penguin young readers factsheets level 3 the princess and

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Summary of the story

This is the story of a princess who lives in a beautiful castle with her six sisters.One day she is playing with her golden ball when it falls into a pond. A frogoffers to get her gold ball if she will let him eat with her, and sleep with herfor three nights. She agrees and he gets the ball. However, she doesn’t likethe frog and runs off. The frog goes to the castle and insists on eating withher and sleeping on a pillow by her. She begins to like the frog. After thethird night she wakes up, and there is no frog, but there is a handsomeprince. He explains he was turned into a frog and that he had to eat and sleepwith a beautiful princess for three nights to break the magic spell. They get married.Her sisters try to find some more frogs!

Background to the storyThis fairy story was made famous by the Grimm Brothers in the early 19th century. A version of itappeared in Scotland in Popular Rhymes of Scotland by Robert Chambers in 1842 though the storymay be as old as 16th century. It is also known as ‘The Frog Prince’.

Penguin Young Readers Factsheets

The Princess and the Frog

Teacher’s NotesLevel 3

Topics and themes

Animals. Carry out a survey of pets the pupilshave. Then discuss and compare unusual andcommon pets. Talk about the fact that someanimals or insects should never be kept as petse.g. crocodiles, boa-constrictors etc. Beinggentle to insects and animals including the oneswe may not like e.g. spiders, snakes, beetles,frogs (see the princess’s chant about theseanimals).Celebrations. Promises can form part of acelebration e.g. promises to friends, inmarriage, christenings, promises to friends, andhow important it is to keep a promise and not tomake a promise without really thinking about it.

Environment. The pictures of the pond in thereader can be used to start a topic on pondsand pond life.Family. A starting point for this topic could bethat the princess lives with her father and sixsisters.Friendships. The princess makes an unlikelyfriend!Magic. In the story the prince turned into a frogand back again. This could make a theme ofhistory, where frogs/toads were often part ofspells; or creative writing topic on charactersturning into others.

Making use of the Reader

Make a list or carry out a survey of any animalsand insects, the class, including the teacher, donot like to touch. Create a display of pictures ofthese and then have a discussion about why theyare not liked and why they do not like to touchthem.Design a bed. Ask the children to look at thePrincess’s bed in the pictures. What would be theirdream bed? Ask them to design and draw thisbed and perhaps hold a competition to see whichis the best bed design.

Children would have to describe their bed and saywhy it is a dream bed. You may need to teachsome new bed/furniture vocabulary for them todo this.Make up some chants like the princess’s in thereader about the animals and insects the childrendon’t like. Or make up chants about the oppositefeelings: ‘I do like the frog because hejumps/swims/well’, for example. Make a list ofother stories in which there is a frog or a toad.

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Teacher’s Notes



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Using the accompanying video or audio cassette

Before listening or watching. Whole class/self study.Pupils find the references to colors in the book,then with the cassette on they put up their handwhen they hear them.

Watching/listening for specificinformation.Which scene comes first in the story? At thepond/round the dinner table/in the bedroom?Who is the first character? Who is the secondand third?

Watching/listening for the plot - wholeclass/self-study.The pupils can listen, ready to act out sectionsof the story. They may want to listen a few times

before they are ready. They can be the frog,jumping into the pond, running after theprincess, knocking on the castle door, sleepingwith the princess. Other group(s) can be theprincess, sitting by the pond, skipping, holdingthe frog up the stairs. As the pupils watch thestory, they can try and copy the facialexpressions that the princess makes in the story.There are lots of them, for example, surprise,disgust, happiness. After watching you cansuggest the pupils mime these in response toother prompts from you. An example is youcould say “You are having snails for lunch” anda pupil or pupils mime a facial expression inresponse.

Activity 1 is a survey of things that childrenmight not like. The focus language here is thequestion form and like/dislike/don’t like e.g.“Do you like frogs?” The respondent mightanswer with, “Yes, I do/No I don’t” or “Idislike/like them”. Children should draw theirown faces in the first space and answer thesurvey first, then draw in the faces of threefriends and ask them. Gather in all theinformation from the survey and find out (a)which animal or insect is disliked the most and(b) which is liked the most.

Activity 2 is a creative writing activity in whichthe children should decide what they would turna prince or princess into and what he/shewould have to do before they could be turnedback. You should talk about the possibilitieswith the class first and help them think up someways for the prince/princess to turn back Thenthese are given as examples on the boardbefore they start.

Activity 3. This is a picture from the Reader,pages 4 and 5. Introduce or revise all thevocabulary needed for this activity, and thenask the pupils and check any that they can see.

Activity 4. Pupils are to draw frogs. Ask themto think about what a frog looks like (its legs,eyes, skin color for example) before they drawthem, and then they must compare theirpictures with their group/partner and thereader.

Notes on the activities in the factsheet

Game. Playing ball. The princess and her six sisters can make a team, against six frogs/princes,throwing the ball from one end of the team line to the other. There could also be teams playingleapfrog for example.

In the back of the ReaderBefore you read2. Ticks for: frog, tongue, some lettuce, plateand table.

In the factsheetActivity 4 a. princess. b. tongue. c. ball. d. frog. e. pond. f. promise.

Answers to the activities

The P

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Pupils’ ActivitiesLevel 3


Name.............................................................................................................

Activity 1

P H O T O C O P I A B L E


Activity 2


Draw your face in the circle. Do you like frogs? Draw three friends’ faces and write their names. Ask them the same questions.

You have some magic. Choose a prince or princess. They are naughty, and you canchange them into an animal. What will you do? Write a short story about how youchange them and how they get back into people again.

Yes No A little

Yes No A little

Yes No A little

Yes No A little

Penguin Young Readers FactsheetsPupils’ Activities

Activity 4

Level 3


Name.............................................................................................................

P H O T O C O P I A B L E


Activity 3

Color the pond blue. Color the frog green. Color the fish orange. Color the leavesgreen. Color the butterfly red and yellow.

Put the letters in the right order to find words from the story.

a. screnpis _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

b. eugnot _ _ _ _ _ _

c. lalb _ _ _ _

d. gfor _ _ _ _

e. donp _ _ _ _

f. sropmei _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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penguin young readers factsheets level 3 the princess and

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