Category: Stories, Songs, Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies (Sweet Dreams)

M favourite chapter books to spin some wonderful tales are as follows (these are all real gems!):

If your children are young and you find any of these in Op shops, eBay and bookstores, keep them in your treasure chest, they will be a gift one day! I do not know who enjoys the following books more, my children or me! With the old classics, words may need changing at times, olden day referrals for sex and race!

My children’s favourites, for the younger child four onwards:

My all time favourite is Teddy Robinson Stories – Joan G Robinson

Milly Molly Mandy stories – Joyce Lankester Brisley

Mr Galliano’s Circus series – Enid Blyton

The Children of Cherry Tree and Willow Tree Farm books – Enid Blyton

Naughty Amelia Jane – Enid Blyton

Billy-Bob Tales – Enid Blyton

My Naughty Little Sister series – Dorothy Edwards

Mrs Pepperpot series –Alf Proyson

A good ‘Nursery Story and Rhyme’ book with all the classic tales: Three little Pigs, Billy Goats Gruff etc… is essential reading to your child!

I found The Faraway Tree series (Enid Blyton) suitable for my children from around seven. They enjoyed these simpler Enid Blyton books first. Now is the time for classic Fairytales too!

For the older child (nine plus):

All Laura Ingalls Wilder – Little House on the Prairie series

Mary Poppins – PL Travers

Charlotte’s Web – EB White

Black Beauty – Anna Sewell

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl

Bedknob and Broomstick – Mary Norton (I avoided the cannibal part, creatively changed the words a little!).

The Famous Five series (my son reads one a day – it may be a boy thing!).

Heidi – Johanna Spyri

The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

Snuggle with a tale (especially if returning from an outing, playgroup, kinder, school or after a busy morning playing). Happy reading!

Classic Tales are wonderful gifts for children. Tell ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’ to your child/ren this winter and then make porridge for breakfast! Place around three different sized bowls on your table and invite teddy bears. This game helps children to eat porridge! “Quick we better try some while the bears are taking their walk…”

 Unsure of the story, here it is….

 Once upon a time there lived three bears, Papa bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. They lived in a little cottage deep in the forest. One morning Mama Bear was serving porridge from a steaming pot. She put porridge into Papa bear’s big bowl, then her own middle sized bowl and into Baby bear’s tiny bowl. “Mama, this porridge is too hot!” cried Baby bear, holding his spoon mid-air. “Yes, indeed” said Mama Bear, “We must go for a walk in the forest while our porridge cools”. The bear family headed out for a walk.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the forest lived a girl named Goldilocks.  “Goldilocks” said her mother. “Please go into the woods and pick some flowers”. So Goldilocks gathered her basket and started down the path. Her mother called after her, “Don’t go too far and don’t get lost”. She went into the forest to gather flowers for her mother. She went further and further off the path as she found lovely flowers of all kinds, she was lost. Pretty soon, she came upon a little cottage. She knocked and, when no one answered, she slowly turned the door knob, the door opened and she quietly walked in.

Once inside Goldilocks smelt something wonderful, “Mmmm, porridge with honey” she thought. At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry.  She tasted the porridge from the first bowl. “No one will mind if I taste a little” Goldilocks thought. She tried the great big bowl. “This porridge is too hot!” she exclaimed. So, she tasted the porridge from the second middle sized bowl. “This porridge is too cold,” she said. So, she tasted the last tiny bowl of porridge.”Ahhh, this porridge is just right,” Goldilocks thought happily and she ate it all up. “I am so full I must sit down!” said Goldilocks.

In the next room there were three chairs: one great big chair, one middle sized chair and one tiny little chair. Goldilocks sat in the first chair. “This chair is too big!” she exclaimed. Her feet wouldn’t touch the ground! So she sat in the second, middle sized chair. “This chair is too soft!” she exclaimed as she struggled out of the cushion. So she tried the last and smallest chair.

“Ahhh, this chair is just right,” she sighed.  But just as she settled down into the chair to rest, it broke into pieces!

Goldilocks was very tired by this time, so she went upstairs. In the bedroom there were three beds all in a row, one great big bed, one middle sized bed and one tiny little bed. She lay down in the first great big bed, but it was too hard. Then she lay in the second bed, but it was too soft. Then she lay down in the third small bed and it was just right.  Goldilocks fell asleep.

Meanwhile, the bears that owned the little cottage were heading home, after fishing their morning walk. As she Goldilocks was sleeping, the three bears came home. The door was still open, and in the kitchen the three bears looked around.

“Someone’s been eating my porridge,” said Papa bear.

“Someone’s been eating my porridge,” said Mama bear.

“Someone’s been eating my porridge and they ate it all up!” cried the Baby bear.

 They went into the next room.

“Someone’s been sitting in my chair,” said Papa bear.

“Someone’s been sitting in my chair,” said the Mama bear.

“Someone’s been sitting in my chair and they’ve broken it all to pieces,” cried Baby bear.

They went upstairs. Papa bear said, “Someone’s been sleeping in my bed,”

“Someone’s been sleeping in my bed, too” said the Mama bear.

“Someone’s been sleeping in my bed and she’s still there!” exclaimed Baby bear.

Just then, Goldilocks woke up and saw the three bears staring down at her.  And she jumped up and ran out of the room.  Goldilocks ran down the stairs, opened the door, and ran all the way home, never to be seen by the Bear family again!

This is a wonderful humorous tale, while cooking porridge with your child remember to say “Stop, little pot, stop!”

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived alone with her mother in a small house near a big forest. They were poor and had nothing left to eat. One day the little girl went into the forest to look for berries. She met an old woman, who knew about her troubles, and gave her a little cooking pot. The old woman told the girl that it was a magic pot that would cook porridge whenever it heard the words ‘Cook, little pot, cook’. When there was enough porridge in the pot, the words ‘Stop, little pot, stop’ would make the pot stop cooking porridge.

The little girl took the magic pot home. She and her mother were no longer hungry because they ate porridge as often as they wished. One day the little girl went out for the day. When she had gone her mother decided she was hungry for a bowl of porridge. She said, ‘Cook, little pot, cook’ and the pot started to cook porridge. The pot filled with porridge and the woman wanted to stop it cooking any more, but she had forgotten the right words.

She said, ‘No more now little pot’ but it kept making porridge and spilled over the edge of the pot. She said, ‘That’s it, little pot, stop.’ But the porridge started to overflow from the pot and spilt down the table legs. ‘Stop it!’ she cried, but the porridge overflowed onto the floor and filled the kitchen. “Enough, enough!” the mother cried. It poured out into garden and down the street and into the next house. Then it poured through every street in the town and no one knew how to stop it. People came with buckets and pots to scoop up the porridge but as fast as they did, more porridge filled the streets.

At last the little girl came back into the village and shouted ‘Stop, little pot, stop!’ and the pot stopped cooking. But for a while, anyone who came into town had to eat their way there.

Start a family tradition of ‘storytelling’; it is a precious gift for your children! First choose your family character, ours is ‘Bingo’ the dog, it could be ‘Fluffy’ the rabbit or ‘Arnold’ the Owl etc Start to tell a tale at bedtime, or other times of the day/week. Start a story and off you go (it is like singing – children like any effort!). Story telling is a useful tool if a child is hurt; tell a tale of how ‘Bingo’ felt better. Also, if a lesson is being learnt, ‘how bingo learnt to share with a doggy timer!’

Family stories become really useful on long walks and car journeys, you will not hear “Are we there yet?”, so frequently! Don’t forget, “When I was a little girl…” stories. Let your children know that you made the same mistakes as a child, and how you learnt lessons. “When you were a baby…” stories are loved by all children too. Share their funny and loving tales; surround them with kind words of their life. The tradition of storytelling is being lost in our fast paced, technological world. It is free, magical and definitely warms the hearts of children. Story telling magic weaves its way into the family memories for a long time.

This summer, take many opportunities to play boat rides on laps, holding hands and rowing down the stream together (what fun!).

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream,

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream!