Hi Guys,
I am going to be doing a back to school themed storytime in a little bit and I wanted to think of a different type of prop to use for the rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb. I really didn’t feel like pulling out all my flannel, so I looked around and found a few printables of Mary and her lamb and thought I could do something with popsicle sticks and cutouts.
And what I ended up with is a lap theater, puppet box hybrid!
Basically, I took a sturdy box and cut one of the sides off:
I then wrapped everything with green construction paper and used a razor blade to put slits in the top of my box. This was one hell of a thick box and my razor blade skills were sub-par. Maybe you guys can come up with a better way to do this. Because my slits are so wide, my puppets won’t stand on their own. So I will need to create some sort of stopper so they don’t slide through when I am not holding them. I’m leaning toward those small rubber hair-ties.
For my puppets, I used printables I found online, thanks Storytime Katie and Making Learning Fun, and colored them in before laminating and attaching to popsicle sticks. I printed and colored two of each so the images show on both sides. The teacher I drew myself. I couldn’t find an outline I liked.
I made a: Mary, Lamb, Teacher, Children Laughing and a School House.
My plan is to say the rhyme and present the characters in my lap theater as I go. The way I have the slits, I can move the puppets from side to side. I’ll need a little practice but hopefully it will all work out.
There are quite a few versions of Mary Had a Little Lamb out there. Because my theme is back to school I am going to go with this one:
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went, and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day, school one day, school one day, It followed her to school one day, which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play, laugh and play, laugh and play, it made the children laugh and play, to see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out, turned it out, turned it out, And so the teacher turned it out, but still it lingered near.
And waited patiently about, patiently about, patiently about, And waited patiently about, till Mary did appear.
“Why does the lamb love Mary so?” Love Mary so? Love Mary so? “Why does the lamb love Mary so,” the eager children cry.
“Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know.” The lamb, you know, the lamb, you know, “Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,” the teacher did reply.
Hopefully, this will be a fun and different prop to use in storytime. I’ll let you know how it goes!
That’s all for now!
-M-