Share a Story

During my time at home I have enjoyed participating in several courses, they have been a great opportunity to  engage with grown ups!! and to learn and develop skills.
The most recent course  was  a 'share a story' course, it was run by the family learning  dept of the local council and the library.

The idea of the course was to encourage  parents to share stories be they read or made up with their  under sevens using a story sack.

 A story sack is basically a bag that contains elements to enhance the story  and engage children with the story.

 Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We created a simple sack , this could be any off cut of fabric or an old pillow case.

I chose to cut letters from felt and sew them on but they could be glued on with fabric glue or written on with a permanent marker.

Puppets

Simple puppets can be created by decorating cardboard images - many sites offer colouring pages that can be printed onto card and decorated. Annie painted these and we laminated the for durability.                             

      

 

These hand puppets were created using a pattern from Operation Christmas child http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/knitting-patterns     

 I used stocking stitch and varied the needle size to change the size of the bear.

Goldilocks was made using felt and oddment of fabric from a pattern in a magazine.

Background
These are great if you are reading to a number of children as they are in effect the picture. They could be created on card using paper, or three sides of cardboard box could be decorated and used as a backdrop - the advantage of this is that it could be freestanding.

I used felt to create a bold image of a cottage . The front of the cottage is attached with Velcro so can be removed to reveal the inside of the cottage.

Props
These are items that help to illustrate the story. I kept these simple  going for the bowls, chairs and beds. I made them out of felt with Velcro allowing them to stick to the inside of the cottage.

 

Flashcards 

This story repeats the phrase 'much too' which was ideal for introducing words  for new readers, it also introduced the idea of opposites.

Game

A game provides an associated activity linked to the story in some way. This simple game is simple enough for pre-schoolers. They can use a coloured dice and match the colours. 

 

Older children can play using a standard dice and count the spots. The game can be played by a child on there own  or with a number of children and the difficulty level can be varied.
I drew the original design then photocopied it onto card and roped in some friends to colour them in then laminated them for durability.

All my girls love their sack and seeing Annie playing with it and telling the story is just a delight.

Gruffalo story sack coming soon!!