9 Easy Cut and Tell Stories Examples [with Videos]
I tell some Cut and Tell Stories to young children. They find them fascinating. Older children like to learn these stories themselves. Here I collected many of these stories for you to tell.
You might be wondering: What is a cut and tell story?
A Cut And Tell Story is a story for children you tell while cutting or tearing paper. As you cut and the story progresses, all children will be wondering what the result will be. Typically at the end, there appears a shape in the paper that brings it all together.
It might be easier explained by looking at some examples. Here are nine cut and tell stories examples for you:
1. In spring, all birds lay.. [Baby bird]
During springtime, father and mother bird start to build a nest. Of course, when the nest is finished, the mother bird lays an egg (…)
2. Grandma’s house [Pumpkin]
An old lady lives in an extraordinary house. She has a door for the cat and a window for the birds. One day children come to visit. This story you could easily tell at Halloween. (…)
3. Who am I? [Gingerbread man]
“I am sweet, and I am spicy.” This story is more like a poem, but you can certainly make it longer. (…)
4. Gnome adventure [Apple]
Once upon a time, a little gnome stepped outside his house. It was a great day for a walk. He meets a farmer, checks out the pumpkins, and continues his journey. (…)
5. Brother and sister build a … [Snowflake]
A boy and a girl get a package in the mail with a present. A tent! Even a tent with windows! What a great thing to take with them on adventures. (…)
6. Captain’s story [Shirt]
There was once a sea captain who set sail in a paper boat. Not so smart. A storm arose, and the ship got damaged. Did the sea captain survive? (…)
The following three stories are more ‘fold and tell stories’ than ‘cut and tell stories.’ This is because they rely on the art of origami or folding paper. However, they are similar enough to include them here.
A Fold And Tell Story is a story for children you tell while folding paper. As you fold and the story progresses, all children will be wondering what the result will be. Typically at the end, there appears a shape in the paper that brings it all together.
7. The journey of Joto-Ku [Boat]
Joto-Ku was an orphan boy who lived in Japan. He had two grand ambitions: traveling the world and becoming a great origami artist. (…)
8. You need a hat [Life jacket]
A little boy wants to play outside in the rain. No, says his mum, you need a hat first. So the boy made a hat and went out. (…)
The folding in this story is similar to the captain’s shirt story.
9. Where is my crown? [Cap]
A prince loses his crown and travels around his kingdom, searching for it. But unfortunately, the duck, the fox, and more animals have no idea where his crown is. (…)
More Cut and Tell Stories
You can find some more Cut and Tell Stories on the blog of Linda Meuse.
If you like this kind of story, you might also enjoy:
Tips for telling Cut And Tell Stories
- Test your materials beforehand. Is you pair of scissors sharp? Good paper quality? Some extra paper?
- Take you time. You want the children to follow the story and also to see what you are doing with the paper. If you go too fast you will lose the magic of this special way of telling a story.
- Keep an example close by. It’s nice to have an example of the end result. When you are not sure, look at your example.
- Accept that children will call out their many ideas and possibly the end result. Most children will get many ideas when they are watching you with the paper. You can’t stop them from telling you. 🙂
- Give the end result a nice place where children can see it. You will find that children will look at it and try to remember the story for themselves.
Children can tell these stories too!
- When you tell the story for the first time, it is enough for the children to listen and watch.
- When you tell the story for a second time, you could let them cut and fold along with you.
- For the third time, you can let them do it all by themselves, telling the story to a classmate.
Want to tell one of these stories online? Check out:
