Category Archives: Picture Book Projects

UFO Repairs While-U-Wait

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It’s a beautiful day in the galaxy, but if your spaceship’s hyperdrive starts to hyperdroop, bring it into our full service UFO repair station! We even clean windows!

We read We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang (Tundra Books, 2024). When a giant crash startles Mr. Li from his bed, and he discovers three strangers who assure him they are DEFINITELY human. A kind man at heart, Mr. Li invites the strangers back to his house and offers to help them repair their ship…errr…car. Soon, the whole community is pitching in, and the strangers depart for further adventures feeling good about the humans of planet Earth.

This book is totally hilarious, with perfect comedic timing in both its text and illustrations. It was an absolute pleasure to read aloud – make sure to leave time for laugh breaks!

You’ll need:

  • 2 sturdy paper plates
  • 1 strip of poster board (approximately 1.5″ x 22″)
  • 1 clear plastic drinking cup (I used a 2.75″ tall plastic cocktail glass)
  • Flying saucer decorating materials (more on this below!)
  • Scissors, stapler and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

The UFOs we crafted for this story time are almost identical to the zip line ships from this 2015 post (you’ll find the full instructions here). Basically, the UFO is two paper plates with a circlet of poster board between them, a plastic cup cockpit, and a lot of fun supplies (tin foil, embossed foil paper, sparkle stems, dot stickers, and some glitter stars).

finished saucer

We did makes some modifications. We skipped the rocket boosters underneath this time, swapped the pom pom alien for a toilet paper tube alien, and replaced the paperclip on top of the cockpit with a loop of clear beading cord.

But the thing that really made this story time one of the best of the year so far? The UFO repair shop!

I’ve been working with kids for decades, and sometimes I forget how powerful a box, tin foil, strand of lights, mesh tubing, and drinking straws can be. That’s basically all I used to create this repair shop. But the reaction to the set up was so powerful – customers lined up for a solid 20 minutes, coming back repeatedly with new and unique problems their UFOs were experiencing. I would hand them them the repair “wands” and we would boop and bleep our way to fixing the engines.

We also managed to do a bit of upcycling…you might recognize the strand of red lights from Katie’s awesome 2019 holiday creation, or the white coveralls from our story time stint as sanitation superstars.

After Midnight

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Take a nighttime stroll in your local neighborhood and…who knows? You might notice something you’ve never seen before! Light projects are always a hit at our story times, and this sweet story was the perfect companion to the craft.

We read Night Walk, written by Sara O’Leary and illustrated by Ellie Arscott (Groundwood Books, 2020). When a young child can’t sleep, their Dad invites them on a night walk through the neighborhood. From warm lights in windows to late suppers, the world can be a different place, even when you’re close to home.

You’ll need:

  • 1 large box (ours was 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” but a large tissue box works too!)
  • 1 small strand of LED string lights
  • Dark blue poster board
  • Construction paper and tagboard
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hole punch

This project is a simple diorama with silhouettes of buildings cut out of tagboard. Kids used hole punches to add windows to the buildings and “stars” to the sky:

To light the box, we used strands of mini LED lights scored from a holiday discount bin. First, punch holes in a rectangle of dark blue poster board, then push a light bulb through each hole. Use tape to secure the wires to the back of the poster board to prevent the light bulbs from wiggling loose.

In the above photo, you can also see how the end of the light strand is threaded through the back of the box. It leads to the strand’s battery pack, which we taped to the back of the box to make it extra sturdy:

Complete this portion of the project by taping the night sky to the back of the box. Now add your tagboard skyline, then decorate your buildings with markers, construction paper, or whatever else is available. We also recommend adding cardboard trees, shrubs, sidewalk, whatever strikes your fancy!

When the projects were complete, we lined up all the boxes, turned out the lights, and everyone took a walk to enjoy and observe the little worlds we created!

Of Squirrels and Sweaters

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Spring might just be around the corner, but there’s still time to bust out a cozy, super snazzy sweater. Especially if you’re a squirrel with a celebration to get to!

We read Squirrel’s Sweater, written by Laura Renauld and illustrated by Jennie Poh (Beaming Books, 2021). Squirrel is excited about the Winter Warmup party, but when she puts on her favorite sweater (knitted by Granny Gray) it’s considerably smaller and tighter then the previous winter. She asks her friends for help, but despite their best intentions, the sweater gets ripped and unraveled. Clever Squirrel has a solution though, upcycling the sweater materials to make a lovely, huggable heart pillow.

You’ll need:

  • 1 large tissue box
  • Construction paper
  • Red felt
  • Cotton stuffing
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

Our project is very simple! Use brown construction paper to cover a large tissue box, then add a tail, ears, and feet. Use another color construction paper (we went with red) to create a sweater for your squirrel, then add two arms that circle around the front of the squirrel like so:

To make the squirrel’s sweater extra dynamic, we offered a variety of colorful fabric squares for texture. We also attached wiggle eyes and a self-adhesive foam nose, but those are just as easy to draw on with markers.

We absolutely loved the sweet pillow in the book (and there are instructions for making your very own “no sew” pillow at the end of the book – awesome!). To create a mini pillow, glue two felt hearts together, then stuff them with cotton. Top off the look with an (optional) ribbon bow.

The heart pillow slides right into squirrel’s arms for a sweet hug, just like the story! Aww!