KidZone Creative Writing
Tall Tales - Paul Bunyan
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Introduction:
A tall tale is a fictional story that exaggerates the truth.
Tall tales began as campfire stories told by American pioneers. They are a fun creative writing project for children because they are full of humour and exaggeration.
Discuss a few tall tales with the kids and then let them create their own! The worksheets I've provided feature images of Paul Bunyan, a pioneering American lumberjack who moved mountains, straightened rivers, blew out forest fires with a single sneeze and had a terrific best friend -- Babe, the blue ox.
DLTK's has a decent list of Tall Tales about Paul Bunyan if you'd like to print them off to share them with the kids (although I prefer to just share the blurb in the paragraph above and then let them have fun making up their own stories).
Elements of a Tall Tale:
- The hero of the story is a super-human person who is often unusually large or strong.
- The hero of the story believes he is a common man and uses ordinary language. He usually doesn’t realize there is anything extraordinary about his behavior.
- There is a problem that needs to be solved. The solution the hero comes up with is usually funny or outrageous.
- Details of the story are exaggerated beyond belief. There is no doubt that the story is unreal.
Printable Templates:
Elements of a Tall Tale:
Information about Tall Tales
Paul Bunyan Writing Paper:
Write a story about Paul Bunyan on a page which includes a picture of him.
You may wish to provide additional
Lined Paper.
Tall Tale Writing Paper, head and feet:
Write a story about Paul Bunyan on the writing paper provided and then tape his head to the top of the page and his feet to the bottom of the page.
Tape as many pieces of additional Lined Paper as needed together to make a TAAAALLLLLL tale!
(Small) Tall Tale head and feet:
Same idea as the last worksheets, but a smaller version (cut sheets of
Lined Paper in half). This is actually sort of nice because your story (and
therefore Paul's body) will be longer and skinnier.
Head with blank face:
The tall tale head and the (small) tall tale head worksheets but without the features drawn in -- you can let the kids draw their own.
You can also use the same idea and just let them draw the head and feet by themselves from scratch (without the templates)!
