Three Little Pigs Building Challenge

Activity Overview

Each week we will post a new building challenge to help students expand their thinking and open them up to new ways to conceptualize construction. This week's challenge will be to create your own version of the houses from The Three Little Pigs. To refresh your memory of this beloved story, the first pig built a straw house, the second pig built a house of sticks, the third pig built her house out of bricks. This activity not only addresses creativity and design, but also is a comparison study between materials and size.

What You Need

• Materials around the house - pillows, blankets, chairs, Legos, MagnaTiles or blocks

Steps

1. Make a plan for what you want to build and what materials you will use.

2. Find an open space to create.

3. Use your pig homes to practice storytelling through dramatic play.

Guiding Questions

• How big do you want each house to be?

• How can we make this house sturdy?

• What shapes can we use to build this house?

• What does it look like around the pigs' houses? Are they in the city? In the forest?

Extensions

• If using tabletop materials, make characters out of clay or playdough, or use toy animals or figures to retell the story.

• If using person-sized materials, roleplay as the characters and act out the story.

• Change the story and make it your own!

• Take turns being the big bad wolf – young children are deeply interested in understanding the story from the perspective of both the hero and the villain.

• Draw a picture of the structures you have created, or take pictures and write out the story.