Even very young children will recognize that there are 3 animals in each story – same. They will also notice that both tales have a wolf – same.   From there, the similarities get murkier while the differences become more obvious.  The 3 Pigs are brothers but the 3 Bears are a Mommy, Daddy, and Child bear – different.  There is a little girl in the bear story named Goldilocks but there are no people in the pig story – different. The Wolf is a bad guy in both stories – same, but he experiences very different fates (depending on the version you are telling!)

Even within each of these stories there are opportunities to compare and contrast.  As Goldilocks encounters different areas of the Bear’s house she notices that all of the items are the same (beds, chairs, porridge) but they are also different (firmness, size, temperature).  The Pigs all build houses but the houses are very different.

All of these similarities and differences can be described with and by the children especially if you have visual representations of the characters.  A felt board with all of the characters would work great.  Create a line down the middle of the board so the children can manipulate the characters depending on the questions you are asking.  Once you have explored both stories with the children, leave the felt board and associated pieces out for the children to explore on their own.  It is through access to the materials that they can practice telling and retelling the stories to their hearts’ content.

One of my favorite ways to use children’s books as a vehicle for curriculum development is by examining versions of the same story.  One that jumps to mind is the story of The Gingerbread Boy.  There are so many good versions of this tale; The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Friends and the not-so-famous Gingerbread Pirates.

Reading the classic version acquaints the children with the characters and the story line, so they become familiar with the traditional version.  After reading it a few times; enough that they know the characters, and can predict what will happen, you can then introduce a new version.  Tell the children how the story is the same in some ways and different in others.  Ask them to think about what is the same and what is different so they can compare the stories.

There are all sorts of ways to support the children as they make comparisons.  Be sure to use visual representations to organize the children’s ideas.  Using a scanner to make copies of the main characters of each book so the children can see which ones are the same and which ones are different.  You know I like graphic organizers like Venn diagrams or Attribute Maps, so use those to help support the children’s ideas.  Many of the stories have some of the same characters and some different characters.  These distinctions are easily observed by children but some of the nuanced differences may be harder to recognize.  Help the children find them.

This website has more great ideas to explore Gingerbread Man versions.