story sacks

**sandy64** · 05-01-2011, 03:15 PM

hi im going to start making a couple of story sacks up but not to sure where to start and would like some help from you lovely people if you dont mind im going to do elmer first put elmer toy in then book, colour pics,jigsaw but then not sure? and going to do after the hungary caterpillar toy book , life cycle, and plastic toys,jigsaws,pictures to colour? also any ideas wheres best place to buy the sacks.

**butterfly** · 05-01-2011, 03:17 PM

I buy my sacks on ebay. You can sometimes find the exact ones you want otherwise there's a couple of people who make them to order.

You could put in some non-fiction books about elephants and some resources/books about colour - it depends what you want the children to get from it.

**Polly2** · 05-01-2011, 03:22 PM

I find my story sacks grow as time goes by! I keep adding as I go along. There's a great idea on the forum for elmer here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Childmin.../3/veuVIxYRmhI

**butterfly** · 05-01-2011, 03:25 PM

the other thing i tend to do is google the particular story sack i want to make or look at www.storysack.com to get their ideas and then make my own. lots are sold ready made on ebay as well so you can get ideas for contents!

**singingcactus** · 05-01-2011, 04:30 PM

I tend to compile a story box. I find the book or books that the kids are into this week then have them, the kids, hunt through all the resources we already have, or we make something, to go into the box. We also make a lap book (activity book) with related activities in it.
Once their interest has waned in that book we return all the resources to wherever they came from and find a different book or books to focus on.
My home is too small to have a whole range of sacks with items in them that are not in general play all the time. It means also that the kids take control of what goes into the box, and they also get to use and see the resources in a different way, and context.

**loocyloo** · 05-01-2011, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by singingcactus

I tend to compile a story box. I find the book or books that the kids are into this week then have them, the kids, hunt through all the resources we already have, or we make something, to go into the box. We also make a lap book (activity book) with related activities in it.
Once their interest has waned in that book we return all the resources to wherever they came from and find a different book or books to focus on.
My home is too small to have a whole range of sacks with items in them that are not in general play all the time. It means also that the kids take control of what goes into the box, and they also get to use and see the resources in a different way, and context.

what an excellent idea! thank you! i already do this with 'theme' ideas/stuff etc, so can easily adapt for stories! why didn't i think of it !!!

**miffy** · 05-01-2011, 05:39 PM

I've borrowed some story sacks from our children's centre - they were great for ideas of what to put in them and also meant I could try them out on the mindees to see which they liked the best.

Singingcactus, I love the story box idea

Miffy xx

**georgie456** · 05-01-2011, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by singingcactus

I tend to compile a story box. I find the book or books that the kids are into this week then have them, the kids, hunt through all the resources we already have, or we make something, to go into the box. We also make a lap book (activity book) with related activities in it.
Once their interest has waned in that book we return all the resources to wherever they came from and find a different book or books to focus on.
My home is too small to have a whole range of sacks with items in them that are not in general play all the time. It means also that the kids take control of what goes into the box, and they also get to use and see the resources in a different way, and context.

Brilliant idea! As someone with a small house with no room for yet more stuff, this would work perfectly for us too!

**samb** · 05-01-2011, 09:08 PM

I also do not have much space so we make 1 bag at a time. At the moment I have "Peace at Last". I read through the book and found different resources to match the experiences the Dad is having - eg a small toy aeroplane for the page when the boy is playing with the plane, I also put in 1 or 2 other relevant books so this time I have "One bear at bedtime" and "The bear snores on" which has a snore button too. I put in a clock peg board puzzle which links to the night time and clock ticking and also finding numbers to match to the one bear at bedtime. There is a small bear which can be passed round while the story is read. I printed off a few colouring pictures of bears and also a couple of photos of the children with bears that I had already. The bag is next to the box of books I have in my lounge which I rotate from the children's room. It is just a drawstring top plain white bag so nothing to look at - just the anticipation of what might be inside.

**sandy64** · 06-01-2011, 02:46 PM

thankyou for your ideas much appreciated

**Beetlejuice** · 06-01-2011, 04:02 PM

There's a lady on ebay who makes my sacks as I'm utterly hopeless with a sewing machine lol! I have 4 sacks for stories and one for nursery rhymes. I tend to fill them with puppets so the children can help act out the stories. The same lady on ebay provides a resources cd for a lot of the popular books which are great as it saves me trawling around looking for resources!

Not sure if we are allowed to advertise on here but I'm happy to PM you the user name if you'd like the details?