tale and fable characters and for those who are starting to learn about recall and memory skills. Each time a student guesses the right answer, an item of clothing is removed from the image, slowly revealing the character.
Then, the child can try to use this knowledge to make their own disguise of a fairy tale or fable character and explain why they have chosen to be that particular character. Some ideas include a princess, a demon, a fairy or a wizard.
Another fun activity for the children to do is to find an image of a fairy tale or fable that they’re familiar with and write a short summary about the story. This can then be displayed on the whiteboard and used as a reference for the child when they are creating their own version of the story.
A great spooky alternative to a simple ‘Halloween’ costume, this Jack and the Beanstalk disguise can be easily made from an oversize green t-shirt decorated with autumn leaves, body glitter on the cheeks and a flashlight to look like Tinkerbell’s light.
