The Hungry Caterpillar downloadable resource pack from Pacey

PACEY (Professional association for childcare and early years). 

PACEY is the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years. Formed in 1977, they are a charity dedicated to supporting everyone working in childcare and early years to provide high quality care and early learning for children and families.

They provide training, practical help and expert advice to practitioners working throughout England and Wales. They also provide peer support and encouragement through their nationwide network of PACEY Local volunteers.

Their mission is to support everyone working in childcare and early years to provide high quality childcare and early learning; and champion the vital role practitioners play in helping prepare children for a bright future.

Pop on over to find out more information about this amazing charity.

https://www.pacey.org.uk

They currently also have this amazing downloadable 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' resource pack.

https://www.pacey.org.uk/working-in-childcare/spotlight-on/the-very-hungry-caterpillar

Fantastic ideas...pop on over to find out more !

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

As you will know by now I love this story and it is one of my all time favourites.  I love using it with the families as it covers so many learning opportunities:

• Language development
• Creativity
• Imagination
• Early number

The possibilities are endless as are the activities you can link to it.  

I printed off the cards in the picture from Sparklebox.  In order to match the story you could print several off at a time for the apples, oranges, strawberries etc.  You could cut the individual items out and the laminate them so you have more of a story sack.

Other ideas to try:

• Make a wooden spoon butterfly - cut some wings from paper, decorate and stick them to the spoon

http://blog.intellidance.ca/blog/1-23-2013/diy-wooden-spoon-puppets-kids

• Make some egg box caterpillars

http://www.crafthubs.com/egg-carton-birthday-invitation/25817

• Make your own props with your child to retell the story.  Use different coloured paper and lolly sticks

Taken from Pintrest

• Make some home made play dough to use with your child and make some caterpillars

http://mumcentral.co.uk/activities/on-monday#.Vz3TiZErLIU

Traditional Stories: The Enormous Turnip

This is the Traditional Tale: The Enormous Turnip pack that i put together again using Sparklebox resources.

Along with the background story mat there are lots of props to match the many characters within the story.  I have also added three different sized laminated turnips which can be put in order of size....smallest to largest and largest to smallest to add another dimension to the story developing early number skills.

Other ideas to try:

Printing with paint - use pieces of turnip in the same way as you would potatoes for potato printing.  It is strong enough to be carved into many shapes.  

Try growing some seeds.  See if you can buy some turnip seeds and watch how they grow with your child.

Go on a treasure hunt in your house and see what else you and your child can find that's big (enormous) OR see what you can find that begins with the 't' for turnip sound.

If you haven't had turnip before, what about buying one and cooking it for you all to try? What does t taste like?

What other ideas can you think of?

Traditional stories: The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Here is another example of a pack I made up to go alongside the traditional tale of the 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' using props from Sparklebox.

It's always good if you can add physical props that are sensory to add to the story.  However i love the fact that these are simple and easy to prepare props that can be used over and over again as well as wiped over if needed.  

You will see in the picture that I have also added two jam jar lids to the pack.  The children love using these to make the sound of the trip trap noise of the goats going over the bridge.

The other week when I was working with a small group of children we acted out the story after revising the story using the children as the goats and the troll.  We put some chairs together facing back to back and added some material over it for the bridge.

Blue material was added to the underneath section for the troll to sit on waiting for the goats. I printed off and laminated some goat masks for each of the children and a troll one.

The families helped tell the story and encouraged and supported the children to act out the parts.  A lovely afternoon was had by all and some great photos taken for the memories for the families.

The masks I used were these found at: http://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-529-the-three-billy-goats-gruff-role-play-masks

Goldilocks and three bears extension ideas

Here are some great ideas to extend your Goldilocks and three bears theme.....

1. Have a Teddy bears tea party.  How about playing some music too....'If you go down to the woods today...'

image from: http://www.rheged.com/teddy-bears-tea-party-2

2. Make some bear masks

http://www.firstpalette.com/tool_box/printables/bearmask.html

Great masks here to print and colour

3. Go for a walk to the woods and see if you can find the house where the bears live

4. Make some bear puppets.  I love this one where you can pop your fingers through for the legs.  There are lots of ideas on line.

5. Visit the library and search for some bear books and stories.  It's free to join!

6. Put on a puppet show using teddies, dolls and any other cuddly toy characters you have

See what else your little one can think of to do with bears but most of all have fun together.

Goldilocks and the three bears props

As you know by now I love using Sparklebox as it houses so many exciting ideas to use with children.

One of my favourite stories to use with the families as I have mentioned before is Goldilocks and the three bears.  Its always great to bring the story alive using props such as teddies and dolls etc.  But if you haven't got enough how making a set of these from Sparklebox?

You can wipe them clean and take them anywhere with you....holidays, sleepovers, doctors etc etc.  Place them all in a file and hey presto your ready to with them time and time again.

http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

You will find the printouts for the story board, characters as well as the matching game.

So many opportunities for language development, early maths skills, developing creativity and imagination skills.

Bingo board used as a memory game....there are various boards that can be printed off.

Completed board.....

 Ask questions about the story using the cards....

The printable story board......

I cut out characters, bowls, chairs and beds from the printables available....

The kitchen section for the porridge bowls.....

The three bears....

The three chairs.....

The three bears....

And of course not forgetting Goldilocks.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear story box

I love making and using story boxes.  They are really simple to make and a great opportunity to get everyone involved in putting one together.  This one is based on one of my favourite stories, Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  

Shoe boxes are the perfect size for this make.  I popped on over to the Sparklebox size to see what characters they might have that I could use and found all the ones used for this make including the printout for the top of the box as shown below.

My lovely friend helped to complete this one.  She added some blue, white and yellow paper to make the sky scene.  Again Sparklebox was used for the small world play scenery along the inside of the box.  A small amount of artificial grass was placed at the bottom of the box. 

A printout of a brown bear mask was laminated and a lollipop stick added to encourage role play.

The following characters which were found on Sparklebox from the story were printed out and laminated and made into a matching game which has been added to the box.  A home made dice has also been made using pictures of the characters to encourage children to not only match the animals but to tell the story in their own way using the matching characters.

Some knitted characters have also been added to give the box another dimension and encourage role play, imaginative and creative play as well as developing early language skills through play.

Story boxes can be made for any favourite story book that your child loves.

Home made baby buggy book

Here is a simple idea for a home made textured baby buggy book that can be used time and time again.  

Items I used:

• Funky foam sheets (otherwise known as neoprene)
• Scissors 
• Various pieces of textured fabric
• Glue gun
• The top of a pringles crisp tube or similar
• Ribbon
• Hole punch

Cut out the shapes for the pages that you require.  As you can see I have used a simple flower shape for this book.

Cut out circles from the various textured fabric pieces for the middle of the flower pages and glue down in the centre of each page.

Make a hole using the hole punch in each of the pages and thread the ribbon through.

Choose the fabric of your choice for the centre of the pringles lid and glue securely before gluing the lid to the centre of the top page of the book.

And there you have it!  An easy and cheap to make book.

Home made CD pocket book

This simple idea came from my husband who works in IT.  I was looking for some new ways of making books when he came up with this idea.  'What about using these he said' ? CD pockets.  

What a fab, simple idea! Especially when you can buy a box of 50 of them for a £1.  I threaded a few of them together using ribbon and then popped some printed laminated cards in to the pockets.  

Here I have used simple colour recognition picture cards.  You could use anything at all including magazine pictures stuck on cardboard of animals, transport, mini beasts, flowers, even photographs of family members.  The really good thing about this book is that you only have to change the contents and not the book.   The opportunities are endless!

Jungle animal picture book

I am always looking for some easy ideas for some home made books to share with the families I work with.  Here is a simple idea for a jungle animal book.  I found the pictures used on the Sparklebox site http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

I then printed them off laminated them and added two shower curtain hooks to hold it together.

You can also make a similar version using magazine pictures etc.

Home made story sacks

A story sack is a large cloth bag containing a favourite children's book with supporting materials to stimulate language activities and make reading a memorable and enjoyable experience.  The supporting materials help to bring the story alive.

For more information see: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0000/3210/Story_sack_guide.pdf


Storysacks:
 • Motivate and excite children about reading
 • Encourage active participation in reading
 • Encourage a desire to share books together, read aloud and listen to stories
 • Give parents and care givers confidence to share stories
 • Give parents and care givers an easy and enjoyable way to engage children in literacy
 • Provide FUN and enjoyment

I love using story sacks with the families and giving them ideas on how they can put one together really easily and cost effectively.  

Here's one I made a long time ago now and it has been mentioned here before.  This one is based on the 'Very Hungry Caterpillar', one of my all time favourite books.  I wanted to make one that was quite tactile for the children.  However remember you don't have to be able to sew to make items to pit into a home made story sack!

Here are some ideas from some fabulous sites....