The Three Little Pigs and the Big, Bad, Challenge!

Friends~We totally took The Three Little Pigs and the Big, Bad, CHALLENGE today and it was AWESOME!

Testing is done finally and my kiddos were super awesome all the way through!  Real troopers!  To reward them, I decided that I wanted to break away from what I normally do during our Fairy Tale unit and boy did I.  

One of my favorite fairy tales is The Three Little Pigs so I wanted to find something great to go along with that theme. 
Here is my favorite version of the story! 
Click the image to grab a copy!

 I checked Pinterest to find a little inspiration and look what I found!  

The Big Bad Blow Dryer!

From Sewing School

I totally took this idea and made it my own in class!

Check out my kiddos taking on

 The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Challenge!

We started by reading the book The Three Little Pigs and discussing why the wolf was able to blow down the straw and stick houses and not the brick.  

I asked them if they thought that they could build a stronger house. 

The Challenge was born! 

Grab a FREE copy to go along with this fun Challenge below!  Just click the image to download.

Now I threw this together quick but man was it some learning fun.  

Here are the basics:

I took index cards and drew either some straw, some sticks, or some bricks on each card.  I partnered my students up and one student choose a card from the bag.  

The students then began to plan out their houses.

They had to create a diagram of their house and write a short paragraph about why their house would with stand a powerful blow from the Big Bad Hair Dryer!

I gathered some unifix cubes, popsicle sticks, and I cut up yellow and brown paper into thin strips for straw.  

They built their houses!

Then tested their construction!

Yes, I added hair and wiggly eyes to the hair dryer!

The kiddos loved it and I loved it!  They were focused.  The teamwork and cooperation was absolutely outstanding!

They even took the challenge to lunch and when we walked back to the room they were bubbling with ideas on how to better their constructions. 

I saw students who struggle to participate in daily paper and pencil activities shine like never before.  

If you have time!  Be sure to take the CHALLENGE!

Here is a complete file for The Three Little Pigs that also includes all you need to make this challenge happen in your classroom! 
Click the image below to check it out!