One-off workshop: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is an English fairy tale, in which a family of three bears live in a house in the forest, make some porridge and go for a walk while it cools. Goldilocks enters their house and tries the porridge. Daddy Bear's porridge is too hot, Mummy Bear's is too cold, and Baby Bear's is just right, so she eats it as she sits on their chairs. Daddy and Mummy Bear's chairs are too big, and Baby Bear's chair breaks, so she goes upstairs and lies on their beds. Daddy Bear's bed is too hard, Mummy Bear's is too soft, and Baby Bear's is just right, so she falls asleep. The bears return, see their porridge has been interfered with and Baby Bear has eaten it. They also see that Baby Bear's chair is broken. Upstairs they find Goldilocks asleep on Baby Bear's bed. Goldilocks wakes and runs home.

Learning objectives

• To listen and dramatically respond to a fairy story
• To embody and link, verbs and prepositions
• To enact and interact in role (including teacher in role)
• To use drama as a context and stimulus for guided writing
• To consider behaviours and moral dilemmas

Warm-up

The children walk around the room. Whenever you call ‘Freeze’, they stand very still, until you call, ‘Walk on’.

Follow my leader/teacher in role: Introduce yourself as Goldilocks. You live with your mother beside the forest. Ask them to get into a long line and follow you through the forest. They imitate you, as you enact verbs with prepositional vocabulary, such as ‘let's walk through the gate… skip along the path… step over the stream… crawl under the branch… walk around the big tree…’. Finally, ask your class to look over to the house and ask them who lives there. Listen to their suggestions and then come out of role, explaining that it belongs to three bears who aren't at home.

Mime/sensory sentence stem

Gather with the children outside the bear's door. Using their fingers like a keyhole, what they can they spy through the door? Their sentences could all start with, ‘I can see…’. You might add, ‘I can see three bowls on a table’.

Teacher in role/conscience alley (optional)

Tell the students that you want to go inside. Mime knocking on the door, but receiving no reply. You then discover the door is unlocked and ask, ‘Shall we go inside?’. Appear undecided and seek their advice. You could ask them to form two lines and then pass each child in turn, for each to advise you whether to enter the house or not. Encourage them to explain and justify what they say. End by opening the door and telling them you can smell delicious porridge.

Active storytelling/teacher as storyteller

The class stands in a circle. Everyone will now be Goldilocks for a while, individually miming the next part of the story, as you are telling it. You can use the version provided online, or tell it your own way. They mime eating from three bowls, finishing Baby Bear's porridge, sitting on each chair, and breaking Baby Bear's.

Teacher in role

‘Oh dear! What should I do about this broken chair?’ Listen to their suggestions but leave it broken. Invite them to mime climbing 20 stairs with you, while counting from one to 20 out loud.

Teacher as storyteller

Everyone stands in a space and mimes the next part of the story as you tell it, i.e. Goldilocks tries the three beds and falls asleep on Baby Bear's. They should keep their eyes closed once Goldilocks is ‘asleep’ and not open them until she wakes. Continue telling the story, to the point at which Goldilocks awakes. Instead, you could make sound effects and speak as each bear finds the open door to discover some porridge eaten and the chair broken.

Freeze frame/thought tracking

Once Goldilocks wakes and starts to flee, call out, ‘freeze’. Ask the students what Goldilocks is feeling and thinking at this moment.

Hot-seating/teacher in role

Tell them Goldilocks ran home, thought about her behaviour and felt unhappy about it. In role as Goldilocks, seek their help and advice. How might you go about apologising to the bears?

Writing in role

Students could help you draft a letter of apology.

Resources

Read the full story below.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Goldilocks.  She had long, golden, curly hair.  She lived with her mother at the edge of a big, dark forest.  Goldilocks’ mother often told her, that she must never go into the forest alone. 

Early one morning, Goldilocks was playing in her garden, when she suddenly saw a very colourful bird, sitting on a high branch.  She had never seen a bird like this before.  Suddenly, it opened its lovely wings and flew towards the forest. Goldilocks ran after the bird and was soon lost in the forest.  She could not see the bird anymore and she could not see her house either.

Goldilocks walked for a while and was soon tired and hungry.  Then, she saw a house.  She decided to knock on the door, ‘Knock, knock, knock!’  Nobody came.  She knocked again, louder, ‘Knock, knock, KNOCK!’  Still, nobody came. She knocked very loudly, ‘KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!’  Goldilocks turned the handle of the door slowly.  To her surprise, the door opened. Whoever lived here, had gone out and had not locked their door.

Goldilocks did not know that a family of bears lived in this house, Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear.  Mummy Bear had made some porridge for their breakfast.  The bears had gone for a walk, while they waited for their porridge to cool down. 

Goldilocks went inside the house.  She was very hungry and could smell the porridge. She saw three bowls of porridge on the kitchen table.  She went to the biggest bowl, picked up a spoon and tried Daddy Bear’s porridge. ‘Ouch!’ yelled Goldilocks, ‘This porridge is too hot’.  Then she tasted Mummy Bear’s porridge, ‘Yuk!’ she said, ‘This porridge is too cold’.  Finally, she tried Baby Bear’s porridge. ‘Yummy!’ she said, ‘This porridge is perfect,’ and she gobbled it all up.

Goldilocks was not hungry anymore, but she was still tired. She saw three chairs in the next room.  First, she sat on Daddy Bear’s chair, ‘This chair is much too big for me, ’she moaned.  Next, she sat on Mummy Bear’s chair. ‘Oh no!’ she whined, ‘This chair is also too big’.  Finally, she sat on Baby Bear’s chair. ‘This chair is just right for me,’ she said.  Suddenly, there was a crack and a crash, as Baby Bear’s chair broke into pieces.    

‘Oh well,’ thought Goldilocks. ‘I will just go and find a bed instead’.  She climbed up the steep stairs, slowly.  She found three beds upstairs.  First, she lay down on Daddy Bear’s bed, ‘Ouch! This bed is too hard,’ she moaned.  Then she tried Mummy Bear’s Bed, ‘This bed is too soft,’ she complained.  Finally, she lay down on Baby Bear’s bed. ‘This bed is perfect for me,’ she yawned and soon was fast asleep.

The three hungry bears came home. They were looking forward to eating their porridge.  They saw that the door of the house was open. ‘That is odd’, said Daddy Bear. ‘I know that I shut that door when we left the house.’  

The three bears went into the kitchen. ‘Someone has been eating my porridge,’ grumbled Daddy Bear.  ‘And someone has been eating my porridge too’, gasped Mummy Bear’.   Then Baby Bear yelled, ‘Someone has eaten ALL my porridge’.  He felt angry and a bit frightened.  

Next, the bears went into their living room.  ‘I think someone has been sitting in my chair’, said Daddy Bear.  Mummy Bear whispered, ‘I think someone has been sitting in my chair too. The cushion has been moved’.  Then Baby Bear wailed, ‘Someone has broken my chair’. 

Daddy Bear went upstairs.  Mummy Bear and Baby Bear followed him.  ‘Someone has been lying on my bed’, growled Daddy Bear. ‘Someone has been lying on my bed too,’ panted Mummy Bear.  Then Baby Bear shouted, ‘Someone is asleep on my bed!’  Goldilocks suddenly woke up.  She saw the three bears and was very frightened. She jumped straight off the bed, rushed down the stairs, dashed through the door, fled through the forest, and ran all the way home. 

  – Patrice Baldwin (June 2023)