Story box tent

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Make Your Make : 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion

Help your child to make their mark with these wonderful projects that help develop a love of writing, creative storytelling, self-confidence and compassion – along with six sets of bonus printables.

 

It’s always exciting when a delivery arrives in a great big box. Who cares what’s inside, the big questions is: what shall we make with the box? Over to Big this time, who straightaway said, ‘Let’s turn it into a Story Box’. Her inspiration came from the character Pinky Dinky Doo (attention: this link is noisy!) who has her own cardboard story box where she draws pictures which come to life to tell her stories.

I think this is a wonderful idea to get children creating stories of their own, developing language skills as they play with characters and settings.  It’s also good to use drawing in a different way – on the walls and roof of your house. And writing on a vertical (or even overhead) surface is very effective in developing wrist strength and pencil grip, getting ready for writing.

To make your own story tent you will need:

a big box – ours is big enough for both girls to fit in to together and sit upright comfortably. (If you’re not expecting any deliveries of your own, your local removal company or white goods store are places you might source a big box.)

a craft knife – to cut out some windows to let light into the box so you can see what you’re drawing. And apparently, rectangular windows are boring, so you might like our star-shaped ones.

felt pens – to get drawing and telling stories with. Whatever you like – let your imagination go free! And you can come back again and again to add more characters and make the next installment of your adventure, until every surface of your story box is full.

You might like to add in some cushions and a blanket to make your story box as comfortable as can be.

My girls are really enjoying this play den – inside together, in their own space, lying on their backs, collaborating over a story as they draw it out on the ceiling. Why not give it a try with your children? I’d love to hear what stories they come up with.

Any if you’re looking for other ways to use a cardboard box you might like our play house or ride-on train too.

Alphabet wallchart

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We’re making Little a parade of letters to go around her bedroom wall. Big has had an alphabet wall chart up since she was 3, and if Big Sister has one…

We could buy one of course, but where’s the fun in that? By making our own we can incorporate lots of other skills and new things to try out, such as using scissors. We’re going to include a sensory element too – having touchy-feely letters you can trace round with your fingers helps children to learn the letter’s form. We’re not working from a – z, as learning alphabetical order will come later. Our focus to begin with is on letters which mean something to Little, and as we’ve been knitting this weekend we’re starting with…

W is for wool

I drew out a ‘w’ on some red paper.

Little has learnt how scissors operate and enjoys snipping away to make random shapes but now I’m encouraging her to try and follow along a line sometimes too.

She applied glue very liberally to her W.

And then we added lots of soft wool onto the glue. We left if to dry and then stuck it onto a piece of card. We’ve not decided yet how we’re going to put them up on to the wall – maybe on a long roll of paper, maybe on a washing line. Any suggestions for us?

How are you introducing letters with your child?

Embroidery for children

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My oldest daughter loves crafts (would you have guessed?) so, when she was 7 earlier in the year, we wanted to get her a birthday present that would encourage her creativity. We have paint, card, glitter and crayons galore so I was stuck for what to get her. And then I saw an idea over at maya *made on embroidery for children and knew a sewing and embroidery basket would be the perfect present for Big. I bought a woven basket and filled it with some of the things suggested by maya to give Big all she needed to get started. (You should pop over to read maya’s post for a great guide on what to include and how to get started.)

sewing projects for kids

This weekend she tried it for the first time, and here are the results. Do you like them? I threaded the needle for her as the thread was quite thick and also tied a knot to get her started – everything else is all her own work.

That ‘m’ is for Mummy – she’s a sweetie.

And this is a portrait of our cat, drawn first with a pencil and then stiched on top.

She’s so pleased with what she’s made and has plans to make lots more to give away as gifts.

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Want more happy handmade crafts?

Our Happy Handmade resource is bursting with colourful and imaginative crafts and DIY toys that are designed to add even more colour and creativity to your home. With easy-to-follow tutorials and free patterns and printables, you can read, make, and start playing today! See more of Happy Handmade here.

 

NurtureStore Highlight: a great read

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This week the Highlight of my Week is…. Playing by the Book

Playing by the Book is run by Zoe, ably assisted by her two daughters. The blog is dedicated to books (did you guess?) and how they are such a wonderful springboard for all sorts of crafts, activities and musical fun. Whether your children love dens, dinosaurs or dressing up Playing by the Book has ideas to fit the bill.

Even more exciting Zoe has just launched an International Postcard Swap for Families where children all over the globe can get writing and receiving cards to find out about other countries. We’re excited to be taking part and if you’d like to join in then pop over to Playing by the Book before Friday April 30th 2010 to sign up.

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