Cumulative tales, sometimes referred to as chain tales, have a simple story line and built upon a series of events. These stories can be identified by repetition in the story, playful rhythm, and nonsensical events. Below are just a few examples of the wide variety of cumulative tales and activities.
Henny Penny
"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" Join Henny Penny as she rushes to alert the king. Retold by Paul Galdone, children will enjoy the quirky characters in a lively tongue-twisty tale. Add Henny Penny to your story time with a few delightful activities from Making Learning Fun.
The Cat and the Mouse
This traditional tale features many characters across many cultures such as the cat, mouse, farmer, cow, and dog. This story builds on the unfortunate event of a cat biting the tail off a mouse and the many things the mouse must collect to get his tail back.
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The Gingerbread Man
It's not everyday sweet treats jump off the cookie sheet and run away. This cumulative tale enjoys rhythmic repetition and is perfect for beginning readers as they practice reading aloud.
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Me and Annie McPhee
This cast of colorful characters is just the ticket when looking for resources to teach rhyming, not only at the end, but within sentences. Alliteration galore, this delightful book is sure to please.
This online resource by skyfall.com lets children build a gingerbread boy or girl while learning shapes and colors.
DLTK's Growing Together's website has a variety of resources from cutouts to create books, felt boards, or puppets. Also, find a free download to sequencing cards to create a storyboard or card game.
Print the sections of this folktale into scripts and during story time, engage caregivers and children as they become the mouse, cat, cow, farmer, butcher, and baker. Prepare two different endings to this story and lay them face down for the 'mouse' to discover what will become of its tail.
PALS Virginia has a plethora of rhyming resources to add to your storytime or classroom. Add this to your teaching toolbox with fun games like Go Fish. Create picture cards from the rhymes in the story. Children will match rhymes like dog and frog or have to go fishing!
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Activities include play dough mats, lacing cards, and felt board patterns. Use the story retelling pieces to create puppets and make Henny Penny come to life!
Run, run, run as fast as you can. You’ll never catch me, I’m the gingerbread man."
~ The Gingerbread Man