The original versions of Little Red Riding Hood have been in print since 1697 and 1812 with storytelling traditions of the tale as early as the Middle Ages — more than 1,000 years ago!

A study in 2013 tracked 58 versions of Little Red Riding Hood worldwide. Some of the versions are 1,000 years older than the Brothers Grimm’s version (1812). In parts of Iran, the child in peril is a boy. In Africa, the villain could be a fox or a hyena. In East Asia, the predator is more likely to be a big cat such as a tiger!

Since the story is always changing, here is your opportunity to make this fairy tale of “yesterday” part of today. We invite you to create your own version of Little Red, her family, and her friends using facts, fancies, and funnies from the fairy tale and its themes.

You might begin with your own drawings of the characters as inspired by the original costume renderings for the production of LITTLE RED by costume designer, Meghan Anderson Doyle.

Click here to download the activity sheet.

Original Design

Facts, Fancies & Funnies

• Red (along with white and black) is the first color that humans created from natural resources.
• The color red is associated with love, war, power, energy, danger, anger, leadership, and competition.
• Red is one of the most common colors found on national flags worldwide.
• What’s red and goes up and down?
  Answer: A tomato in an elevator.
• When do you go at red and stop at green?
  Answer: When you’re eating a watermelon.

Draw Your Version

• The gray wolf is native to Colorado.
• Adult wolves have 42 teeth.
• Wolves are a keystone species. They have a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions.
• Wolves live in family groups called packs with a male parent, a female parent and some of their pups.
• What did the wolf say to his toast?
  Answer: All the butter to eat you with.
• Knock, knock. Who’s there? Howl. Howl, who? Howl you’ll know if you don’t open the door.

Are you familiar with these grandmother stories: Cops and Robbers, The Lines on Nana’s Face, Grandma Z, Tomatoes for Neela, Grandma’s Tiny House, Grandma’s Purse, Last Stop on Market Street, Ba-chan the Ninja Grandma, My Grandma/Mi Abuelita and Mango, Abuela, and Me.

What would a shepherd get mixing a sheep with a cow?
Answer: an animal in a bah-d moo-d!

What did the mother broom say to the baby broom at bedtime?
Answer: Sweep dreams!

• As of 2021, there were over 14,086 park rangers currently employed in the United States.
• According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, a forest is “a thick growth of trees and underbrush covering an extensive tract of land” and a wood is “a thick grove of trees.”

Knock, knock! Who’s there? Hansel and Gretel Candy. Hansel and Gretel Candy who? Hansel and Gretel, candy find their way home?

What happens when you put the Three Little Pigs in a musical?
Answer: They squeal the show.