Wooden blocks are a staple piece of play equipment in our house. They are usually used to see who can build the biggest tower and if Daddy can build any type of construction before Adam knocks it over. However, as yet we do not use them for any particular learning activity. After the success of our Wheels On The Bus Stones I wanted to find a way to incorporate storytelling with wooden blocks. Adam is currently loving the Three Little Pigs story so I decided to make a storytelling box based on the Three Little Pigs by using wooden blocks.
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Twinkl came to the aid with all the images I needed. Their Three Little Pig Size Ordering resource meant I could print out images of each pig, the wolf and the three buildings. Each character or building had six different sized images on. This meant I could find the perfect image to fit my wooden blocks without having to resize the images. Once the images had been cut out I was ready to attach the print outs to the wooden blocks.
When I created our Wheels On The Bus storytelling stones I used watered down PVA glue to attach the images. Although this worked ok the finished effect wasn’t brilliant. I promised myself I would purchase some Mod Podge Glue. I treated myself to some over Christmas and was interested to see what effect it would have attaching images to the wooden blocks.
How to make Three Little Pigs from Wooden Blocks
1. Add a thin layer of Mod Podge to the wooden block using a paintbrush.
2. Place a printed image on top of the wooden black and gently pushed it down on to the glue.
3. Add another layer of Mod Podge to the image and the block.
The three pigs and the fireplace each had their own wooden block.
For the wolf I ended up using three images. Two images were glued to either side a cylinder block. On one side the wolf was puffing and the other side he is running away. On another cylinder block I attached a wolf who looked like he was creeping. I wanted to leave it up to Adam to decide which style wolf he would use.
For the buildings I used two small wooden blocks for both the straw house and the stick house. I folded the images in half, cut along the line and used the glue to attach the two halves to two wooden blocks. I ensured that the middle of each half was placed along the edge of the block.
For the brick house I used a larger image. I divided the image into three sections and used the Mod Podge to attach the images to three larger wooden blocks. I specifically chose a larger image and bigger wooden blocks to show the difference between this house and the other two houses which the wolf could blow down easily.
Whilst creating the storytelling wooden blocks I decided to create a small world for the blocks to live. A shoe box was the perfect size. In the past I have painted the shoe box, like in our Little Miss Muffet Storytelling Box. However, I didn’t have enough time to allow the paint to dry. I turned again to Twinkl for some small world scenery. I used a combination of Percy The Park Keeper background and the Traditional Tales background to create a backdrop. Finally I added green felt for the grass.
I knew that Adam would enjoy the storytelling wooden blocks but I hadn’t expected him to love them so much. His response “this is the best Mum-Mum”.
From the moment I showed him the characters he has been retelling the story over and over again. It is wonderful to hear his story language emerge considering this time last year he couldn’t say three words together.
I can see our Storytelling wooden blocks will be used for a long time. They make a fantastic Busy Bag activity which can be used when out of the house too.
Disclaimer: We received a Premium Subscription from Twinkl to review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
Check out these Building Block activities as part of the #toolsforlearning series:
Building Block STEM Challenge Cards from Life Over C’s
Fractions with KORXX Blocks from Still Playing School
Building Block Maze Activity from Mom Inspired Life
Free Printable: Block Scavenger Hunt for Letter Recognition from Play Dough and Popsicles
Fine Motor Development with Blocks from Sugar Aunts
Building Tens Castles (Preschool/Kindergarten Math) from Preschool Powol Packets
Word Family BINGO! from School Time Snippets
Building Block Addition Towers from The Kindergarten Connection
Superhero Alphabet Matching Activity with Blocks from Stir The Wonder
Sight Word ABCs with Blocks from Simple Fun for Kids
Letter Sound Scavenger Hunt from Raising Little Superheroes
Symmetry with Building Blocks from In The Playroom
Building CVC words with Blocks from Teach me Mommy
Making Patterns with Building Blocks from Play & Learn Everyday
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Beautiful, creative idea. Thank you for sharing 🙂 #letkidsbekids
Thank you 🙂
How great are these! I love Twinkl, we used it alot last year. I must go and take a look!
We adore Twinkl. I used there resources all the time as a teacher and love that I get to use them as a Mum!
These are such a fab idea for storytelling, imagination and a great way to help language. Sounds like Adam loved them, they look great.
Thanks for sharing with #LetKidsBeKids
They are still being used lots so certainly worth creating them.