Story Spoons

Need a fabulous resource for retelling Fairy Tales? I have two words for you - Story Spoons. Not sure you can make them yourself? Believe me, if I can do it, so can you! And it's fairly inexpensive, too. Win, win! Now, I am not calling this a tutorial; it is more like a cheer-on post. Seriously, if you are at all thinking of creating Story Spoons, Go For It – YOU CAN DO IT! 

Buy spoons, paint, paintbrush, and varnish/sealer.

I looked at Dollar General for wooden spoons, but they had NONE, Zip, Zero, Nada. Who would have thunk it? So, I traveled on to Walmart. Bingo! Found a perfect set of 3 spoons and this rectangular spoon thingy. (I'm sure it has a culinary name.) Perfect set of spoons for making my The Three Billy Goats Gruff – 3 goats, 1 troll. And the price? $0.88. Can't beat that! ~ $0.22 per spoon/rectangular thingy. Sweet!

I also bought paintbrushes, paint: 3 shades of brown for the three sizes of goats and a pukey green for the troll, and varnish/sealer. I went ahead a purchased the brand name. Unbelievable, I know, especially with how cheap frugal I am. 

I already had the other supplies needed: scissors, construction/colored paper, and Sharpies.
 
So, here we go: grab a spoon and paint. Cover the handle, let dry on a piece of parchment paper and grab another spoon. Once the handles are dry to the touch (around 1 hour), paint the spoon part of the spoons. Let dry on parchment paper. 

The initial fear of putting paint onto the spoons is over, you are free to have fun. Decorate the faces. I am in NO way an artist, so I kept things simple. I penciled in guidelines, too.  I told you, I do not have an artistic bone in my body!

 Have fun, be creative. If you mess up, grab the paint and start fresh again. No biggie. I used both paint and sharpies on my faces. 

Once all paint is totally dry, cover spoons with the Mod Podge. Do not freak out like I did when the sealer goes on as a white paste – it dries clear. Whew!


Okay, I am really hoping this doesn't happen to you, but when I came back to check on my drying sealer, I noticed the troll's teeth and the big Billy Goat's beard paint had run. Yikes!
 
Don't panic. Okay, well, panic a little then just let sealer dry totally and repaint the spoon around the facial features. Only you will be able to tell something went amiss. In fact, the troll looks better with uneven, blotchy skin.
 
For the horns and ears, just cut out those shapes from colored construction paper or color white paper and glue onto the spoons. 

Ta Dah! You now have lovely Story Spoons for The Three Billy Goats Gruff. It didn't take long, it was inexpensive, and YOU did it! Yay for you!


Hey, if you need printables to accompany your Fairy Tale unit, check out my Three Billy Goats Gruff Activities Packet HERE.
Or if you need other Fairy Tale Units, check those out HERE.


As always . . . HAPPY TEACHING! 


Okay, I want to add a P.S. on this post.

P.S. Yes, creating the Story Spoons is easy, BUT I am a very lazy busy person.  So, . . .

Need a fabulous retelling activity?
I added a Story Spoon Character Cutout page to each of my Fairy Tale Activity Units. Print out the page - cardstock laminated lasts longer - cut out the characters and affix them using glue, tape, velcro to spoons or craft sticks. 

These spoons make a GREAT center!

Below I am posting the individual pictures from our fairy tale spoons/sticks. We used:
***wooden spoons for the main characters and wavy craft sticks for the co-stars. 
***the rectangular spoon for the evil characters
***used front and back for the good/evil characters
(evil queen/peddler woman)

Let me know if you have any questions.
Enjoy!

Whew!

Money Coin Booklet - Penny

It's All About the Money!

When I was a little girl, my aunt, who worked at the bank in town, would bring coin bags and coin wrappers home for me to help her roll coins. (Yep, that shows my age!) I loved sorting and counting and wrapping those coins. I still love playing around with money, and I think most kids do, too.

I wanted to display my Money Booklets here. Engaging, interactive booklets to use in math stations or as morning work or in small group time.

With these coin booklets, students will identify, count, and state the value of a specific coin while completing interactive activities.

Just print and go – NO PREP!

We learn each coin separately first, then combine coins later, so, here are pics of my Penny Booklet:

All of these Money Booklets have the same format, so I will just post one image for my other booklets. You can click on the image to view the product in my store.

 
And if you need Money Clip Cards to go with your Money Booklets. . .

Magical Dream Sticks

According to Merriam-Webster a crayon is a stick of colored wax that is used for drawing.

But isn't a crayon SO much more?

I once heard crayons described as “Magical Dream Sticks”.

So true, so true.

Check out my “Box of Colors!” 63 pages of fun, hands-on color learning.

Here is what is included in this packet:

→ Crayon box template

Cute Crayon Box that can be used for storage

→ 11 mini color puzzles

4 pieces each/fits in Colors Box

→ 11 mini color readers

5 pgs each/fits in Colors Box

→ 11 mini crayons

They fit in Colors Box.

→ 12 Color Bingo Cards

→ 12 Color Bingo Cards

Cards with words in b/w AND cards with words in color!

→ 11 I Have, Who Has Colors Game Cards

Play = Learning

→ 11 My “Color” Sheet

One Page for each Color

Color it.
Trace it.
Shape it.
Write it.
Read it.
Circle it.
Pyramid it.
Build it.

→ 1 Colors Graphing Story

Read, Highlight, Tally, Graph, Answer ?s

 Seeing the color words in context makes for more fluent readers

→ 11 Color Ties Craftivity

Let people ask you about your Color Tie

Read it.
Trace it.
Glue it.
Write it.
Color it.

→ 1 Color Spin Race Game

They will not want to stop playing this!

Be the first player to color all of your objects.

 

→ 1 Crayon Person Craftivity

Complete the sentence and Create your person!

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?