Why go to town, when you can BE the town? One turtle ventures forth to find the answer!
We read The Town of Turtle, written by Michelle Cuevas, and illustrated by Cátia Chien (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). Turtle lives a quiet life with only his shadow for company. But he dreams of a big, beautiful town full of light and laughter. So he decides to build one on his shell, complete with houses, gardens, parks, a library – even an ice-skating rink! Exhausted, Turtle falls asleep, and his dream ventures forth to other animals, telling them of the amazing new town. Enchanted, they move in. When Turtle awakes, he is surprised to find exactly what he always wished for – a lively town of happy friends, riding right on his back!
You’ll need:
- 1 corrugated cardboard base (ours was 7″ x 10″)
- 2 toilet paper tubes
- An assortment of small boxes and tubes
- An assortment of construction paper
- Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
- Markers for decorating
First, build your “turtle table.” This is a corrugated cardboard base with 4 toilet paper tubes halves attached to the bottom. We used heavier weight poster board for the head and tail, but construction paper works too. Then, gather assorted boxes and tubes to create a town!
We offered patterned paper and construction paper to decorate the boxes. The windows and doors are old mailing/file labels and dot stickers. Some green pom-pom shrubs finished the look. But some kids opted to simply decorate their boxes with markers. Really, anything goes!
Two questions: 1) Does this project remind anyone of Terry Pratchett’s Great A’Tuin; and 2) Have you seen this awesome cake version by Kayleigh’s Creations?