Guest Posted October 2, 2006 Posted October 2, 2006 Hello! I have been having a nose on ebay for story sacks as I thought they might be a good idea to use with the children during my struggle with circle time . What are your honest opinions on them? Do you find them useful? I thought about making my own, but my Mum always told me that learning to sew would damage my street cred so I have never learned. My Mum, bless her can't sew to save her life... she stapled the hems on a pair of curtains to hang in the front room when we were little, but I digress... How difficult would it be to make my own and where would I get the resources to fill them with? Thanks!
Guest Posted October 3, 2006 Posted October 3, 2006 Hi Clare We use story sacks a lot and most of the children love them and use them to relive the stories they have heard and also to create their own stories. We don't have any bought sacks, most have been made by the owner of my nurseries mother. She sometimes makes them to support posters which came from Nursery World - for example the princess and the pea - the children love putting some peas from home corner under the matressess and then lying on them themselves, so our strory sacks usually develop role play also. The sacks do need to be introduced to the children first via an inspiring adult. I also buy items from charity shops and car boot sales to support story sacks - The 3 bears is any easy one with a small doll for Goldilocks - you could just cut out three different textured materials for the beds and cut out card shaped liked bowls and chairs - our children then involve home corner bowls and playdough and take on the characters themselves. We also have a "story/rhyme" prompt bag with a variety of items (again from charity shops)which remind the children (and us!) of stories and rhymes - i.e. a mouse - hickory dickory dock/3 blind mice - a star, a sheep etc etc. So I would recommend giving it a go. Good luck Monica P.S. I only buy good condition, kite marked items from charity shops and make sure I wash them well first!
Guest Posted October 3, 2006 Posted October 3, 2006 if you cannot sew how about using canvas bags . you can find some very cheaply in the pound shops or even the ones that come free with the magazines in the summer. instead of decorating them with the story title just add a big lable with a good picture either with a photo of the contents or a good picture and title. laminate it and attact to the handle with a key ring .then it does not matter if the bags have a pattern on them as the free mag ones do. anyway the kids will soon pic up on which bag with which pattern has their fav story. i will ask about at work to see if anyone has any other ideas
AnonyMouse_4495 Posted October 3, 2006 Posted October 3, 2006 They don't necessarily have to be 'sacks' either - you could do Goldilocks using a picnic basket, The Hungry Caterpillar with a lunchbox, Can't you sleep little bear with a pyjama case etc.... There is a great company that produces storysacks that were at the teaching exhibition in London last week. The products are not cheap,but you get the bag, props, story, non-fiction book related to the theme, a game, cd, parent prompts and links to ELGs.... you could always request the catalogue and have a go yourself, or better still encourage the children to think of ideas to put in!! This is their catalogue (it's a big PDF file, so it takes a while to download)
Guest Posted October 3, 2006 Posted October 3, 2006 Wow! Thanks everyone for those replies! RB, your suggestion about encouraging the children to determine which items we are going to need for the sacks is a brilliant one, and it also gives me some inspiration for my circle time problem!
Guest DeborahF Posted October 3, 2006 Posted October 3, 2006 If you're an Ebay user, you can pick up a lot of props really cheaply on there rather than buy the ready made storysacks - you can also get a lot of ideas from what's included in the ones already on there. There's alos someone on there that sells the sacks themselves with the name of the story on them - and then you fill them!
Guest Posted October 4, 2006 Posted October 4, 2006 Our EYDCP ( ok, I may have got the initials wrong) invested in lots of story sacks and loans them out to schools, preschools etc. It's a time-saving idea- and a good resource!
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