deepen and expand your stories
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
—ANTOINE DE SAINT - EXUPERY
Children tell stories all day long. Listen and you’ll hear them muttered in between bites of cereal or perhaps whispered just before nodding off. Look and you’ll see them interpreted in their stacks of drawings or piled into mountains and castles in the sandbox. They are threaded through a child’s consciousness and are often the basis for how he views and interacts with his world.
The projects in this chapter present ways to encourage and facilitate children’s existing relationship with stories. Tailor these activities to their interests, and they will welcome undiscovered lands and unfamiliar characters into their own familiar world.
Carry a notepad and pencil everywhere.
These projects are intentionally portable so that the creative process doesn’t have to stop because of your busy schedule. Bring them along to the waiting room at the dentist, on a car trip, to Nana’s house, to the seaside motel, or to a sibling’s soccer practice. Bring them along on family or school trips, and see how scenery changes and travel can influence storytelling. Encourage children to carry a notepad and pencil everywhere, and bring along your own notebook to record for the young storytellers who can’t yet write their tales.
Stones covered with images create unique and intriguing storytelling toys. They can be used just about anywhere for a quick, fun, creative game. But beware; they’re addictive! Once they make one, your children won’t stop thinking of additions for their collection.
TIME
To make: At least 1 hour
AGES
To make: 5+ (with adult help)
To use: 3+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
smooth stones of all shapes and sizes
small scrub brush
towel
pencil and paper
fabric pencil
bits of fabric and paper scraps
scissors
Mod Podge
foam brush
1/8” hole punch
string
small seeds (poppy, sesame)
toothpick or Q-tip
newspaper or wax paper
1. To clean the stones, put them in a sink, fill the sink with water, and have someone who loves to play with water scrub each one with a brush. Once all of the stones are rinsed, place them on a towel in a warm spot to dry.
2. Enlist children to help design the different characters and objects for the stones, and make sketches or lists to help you remember what you want to create. You can also engage in a free-form creative process in which you decide what to make next while in the process of creating.
3. Using a fabric pencil, draw on your favorite fabric or paper the shapes that make up each character or object. Try drawing different parts of the shape onto different papers and fabrics to make a collaged image. This will give you more control over the way it looks in the end and enables you to experiment with a variety of colors and textures. Carefully cut out each piece.
CREATING A FIGURE
Cover with Mod Podge.
4. Find a stone that works well with one of your character designs, and coat it with a thin layer of Mod Podge. Set the first shape from your design on the stone and coat with more Mod Podge. Use your fingertips to rearrange the design so that it is positioned just right. Smooth out any wrinkles or air bubbles.
Continue adding the pieces until the design is complete. Add circles of hole-punched paper, bits of string, even small seeds to create tiny details such as eyes, flowers, leaves, and food.
5. Put one last coat of Mod Podge over the finished design. It is very important that a layer of Mod Podge cover all of the design; use a toothpick or Q-tip to cover any of the tiny details or to pop any air bubbles. At this point, the Mod Podge will be white and opaque, which means it will be difficult to see your designs. Don’t fret! It will dry clear and smooth.
It isn’t necessary to coat the bottom of the stone with Mod Podge, and in fact, doing so will make it more difficult to dry the stones because unwanted bits of paper might attach to it.
6. Set the Story Stones on a piece of newspaper or wax paper to dry. Once the first layer is dry, you may want to apply a second coat of Mod Podge to give it extra protection. Let the stones dry fully; the top layer should feel completely hard — not tacky — before play begins.
TEACHING TIP For early-childhood educators, foreign-language teachers, and developmental specialists, the Story Stones are a creative way to teach vocabulary.
NOTES ON THE SEARCH FOR STONES
I like to collect throughout the year, so I don’t have to worry about running out of stones when the ground is buried under layers of crusty snow. Try to find a variety of shapes and sizes to ensure that you have many options. The ideal size and shape is a round or oval stone averaging 1½” to 2½” in both height and width. A smooth and flat surface is easier to work with than are rough or jagged surfaces. Search in forests, your backyard, the beach, meadows, lakes, ponds, and rivers.
A few years back, I found a beach where, for miles and miles, there were layers of small, smooth stones. The only containers I had on hand were two cloth grocery bags, and I filled them with stones — and I’ve gone back since to replenish my supply. It’s nice to conduct a purposeful stone search, but be sure to keep your eyes peeled for stones when you aren’t intentionally looking for them. After making a bunch of Story Stones, you’ll soon be able to quickly size up stones for their potential. Leah and Hazel often join in and run to me with “the perfect” stone or toss a jagged stone aside while muttering “Nope.”
1. Encourage children to use the stones for imaginative, dramatic play in the same way they would use small dolls and toy figurines.
2. The stones can be used outside, in a dollhouse, on a table or play mat, or in the car. To keep them in tip-top shape, avoid splashing them or submerging them in water or another liquid.
3. Make sets of stones and store them in small bags, in boxes, or even in socks to preserve your collections for future play.
» Give Story Stones as small gifts or party favors.
» Create thematic sets of stones: picnic, carnival, ocean, around the house, schooltime.
» For younger children, 3+ years, invite them to just glue fabric and paper scraps onto the stones. These more abstract collage stones can become part of the storytelling process but don’t require specific cutting and placement skills.
Coat the top of the stone with Mod Podge, and then place the fabric.
Finished!
Paint Mod Podge over all fabric.
You can use this portable storytelling theater with puppets anywhere. With it, children may control the entire storytelling process, directing all the action, staging, and character placement. Characters and objects can be moved forward and backward on the backdrop as part of the story performance.
TIME
To make: 3–4 hours
AGES
To make: 5+
To use: 3+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
an empty cereal box or pieces of cardboard
scissors
pencil
craft paint
blank paper
felt markers
catalogs and magazines
craft glue
Mod Podge and foam brush
wide tongue depressors (a.k.a. “craft sticks”)
wooden clothespins
books
ruler
craft knife
pencil
1. To make the theater stage, cut the front and back panels from the cereal box, using the folds of the box as guidelines for cutting as straight as possible.
2. With a pencil, draw a horizon line on the unprinted side of one of the panels. Consider the natural lines of a landscape as you place this line. If you’d like, sketch in some hills and valleys or perhaps a flat desert.
3. Once you are satisfied with the placement of the horizon line, paint the area above it as desired, with sky, buildings, or water. Allow to dry, then paint the section below the line, with perhaps a grassy hill, a sandy beach, the surface of the moon, or the ocean.
4. Select or draw puppet images. To create images for the characters and any other objects or props, draw them on a sheet of paper with markers, glue collage materials, or select images from magazines and catalogs. Cut out each image.
See pages 136–139 for fun puppets to copy and cut out. And at the end of the book you’ll find two puppet theaters!
5. With the foam brush, coat the unprinted side of another cereal-box panel with a thin layer of Mod Podge. Place the cut-out images faceup on the panel and coat with another layer of Mod Podge, using your fingertips to smooth out any air bubbles or wrinkles. Allow to dry overnight.
6. To make the puppets, cut out each image on the cardboard. Apply craft glue to the back of each image and attach it to the top of a craft stick, with the image extending just beyond the top of the stick. Lay all the glued sticks on a piece of paper, then clamp each stick with a clothespin. (Several heavy books will also work.) Once dry, it may be helpful to keep a pile of books on them overnight to ensure that they remain flat.
7. To cut a slot in the theater stage, using a ruler, draw two straight lines on the back of the painted theater stage, each about 3” long, for the puppets to poke through and move. Make one on the left part of the panel and another on the right. You don’t want them to be too long, but you do want to make them long enough for two puppets to fit into one slot. Making one slot a little higher than the other adds some depth and is good for imaginative play. Cut the slits with a craft knife.
Safety Note: Take special care with the craft knife. Adults need to help with this step and supervise older children.
Once the puppets are dry and flattened, slide them through the slots and you’re ready to start telling stories. Create a variety of backdrops, so the characters can move to different places, times, and climates: under the sea, in the jungle, on an eighteenth-century farm, in a city, on the moon, or at the beach. The creative options are endless!
» Give the puppets as small gifts or party favors.
» A perk for parents is this theater’s compact size, which makes the sets conducive to car trips and train rides. Teachers will also appreciate that they fit nicely in small bags and folders.
» Have your child make a classroom backdrop with student puppets as an end-of-year gift to a beloved teacher. The teacher can look like the child’s teacher!
These colorful, captivating cards can be used to slowly and comprehensively tell the story of a special and important memory. As each card is presented, the child tells a bit of the story as she explains the circumstances surrounding the visual, as well as the significance behind it.
TIME
To make: 2–3 hours
AGES
To make: 5+
To use: 3+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
scissors
cereal-box panels
corner-rounding punch (optional, see Materials, page 129)
colorful scrap paper for collage
Mod Podge
foam brush
scissors
craft knife (for cutting small details)
hole punch (optional)
assorted decorative punches (optional)
1. Spend time with your child deciding which memory she would like to retell.
2. Once the two of you have decided, think of eight (fewer or more is fine) specific visual details from the memory. Choosing these details is fun, but it also provides practice in deciphering the most special, important, or salient details of a story. Learning to know what to include in a story and what to leave out is an important storytelling skill, and here the child is asked to use a few essential details to act as the backbone of the story.
3. Cut eight 3″ × 4″ rectangles out of the cereal box panels. If you’d like, give the cards rounded edges by punching each corner with the corner-rounding punch. For me, giving the cards rounded corners helps them to look finished and gives them a sense of belonging together.
4. To create collaged visuals for each of the eight details, use scissors, a craft knife, and decorative punches to cut shapes out of different colors, patterns, and textures. The simple, colorful collages will pop against the soft matte brown of the cereal-box cards.
5. To affix the collages, with the foam brush, coat each card with a thin layer of Mod Podge. Then, carefully apply the collage pieces to the cards and gently cover with another layer of Mod Podge. Use your fingertips to press and smooth away any air bubbles or wrinkles.
6. Set aside to dry. Once they are fully dry, keep them flat by placing a heavy book on top of them and leave overnight.
TEACHING TIP This is a perfect activity to encourage your students to share a specific memory from summer vacation or winter break.
Have children shuffle the cards, and then spend time arranging them in the correct order while telling the full story of the memory.
» Display a set of Memory Cards on a shelf in your living space, and they will serve as a conversation spark.
» Shuffle together a few sets of Memory Cards, and have children sift through the pile to determine which cards go with which memory.
» Frame some of the Memory Cards, together or separately, to hang on a wall or give to a loved one.
» Use this technique to make story cards for imaginary tales.
MY MEMORY CARDS FROM A DAY TRIP
One Labor Day weekend, our family left early in the morning and drove to the Connecticut Sound, where we went on a ferry ride. After dinner in Greenport, New York, we took the ferry home and arrived, sleepily, at our door at midnight. When we awoke the next morning, it felt like a long, sea-salty dream, so Leah and I decided to preserve the vacation with Memory Cards. Our eight visual details were the ferry; a pinwheel; a small, sandy beach; a beach filled with stones (perfect for Story Stones); a fish; a peach; the vibrant village of Greenport; and some colorful buoys that were hanging on a wall. Each detail is connected to a very special part of the day. Here, we’ve pasted on the back of each card our written descriptions (and you can see what cardboard we salvaged!).
This mat will instantly turn a bare floor into a faraway land where characters can travel in search of magic, adventures, or friendship. An elaborate mat can be exciting for children, but don’t feel pressured to make it complex and full; a simple mat will provide hours of storytelling fun. In fact, I often create a simple mat with a grassy hill, some water, and a mountain, and I find that the stories that come from it are as fascinating as those from the mats with volcanoes, pirate ships, fairy houses, and castles.
TIME
To make: 3 hours
AGES
To make: 6+
To use: 3+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
1 yard of thick, neutral-colored fabric, such as canvas or duck
scissors
needle and thread or bias tape (optional)
fabric pencil
fabric paint (craft paint works if you don’t plan to wash the mat)
objects for print making (pencil erasers, sponge pieces, adhesive-backed craft foam, and wooden blocks)
felt and cotton fabric scraps
embroidery needle and floss
1. To prepare your fabric, cut it to desired play-mat size. I like 30” × 24”, but you can make it bigger or smaller depending on your vision. Don’t worry about the unfinished edges. If you’d like, you can finish it with a simple hem or bias tape.
2. Use the fabric pencil to draw landscape designs on the mat. You can create a horizon line and incorporate both sky and earth or take a bird’s eye view. Whatever your perspective, draw a variety of details such as a river, a lake, bushes, rows of corn, paths, rocks, and a mountain. If you’re stuck on how to draw the elements, use purchased stencils to make more intricate images like a castle, a car, and a house.
3. Mix a variety of bright paint colors, then fill in the pencil lines. As the paint is drying, look around your house for found objects to use to stamp designs or textures on your mat. Use bits of rounded sponge to create water texture. Cut adhesive-backed craft foam into small triangles and attach to a small block of wood to stamp triangular trees. A pencil eraser top dipped lightly in paint can create little patches of flowers, apples on a tree, even fireflies.
4. To add more textural details, cut out shapes from fabric with different patterns and finishes; quilter’s cotton, calico, felt, and flannel are good materials. Use embroidery thread and a simple running stitch to attach these shapes to the cloth. Fabric is great for creating mountains, treetops, sailboats, houses, clouds, and gardens. Let your imagination guide you!
5. Allow the mat to dry fully before playing with it.
Put the mat on the floor, along with Story Stones (page 57), models, or other character figures your children like to play with, and watch the storytelling begin.
» Create a wide range of habitats for your Story Mat: the moon, a desert, under the sea, the beach, a zoo, a highway, a forest, a city, a snowstorm with a frozen lake, or a magical land.
» Fold up the mat, pack it flat in a suitcase, and bring it along on your travels. Hotel rooms and tents can be transformed into imaginary lands.
» Make a mat that looks like a theater with a stage, spotlight, and curtain. Any small character can become a Broadway star!
» Encourage your child to bring his Story Mat outside. Pinecones, pebbles, pine needles, leaves, and seeds can be transformed into pretend characters.
Think of it as a storytelling terrarium. Children enjoy using the Storytelling Jar to inspire their imagination and tell stories about its inhabitants. Encourage children to change the Story Stones in order to create new and different stories. Put one on a desk or table as inspiration for a young writer. The experience of planning for and actually making the jar is fun and highly imaginative.
TIME
To make: 1½–2 hours
AGES
To make: 5+ (with the help of an adult)
To use: 3+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
9” diameter lid or circular stencil
marker
¼ yard green felt
scissors
needle and thread
stuffing
glass jar (dill pickle or applesauce size)
fabric glue
hole punch
paper scraps
sharp knife
a button
masking tape
Story Stones (page 57)
1. Draw or trace a circle with a diameter of 9” onto the green felt. It’s great if you happen to have an 9” circle stencil, but if not, don’t fret; use a lid or cake pan. If you end up drawing the circle freehand, try to make it as symmetrical as possible.
2. Cut out the circle, then sew a loose running stitch around its entire circumference.
3. Once stitching is in place, tug the thread gently to create a little pocket, then fill it with stuffing. After it’s stuffed, give the thread a harder tug. This should create a little stuffed-felt mound. When you’re happy with the shape and size of the grassy mound, secure the tuft by passing a needle through the edges of the circle a few times. Be sure to retain the tension on the thread so the circle remains cinched, and then after passing the needle through two edges of the circle, tightly double-knot the thread. This green-felt mound will be the grassy hill at the bottom of the jar.
4. Trace the bottom of the glass jar onto a different piece of green felt, and cut out the circle. Before putting the hill inside the jar, place this green felt circle at the bottom of the jar to fill in the areas where light filters through. Use a dot of glue under the felt circle to be sure it stays in place. Place the grassy hill on top of the felt circle. Use your hands to adjust the stuffing and shape to resemble a grassy hill.
5. Use the hole punch to create tiny felt and paper “flowers,” and secure them on the hill with tiny, tiny dabs of fabric glue. I have an old hole punch that I reserve for felt. It tends to punch out only half of a circle, but I use my small, sharp scissors to help it along. Be creative! You can also cut tiny flower shapes from fabric. Adorn your hill with whatever strikes your fancy.
6. Cut a tiny hot air balloon out of paper. Other flying options: airplane, squirrel, bat, bee, helicopter, bird, skydiver, blimp. Use a needle and thread to create a hanging loop off the top of the balloon.
7. Using a sharp knife, an adult carefully punches a hole in the lid of the jar. Do your best to bend the edges over so they aren’t sharp. Feed the balloon thread up through the lid’s hole; tie the outer ends of the thread to a button to keep it from falling through. Protect small hands with masking tape over the sharp edges inside the lid.
8. Set Story Stones (characters or objects) onto the hill to create a variety of storytelling situations.
» Give a Storytelling Jar as a gift to a teacher or friend.
» Add trees, a nest with eggs, or a picnic blanket to the hill. String some vines, or hang the sun, moon, and stars.
» Encourage your child to write a small poem about the inhabitants of the jar and tape it to the inside, so the words can be seen from the outside. Change the poem when new inspiration strikes.
» Make a jar for every season. Use sparkly white glitter for winter.
A blank Storybook is a great companion for all storytelling crafts and activities. Encourage children to record their stories, so they can remember and retell them in years to come. Children can use collage materials to decorate it with an inspiring design tailored just for them.
To make: 2 hours
AGES
To make: 5+
To use: 5+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
cardstock
ruler
bone folder
blank lightweight paper
scissors
pencil
cutting board
nail (or awl)
small hammer
embroidery needle
embroidery floss or waxed-linen binding floss
corner-rounding punch (optional, see Materials on page 129)
1. Decide what size the book will be. Does your child want a pocket-size book? Wallet-size? Larger? Determine the functionality and size of the book. Trim the cardstock to size accordingly, using the bone folder to crease it down the center, then set it aside. This is the cover.
2. Decide how many pages should be in the book by multiplying the number of sheets of paper by 4. For example, if you use 3 sheets of paper, the book will have 12 blank pages.
3. To ensure that the paper doesn’t stick out of the book, measure the lightweight paper so that it is about ¼” smaller than the cover. Cut it to size, and use the bone folder to make a sharp crease down the center of each page.
4. With the cardstock open on the table, nestle the creased paper pages inside the book. Use a pencil to mark three equally spaced holes on the inside crease. Now, on the cutting board to prevent tabletop dents, place the awl (or nail) on one of the marked areas, then tap it with the hammer until it creates a small hole. Gently wiggle the awl a bit to be sure the hole is open and is the correct size for the needle. Repeat these steps for the other two holes.
5. Thread the needle with embroidery floss; don’t worry about knotting the floss. For sewing, follow the illustrated instructions:
Beginning on the outside of the book, push the needle through the middle hole to the inside of the book …
then out the top hole to the outside.
Push the needle back through the bottom hole to the inside of the book …
then through the middle hole to the outside.
Both ends of the floss should be hanging on the outside of the book. Double-knot these loose ends and then trim them to about 1”.
6. If desired, use the corner-rounding punch to put a nice curve on the corners of the cover and paper.
7. Now you have a blank book. It’s time to think about decorating the cover and its contents!
MATERIALS
collage materials
craft glue
pencil
art marker
A collaged cover may be either realistic or abstract.
1. Use repurposed and found collage materials to create a cover design. Magazines, catalogs, junk mail, old dictionaries, and scrap paper are perfect for this. Pay special attention to making the cover and title bold and captivating. For a shape collage, draw a shape with a black art marker, and then fill it in with collage materials.
2. Once the cover is finished, children will create a collaged picture for each page. Use one of the Story Starter games, such as Story Disks (page 23), Story Dice (page 32), or Story Grab Bag (page 40), to help children “write” their books. Older children might plan out which words and pictures will go on each page; younger children might be a bit more spontaneous. It all depends on their storytelling personality. It often helps to encourage younger children to create their pictures first and add words later, if they’d like to. Some children just learning to construct words may feel anxious about filling the pages with writing. Assure them that adding words is optional; they can make a picture book without words if that’s most comfortable.
collage storybook
1. Ask children to brainstorm and think about a life moment they would like to share in their storybook. It might help to talk with parents, other family members, or friends who can contribute more details about the story. Perhaps a child wants to write about a hike up a mountain. Or maybe she will write about the first time she dived off the diving board or rode a horse by herself. She could even tell the story of a dream. The possibilities are rich and diverse.
2. Have children design engaging, colorful covers that reflect the story that will be told.
memory book
» This book would be a perfect Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or sibling birthday gift. A child can make a book that compiles his favorite memories of a family member. Wouldn’t that be a treasured gift!
» Make a joint book with someone who shared an experience with you.
» Write “My Story” on the cover of blank Storybooks, and give them to children in their party bags.
» Make a book about a treasured family vacation. Read the story periodically throughout the year as a reminder.
» Make a book about lessons learned and give to a teacher as an end-of-the-year gift.
This craft is particularly nice for groups of people who are just getting to know each other. After each person makes and assembles a book, he or she can write and illustrate or collage a story to share with the group. When used as an ice-breaker, having everyone tell a personal story with the same theme or from the same category is an effective way to inspire conversation. For example, ask the group to write funny stories, stories about their earliest memories, or stories about learning to do something that felt challenging. Another possibility is a story that illustrates a trait members of the group are proud of. The storybook can also serve as a personal journal where private ideas and artwork are created. There are so many possibilities.
HEY, ADULTS!
These books are certainly not just for kids. An adult might write a book about the time her oldest son tricked her into thinking the tour guide at Hershey Park told the line of onlookers that it’s perfectly fine to step over the rope to pluck a Hershey’s Kiss off the display pile. Or she might write her book about her neighborhood, dedicating each page to a different house/neighbor. Maybe she’d write about her adventure driving across the country, and she could highlight six or seven ministories from their trip. Or perhaps she would write about her favorite meals to cook for guests. She could dedicate each page to the details about the food and drink, as well as about the company she was feeding. This storytelling craft, in particular, is for people of all ages, from the earliest writers to the oldest thinkers.
These unique, colorful city buildings provide children with the chance to create new, imaginary worlds where fascinating stories unfold. Use recycled boxes and cartons from the kitchen to make a modern, playful city that can be rearranged and added to again and again.
Once you learn the crafting technique, you’ll be able to make shops, skyscrapers, apartment buildings — or make up your own types of buildings. The variations are endless. A shop, for example, could be a delicatessen, a barber shop, a grocery, or a pharmacy. I like bright, playful colors for the buildings, and I often make the roofs a contrasting color.
TIME
To make: 2–3 hands-on hours
AGES
To make: 5+ (with adult help)
To use: 3+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
scissors
thick cardboard boxboard (from shipping boxes)
paintbrushes and paints
pencil
ruler
cardstock in a variety of colors
craft glue
toothpicks
small round wooden beads (with toothpick-size holes)
vitamin bottles filled with sand (optional)
small rocks (optional)
1. Cut a 7” × 4” rectangle with a triangular top out of the thick box-board. You may also want to skip the triangle point and simply have a rectangular skyscraper. Paint it with two different bright colors (one for the triangular top and one for the rectangular bottom).
2. While the building is drying, make the windows by measuring, drawing, and cutting eight equal-size 1” squares out of cardstock. To make the door, cut a 1½” × 2” rectangle out of a different-color cardstock. Once the building is fully dry, glue the windows and door onto its face.
3. To make a small antenna for the tippy-top point of the skyscraper, glue a painted toothpick to the back of the apex of the triangle. Attach a small wooden bead to the top of the toothpick with a bit of glue. Set aside to dry.
1. Cut a 6” × 7½” rectangle out of the thick boxboard. Paint the building with two different bright colors (one for the square bottom and one for the thin rectangular top).
2. While the paint is drying, cut a 2” × 3” door and two 2” square windows out of cardstock. Decide what kind of store it is, then make a little sign for it. For example, for a tailor’s shop, make a little picture of a needle and thread to hang on the front. Once the shop is fully dry, glue the windows and door onto the face of the building.
1. Cut an 8” × 5” rectangle out of the thick boxboard. Paint the rectangle with any bright color you like.
2. While the building is drying, make the windows and door. For the windows, cut twelve 1” squares out of cardstock; make a door by cutting a 1½” × 2” rectangle out of a different-color cardstock. Once the apartment is fully dry, glue the windows (four rows of three) and door onto the face of the building.
Use these instructions to make a variety of buildings, such as a police station, a flower shop, and a grocery store. In order to make buildings stable and upright, use a heavy-duty craft glue to attach vitamin containers filled with sand to the backs of the buildings. This will enable them to stand tall and protects them from being easily knocked over. If you prefer to use a more rugged option, small rocks will work well, too.
Cut rectangle out of thick boxboard. Paint the building and roof each a different color.
Cut square “windows” out of cardstock.
Use heavy-duty craft glue to attach vitamin containers filled with sand to the backs of buildings.
TEACHING TIP
If your cardboard has bold lettering or symbols, coat it first with a layer of white paint (as a cover-up), then paint it with bright colors.
Children can rearrange the buildings until they’ve made the city of their dreams. Encourage them to have little people (Story Stones, for example, page 57) make their way through the imaginary metropolis. Invite them to create different stories about the people who live and work in the buildings. They can give them names and decide where they live, what they do, and what their lives are like. Imagine the different businesses and people who work inside the skyscraper: doctors, scientists, architects, builders, and bankers.
» Use buildings to make a miniature version of your neighborhood. Make apartments or houses as appropriate.
» Make a magical village with shops that sell rainbows and businesses that translate secret codes.
» Make mushrooms with doors and windows for a fairy or gnome village.
Children can use this Story Map to create stories about an imaginary place. Set it on the ground so that small figurines can dance across the land. Roll it neatly and reuse it again and again to initiate storytelling. Specific details, such as dungeons and pirate ships and farms, can be added to the map as they come to life in a story.
TIME
To make: 2–3 hours
AGES
To make: 5+
To use: 5+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
notepaper
pencils
scissors
newsprint
thin black art marker
colored pencils
watercolors
old travel magazines or old maps (optional)
Use pictures from old travel magazines and/or old maps to guide the children, or they can collage pictures to add depth and creativity to their map.
1. Make a list of all of the unique features of the imaginary land. Does it have water? Hills? Islands? Deserts? Encourage the children’s creativity; the hills can be purple and the mud pits can be made of chocolate. The more fantastical and far-reaching the details, the more useful they will be for storytelling.
2. Once the list is substantial enough, cut a piece of newsprint to size, then ask children to draw, with the #2 pencils, the outline of their land, including the outline of all of the detailed features. Older crafters can refer to their list on their own, but younger crafters will need an adult to remind them of their land’s physical and geological features. Don’t get too hung up on the scale and size of details; they aren’t nearly as important as the imaginative qualities they bring to the map.
3. Use art markers and colored pencils to add color to small details, such as trees, water, hills, a farm, a castle, cities, roads, bridges, and flower fields.
4. Have children use watercolors to fill in the remainder of their design (water, grass, and so forth).
5. With a black art marker, trace around the perimeter of the land. This will give the map’s boundaries added definition. At this time, children can use the black marker to give the roads, forests, parks, and buildings original names. They can also write important side notes giving further explanations about specific parts of the map.
TEACHING TIP
Read a story aloud, then ask your students to create a Story Map based on its details. Be sure to select a story that lends itself to mapmaking.
» Make a treasure map to use in a dramatic story adventure.
» Make a map of a familiar place (your neighborhood, school, or vacation spot).
» Create a Story Map of your brain, heart, or stomach in which you depict things you often think about, love, or love to eat.
This writing adventure makes children think about the emotional atmosphere of a story and gives them practice matching the tone and emotion of different parts of a story with a variety of songs. This activity is best with just one child, as it involves listening to multiple individual choices.
TIME
To make: 2–3 hours
AGES
5+
PLAYERS
1+
MATERIALS
copy of a story (preferably one that your child has written)
pen or pencil
instrument (optional)
some sort of music player
a wide selection of songs
a computer program that makes playlists (optional)
1. Read the chosen story aloud and spend a bit of time discussing character, setting, mood, and tone. The story shouldn’t be too long — just long enough to have a variety of emotions, plot points, and perhaps settings. Talk about the words and images that make something gloomy, happy, scary, or surprising. Discuss what kind of music would pair well with each mood, and take note of it in the story’s margins.
2. Use an instrument to create music, or listen to different tunes to find the best musical fit. An adult should help with the music technicalities, such as making the stereo work and stopping and moving on if a song isn’t right. Adults can also suggest songs or artists. As the child finds songs that fit perfectly, be sure to have him write the song in the margin next to the specific section of the story.
3. Once the child is satisfied with his song list, go through the story and spend time coordinating where the songs should begin and end. Keep in mind that it might be difficult to play songs with words while a story is being told. In this case, the story can briefly pause as the song (or a portion of it) plays, and then the story can continue. If you have access to a computer music program (such as iTunes or Windows Media Player), create a digital playlist. If not, line up your song selections in the order they need to play. Invite friends and family to gather for a musical story time, and play the soundtrack or instrument while you or your child reads aloud.
» Give the Story Soundtrack as a gift.
» Play and listen to a song that has a story in it, then have children retell the story in their own words.
» Have kids dramatically act out the story while the music plays.
» With musically inclined children, record them making their own music to go with their stories.
Use any combination of projects from these first two chapters to create imaginative, action-packed traveling Storytelling Kits. Create your own unique combination with your child. These kits are perfect for creative play in the car, an airplane, a hotel, or a friend’s house.
TIME
To make: 2 hours
AGES
To make: 5+
To use: 5+
PLAYERS
1+
1. Decide what you want your Storytelling Kit to include, choosing from any of the projects in the book.
Story Mat (page 66), 8 Story Stones (page 57), and some Story Sparks (page 50)
3 Story Stones (page 57), a set of Story Disks (page 23), a mini Collage Storybook (page 74), and some Story Sparks (page 50)
Traveling Puppet Theater (page 60), Story-Disk Chain (page 94), and 3 Story Stones
Storybook (page 72), Story Dice (page 32), 4 Story Stones, and 8 Story Disks (page 23)
Story Grab Bag (page 40), Storybook, 8 Story Disks, and some Story Sparks
2. Package the Storytelling Kit in a small muslin bag, a shoebox, a small travel bag, or even a small brown-paper grocery bag. Just be sure to have some sort of container so your children will be able to keep track of the small pieces.
TEACHING TIP
Have each child make a personalized, unique Storytelling Kit. When it’s time for creative writing or creative storytelling, children can quietly use the kits at their desks to make up new stories. This is a great way to foster individuality and independence within the classroom.
… just then, a flying saucer came out of now here…
