It’s your dog’s day! Dress your canine in a stylish outfit and enter our story time dog show. From pink tutus to super hero capes – everyone wins a trophy!
We read Zorro Gets an Outfit by Carter Goodrich (Simon & Schuster, 2012). Zorro and Mister Bud are ready for a walk. But before departing the house, Zorro’s owner dresses him into a super hero cape with a hood. Zorro is totally embarrassed, and for good reason. Every single dog (and cat!) they encounter on the walk has a good laugh at Zorro’s outfit. Mister Bud tries to cheer him up, but nothing works. Things change, however, when a new dog arrives at the park. Dart is fast, fun…and he’s wearing an outfit too! So Zorro’s outfit is no longer a problem. In fact, he’s proud of it!
You’ll need:
- 1 large box (mine was 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” – a large tissue box works too)
- Construction paper in assorted colors
- 1 pair of wiggle eyes
- 1 medium pom-pom
- 1 gold paper cup
- 1 black paper cup
- 2 small strips of gold poster board (approximately 1″ x 4.5″)
- Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
- Hot glue
The dog is basically a box with construction paper ears, paws, and tail. Hot glue a pom-pom nose and wiggle eyes and you’re set! Use more construction paper to create the dog’s outfit. We offered a choice of a white or brown box and then let the kids take care of the rest. It’s always a good idea to provide examples, so Katie made this dashing dog with a sweater and ear muffs.
I made a princess poodle, in a tutu, with construction paper eyelashes. Her name is Kami.
In addition to construction paper for the outfits, we couldn’t resist adding tissue paper, ribbon, felt, cotton balls, and the Bling Bin to the mix.
To make a trophy, cut a black paper cup down to 1.5″. Flip it over, then hot glue a gold paper cup to the top of it. Add a pair of gold metallic poster board handles with tape or hot glue. We prepped a bunch of trophies in advance, and attached blank labels to the front.
We also came up with some potential award categories in advance. Such as:
Most Photogenic
Best Stripes
Best Use of (Color)
Most Original
Best Spots
Most Magical
Nicest Smile
Best Ears
Most Creative
While kids were decorating, Katie and Melinda circled around, making notes on what the kids were doing and what award their dogs might win. They also created some new award categories, depending on what they saw. Then they put on their official judge hats…
And everyone headed to the library’s lobby! Acting as the announcer, I asked the kids to circle, change direction, halt, and twirl for the judges. While they were doing this, Katie and Melinda were furiously writing award categories on the trophies. I recommend writing a few general ones (Most Creative, Most Original, Best Smile) on the trophies in advance, because the kids get tired of circling around the show grounds pretty quickly!
Finally, it was time for the awards. One by one, I called the kids up to receive their prizes to the applause of the story time crowd. Then it was back to the program area, where Katie hot glued their choice of a large gemstone to their trophies.
If you’d like to see the event map, 
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It’s the ultimate global adventure that ends with custom postcards in your very own mailbox! We made classic blue mailboxes, then visited locations around the globe to create postcards to send home. And don’t forget the stamp!
To make a mailbox, cut the top off a small tissue box. Use a box cutter to cut a little door at the bottom of the box. The postcards are 3″ wide, so make sure your door is 3″ or wider.
Wrap the box with blue construction paper, then use the box cutter (or scissors) to re-establish the little door.
The rounded sides of the mailbox are 2 pieces of blue poster board (ours were approximately 4.25″ wide, and 3.25″ tall). Secure them in place with tape.
To make the top of the mailbox, cut a 3.5″ mail slot in the center of a 4.5″ x 9″ rectangle of blue poster board. Gently curl the poster board over the rounded sides of the mailbox, then tape in place. The curling and taping is definitely the toughest part of the project. Keep in mind that it doesn’t need to be perfect!
Next, use colored masking tape to reinforce the edges of the mailbox, and to decorate it. Color and cut the mailbox signs from the template and tape (or hot glue) in place.
We even got postcards from places we didn’t include! Here’s a postcard from the Amazon, even though it wasn’t one of our photo locations. I think that’s a person on top of a giant tree with a ladder? Cool.
To make the postcard activity official, Miss Melinda donned a stamp-selling visor and circulated the gallery, “selling” stamps that were actually cute little stickers.