Fiona, of Teachers Telling Tales, has taught in the UK and international schools, trained teachers, worked as environmental educator, in a range of learning support roles and she is currently a tutor.
Through Teachers Telling Tales she aspires to share this experience through creating high quality and affordable resources. While most are targeted at the primary age range, the aim is to provide versatile and adaptable resources to suit a range of ages and abilities.
Fiona, of Teachers Telling Tales, has taught in the UK and international schools, trained teachers, worked as environmental educator, in a range of learning support roles and she is currently a tutor.
Through Teachers Telling Tales she aspires to share this experience through creating high quality and affordable resources. While most are targeted at the primary age range, the aim is to provide versatile and adaptable resources to suit a range of ages and abilities.
Inspired by the magic mirror from Snow White that tells the truth about characters, these templates can be used as frames for portraits.
Heroes and villains are key feature of fairy tales. Characters tend to be represented in black and white terms, purely good or evil. This makes fairy tales a great vehicle for exploring character traits and discussing good and bad deeds. Children can decide who they think is the meanest (or kindest) fairy tale character and draw them. Depending on their age/developmental stage they can ‘show and tell’ their thoughts, perhaps scribed by an adult or write a few sentences to explain their choice. Some children may prefer to write in the frame instead of drawing.
The pack contains two colour images (useful for discussion/display/modelling) and six black and white versions for drawings of the ‘kindest’ and ‘meanest’ of them all. There are variations on the wording, for example, the ‘biggest villain’ and ‘most heroic’.
Did you know in the Disney film the evil queen says “Magic mirror†not “Mirror, mirror� There is a magic mirror version too, in case you prefer this!
This resource is part of a ‘Once upon a crime’ series by Teachers Telling Tales. The activity is one of 12 in a Fairy Tale Forensics unit of study presentation which includes a police line-up of characters that could be used as a stimulus for mirror portraits. The Mug Shots resource would also complement this activity. You can ‘bundle and save’ on this series.
A giant collection of quizzes, games and activities on favourite fairy tales, characters and quotes. Perfect to use to introduce a fairytale topic, during the study and to and conclude / assess. The fun speech activities are a great stimulus for drama and discussion. Includes speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
A selection of fun fairytale activities to apply speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Start off with a Quotes Quiz to see how well your students know traditional tales. Move on to a read, match and colour activity. Apply what they have learned with filling in speech bubbles with familiar sayings or imaginative writing. Play Guess Who games to review the topic.
A great pack to stimulate discussion about characters and learn about speech in stories.
(Formerly called Literacy Skills Pack) Updated May 2025 with additional pack (Guess Who) and improved updated resources).
An activity for learning about fairy tales and famous quotes from well-known characters. Can children read the quote and match it to the correct character?
8 characters and corresponding quotes, choice of four or eight to a sheet to adjust difficulty level.
Now features colour and outline versions.
Can be enlarged and used for teacher modelling or group/class activity.
This activity is also useful as an assessment of how well students know fairy tales, an adult can support with reading.
This resource complements the ‘Once Said in a Fairytale’ collection available in the Teachers Telling Tales tes shop.
Updated May 2025
A fun fairy tale quiz in a presentation format. There are 3 rounds each with six questions.
Who said it? Given a famous quote, guess the character and story.
Complete the quote.
Riddles - guess who, Fairytale Folk in their own words.
This presentation can be used as a ‘knowledge harvest’ to assess prior knowledge at the start of a Fairy Tales topic and/or learning at the end of a unit of study. It can be a stimulus for discussion and a springboard for learning about characters, drama and speech in any kind of story. Of course, it can also be just for fun!
Notes with suggested tiebreaker/advanced questions and discussion points are included.
This presentation perfectly complements other Teachers Telling Tales ‘Once said in a Fairytale’ resources. It is useful as an introduction to the other games and activities in the series and can be purchased as part of a bundle.
A versatile resource to familiarise children with fairytale characters and favourite quotes through a range of games using the dominoes (ideas and instructions included in the pack). Can also be used as loop cards for a whole class activity.
18 dominoes with a colourful character on one side and a quote on the other.
Great for fairy tales or traditional tales units of study and learning about speech.
Updated may 2025 with two extra characters, higher resolution images and improved guide.
These card games are a fantastic way for children to become familiar with classic stories, characters and speech. 18 colourful fairy tale / traditional tale character cards, 18 corresponding quote cards and 18 book cards to print and play with. A range of games ideas and instructions are included.
Through playing games students learn in a fun way and also practise their social skills.
Updated May 2025: extra characters and quotes added, books added. Higher resolution images, more child-friendly fonts, improved guide.
Favourite fairy tale character frames with speech bubbles, 19 with single character and speech bubble, and 9 dialogue frames with two characters. Single character frames can of course be linked with others to create conversation between different characters.
Great for students to demonstrate their knowledge of well-known stories by retelling famous quotes. Also useful as creative writing activity through encouraging children to use their imagination to make up speech of their own.
Completed frames can be used to create a class book or display.
Differentiation:
for younger/less able students an adult can scribe
older/more able students can create dialogue, conversation or follow up with converting to text using speech marks.
Further ‘Once said in a Fairytale’ resources are available in the Teachers Telling Tales tes shop and this item can also be purchased as part of a bundle.
Updated May 2025 with additional characters and higher resolution images. Improved guide.
A fun way to familiarise children with favourite fairy tale characters and well known quotes.
Contains 6 colour-coded Bingo boards featuring characters from well-known fairy tales and cards with quotes as clues.
Fairy tales are a wonderful means to learn about speech in stories. Children love to join in with repeated phrases using different voices. This game is a great way to introduce or consolidate this. The quote cards can also be used for other guessing games.
Further ‘Once said in a Fairytale’ resources are available in the Teachers Telling Tales tes shop and this game can also be purchased as part of a bundle.
Updated May 2025 with additional characters, 2 extra boards and more child-friendly font.
Fairy tales and traditional tales are a great way to learn about speech in stories. Children love to join in with repeated phrases using different voices developing their language and drama skills.
This Bingo game is a fun way to familiarise children with fairy tale characters and favourite quotes. Contains 6 colour-coded Bingo boards featuring characters from well-known fairy tales and sets of cards for different ways to play including character names, story titles and quotes. A resource guide with instructions is included in the pack.
Ideal for younger children as boards have nine squares, including one ‘free’ space in the centre.
Great for learning about fairy tales, traditional tales, speech, game playing and social skills.
There are further ‘Once said in a fairytale’ resources available in the Teachers Telling Tales shop and this game pack can be purchased as part of a bundle.
Updated May 2025 with additional chgaracters and two additional boards.
A lesson plan on hand washing. Perfect for Global Handwashing Day, October 15th annually.
Glitter Germs activity, Card games, songs, quiz and teacher / facilitator’s notes. Links to resources such as posters and card games.
In Word format for easy editing. Differentiated activities for lower and upper primary school children.
Introduce Pirates vocabulary and consolidate positional language through Spot-the-Difference activity and draw and colour activity (with text or pictorial instructions). Great for differing abilities, students with EAL. Consolidate vocabulary with anagrams worksheet. Deepen thinking skills with pirate themed sudoku, cut and paste the pictures with three levels of challenge. Fun mazes with jokes to keep early finishers engaged.
Some children can be anxious when they feel sick or are hurt and need to visit the school nurse. A classroom visit from the nurse to demonstrate what he/she does can help to overcome this. There are 8 editable common scenarios here to role play with class toys or teddies. For example, taking temperature, using a hot water bottle or ice pack, putting on a plaster.
If children are still anxious, especially about going to the ‘sick room’ they could take a teddy to visit the nurse with a scenario card for a further demonstration. A hospital or doctor role play area with the teddies is a good follow up to this lesson. For more information or ideas check out the post on teacherstellingtales.com https://teacherstellingtales.com/a-visit-from-the-nurse/
Update: new resources developed to encourage writing in the role play area, doctor’s consultation and prescription (simple pictorial sheet for early years).
/teaching-resource/doctor-s-orders-role-play-writing-frames-12248191
A simple and fun assembly idea based on Little Red Riding Hood. Performed by a Year 1 class, mostly with English as an additional language, easily adaptable. Editable Word document.
Updated March 2025 with improved play script format.
Puzzles inspired by Little Fish’s quest to find his mum in the story Hooray For Fish! by Lucy Cousins. Updated April 2025
Mazes
A colourful maze in the shape of a heart can be used to demonstrate how to solve a maze by projecting the image on an interactive whiteboard. It can also be printed and laminated for completing with dry wipe pens. A version with a white background has been added for printing.
The slightly more challenging circle maze encourages problem solving and pencil control skills. There’s lots of detail in the fish and background for colouring.
Which Way Tracing
A puzzle that involves tracing lines, developing those fine motor skills alongside problem solving. Blue and white background versions for screen / poster or photocopiable sheet.
Dot-to-dots
A picture for children to discover who Little Fish found also reinforces pencil control with the additional skill of following the numbers from 1-10. This resource is also good for colouring when complete. Two additional sheets have been added with numbers 1-15 and 1-20.
New: Jigsaws
Four fishy puzzles with 3 parts and wavy lines and six with six pieces (straight lines).
An educator’s guide has been added and the quality of images improved. All resources compiled in one pack for ease of use.
This resource can also be bought as part of a Hooray For Fish bundle.
Originally created for the IPC topic Sand and Water, this presentation is designed to stimulate children’s interest in sand, answer basic questions and inspire further exploration.
Aimed at young children it features large colourful pictures and simple text (generally one heading and a sentence on each slide, (with more detail and some links in the notes for presenters). Questions prompt children to say what they already know or think and there are a few questions for them to guess where the answer is revealed, keeping their attention.
It covers how sand is made and why it is different colours, animals that live or hide in sand, sand in the desert, how we use sand and sand art.
This presentation is great as an introduction to scientific or creative exploration of sand, for example whether dry or wet sand is best for sculpture, making patterns by sprinkling or creating texture with sand. It is also a good stimulus for researching sandy habitats and how plants and animals have adapted to living in them.
Follow up reading The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle with lots of engaging cross-curricular resources. Explore animal patterns with The Content Chameleon story, quiz and colouring activities. Develop ICT skills hiding the chameleon in the backgrounds and go on a chameleon hunt. Learn more about these fascinating creatures through a presentation with video and website links. More ideas in the resource guides provided.
A collection of resources for a unit on Flyaway Katie by Polly Dunbar. Packed with ideas, templates, and activities.
The Follow-along cards engage children with the story, develop listening skills and introduce vocabulary.
The Feelings activities include sheets to record feelings and self portraits inspired by the story to develop children’s self awareness, speaking skills and Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
Creative colouring templates (blank and patterned) of Katie and the birds are provided with display ideas.
Jar and bottle templates, blank and with lines for Word Collector activities and display. Inspired by the short story in Eren by Simon P. Clark about a man who collected words, locking the ones he liked in special jars so that no-one could ever use them again.
Ideas:
A ‘jar’ for each student to put their words in. This is a good use for those plastic food and drink containers that collect in cupboards! Foil packaging (such as crisp packets) can be used to write words with a permanent marker, or use glitter glue for sparkle. Displayed in a dark corner with fairy lights this will look really special. Whenever a new word is found it can be added to the jar which then become a resource at creative writing time.
Sensory jar creations. Add oil, water, glitter, cubes or Lego with letters on to build the words inside the jar.
A Word Collection notebook to add to and refer to.
A display of The Greatest Words. Each student adds their favourite word to a jar (2D or 3D) on the shelf.
See https://teacherstellingtales.com/word-collectors/ for more.
