Things to Make - Story Sticks

This summer most of our craft projects have been pretty simple, as I'm somewhat exhausted from having all three kids home all day. Plus, T's becoming an erratic napper (yes, I know this is my fault) so I'm never sure if he'll be napping while we create and it isn't easy to come up with great ideas that work for all three ages (5, 4, and 2).

All this being said, a few weeks ago the girls and I made story sticks while T napped and everyone had a blast. We learned about story sticks while perusing my favorite craft book - More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life (A Kid's Guide series). According to the book the Pima Indians of Arizona "kept records of things that had happened in their lives on story sticks." The book recommended drawing pictures on tongue depressors but we didn't have any so we used flattened paper towel rolls instead. And I let the girls decide whether or not to base their stories on real events.

P made two sticks, one told a story involving instruments and mountains and princesses (there's always a princess). For her second stick, P used stickers to tell a long meandering story of a dragon/princess/castle/etc. F, on the other hand, drew a simple but beautiful story of a girl who loved to dance. On one side of the stick she drew pictures of the girl growing up and on the opposite side she drew the dance routine that the girl completed for her big recital.

All in all a fun, easy project that's toddler-friendly. So, had he been awake, T could have participated too.



OTHER STORYTELLING IDEAS:

*I LOVE Under the Pecan Tree's story magnet idea. We really need some of these.

*I posted this before but Quirky Mama has a great list of different storytelling activities to do with your children.

*We like using story cards and bare books.

OTHER USES FOR CARDBOARD TUBES:

*A marble run - love this!!

*Our cardboard tube instruments (this post has a long list of other tube ideas too).

*Our post on making doll slides and castles.

*A long snake.

Things to Make - Bare Books

Kid art - what to do? On one hand, some of it is so precious. On the other hand, we always seem to have so MUCH of it. The internet is full of lots of great ideas for preserving kid art (click here for some ideas), but I personally always seem to fall flat - the recycling bin's near proximity to the art table makes it rather easy to . . . (well, you know how the story ends). Thus, I loved Sleepytime Gal's Bare Books idea. Books full of kid art are so much more manageable than looseleaf everywhere. I ordered a bunch of blank books from here (they're less than $2 each and wonderfully made) and let the kids do their own thing. Here's what they made:


For her first book, F created a simple story about one of her friends. One one page she wrote statments such as "once upon a time" and on the corresponding page she drew pictures. All together it tells the story of a girl who finds a rainbow and meets a new friend. For her second book, F drew and described things she loves, these included: her sister (a lot of stuff for her sister), her brother, hearts, and flowers. When I suggested she press her favorite flower into the pages she chose a dandelion (if you're wondering, dandelions DO NOT press well).



For P's first book, she made a book for her best friend, L ,and drew several pics of them together. She also drew pics of their other friends. She narrated the story for me to write, which was all about dancing in rain and loving each other.

And T, well, he ended up drawing on the table. But 2 out of 3 isn't bad. And now we have a special shelf for the books the children make. So much easier than looseleaf.