Tell Tale Fairy Tales {A Review AND a FREEBIE!}

Last month I shared with you the game Tell Tale and told you all how much I loved it. So I was super excited to become involved with the games developer Blue Orange Games. A couple weeks ago I shared a fun new game called Chicky Boom with you, also by Blue Orange Games (super fun!) and today, I am going to share with you another version of the Tell Tale game: Tell Tale Fairy Tales. Disclaimer: This product was provided to me at no cost by Blue Orange games for review but as always, the thoughts and opinions on the product are mine alone. This post also contains affliate links to Amazon for your convenience.

The Game

The game is Tell Tale Fairy Tales by Blue Orange Games. Just like Tell Tale that I reviewed last month, it is a small canister filled with 60 round cards with images on both sides of each (120 total). Images include characters, places, objects, emotions and more. The difference between this version of and the regular Tell tale is that the images in this version are specifically with the fairy tale theme in mind.  The card game has the same premise of Tell tale: You use the cards in a variety of ways to have your children/students/clients practice telling stories. however these stories will have the Fairy Tale theme to it, where as the regular Tell Tale game has a more neutral theme. I specifically wanted to try these cards out because my own daughter loves fairy tales. She is a huge princess fan and loves all the traditional fairy tales. She LOVES this version of the game!

Who is it For

Just like the regular Tell Tale game, the Tell Tale Fairy Tales description says for ages 5 and up and for 1-8 players, but you can totally use these cards for 3 and 4 year olds in more structured storytelling activities. You can use this with typical children as well as with children with speech and language delays (with your help, of course). In fact, to help facilitate using these with young children and children with special needs, I created a freebie that I shared last week!

How to Play

As I mentioned in my Tell Tale review, a cool thing about it and Tell Tale Fairy Tales, is that it is not a game with a “winner” or a “loser.” Rather, it is a game meant for just good old fun and creativity. The game developers give a few different ways to use the cards to make the stories. In addition to their ideas, when using these cards with young children or with any child with a speech/language delay, I would recommend going through the cards ahead of time and separating the cards into categories so that each player can have at least one card in each category you would like them to use. Categories can include people, places, emotions, and objects but you can also divide the objects into smaller categories as well (transportation, animals, weather, etc).

I found when making up stories with my own children/clients, that a visual was really helpful to keep the stories more organized, which is why I made a simple story map that can be used with this game, or with other picture cards. More below!

Here are my kids before bed planning out their story.

What Goals You Can Target

The great part of these cards, is that they are inexpensive and versatile. You can use them to target MANY skills including:

• Story telling/narrative skills (stories with beginning, middle, end with characters, settings, plot/problems, etc)
• Vocabulary development: There are many pictures here that may be new to your students/clients depending on age/developmental level. This allows for opportunity to expand vocabulary knowledge.
• Syntax/semantics practice: As your students/clients tell their stories, you can easily target their syntax and semantic goals.
• Articulation practice/carryover: We are always looking for fun and creative ways to work on carryover for articulation. It is the hardest part of articulation therapy! You can use these cards to target carryover (and if you need an idea of how to do this, I love Jenna’s token system she uses…you can check it out HERE)
• Fluency practice: have your students practice their fluency tools while story telling.
• Voice disorders practice: Again, having your voice students practice using their tools in therapy…this is a fun way to do it!

Why I Love It

• Fairy Tale Themes are engaging and motivating for many young children
• The pictures are simple yet fun and colorful
• There is a wide range of images, which allows for children to learn new vocabulary and then use that vocabulary in their stories
• The cards can be used for many different ways (not just for the story telling game)
• My children and client’s have really enjoyed using these cards and my own daughter asks to play it often, rather than to have a story read to her at bedtime!
• It is well priced

Additional Tips/Ideas

• As I already mentioned, you can separate the cards ahead of time into categories to best target your child/student goals
• Tape record the stories and then have your child (or yourself) transcribe the story into a story book. Have the child illustrate the book and practice reading/telling the story out loud. This would be really great for the child to take home and practice his/her new skills at home, for better carryover.
• This is a great game to play at home for carryover of speech/language skills. As an SLP you can recommend the game to parents for home practice.
• Use my FREE printable to help organize the stories and teach the concepts of characters, settings, conflicts/plots, story events that work toward the problem, and endings/problem solving.

Story Telling Map Freebie

I made a SUPER simple story telling map to help keep stories organized when using picture cards like the ones in therapy or at home. I posted the freebie last week and you can go read that post HERE.

ENJOY! You can pick up Tell Tale Fairy Tales on Amazon.