fracture those fairytales! 10 DIY ideas for family fun and 'in' jokes

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Does it bother you that Goldilocks just breaks into the Three Bears' house, eats their food, breaks their stuff, then runs away without so much as an apology?

Or that Snow White is happy to work as housekeeper for the dwarves until she elopes with a handsome prince she hardly knows?

Or that the King in Rumplestiltskin married the miller’s daughter for her money making ability?

Or do you just get tired of telling the same tale over and over again? Then… FRACTURE THOSE FAIRY TALES!

Fractured fairy tales are great for family ‘in’ jokes, or emphasising family values, or just for keeping the story teller and the listener on their toes. 

Creating the fracture is so much fun - here are 10 ideas that you might like:

Finish the story – maybe Goldilocks goes home and confesses what she has done to her mother, who has Goldilocks apologise and become friends with Baby Bear.

Swap genders or roles – maybe it was a princess who was trying to find a prince and hid the pea under his bed to make sure he was tough enough.

Highlight inconsistencies – maybe the princess won’t kiss the frog, he might have some disease.

Change the desired outcome – maybe the Emperor knew what the tailors were up to all along and was just trying to weed out the ‘yes men’ in his court.

Change the setting - maybe Goldilocks is a little girl living in Australia and she comes across the home of three wombats.

Tell the story from the perspective of one of the minor characters – what was the woodcutter planning to do the day he rescued Little Red Riding hood?

Change the punchline – maybe Sleeping Beauty sees no need to marry the Prince but does recognise that he’s a risk taker and so makes him one of her advisors.

Add in more information – the 12 dancing princesses might like other things as well as dancing.

 Stop the story half way through – leave Snow White asleep and wonder what became of the kingdom.

Mix up the characters – maybe the three little pigs find Little Red Riding Hood in time to stop her delivering her basket of goodies.

A few of our favourite fractured fairytale picture books are here – but it’s lots of fun to just tell the tale too, without the book.

PS - I had many requests for the ‘true’ tale of Goldilocks as a bedtime story, the one where Daddy Bear works with Goldilocks’ Daddy and her parents are horrified at what she has done.

PPS - people have been asking if that's from a book - no, it's just the Fulcher family bespoke version.