I am so excited to announce a little series I am hosting here on the blog this month to help inspire parents and kids to tell stories and craft somethig to go with them! Welcome, Make it up.
This series is all about fun, story telling, and creating! We love telling stories in our house here. Do you? We love, as you know, to craft around here as well, so why not put these two things together?
What are we doing? Making time to sit down with our children to tell stories.
Story telling is such an important learning tool for children. It helps with language skills. It can lend a helpful role in expressing an emotion that they are having a difficult time with. And, not to mention it gets those wheels turning. Those imaginative wheels moving and building and creating! It can be magic!
What else can be magic? When part of that story becomes tangible in some way through creating and crafting.
So, let's tell some stories. Sit down with your child(ren) tell a story together. It's not hard. It doesn't have to make a whole lot of sense. It doesn't need to be long. Just try it.
One of the ways we love to story tell is when we are sitting around the dinner table. One person starts the story and then passes it to the next and the next and the next. Before you know it the story has taken some adventurous twists and turns! In fact, now, we have two different story lines that we continue to go back to and build on around here in this fashion. One series, are mostly told between me and Violet and Henry, and the other is mostly told between Brad, and Violet and Henry. It's fun. When we find ourselves needing a little breather (or just want a story) we'll often find a spot to cuddle up, in a bed, on the couch, in the hammock or teepee to build on our stories and the characters that we made up. Sometimes the kids ask for the stories by name. Once I told a story about a grasshopper while Henry was on the potty and now that's all he wants to hear when he is in the bathroom!
Alright, once you've got your story, now make something. Make and create something, anything, to help make your story come to "life". Make it with or for your children. Paint it, sew it, mold it, glue it, whatever you want.
And now there you have it a new story and a prop, what fun!
I've got a great list of friends who will be stopping by here from 10/13-10/26 to share their stories and creations with us, yay!
On the 26th I will open a little linky so YOU can share your stories and creations! I want everyone to be able to join in the fun and share their stories, whether they have a blog or not. So, if you don't have a blog, post your picture either in the Buzzmills Flickr Group or in your own Flickr account, give us an idea of what your story is in the description and link to that.
Won't it be fun and inspiring to see what everyone else comes up with?!
After you've all shared your stories over the weekend, I have a little giveaway to offer on Monday (10/29) which I will pick at Random. It's the new book Show Me A Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children’s Storytelling. This book is filled with so many great ways to help create stories in your family. Check out a little sneak peak of the book here!
This is going to be fun so please join in, sit down with your families and Make it Up!
ps. Thanks to Violet for coming up with the series's title! :)
pps. please grab a button and share! :) Thanks!
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