The way I done it for my platformer was, at the beginning the character toggles a text bubble telling the player the controls for movement, and then as the player continues, at the edge of the platform the player toggles another text bubble telling him/her the jump button. etc.
If your game is farmville like, I guess what you could do is the same way I done it as in using toggle chat bubbles but it would only activate once.
For example; Player clicks first building for first time *pops up chat bubble telling him next stage* and then player clicks second building for first time *pops up chat bubble telling him next stage* etc.