(Don't forget to link up your Make it Up projects!)
Celina has been busy lately! She recently announced a collaboration with Mini Bulles and has created her own small baby and kids clothing collection! You've got to check it out, lots of adorably hand stamped clothes. She also recently posted on her new blog Let's Do Sew her first sewing tutorial for upcycled sweatpants (I forsee some of these in the future for Violet and Henry). She has such a great eye for children's clothing and trends, don't you love just love these shoes! She's also got a fascinating back story, one which involves her putting together fashion shows at the young age of 16. And, if you still aren't sure what you or your children are going to dress up as for Halloween this year, she's got a super simple tutorial for some bunny and cats masks that you could consider. Today, Celina is here to share with us her story and some very cool finger puppets to go with it.
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Hello! I'm Celina and I blog over at Petit à Petit and Family as well as Let's Do Sew where I share my passion for children's design in all shapes and form. I am delighted to be here today and share with you our "Make It Up" journey! When Jane asked me to be part of the series I was so excited, first I love a new challenge, secondly I was so happy to try something new with the kids. We love story telling in our house, but I have to say that books and my husband were in charge of that task until "Make It Up". I had never really thought of getting the kids involved in story telling, I thought they were too young (my son is almost 5 and my daughter just turned 3), boy was I wrong! My son is hooked, every chance he gets, he starts a new story and then we each take turns and add a little more. Our favorite story making up time is during dinner, and it has made eating so much more pleasurable; there is less fighting, a lot less whining and go figure more eating!
I thought I'd share with you one of our very first Make It Up story. We speak french at home so I had to do a little translating and I thought you ought to know that all our stories start with "Once upon a time" and finish with "The End". Did I mention my son always has to be the first to start?
my son: Once upon a time, there was a big boy by the name of Mathis and it was his birthday.
my daughter: He had a big balloon, so big it touched the ceiling.
me: The balcony door was open and with a gust of wind Mathis and his balloon were taken away...
all the way to Paris.
When looking down, Mathis noticed his parents.
As he waved hello, Mathis let go of his balloon...
and fell from the sky into his fathers arms.
and then he fell in the water.
Thankfully, Mathis is a great swimmer and
he came out of the water quickly to be with his parents.
and PLIC! like by magic they were now in Canada, all together in the bathtub.
and so they all decided to dive into the bath water...
at the very bottom of the bath, they a found a photo of the family.
When they saw the photo like by magic, PLIC, they found themselves...
by the beach.
with a rainbow
and stinky water!
The End!!!
As we made up more and more stories, I couldn't help notice that all our stories had some recurring themes and similarities, for example the members of our family were always part of the scenario, the places we went were often the same and so I thought it would be nice to create some sort of miniature theatre to help and push their story making capabilities a little, while still keeping the familiar things. With the help of the kids we created some backdrops and various sceneries of places they like by simply drawing on some white cardboard. We ended up with a big green forest, 2 beaches with huge waves, a rainbow kind of day, a sunny day in Paris and a stormy one in New York city.
Then I asked the kids to choose which characters and things they wanted to have in their stories. We googled some images and I created some finger puppets. I have a small suspicion this family of puppets is going to be growing...
We then put the two together for hours of fun and endless amount of new stories, from UFO's invading New York City to swimming giraffes and bicycle riding wolves. Oh the things I've heard!
Along the way, the finger puppets were transformed into figurines, it was simply easier for the kids to handle and for them to stage their stories. These backdrops and puppets have given my kids the tools to explore and open their imaginations even more, especially for my 3 year old.
My husband and I, now get to go to the theatre and listen to the most beautiful stories and most nights we get to eat our dinner in peace. It has also become one of those activities we do if we are in the midst of waiting for something or somewhere where playing isn't really an option.
These stories and precious moments will be memories my kids and I will cherish forever and for that I thank you Jane.
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Celina, those finger puppet are awesome, simply awesome! And, I love the backdrops too! Reading your post reminded me that telling stories around the dinner table, does indeed, interestingly enough, lead to more eating! (Thanks for the reminder, because we have just entered a stage where it's nearly impossible to get Henry to focus on eating!) I am so glad that you all enjoyed storytelling and that you are continuing to enjoy it! I love that you get to go to the theater each night and your kiddos look like they are having so much fun in that last picture! Thanks so much for joining in the fun. Oh, and I look forward to seeing more of your finger puppets someday, so cool!
