DIY Story Boards

      While perusing the craft aisle in Walmart yesterday (never a good idea--I always find something I 'have' to have) I saw some felt rectangles for 27 cents apiece. I have always admired the library's story boards made of felt so I figured I'd get a few and try to make my own. A few days ago I purchased a hot glue gun (for a different project we're working on) and I knew the girls would love a few googly eyes here and there for the characters so I dug those out of my craft supplies box.

      I sat down with the girls and asked them what story they'd like to "make pictures for." They immediately thought of The Three Little Pigs. We have a story book of The Three Little Pigs so I used that for inspiration. I wanted to keep it very simple. I drew the characters with a permanent marker on the felt and cut them out. Glued on some eyes, and maybe a hat, and voila: an interactive story board.

      I spent just under an hour to create three pigs, a wolf, and three houses. The girls LOVE it. They use bits and pieces of the story to start their own stories. I love the creativity it allows them.

      This morning I sat down and made another one in about half an hour. I'm guessing I'll do at least a few more--it will be a great activity I can pull out when they need something to do. (Like for Raulee while I'm teaching Aubree) I'm planning on keeping each story in a separate  labeled ziplock bag. When I asked this morning they requested Jack and the Beanstalk:

      It was much more simple the second time around for some reason. In the future, I'd like to expand the idea by letting them draw their own settings and characters and come up with a story entirely on their own.

      P.s. The hot glue gun was only about seven bucks and the glue sticks were about five. Definitely an investment I don't regret. I'm sort of beyond frugal so I don't like buying things unless absolutely necessary, but this was worth it. I would eventually like to buy a big piece of felt and staple it to a board so they can play together on a large backdrop. The aforementioned frugal-ness may prevent that from happening for awhile, though. :)