Fairy Tales : Beanstalk

Is anyone else teaching Extended School Year (ESY) or summer school? Last year I was on my honeymoon so I didn't teach but this year I am teaching.

I had been playing with the idea to do a fairy tale week for the past few years and this year I decided to go for it!

To decorate my classroom I built a beanstalk!

A few people requested that I describe how to build the beanstalk.

Materials I used:

• 3 pool noodles (I got mine at the dollar store)
• 3 paper plates
• cotton stuffing (could use cotton balls)
• brown paper
• green paper
• double sided tape
• bin (can be any color of size)

First, I placed two of the pool noodles into an empty bin that I had ( I believe it is from the dollar store). I stuffed brown paper into the bin and draped it over the bin so it appeared that the beanstalk was growing from a mound of dirt. The brown paper held the pool noodles in place without a problem.

Next, I attached the third pools noodle to the other two noodles with double sided tape. I taped the noodle in a few places for extra support.

It didn't take a lot of tape and I haven't had a problem with it falling down. I cover up the double sided tape and the places where the noodles connected, I ripped long pieces of green paper and twisted to make vine shapes.

I used clear tape and double sided tape to attach the vines. You could put as many or as few as you want.


My beanstalk didn't quite reach the ceiling and I wanted to give the impression that it was taller than it was so I added a puffy cloud at the top. I took two white paper plates and attached cotton stuffing with glue, then I used double sided tape to secure the paper plates around the beanstalk.

Do you read fairy tales in your classroom?

I created this Fairy Tales, Folktales and Fables pack to provide teachers to posters that define traditional tales, and response sheets to respond after reader or listening to traditional tales. 

View my Fairy Tales, Folktales and Fables pack here and read the full description.