Tag Archives: story time project

Tree of Love

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treeIt’s a tree…that, when rotated, reveals a gallery of the things you dearly love!

tree picture galleryWe read We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow, illustrated by Bob Staake (Golden Books, 2010). In this poetic book, families in various parts of the world plant a tree and watch as the tree changes with the seasons, helps the earth, and grows with the families. I wanted to capture some of that love, growing, and giving with this project!

You’ll need:

  • 1 piece of tagboard for tree base
  • 1 small oatmeal container
  • 1 canned good
  • Hot glue
  • Brown craft paper (my piece was 21.5″ x 64″ – a paper grocery bag works too)
  • Green tissue paper
  • Strips of green construction paper
  • 1 oval of black self-adhesive foam (optional)
  • Red, yellow, or orange dot stickers (optional)
  • 1 tree frames template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Tape, stapler, scissors for construction
  • Markers for decoration

Begin by cutting a tagboard base for your tree. I made mine semi-circular with irregular curves, but a plain old circle will do. The most important thing is making sure that kids don’t cut their bases SMALLER than the oatmeal container (it happens!). Hot glue the oatmeal container to the base.

oatmeal container baseSince the branches and foliage can make the tree unsteady, I dropped a canned good “anchor” inside the oatmeal container and then taped the lid shut. Now for the tree! For weeks, I had been hording brown packing paper I snagged from my department’s recycling bin:

paperThree cheers for reducing, reusing and recycling, eh? But if you don’t have packing paper handy, you can also use a roll of brown craft paper or paper grocery bags.

Tape one end of the piece of paper to the oatmeal container, and then wrap the paper multiple times around the container. The more paper you wrap around the container, the better (and more plentiful) the branches will be. When you’re finished wrapping, hot glue the end of the paper securely to the trunk. You’ll also want to push the paper “trunk tube” down onto the tagboard base and secure it with hot glue. Otherwise, your trunk tube might slide off later!

tree trunk 1Cut fringes in the trunk tube, starting at the top of the paper and ending a little above the oatmeal container lid:

tree trunk 2Then bunch and twist the paper fringes together to create branches.

tree trunk 3I used this branch twisting technique on a larger scale for this project. With the branches complete, it’s time to add the foliage! I provided three different sizes of green tissue paper for the “foliage frenzy.”

tissue paper sizes

Crumble up the tissue paper and then staple it to the various branches. One hint: for the foliage at the top of the tree, staple a single piece of tissue paper to several different branches. It keeps the top of the tree looking full and fluffy, and the floppy branches secure.

foliageYour tree is now complete! Time to decorate! We adorned the base with fringes of green construction paper “grass,” and I used hot glue to attach small plastic snakes and lizards I found lurking in the art supply cabinet. We added flower stickers as well, but you can draw critters and flowers on with markers.

The hole in the tree was created with a black oval of self-adhesive foam, and I hot glued a small toy butterfly to the edge of it. Yellow, orange, or red dot stickers can be used to add lemons, oranges, or apples to the tree foliage.

treeThe tree is happy and growing…now for the gallery of things you love! Use markers to color and fill in the frames of the template. Then cut them out and tape (or hot glue) each frame to the back of the tree.

tree picture galleryMy favorite thing about this project was using a canned good as the anchor. At story time, I suggested to parents that when their kids were done playing with their trees, the canned good could be removed and donated to a local food bank. They really liked that! A true giving tree!

Ice Cream for All

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truckBecome an ice cream entrepreneur! The lid of this fabulous pull toy opens to reveal a delicious variety of flavors to serve to your happy customers.

compositeIn addition to being simple, this project is highly portable. This summer, I brought it to a reading program hosted at the community pool and it was a big hit.

We read Issac the Ice Cream Truck by Scott Santoro (Henry Holt & Company, 1999). Issac is a relatively happy ice cream truck, but he can’t help fretting that other trucks seem to have more important jobs than him (lifting, hauling, moving, building). One day, a building fire traps Issac between several enormous fire trucks. After the fire is put out, the hardworking firemen (and firewoman!) are delighted to see a little ice cream truck waiting for them. Isaac realizes that he does have an important job after all…making people happy.

You’ll need:

  • 1 box. I used a 9” x 4 ½” X 4 ½” box
  • An ice cream truck template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock.
  • 4 black poster board wheels
  • Hot glue
  • 1/2 pipe cleaner
  • 1 jingle bell
  • 1 long piece of curling ribbon
  • Markers for decorating
  • Scissors and tape for construction

For the ice cream:

  • 1 cone water cup
  • 1 sheet of tissue paper (mine was 20″ x 29″)
  • Masking tape
  • 1 small pom-pom (mine was 1/2″)
  • 3 toilet paper tubes
  • Construction paper and/or patterned paper
  • 3 medium-sized craft sticks
  • Hot glue
  • 1 small plastic cup (mine was a 3 ounces)
  • 2 jumbo pom-poms (mine were 2″)
  • 1 small plastic spoon (or mini craft stick)
  • Crayons for decorating
  • Scissors and tape for construction

Start by using markers to customize your ice cream truck template. Cut and tape to the box. Then add the wheels. You can tape the wheels, or use hot glue to make them extra secure.

Next, cut a small notch in the front of the truck, right at the top. Knot one end of the ribbon and slide the knot into the notch. Then tape the knot inside the truck. This might seem like overkill, but trust me, these trucks take a real beating from their enthusiastic “drivers.”

notchNow it’s time for the bell! Bend1/2 of a pipe cleaner into an upside-down L, thread the bell on one end, then curl the end to keep the bell from falling off.

threaded bellTape the straight end of the pipe cleaner on the back of the truck like so:

bellYour truck is done…it’s ice cream time! I’ve included instructions for multiple types of ice cream, but you can modify according to your needs. For example, when I took this project to the local pool, we just did ice cream cups and single Popsicles (and I hot glued the sticks on the Popsicles in advance).

To make a cone, use crayons to color the cone water cup (marker just smeared on the cup’s semi-waxed surface). Then, take a sheet of tissue paper and gently squish it into a ball shape. Gather the bottom of the ball together and secure masking tape around it. This creates the “ice cream plug” for your cone.

ice cream plugHot glue a small pom-pom on top & pop it in the cone for the perfect finish!

cone with cherry

To make a Popsicle, wrap a toilet paper tube with patterned paper or construction paper, then hot glue a craft stick on the inside edge of the tube. To make it a double, simply hot glue two finished pops together.

popsFor an ice cream cup, drop 2 pom-poms in a 3 oz. cup and add a small plastic spoon. If a spoon isn’t handy, use a mini craft stick.

two scoops in cupA few months after I did this project, a mom made a special trip to my library to see if there was any chance of getting another truck template and box. Apparently, the ice cream truck was her son’s favorite toy, and it had finally succumbed to his various adventures with it.  She was hoping to build a new one with him. I was delighted to set her up with some fresh supplies and very flattered. You really really can’t get a better compliment than that!

Robot Fun

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robot puppetWhat could be more fun than a robot pal to play with? Ooooohhhhh yeaaaaaah!

We read Boy + Bot, written by Ame Dyckman and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf Books, 2012). One day, a boy meets a robot. The new friends have a blast playing together, but while rolling down a hill, Bot’s power switch is accidentally bumped off. The boy tries everything (applesauce, story, bedtime) to take care of his unresponsive friend, but nothing works. Exhausted, the boy falls asleep. While the boy is sleeping, his parents unknowingly switch Bot back on. Bot, distressed that the boy is not responding, tries everything to revive him (oil, instructional manual, battery). Finally, the Inventor sets Bot straight, the boy wakes, and they run off to play once more.

You’ll need:

  • 1 box for the robot’s body (I used a 9” x 4 ½” X 4 ½” box)
  • 1 smaller box for the robot’s head (I used a 4” x 4” x 4” box)
  • 2 extra-long pieces of clear clear elastic beading cord
  • 2 craft sticks
  • Masking tape
  • A box cutter
  • 4 poster board strips for the arms and legs
  • Hot glue
  • Art supplies to decorate your robot. This could be anything – sparkle stems, tin foil, mylar, shiny paper, stickers, etc.
  • An assortment of beverage caps (optional)
  • Scissors, tape and glue sticks for construction
  • 1 wooden dowel

The first step is to super-duper secure the elastic cords to your robot’s body.  This is important because the robot is really going to get bopped around. Wrap each piece of elastic cord around a craft stick, double knot it, and cover the knot with masking tape like so:

prepped cordThen, use the box cutter to make two vertical slits in the “shoulders” of the robot. Starting INSIDE the box, thread the cord through the slit and then pull until the taped craft stick is right up against the inside of the box. Repeat on the other side.

cord throughYou don’t need to secure the craft stick inside the box. In fact, it’s better if it wiggles because it produces a bouncier robot! With the cords dangling outside the body, hot glue the head, arms, and legs. I also offered a choice of beverage caps for eyes, ears, buttons, and hot glued them on.

Now it’s time to decorate! I broke out the Bling Bin, heaped even more metallic supplies on the tables, and told the kids to let their imaginations go wild! While they were working, I walked my robot around the art tables for inspiration. I was quite proud her dainty robot shoes.

robot shoeWhen the decorating is done, rig your robot up to the wooden dowel. Start by dangling your robot from the elastic cords so its feet are touching the floor. Then, wrap the elastic cords around the ends of the dowel and secure them with masking tape.

final cordsFinished! We walked our robots around the gallery in a sparkly, bouncy parade, but you can also put on some music and host an awesome robot dance party!