Classic tales · for 1–2 years · 2 min read

Goldilocks and the Three Bears: just right!

A cosy retelling of the old tale, with a refrain to say together: too hot, too cold, just right! Pause and let your little one join in.

Three friendly bears, big, middle and little, walk away from their round cottage while their porridge steams inside.

Three bears: big, middle and little. Their porridge is hot. Off they go for a walk.

Goldilocks, in an orange dress and red boots, peeks in at the open round green door and calls hello.

Goldilocks finds an open door. “Hello?” Nobody answers. She should wait… but in she goes.

Goldilocks smiles with a wooden spoon by the empty little red bowl, beside a steaming blue bowl and a yellow bowl.

Porridge! Slurp… too hot! Slurp… too cold! Slurp… just right! All gone.

Goldilocks sits on a soft rug, saying oops, next to the little red chair, which has come apart.

Chairs! Too hard! Too soft! Just right… wobble, wobble, bump! The little chair comes apart. She lands on the soft rug. Oops!

Goldilocks sleeps in the little bed with a checked blanket while three gentle bears look in, puzzled, from the door.

Beds! Too hard. Too soft. Just right. Yawn… zzz. Home come the bears. “Someone is in my bed!” says Little Bear.

Goldilocks and the three bears share porridge at the table, with the little red chair mended.

Goldilocks wakes up. “Sorry!” she says. The bears smile. Together they mend the little chair. Then porridge for everyone. Just right!

the end

let’s play: just right!

  1. Pretend to hold a bowl of porridge. Blow, blow!
  2. Take a taste and say “too hot!” Fan your mouth.
  3. Take a taste and say “too cold!” Give a little shiver.
  4. Take a taste and say “just right!” Rub your tummy.

talk about it

  • Which porridge was just right?
  • What did Goldilocks say when she woke up?
  • What do we do before we go into someone’s house?

for grown-ups

What this story helps with: Notice too hot, too cold and just right, and learn that saying sorry makes things better.

This story practises the opposites hot and cold, hard and soft, with a refrain your child can join in, and shows that saying sorry makes things better. In Steel’s 1918 telling the bears are loud, Goldilocks is called naughty and she jumps out of the window and runs off; here she calls hello, says sorry, and the bears forgive her, mend the chair with her and share their porridge. Afterwards, try “too hot, too cold, just right” with bath water or a blanket, and talk about knocking and waiting before going into someone’s home.

Retold from: The Story of the Three Bears (in English Fairy Tales), Flora Annie Steel, retelling the tale first printed by Robert Southey in The Doctor (1837) (1918). The tale is in the public domain; our words and pictures are new, and gentler for little ones. This is an independent retelling, not affiliated with or endorsed by any publisher, studio or trade mark owner connected with the tale or its later versions.

sources we checked

Written and illustrated by the wishyou.today team. Every story is checked for age, kindness, safety and facts before it is published. Spotted something? Tell us on Instagram.

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