Author: becky

Magic Porridge

The Magic Porridge Pot This is the story of two sisters who are entrusted with a magic porridge pot – lots of stirring and gloopy golden porridge! Here are a few ideas for activities, linked to this story, in lockdown in Becky’s house we really went to town with these porridge based activities, and the porridge […]

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The Magic Paintbrush

It’s week one of our Spring 2022 term, and we’re delighted to be telling a story that’s a brand new one to our Beanstalk Arts canon, the magical Chinese folktale ‘the Magic Paintbrush’. We’re going to be leading live, interactive Zoom classes all this week, and you can book your spot in here, so you […]

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Brolga the Dancer

Brolga the Dancer This Dreamtime myth is one of our favourite stories at Beanstalk. This beautiful and positive Dreamtime myth contains a message of strength and resilience which can inspire us all when things get tough. This is a glorious tale of a girl who only wanted to dance, and when faced with a huge […]

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Anansi and the Spicy Beans

https://youtu.be/XPNEdpe6ulE Anansi the Spider and the Spicy Beans This week we’re doing a bit more web spinning and digging in the garden whilst finding out why spiders don’t have hair with the tale of Anansi the Spider and the spicy beans… Here are a few ideas linked to the tale! Play:Anansi goes to help his […]

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How the Rabbit got long ears…

Aaah it’s a goodie this week, as in our classes we’ll be hauling the bunny rabbit out of the ice, as we find out why she has such long ears and a short tail (and why she remains absolutely fabulous either way!). You can listen to our podcast version above, and here are a few […]

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Hilda the Hedgehog

Hilda the Hedgehog  https://youtu.be/Z09w58usCBQ W/C: 1st November This week in our classes, we have the tale of a young Hedgehog who refuses to listen to her family when they tell her it’s time for hibernation; instead of sleeping, she heads off on an adventure in the woodland (turns out her mum is right in the […]

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The Stonecutter’s Wish

Stonecutter’s Wishes This week the wonderful Martha has been researching some ideas and activities linked to the story in classes! This is a Japanese folktale about a humble stonecutter who seeks to gain riches and power, but later learns what it takes to be truly happy with the help of the mountain spirit…  Play: The […]

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Derek the Dragon – Story Ideas

Derek the Dragon – 4th – 8th Oct 2021 This week’s story is an original Beanstalk Arts tale, with a story of friendship between two unlikely characters –  the book loving Prince Hanif, and the vegetarian dragon, Derek! Hanif was always more interested in dusty old magic books than jousting and polishing his armour, but […]

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Billy Goats Gruff

The Billy Goats Gruff This week for our Beanstalk Arts classes we’ll be trip trapping over the bridge, and watching out for the troll! I love telling this story as we can work on piano, mezzo forte and fortissimo ‘trip traps’ for the different sized goats, and also there’s a lot of fun to be […]

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The Musicians of Bremen

The Musicians of Bremen – Story Ideas After a joyful start to term climbing the beanstalk with Jack last week, we’re kicking off our musical storytelling this week tomorrow with a trip over to Germany! We’ll have the chance for animal noises galore with the chart-topping band (perhaps!), the Musicians of Bremen. There’s not much […]

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