Let's Play Music

Kids music activities and free printable resources | Children's music, lesson plans and teaching resources for babies and children

  • Store
    • Digital Downloads Store
    • Lesson Plans
    • eBooks
    • My Account
    • FAQs
  • Activities by Age
    • Baby
    • Toddlers
    • Preschool
    • 5+
  • Activities by Season
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Autumn
    • Halloween
    • Christmas
    • Winter
  • Activities by Type
    • First Piano Lessons
    • Weekly Lesson Plans
    • Rhythm & Percussion
    • Musical Movement
    • How To Read Music
    • Literacy
    • Classical Music for Kids
  • Free Sheet Music
    • Free Sheet Music
    • Free Printables
    • Song Directory
  • Subscribe
    • Newsletter Sign-up
    • Contact
  • About
  • My Cart
You are here: Home / Musical Activities For... / Preschoolers / Storytelling with Instruments : The 3 Little Pigs

Storytelling with Instruments : The 3 Little Pigs

March 11, 2021 By Sara Mullett 15 Comments

Everyone loves the traditional tale of The Three Little Pigs, it’s a such an old favourite that little ones never seem to tire of. But with some added percussion sound effects and catchy songs and chants to help to tell the tale, this storytelling activity is a wonderful way for kids to explore the sounds and effects of different instruments and their voices. It’s a great way to get them them really involved in the story.

To get an idea of the activity, watch the video below.

If you’re not familiar with the story, you can print my re-told version here along with free printable puppets. Alternatively you can pick them up fairly easily and cheaply. It’s a great book to add to the collection – this one here has particularly nice illustrations.

Storytelling Preparation

What you need:

Puppets and your script (print here) 
If you want, a puppet theatre as a stage 
Maracas or Shakers 
Rhythm Sticks 
Tambourine
Cymbals/saucepan lids

  • First spend a little time teaching the song which is super quick to pick up with it’s repetitive words and familiar tune.
  • Do this by singing it to them first, then taking two lines at a time, and encourage the children to join in after they have heard it a couple of times.
  • The tune is borrowed from ‘Little Brown Jug’ and there is a chime bar clip to listen to below if you’re not familiar with it.

  •  Introduce the idea of using the 3 different instruments to represent the 3 houses. Maracas for straw, wooden sticks for sticks, and a tambourine or drum for bricks.
  • Discuss some other effects like drumming the floor loudly when the houses fall down, and all practise your scary wolf voices and huffing and puffing together to prepare the children to join in at the appropriate places in the story.

Musical Storytelling with Percussion : The Three Little Pigs

  • To start off with, it is easier for everyone to do the effects and instruments together in unison. Later on you can give different children an individual job, when they know what to expect.
  • The teacher narrates the story, and the children are encouraged to join in with the singing and chanting and special effects wherever they can.

If this musical storytelling activity goes down well, check out our others in the series:

How To Make an Upcycled Puppet Theatre

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Little Red Riding Hood

Filed Under: 5+, Imaginative Play, Literacy, Musical Activities For..., Preschoolers, Rhythm & Percussion Activities Tagged With: Fairy Tales, Free Printables, Pigs, Puppets, Storytelling

Please note, the posts on Let’s Play Music include affiliate links for your convenience.

Explore our digital downloads!

  • What is The Weather Today? lesson plan What Is The Weather Today? Lesson & Activity Plan $4.99
  • Spring Lesson - activity plan Spring – Music Activity Plan
    Rated 5.00 out of 5
    $4.99
  • Pirates Ahoy! Lesson & Activity Plan $4.99

Follow Let’s Play Music

Comments

  1. Maxim Wen says

    May 22, 2019 at 7:25 am

    Thank you from Mumbai, India! 🙂

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      May 22, 2019 at 9:26 am

       Hi Maxim 👋 Have fun with the story telling!

      Reply
  2. johanna says

    October 15, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    excelent! tahnks you very much for share!!

    Reply
  3. Linda COOK says

    March 14, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    Am going to use tomorrow with Reception class in Music – sure they’ll love it. I did!!

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      March 14, 2017 at 6:37 pm

      That’s great Linda! I hope you all have lots of fun with The 3 Little Pigs! 🙂

      Reply
  4. sharon mcewen-moore says

    March 27, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    I did this with my reception class on Friday and it was wonderful!
    Thank you very much for such a lovely lesson plan.

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      March 27, 2016 at 6:59 pm

      You’re very welcome Sharon! I’m so pleased the lesson went well! I love that one too 🙂

      Reply
  5. Samy says

    October 8, 2015 at 4:41 am

    Being 12:36 am here in Argentina, Looking for materials for my 6-year-old students, I bumped into your site!
    I just couldn’t stop watching the Three Little Pigs video! I laughed and sang along! I clapped when it finished! XD you are amazing at this! Thank you very much!

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      October 8, 2015 at 7:50 am

      Thanks Samy! As you can see I’m just a big kid too! It’s important not to take yourself too seriously!(I really enjoyed making The Three Little Pigs video!) Hope your class enjoys it too!

      Reply
  6. Veronika hortt says

    August 9, 2015 at 5:08 pm

    I absolutely love this!! You have a creative gift.

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      August 9, 2015 at 7:09 pm

      Well thank you! (blush) 🙂

      Reply
  7. toba peter says

    January 17, 2015 at 11:10 am

    lovely but where can i get
    audio cd

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      January 17, 2015 at 11:34 am

      Hi Toba Peter. I just wrote this from memory, and always read it to the children, so have never used an audio CD i’m afraid. Did you see the script? You could try reading it? Or maybe look on Amazon? Hope this helps a bit!

      Reply
  8. Jan says

    August 6, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    Love this! So simple, beautiful, and imaginative

    Reply
    • Sara Mullett says

      August 7, 2014 at 12:27 pm

      Thanks Jan – the simplest ideas are often the best 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Looking for something specific?

Cart

First Piano Lessons eBook

Discover our best-selling eBook, with over 2,000 copies sold. Our First Piano Lessons is a fun introduction to piano for your little one.

View Product

Copyright Let's Play Kids Music © 2023 · Privacy Policy