Have each student choose a nursery rhyme. They will then analyze it for possible story angles. Ask them to write up a newspaper story using the information present in their chosen nursery rhyme. Tie the assignment into a study of newspaper article structure. Ask students to draw political cartoons, weather reports, celebrity sightings and court cases all based on nursery rhymes. Let them use their imagination in this creative writing exercise. The end result can be put into a newspaper format using word processing software, and printed.
Gather nursery rhymes from books or online as references. As a class, read through several examples to refresh their memory. Have students create a modern-day nursery rhyme using a classic nursery rhyme as their inspiration. This project can be done individually, or in small groups. Students can change the characters and setting, but keep the rhyme pattern in place; teachers can gather settings and characters from movies or celebrity lives, or use other pop culture facts.
Choose books to read in class that tell popular nursery rhymes and fairy tales from a different point of view, such as The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. This book, written by Jon Scieszka, tells the nursery rhyme from the wolf's perspective. Let each student choose a nursery rhyme, or divide the class into small groups. If they are working independently, then the student can choose how they want to re-tell the story. Groups can divide up different characters, actual characters in the rhyme, or implied characters, and tell it from these different viewpoints.
Ask them to really consider the reasons behind the character's actions, along with possible behind-the-scene actions that are unmentioned in the nursery rhyme. For example, they could explore possible conspiracy theories in Humpty Dumpty.