Fun Traditional Tales Centers for Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Traditional Tales Centers for K-! Students

I love sharing traditional tales with early elementary students! Often, even the youngest kindergarteners are familiar with these timeless favorites. They get pretty excited when you can tie them into math and literacy stations. In this post, I will share some of my favorite traditional tales centers that can make skill practice more engaging for young kindergarteners and first graders.

9 Fun Traditional Tales for Centers

There is a long list of traditional tales that you can incorporate into your learning routine. I’m going to touch on nine of my favorites and give you a quick glimpse into some activity ideas that tie in with these folk tales and fables.

1. Gingerbread Man

Students love the story of the elusive Gingerbread Man!

Gingerbread Man puzzles for rhyming practice

They can put together pictures of the Gingerbread Man with these self-correcting puzzles. For example, students can match rhyming pictures to practice their phonemic awareness.

Task cards for a nonstandard measurement activity

The Gingerbread Man’s gumdrops also make the perfect tool for nonstandard measurement! Students can measure a variety of characters and objects from the story using a strip of gumdrops.

2. Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is another classic story that students love!

Goldilocks number ordering activity

The three bowls of porridge from the story can help students practice ordering numbers. They can put each task card’s three numbers in numerical order as they write them on the recording sheet.

An alphabet activity for uppercase and lowercase letters

Papa Bear’s chair can serve as inspiration for this alphabet practice activity. Students will practice identifying and writing both uppercase and lowercase letters.

3. Little Red Riding Hood

There are many fun centers activities that can be inspired by the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood phonics puzzle

These themed puzzles give students a chance to practice listening for various sound patterns. In this example, students will group puzzle pieces based on the initial sound.

Little Red Riding Hood Counting Center

Students can also practice one-to-one correspondence with this number writing activity. Students can roll a die with pictures of characters and objects from the story. Each side of the die has a different number of pictures to count. They will then fill out a recording sheet and see which number’s column gets filled in first.

4. Hansel and Gretel

The story of Hansel and Gretel is also a great option for traditional tales centers.

Story retelling cards for Hansel and Gretel

Students can practice sequencing and retelling by matching each sentence to the correct picture. After putting the cards in order, students can practice retelling the story to a partner.

Hansel on base ten blocks

The characters from traditional tales can also bring a little extra engagement to task card activities. These base ten cards feature Hansel dropping breadcrumbs in each corner. 

5. Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk is another traditional tale that’s sure to get your students excited about practicing math and literacy skills!

Jack and the Beanstalk dominoes

Students can practice their counting and number sense skills with this dominos game. 

Sight Word Card with Jack and the Beanstalk

These themed sight word cards are also perfect for reading or writing the room. They are also editable so you can use them for targeted practice.

6. The Elves and the Shoemaker

Another great traditional tale to use for centers is The Elves and the Shoemaker. 

Elves and the Shoemaker letter phonics activity

For this literacy center idea, students can match each elf to the correct shoe by figuring out the beginning sound.  

Task cards with a variety of shoes to count

This themed counting activity is also a fun way to incorporate this classic story into math practice. Each task card has a different combination of shoes. Students can count each type of shoe and then write the number of each.

7. The Tortoise and the Hare

This classic fable can inspire some fun skill practice for your centers routine.

Your Favorite Traditional Tales Centers for Kindergarten and 1st Grade

For example, this board game is a fun way to recreate the race between the tortoise and the hare. In this version of the game, students will solve an addition equation that the spinner lands on. This will give them the number of spaces that they will move on the board.

8. The Little Red Hen

The Little Red Hen is another timeless tale that can bring some extra engagement to your centers activities. 

Four CVC word puzzles for Little Red Hen

Students can assemble the Little Red Hen and her over with these CVC word puzzles. The pictures make the puzzles self-correcting, which can help students complete this activity more independently during centers time.

Little Red Hen number matching activity

For some counting and number identification practice, students can match each hen with the correct loaf of bread. They will do this by counting the seeds on each die and then finding the matching number. 

9. Stone Soup

There are also several math and literacy centers that you can use for the traditional tale of Stone Soup. Here are two of my favorites:

Letter and picture cards in a pocket chart

First, students can use vocabulary words from the story to create their own sentences. Students can use sight word cards and the picture vocabulary cards to build sentences in a pocket chart or on the table. After building the sentence, students can use a recording sheet to write and illustrate the sentence.

Yellow and red dice with a map recording sheet

This Stone Soup-inspired game uses two dice for addition practice. Students will roll the dice, identify the sum, and then find that number on their recording sheet. Once all of the numbers are filled in, the hungry traveler will be able to get to the soup!

Printable Traditional Tales Centers

If you’d like to incorporate traditional tales into your math and literacy centers, let me save you some time! I have put together a set of over 240 activities for 12 of your favorite timeless tales.

Each set of centers comes with both kindergarten and first grade centers. That way, you can easily differentiate within your classroom anytime throughout the year. Plus, every activity comes with a recording sheet and illustrated “I Can” card. This helps to increase student independence and accountability during centers time.

Your Favorite Traditional Tales Centers for Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Many of the activity types that I shared in this post are used across different story themes, making the format of the centers familiar for your students. This helps them complete these activities more independently during your daily rotations!

Just click below to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle of traditional tales centers!

Or, you can click below for the individual timeless tales:

Traditional Tales Centers for K-! Students

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Deedee Wills

My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!

Hi, I'm DeedeE.

My teaching career allowed me to experience teaching in different classroom environments and grades. My heart belongs to early childhood education. My job is to make teaching FUN, ENGAGING, and EASIER. Welcome!
 

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