The house of the wicked witch plays a vital role for children to understand the story of Hansel and Gretel, as it was the main way that the witch was able to lure the two children. To make storytelling better, you can build a replica of the house of the wicked witch together with your students. Use this replica while telling the story or to help children imagine how alluring a house made of pastry and cake is. Prepare a small cardboard box, a sheet of cardboard for the roof, glue, a craft knife, a pencil, tiny pebbles, some art paper, some bond paper and a tiny box. Use the box and the sheet of cardboard to create the house, cutting out windows and a door to make it more realistic. Finally, ask your preschoolers to draw any type of pastry or cake they want on art paper and help them cut it when done. Ask your students to glue all the “food” they created to finish the house of the wicked witch.
For this project, students will need construction paper, a pencil, glue, scissors, crayons and markers. First, draw the outline of the characters in two different sheets of construction paper, then draw the clothes that they’re wearing in a separate sheet. Ask students to also draw the characters’ hairs on a separate sheet. Put the drawings together by cutting out each of them, gluing them and coloring them with crayons. Use these cutouts to decorate the classroom or as props when telling the story. Asking students to present their drawings in front of the class is also another good activity. While the students are presenting, you can ask them who their favorite character is and what they liked most about the story.
To make the storytelling more interesting, preschoolers can make puppets of the characters in the story. The basic materials include paper bags, glue, yarn, paint and markers. Make sure that all of the characters are represented, which includes the stepmother, the father, the wicked witch and of course, Hansel and Gretel. Draw the faces of all the characters on construction paper and color them with crayons. The size of the drawing should be slightly larger than the paper bag. Cut the faces with scissors then glue them to the paper bag. Ask the preschoolers to demonstrate their favorite part of the story by using these puppets, or use the puppets while telling the story.
Ask the preschooler what he or she thinks Hansel (if the preschooler is a boy) or Gretel (if the preschooler is a girl) wore in the story and let them write their ideas down on a piece of paper. Prepare some butcher paper, pencil, markers, crayons, scissors and glue. Make the preschooler lie on top of the butcher paper and trace the outline of the preschooler’s legs and waist. Once done, let your students draw their clothing ideas on the butcher paper jeans. After decorating the jeans, cut them and let the preschoolers parade in their own Hansel and Gretel jeans. You can also use these jeans to play role-playing activities related to Hansel and Gretel. For example, put a pair of Hansel and Gretel in front and ask them ideas on what ways they can think of to go back home if they were Hansel and Gretel in the story.