Give Your Story a Little Life

 Animated Magnet Theater

Rehabilitate an old shoebox. A corndog box or other similar one piece folding box will work as well. Cut the bottom of the box out leaving at least a 1/2" border. A larger border may be needed on two or all four sides if it's a rather large box. Laying a piece of printer paper over the box will help you decide how wide to leave the border. I measured and drew the lines to be cut before using a razor blade to remove the bottom.

 

Next, I ran a narrow ribbon of "loop" side of Velcro all the way around the frame. Covering the entire frame allows you freedom when it comes to placing the "hooks" on the background page.

Choose a story or a song. Find pictures to indicate key features or characters of the story/song either by searching them on the internet as described in the last post "Extend the Story with Felt Board/File Folder Games" or scanning and copying them from the actual book. I like to combine real photographs with background pictures I've colored myself because I'm cheap and ink is not. 

I chose The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams, illustrated by Megan Lloyd.

I found this photo of felt board pieces online. How convenient! I only used a few of them (standing lady, pumpkin head, gloves, hat, pants, shirt, shoes) to keep it simple. I cropped them out individually on my computer so I could size them appropriately. Appropriately: Not too large (the lady stands 3.5" and everything else is a bit smaller) and not smaller than my 3/4" wide, 1/4" thick round magnets. As long as we're talking magnets, larger magnets are not better. They are too heavy and tend to slide down. Smaller just won't hold much at all. Then I printed them on standard printer paper, not card stock as I did with the felt board games. It makes the pieces too heavy. 

                       

It was harder to find a background. I wanted realistic but settled for this. Again, I printed on standard printer paper and laminated. Card stock is too thick keeping the magnets from holding well. That's also why we had to cut the bottom of the box out. 

Okay so let's put it all together. once all the pieces and the background are laminated and cut out, add 1/2" square or circles of the "hooks" to them. I used 14 magnets placing 1/2" "loops" on them. If you haven't played with magnets much lately, remember they can be tricky. Match up their poles before putting the Velcro on them. While opposites can attract. Sometimes they repel.

Add "hooks" to the background picture. Just two small pieces per side ought to do it. You don't have to be particular where you place it because you have "loops" all around the frame.

                                                                                                                                                                                     

And Voila!  

 

For this one I actually made a second background and taped the two together to allow it to flip over and cover the first picture. I scanned this from the book itself as a dramatic ending. 

 More projects                           

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, Art by James Dean (creator of Pete the Cat).

The songs "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" and "Five Little Ducks".

Extend the Experience with Felt Board/File Folder Games

we want more! 

Know how it feels when you've finished a really good book and you're not ready for it to end? Sometimes I search the author's website for a sequel. I NEED more chapters!

I bet the Littles feel the same way. Give them more. Extend story time! Set their imaginations into motion, stretch vocabularies, let them physically interact with the story. 

Felt board games keep the story going indefinitely. These games can be tailored to fit a particular story or be more generalized to use with several different books. Below I created a game to follow the book page by page. There are no rules to accompany the game but you might want to let the Littles add story pieces to the board as you read. Later they can retell/sing Five Little Pumpkins and interact with the board any way they want. Suggestions for different games are matching, action pictures for chronological sequencing, an exploration of a subtopic brought up in the story, etc. Now all you need to do is choose a story and get creative! Yes. Yes. So simple. So easy. And but of course, so

                                              perfectly

                                                          

                                                         perfect.

easy as pumpkin pie!

Step by step how to make a felt board game to accompany the book "Five Little Pumpkins, pictures by Dan Yaccarino. In fact, it's not necessary to have the book, simply sing the song. Find on YouTube.

"Five Little pumpkins"

Now that you're familiar with the text/lyrics, let's get started. You'll need a "draw" program and a PC. My go-to draw program is Serif DrawPlus. It's a very old but simple draw. It's also free. Its creator ceased to love and nurture it back around 2012 so there's no updates or add-ons or even tech suport. Do a web search to find it. I prefer downloading from C-Net, it's usually trustworthy.

Once installed, you're ready to get started. Search pumkins. You'll need five. These can be drawings that you print and color yourself or let the littles color them. They can be real pictures of pumpkins, graphics, or clip art. 

Search "pumpkin photos"

Search "pumpkin graphics" or "pumpkin clip art"

Search "pumpkin coloring page"

I've chosen to use graphics for my pumpkins. If you go with 'photos", you should go with "photos" for your gate/fence to. I'm thinking "graphics will be easier.

Time to open up Serif DrawPlus. In the box under "create" choose to start a new drawing. Then choose paper size and direction (portrait or landscape). I chose portrait and "letter". Then size the window to cover half of your monitor space. 

Now open a new tab on your web browser keeping this tab open if you're going to need it. Size your browser to cover the space on the other side of your monitor.

off to the pumpkin patch!

My game plan is to choose five different pumpkins and a gate/fence looking thing from the web. Note: when you select art and it comes up with a checkered background like this, it's usually unusable. the checkers mean it's transparent. Most of the time transparent comes up black once pasted in the draw program. Sometimes it won't matter but most of the time it will.

Once a suitable image is found, open it, right click on it, then choose "copy image". Then move over to your draw page, right click and choose "paste". A prompt will appear to size it so drag it at a diagonal. you can move it around on the page using the left mouse button. You can change the size later if needed. 

Quickie (ridiculously detailed) DrawPlus tutorial:

I've chosen a few pumpkins that I like the look of and sized them similarly. I picked more than five because I've already thought of a second game to play with them. Think I'll let the Littles choose which five they want to put on the gate. 

Now I'm ready to look at fences. Ooops, forgot one thing! This page is full now so I'm opening a second one on top of it. At the top left corner of the Draw window click on the paper icon. Choose to create a new drawing again. This time choose "landscape" so the fence can be long enough for five pumpkins.

I'm searching for fences just as I searched pumpkins. I found one I really really like so I copied and pasted it to my new draw page. I stretched it out to cover the bottom of the page. Then I found a few witches to add, one of the pumpkins says something about witches in the air. 

Don't forget this game needs a title. On the left side of the draw program there is a letter "A" for the text tool. Touch the paper where you want to begin typing then in the upper left corner choose the font and size, on the far right choose a color if you don't want to use black. Now go back to the blinking cursor and enter the title.

Once the title is done all the pieces are here. Save your work! Click on the "file" at the upper left corner and choose "save". 

Name this page.

Then click on the little x to close it. The page with the pumpkins will still be showing. Save it now. I always save before going any further. Wouldn't want to forget to save. 

Note: When you close out the DrawPlus program it's going to try to do an update but there is no update because it's been abandoned. Just X off the popup boxes and it'll be fine.

get ready! get set! print!

Materials needed:

paper (card stock is best)

laminator/laminating sheets (optional)

Not your favorite pair of scissors

self-adhesive velcro in strips or dots or whatever

For durability use card stock. Open the drawings and inspect them once again for perfection's sake. Print the pages then cut each item out. It doesn't have to be a perfect detailed cut, just a quick rounding off kind of cut. 

Here's where I usually scan the pieces into a PDF file to make it easy to share my project with others or recreate it is it gets damaged. Laminating is highly recommended. Cut little pieces (about a square cm for the pumkins and witches, 2 or 3 pieces for the fence and title) of the "hook" side of the velcro. This will stick to felt.

And there you have it!

BONUS!

Remember I mentioned searching "coloring pages"? That's for DIY coloring. Why would you want to color it yourself when you can simply print it out finished? Sometimes the www just can't accommodate you. Like. . . 

Here's a game inspired by this beautiful creature, Rosebud, and also the book A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni. (view)

A perfectly customized matching game (match the chameleons to the chair they might have been sitting on) cannot be found but it's still so simple, so easy, you get it. Now color!

Voila! I call it "Whose Chair is it Anyway?"

PDF files are available for most of the games on the Play Parade blog. Just email your request to PLayParade@outlook.com and I'll be happy to send it. If you've downloaded Serif DrawPlus, I can send draw files too.

Kitten's First Full Moon

(Under construction)

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes is a sweet board book about a kitten spotting the moon and mistaking it for a bowl of milk. The kitten tries many silly tricks to retrieve the dish but with no luck.

Lost Mitten

Here's a little poem I found on the internet to help us reinforce color names. Naturally I made it a felt board game.

Sense of Touch

In lieu of a sensory bin this time I've filled eight lunch bags each with one of these items/item groups in it. I'll ask each Little to put their hand in the bag. After feeling the contents, I'll ask each to describe and perhaps name the item(s). I've come up with a graph to record what each of the Littles has to say about the experience. Afterwards I will help them with some new tier II vocabulary. I'll try to get them to use these new adjectives throughout the day. 

Dress-Up Play

Add thrift store fur coats to the dress-up bin for furry plushie play. I bought cat ear headbands at the Dollar Tree for each child to wear and take home.

 

Art

We made moonshine 😁😉. A simple recipe really, just white paint and glitter served on a paper plate.

Texture Kittens

Print out (or draw if you have skills) a picture of a kitten. Have the Littles cover it mostly with cotton balls. Feel how soft. Then add a tongue cut from red sandpaper.  Start a conversation on opposites.

Reflection Hunt

I took the Littles around the house to do a reflection hunt. They looked for their reflection in everything! I actually set out things like large stainless steel pan lids and some toys and books that had mirrors in them so they could spot them easily. Most of my pictures have children's faces in them but here's some examples that don't.

I took pictures of all our discoveries and later arranged them in a book so the Littles could review them again and again.

Music

The Cat Came Back (Laurie Berkner Band)

Three Little Kittens (Super Simple Songs)

Moon, Moon, Moon (Laurie Berkner Band)

The Lesson of the Hummingbird

This morning while playing outside. the Littles noticed a couple of hummingbirds. Each of the birds wanted to take a drink from my feeder but was too selfish to share. They spent all morning buzzing by the feeder then chasing the other away.  I explained to the Littles that the birds were both very hungry but because they would not share, neither got to eat. I told them, "Don't be a hummingbird!"  Looks like that's going to be our new phrase when the Littles wont share.

DON'T BE A HUMMINGBIRD!

Funny Little Story

Child "B" (2 years, 3 months) is very interested in the hummingbirds particularly because we see them every day and with the feeder on the deck over the play yard, they come very very close to us. This morning she asked me where the birds are. I told her I had already seen one and it'll come back. Just listen for the sound of its wings and watch the feeder I reminded her. Sure enough, the bird came and went and came and went. Then a look of alarm washed over B's face. Her eyes bulged and her shoulders rose to her ears. B took baby steps towards me but kept her eye on the feeder. Then it hit me. A motorcycle was idling in the neighbor's driveway! 

It's moments like this when I remember why I love my job!

New Critter!

Guess what came to visit the other day? A praying mantis! If it's on my fence it's mine, right? Several years ago I read about people keeping these as pets and I was intrigued. I see them around my yard each fall so this time I decided to capture it. I'd previously researched "caring for a praying mantis for dummies" and it seems really easy. 

Meet Lorena

I'm not really sure it's a female but it's late in the season for too many males to still be living.

So I renovated the recently vacated tree frog abode.

I went to the pet store and bought her a few crickets. Seems she was hungry!

A very nervous cricket finished up Lorenas meal.

Praying mantises are a bit cannibalistic. I caught Lorena looking at and reacting to her own shadow.

Many years ago I had a praying mantis decide to lay her eggs on my desert rose. She didn't even seem to mind the plastic snake and spider I put in the plant earlier to keep the chipmunk from digging in the pot.

Here she is laying her eggs.

I left that plant outside all winter afraid those eggs would hatch in my house! Later it occurred to me that I could have just cut the branch off and left it out but it was too late for my desert rose by then. 

The eggs sat from September to March the next year. See if you can spot the babies in these pictures.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.