Jack and the Beanstalk Activity

Here’s a Jack and the Beanstalk activity that helps children experience this classic fairytale in a very interactive and fun way. By planting their own beans that will stretch up to their own castle, the story of Jack and the Beanstalk comes alive. This is a great activity to do at home with your kids or can easily be done in the classroom too. Actually, I borrowed this idea from my daughter’s teacher. She probably found it online. I am going to link to the Mrs. Goff’s Kinders because maybe this is where Abby’s teacher found it. This class also created a large beanstalk in their classroom. What a fun teacher. I would love for you to see her version too. She added little Jacks to the container. Abby has a fabulous teacher this year. They are doing a unit on fairy tales and learning about different versions of classic fairy tales from around the world.

Materials Need

~ Plastic Cups or Glass Jars

~ Bean Seeds (our teacher actually used peas)

~ Planting Soil

~ Long Wooden Skewers

~ Castle (Kids can design their own, or you can use this printable)

~ Tape

~ Cotton Balls

~ Glue

~ Coloring Crayons

~ Blue Paper

~ Scissors

Instructions

1. Color the castle. The castle in this picture was a pre-packaged and cut-out castle. I tried to find some online to make life easy for you, but I came up empty. Therefore, I decided to create a printable. If you print this out, you’ll be able to let the kids cut and color their own designs. For littler kids, you could pre-cut for them. The other option is to let kids design their own castles. I really like that idea. It would be fun to see what their imaginations create.

2. Cut out a blue cloud. Attach the castle to the blue cloud with glue. Use glue to also attach cotton balls around the castle.

3. Attach two long skewers to the cloud with tape. You will want the skewers to be angled so they’ll fit into the cup.

4. Fill a plastic cup with potting soil and plant your seed at the depth described on the back of the seed container. Stick your castle on skewers into the dirt.

5. Teach the kids how to care for their plant, place them in the window and watch the beanstalks grow until they touch the castle.

6. Transfer plant into a garden.