The Flower Puppet Story

[40 Minutes]

Help your child express creativity as you make simple puppets together and act out this fun story!

You'll need:

• construction paper • craft sticks or straws • tape • scissors

What to do:

1. Invite your child to make stick puppets from construction paper shapes taped to crafts sticks or straws. Use gray paper for the rain cloud puppet. Use yellow paper for the sun puppet, and a daisy. Use red paper for the robin. Use a black sheet for a cloudy day. A blue sheet will be a pretty day.
2. As you read the following story, let your child dramatize it with his puppets.
3. Use this text for the content of the story:

   One dark and cloudy day (hold up stage of black paper)
   It rained and rained (invite your child to hold up the cloud puppet).
   But the next day the sky was blue (hold up blue paper).
   The sun was shining (child holds up sun puppet)
   And the robins sang (child holds up robin puppet).
   Then the daisies popped up (child holds up daisy puppet).

4. He can make thunder by beating his hands on his thighs. Other sounds include birds that go "tweet, tweet" and flowers that go "pop, pop, pop."

How to play:

As a variation, have your child retell the story in his own words using his puppets as characters.

Let's Talk: Ideas to Explore Together.

• How do you use a stick puppet?
• Other than telling a story, what else can puppets do?
• Do you know how to make other kinds of puppets? Tell me.
• Do puppets make you laugh and feel happy? How?

Useful information:

While you are having fun together, your child is developing small muscle skills and language skills.