# Thumbelina Small World Story Scene
> Build a Thumbelina play scene in a wooden crate with construction paper, real garden flowers, leaves and play dough characters, then act out the story. Come back the next day to set up the toad kidnap scene and retell the whole tale.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/thumbelina/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: low
- Time: prep 15 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group · one batch serves about 1 kids
- Skills: storytelling, story-retelling, vocabulary, critical-thinking, imaginative-play, fine-motor
- Cautions: wheat-gluten, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 1 piece Thumbelina picture book
- 1 piece Small wooden crate
- 1 sheet Green construction paper
- 1 sheet Blue construction paper
- Play dough
- 1 piece Small doll to be Thumbelina
- Real flowers, including a big one and one with a long stalk
- Small leaves (household)
- 2 piece Toy toads or frogs (a mom and a son)

## Substitutions
- Instead of toy toads: Toy frogs (What the author used, because she didn't have toads.)
- Instead of play dough: A real shell for Thumbelina's bed (The story calls for a shell bed. We couldn't find one, so we made the bed from play dough.)

## Safety
- Mini dolls, small toy figures and tiny play dough pieces are choking hazards. Supervise closely with children who still mouth things.
- Some garden flowers and leaves can irritate skin or be harmful if mouthed. Check that the plants you pick are safe, keep them out of mouths, and wash hands after play.
- Most play dough contains wheat. Use a gluten-free dough for children with wheat or gluten allergies.

## Steps
1. Read Thumbelina together.
2. Take the book with you and collect things for the scene: a big flower for her house, a small leaf for her blanket, and something for her bed.
3. Lay green construction paper in the wooden crate for grass.
4. Look at the book's pictures and model the missing pieces from play dough: a bed, a worm friend, a toadstool and a tiny hat.
5. Stand a long-stalked flower up in play dough as Thumbelina's chair, and decorate her house with more flowers.
6. Put Thumbelina in her scene and play. It's fine to make up a brand-new story.
7. Next day: lay blue paper for water and green paper for land in the crate, then add the toads, Thumbelina, flowers and play dough.
8. Act out the mom toad swimming by to take Thumbelina to her son, then the mom and son rejoicing over the new bride.
9. Retell the real story all the way to the end.

## Tips
- She didn't want to follow the story and made up her own. I just left her to have fun with a new story. Following the real one is a lesson for another time, not when she is playing her heart out.
- When the interest doesn't wear off, come back the next day and set up the next part of the story. The first 2 scenes got so much play over two days.
- Ask a lot of "what if" questions to encourage critical thinking. If she is up for it, she will answer. I don't push it.
- No shell for the bed? We fashioned one out of play dough.
- The flowers in the photos are agapanthus, which a reader noted thrive even without a lot of water. (from readers)

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

Of all the princess type fairy tales my daughter requests me to read to her, this is the only one I can read without rolling my eyes a million times. Really, this book is perfect for us. Since we are into creating play scenes, setting up a story scene came naturally. Out of a whim, I asked Big A if she wanted to make a play scene. She gave out an excited “ Yes”. I was happy that we both were on the same page with this one.. We took our book with us and went around collecting things needed for the set up.

1. Big flower for Thumbelina's house.
2. Small leaf for her blanket.
3. Shell of some sort for her bed. We couldn't find any shell. So we fashioned a bed out of play dough.
4. Her friend – worm (again from play dough).

We used our play dough for her wormy friend even though Big A was keen on catching a real one to use it in the play scene. Using our wooden crate (Melissa and Doug) and some construction paper for grass, Big A set up Thumbelina ( Mini Lalaloopsy doll). She looked at the picture; fashioned her toad stool and worm by herself, complete with a tiny hat for Thumbelina. All this with play dough. She also used a flower (along with its long stalk) from the garden for Thumbelina's chair. The flower was propped up with play dough also served as Thumbeliena's chair. We decorated her house with more real flowers.

 She did not want to follow along the story but actually made up her own . I just left her to have fun with a new story and didn’t push her into following along the real one. A lesson later for another time; not when she is playing her heart out with her new set up. Once tons of new characters and imaginations were played with, she was done with the current play theme and ran off in another direction.. But the interest didn’t wear off. We came back the next day and continued with the next part of the story. ****"The Big OL’ Toad Kidnap".****

1. A blue construction paper for water, green for the land and collected all the stuff by herself.
2. 2 toads ( 1 mom and 1 son) however all we had were frogs
3. Thumbelina.
4. The same wooden crate , flowers and play dough.

She started off with a scene where the mom is swimming by to take the poor girl to her son. Next scene , the mom- son duo are rejoicing the newly found bride.

 Once the toad play was set up, we retold the real story all the way till the end. But she was not too keen setting up the next scene.

 I think the first 2 scenes got so much play for two days I’m happy. I’m thrilled that she can also retell the entire story. May be next time, we will just the do the entire story in one scene/box like **[**The Imagination Tree**](https://theimaginationtree.com/little-red-riding-hood-story-box/)**. Her stuff is too cute.

### **What I think Big A learned**

She learned to model things by looking at pictures – next step (far away though) is to make/create/build things from memory. Vocabulary improvement via story building skills . Encourage critical thinking ( I ask a lot of “what if” questions. If she is up for it, she will answer. I don’t push it though. Shared on [Kids Co-op](http://www.tamingthegoblin.com/) Notimeforflashcards [Made by little hands MOndays](https://www.funlittles.com/thumbelina/) [Sunday Showcase](http://www.inspirationlaboratories.com) Craftsy Moms Share [Kids Get Crafty](http://www.redtedart.com/) [It's Playtime](http://www.handsonaswegrow.com)