Traditional Literature

 

Fairy tales, also known as wonder tales or märchen (from the German), are a sub-genre of folktales involving magical, fantastic or wonderful episodes, characters, events, or symbols. Like all folktales they are narratives that are not believed to be true (fictional stories), often in timeless settings (once upon a time) in generic, unspecified places (the woods), with one-dimensional characters (completely good or bad). They function to entertain, inspire, and enlighten us. In these episodic narratives the main characters are usually humans who often follow a typical pattern (as in a heroic quest) that is resolved partly by magic. The fact that these wonder tales still appeal to us attests to their richness and effectiveness as symbolic (artistic) communication.  

Folktales are often discussed as one of the three principle genres of folk narrative (first categorized by the Grimm brothers in the 19th century). The other two principle genres are myths and legends.

Alfy's Picks for Fairy Tales - Thematic Unit. Don't forget to check out the different tabs here for an assortment of activities, lesson plans, etc.

American Fairy Tales - By L. Frank Baum....you have twelve from which to choose.

Andersen Fairy Tales - Animated Flash Fairy Tales....Cool!!!

Beauty and the Beast - Tale activity.

Cinderella Around the World - A thematic Internet project....there's a lot of activities here!! Just click on Activities.

Cinderella Around the World - Links page.....a lot of good resources here.

Cinderella Around the World - Script for a play! Cool!  Turn the sound down!

Cinderella, Cinderella, Cinderella - WebQuest for primary students.

Cinderella Goes to School - Curriculum article from Education World.

Cinderella Stories - From the Children's Literature Web Guide....different versions of the story and also some teaching ideas.

Cinderella - Thematic unit.

Cinderella - Unit plan.

Classic Children's Stories - Categorized by author.

Fairy and Folk Tales - Hotlist from KidsKonnect.

Fairy Tale Crafts - Wow, what a great page of craft links.

Fairy Tale Ideas - Teacher-submitted ideas.

Fairy Tale Links - To lesson plans and activities.

Fairy Tales and Fables - Hotlist

Fairy Tales - From Alfy........online stories.

Fairy Tales - From Scholastic....Classroom activities and a tool to publish your students' work online.

Fairy Tales - Hotlist of links.

Fairy Tales - Another hotlist.

Fairy Tales - Lesson plan.

Fairy Tales of Hans Christain Andersen - Text only....127 tales.

Fairy Tales Unit - Ideas and activities.

Fairy Tales - Theme unit from ABC Teach.

Fairy Tales - Thematic unit from Everything Preschool.

Fairy Tales - Theme from Perpetual Preschool.

Fairy Tales - WebQuest 

Fairy Tale WebQuest for the Academically Gifted - For Grade 4.

First Fairy Tales - Crafts and Activities for Preschool.

Fractured Fairy Tales - Language Arts activity.

Going Online with Cinderella - There's pages for the kids and also pages for the teachers.

Grimm Brothers - From National Geographic....12 unvarnished tales.

Grimm Fairy Tales - Animated Flash Fairy Tales....Cool stuff!

Grimm's Fairy Tales - This online book contains 209 tales.

Handsome and Dreadful - Fractured version of Hansel and Gretel.

Hawaiian Fairy Tales - Small collection.

Integrated Thematic Unit - Cinderella activities.

Kay Vandergrift's Snow White Pages - Several good resources here.

KidsStuff Canada - This site has a lot of good resources. Check out the coloring pages.

Little Red Riding Hood - WebQuest

Magical Fairytale Moments - WebQuest

Multicultural Cinderella - WebQuest 

Multicultural Cinderella Folk Tales - WebQuest for grades 4-6.

Old Time Fairy Tales - Out of copyright books.

Once Upon a Time - Theme page.

Ongoing Tales - Collection of old-time fairy tales.

Peter Rabbit & the Tortoise and the Hare - Web activity

Romanian Fairy Tales - A small collection.

Russian Fairy Tales - A collection.

Russian Fairy Tales II - A collection....accompanied by audio. (Requires Real Player)

Snow White Links - Hotlist

Stories, Folklore, and Fairy Tales Theme - Another great hotlist.

Tales Activities - The activities listed are mostly language arts oriented. They are ready to use for teachers or students.

The Little Mermaid - Text only.

The Princess and the Pea - Online text.

The Realm of Fairy Tales - WebQuest

The SurLaLune Fairy Tale Page - "A portal to the realm of fairy tale and folklore studies featuring annotated fairy tales."

The Three Little Pigs - Thematic unit.

The Three Little Pigs - Theme page.

The True Story of .......... - Online lesson plan

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs - Author (Jon Scieszka) information and classroom activities.

Trolls - Everything you would want to know about trolls!

Wendy's World of Stories for Children - Includes fairy tales, folktales, Aesop's fables, and campfire stories.

Whootie Owl's Stories to Grow By - Folk and Fairy Tales from around the World.

Will the Real Cinderella Please Stand Up? - Online Unit


Updated July 27, 2005
Jerrie S. Cheek @ Kennesaw State University


Aesop's Fables - This is a really great collection! (665+ fables)