Fairy Boot Camp

As you approach the Professor looks through his seeing glass eye and bids you do the same.

'Ah, ha,' said the Professor and he points 'first we have broken straw bales all strewn about as if there has been a great explosion. Then a little further along there is a pile of sticks which seems to have come to the same explosive fate. Looking through your seeing spy glass eye you see behind all the sticks and straw is one brick built house that looks like it's had some very hard knocks.'

'Do you see it?'

Have you guessed this scene?

Now over to the next one to see what you can see, be careful to look through your seeing spy glass eyes as you go so as not to miss any details.

'Look through your grass eyes' says the professor 'We don't want to miss any details'

As you approach the next scene you see bread crumbs all along the path. At the dome there appears to be a broken cage with a little stick on the ground which looks like a finger. To one side is a cauldron which has seen a little activity recently as it would appear that a witch has been boiled away! And two pairs of children's shoes near the fire place.
'Do you see it?' says the professor, 'I think this one may be a little trickier to see straight away, but the bread crumbs might be the biggest clue. I wonder if the shoes are from a brother and sister?

Now over to the next challenge.

The professor looks though his seeing grass eye as he approaches and whispers to you as he does so.

'Now take your time and point the details of what you see.

First you point at some chunky paw prints on the ground, and then you see a basket with bread and jam inside. Over the top of the basket is a cloth of red fabric which might be a tea towel but could also be a hood of a coat.

'Now, do you know who is the culprit here?'

The Professor then points at the dogs paw prints and then the red cloak.

'Do you see?'

'I see dog prints in the flower bed.' You say 'No not dog, Wolf!'

So what do you make of this crime scene my young sleuths?

Can you tell which fairy tale has happened here, the Wolf prints, the basket of food, the red cloak?

Now over to your next challenge, we must move quickly, and before you can answer the professor is off on the hunt again.

Professor Pettifog catches you eye and beckons you over, then whispers quietly in your ear in an urgent manner.

'grab yourselves a seeing grass eye.'

'Here' he says, 'a little like this' and he holds out his hand and you see some long blades of grass platted in to a single length with a circle at one end. It was shaped a little like a lolly pop, he then held it up to his eye and uses it like a monocle to see through.

'You'll need one of these for the challenge.'

Make yourselves a seeing grass eye, and when you have one, then read on.

Welcome to the fairy training school, and your first assignment is field work. You must work as a team to identify the stories from the scenes you will find. It is super important to work together to find the answers but first before setting off across the ground you must meet your tutor, he is waiting outside and is called Professor Pettifog.

(note – pettifog is the term to quibble over insignificant details!)

The Professor lets you go first, but makes sure you look through your seeing grass eyes at the scene.

There is a terrible mess, bowls of porridge have been thrown left and right, there are broken chairs (or bits of) and feathers everywhere.

Quick out with your spying grass eyes, says the professor. Now look through your stalks at this and you see really close on a tree nearby lots of long blond hairs caught in the bark.

So what do you make of this crime scene my young sleuths?

Can you tell what fairy tale has happened here, the porridge, the spoons, the broken chairs the feathers (probably from pillows) and finally the golden hairs caught in the bark as our suspect fled the scene?

Have a little chat amongst yourselves to see what you think then come back to me. What was the story?

You approach the scene and see one super massive hole in the ground with a vine sitting like a coiled rope. It would appear that something has fallen from a very long way to make such a deep hole in the ground. As you look up in the sky you see a gap in the clouds where it would seem peaks of a castle with turrets and gates are all white. The castle has domes of white with fluffy ink edges and it would seem like a great place to explore if only you had some means of climbing up there.

To one side is an axe but know one else around.

Who has been here? What is the story?

Professor Pettifog is sitting behind a desk awaiting your solutions to the scenes, first he asks.

Who was at the ? with all the bowls of broken porridge?

Quickly answer.

If you answer is Goldilocks then you are right.

Number two, who had been in the ?
Quickly answer
If you answer is Red Riding Hood then you are correct.

Question number three, who was in the ? with the bread crumbs?
Quickly answer.
If your answer is Hansel and Gretel then you are correct.

Question number four, who was in the brick house amidst the broken sticks and straw?
Quickly answer.
If your answer is The Three Little Pigs then you are correct.

Question five who cut down the massive vine?
Quickly answer.
If your answer is Jack and the Bean Stalk the you are correct.

How did you do?
Did your seeing eye grass spying work for you?

The Professor seems pleased with your performance but he feels that the sets are old and a bit dull and he feels he needs to freshen them up a bit.

He says, soon there will be some more recruits to the fairy training school, so I need some more fairy stories to prepare scenes for. Tell me which new stories do you think we should use?

What about Cinderella ?

Or Beauty and the Beast?

Or even Rumple-stilt-skin

Or perhaps these are too easy and we should put some more difficult stories in ?

What do you think?