Storytime Crafts

Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and get out your scissors and paste! Your favorite children's songs are about to be more fun than ever. Here are step-by-step instructions for song-related puppets, toys, jewelry, games, and other projects. You can make a CHANGING FACE PUPPET to go with a chorus of If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands. Maybe you'd like to wear a BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP LAPEL PIN-or perhaps a TISKET A TASKET GREEN AND YELLOW BASKET NECKLACE. For some action, make the EEENSY, WEENSY SPIDER wash down the drain or help the PEOPLE ON THE BUS GO UP AND DOWN. Or, if you like to laugh, try the OLD MAN IS SNORING PUPPET. He is designed to make some very interesting noises! Whichever of the twenty adorable projects you choose, you're sure to have a rollicking good time!

Crafts that convert a story into a hands-on experience are a wonderful way to involve young readers and listeners. Making a Pinocchio whose nose actually grows, staging a race between the tortoise and the hare, or sending Peter Pan flying through the air will definitely enhance the fun of story hour! These easy-to-make crafts focus on twenty different children's stories, although many can be adapted to other tales as well.

The make-believe world of fairy tales comes to life with just some scissors and paste and a few household items. For a dramatic accompaniment to the retelling of your favorite tale, make the ugly duckling that changes into a swan, the Beast that turns back into a Prince, or even the Sleeping Beauty puppet that opens her eyes for the first time in a hundred years. You can make up a charming bed for the seven dwarfs from an egg carton or a beautiful gingerbread house from an ordinary lunchbag. You can do a model of Rapunzel letting down her hair or of Jack climbing up the beanstalk. Illustrated step-by-step instructions will provide hours and hours of rewarding creative activity.

Children never tire of hearing their favorite nursery rhymes, even though they have learned them by heart. This collection of crafts is a way to enhance the comforting familiarity of the old verses. Youngsters can make a little piggy that actually squeals (all the way home!), a Boy Blue that really blows a horn, or even a dish that runs away with a spoon. Some of the crafts are toys, while others such as the Old Woman's Shoe Magnet or the Crying Kitten Soap Dispenser have practical use. These easy-to-make crafts feature step-by-step illustrated instructions and require only common household materials or simple craft items.