The girls Easter present

As a kindergartener, part of a child's homework is to retell a story that was read to them earlier in the day at school to their parents. Each Wednesday, the teacher reads them a story and then the kids make characters and props about the story. The idea is that the props/characters will help trigger their memory when retelling the story at home. Then, the parents sign a piece of paper stating the child retold them the story. This homework is meant to help with listening skills, memory and comprehension. I believe it is Sissy's favorite homework assignment next to Guided Reading.

However, each Wednesday when it's time to retell the story Sissy tries to create some kind of stage to use with her handmade props. The week before Spring Break she tried to put a blanket over a staircase railing (mind you a circular one) and perform her story for Sugar there. After many falls of the blanket this ended up being quite a challenge and Sissy was a little frustrated.

After the tenth fall of the blanket I decided it was time to make the girls a puppet theater. I had actually planned on making them one, it was just on my looong list of things to make. So after the 'fake theater stage' attempt this project moved pretty quickly up on my to-do list.

So over Spring Break I got out my new favorite book titled Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Carol. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I usually copy or wing most of my projects so this book is right up my alley. The floral fabric is what originally was going to be the girls shower curtain...until they loudly and firmly told me they wanted a Pink Flamingo bathroom. The plain pink fabric I got on clearance for $3.88 a yard and the cute pink ball fringe I got for just over $5.00. Whoo-hoo, I love bargains!

Anyways, below is the end result. Since it was an Easter present I found some cute finger puppets at JoAnn's so they could use it over Spring Break. The best part is that it has a matching case to store it in when they are not using it. If you want to view a few more you can go here and here.