A Fairy Tale Preschool Lesson Plan: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Begin by reading the fairy tale out loud to your students. There are several different versions of the tale and most children will be familiar with the story because of Disney's movie version.

After you read the story, ask children how the witch tricked Snow White (she gave her a poisoned apple). Ask them what Snow White should have done instead. Use the story as a springboard for talking about stranger danger and the importance of not talking to strangers – and never eating something that a stranger gives you.

It is important for preschool kids to know how to identify their emotions. Use the seven dwarfs to help them understand the different emotions that people feel.

Have seven children come up to the front of the class. Tell children that they are now going to pretend to be the seven dwarfs. Give each “dwarf” a sign to hang around his neck with the name of a dwarf on it. Ask the children to explain what each name means, helping them with difficult ones such as “Doc” and “Dopey.” Point out that most of the names describe emotions or feelings, such as “Grumpy” or “Happy.” As a class, brainstorm other words that describe feelings, and have the kids act them out.

Have the same seven “dwarfs” sit around your desk. Have each additional child in the class come up and do some action to the dwarfs that helps them count to seven. For example, one child might count the seven children, another might shake hands seven times with the children, another might give each of the seven children a piece of chalk, and another might collect the seven pieces of chalk.

Give each child a piece of construction paper, and help them cut out the number “seven” from the paper by removing a square from the bottom left. Encourage them to draw seven small pictures on their number seven. Alternatively, you can give them small art supplies, such as buttons, pompoms, or beads, and have them glue seven of them on their paper sevens.

Using this preschool lesson plan about “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is a great way to bring the fairy tale alive in your classroom.