Toy Theatres re-visited

So sorry  I have not been back to report on how I got on with the Toy Theatre. I have been a bit distracted for the last week or so due to going through an interview process for my job - thought I had to take some time off from crafting to gen up on a few terms and conditions before the actual interview, heaven knows I never get time to do anything at work. Anyhow, all done and dusted now, just waiting to hear so I am far more relaxed and able to get back to thinking about crafting - anyone would think what one does for a living is actually more important than art!

Anyhow my puppet making/toy theatre event was a success despite a group of very young and very demanding children who basically well, just made a joyful mess. I think they enjoyed doing their scribbling and gluing but they were very noisy!!

Here is the finished pizza box Theatre I made from the BBC template. I modified it a bit so if you do try don't expect it to look exactly like this. (I cut the sides out in the end so that we could have the characters coming in from the side. The second modification, er, was due to a mistake, read the instructions BEFORE you stick it all together). I used Alice cartoon characters for the puppets as they were easier for little hands to colour in. Coffee stirrers made great 'sliders', and I think I will be using them in my next craft session as well (it never ends).

I don't often take photos of my 'kids' in action as there isn't much we can do with them legally but I think this one is sufficiently anonymous for me to post. I encouraged the older children to try making their own simple theatre, scenes and characters and this young lady put her head down and created this little story about a ship that gets struck by lightning and sinks. We didn't have a lot of time (or resources) so this is pretty impressive given that although basically just a box the theatre templates are quite fiddly to put together. Once they saw how it all worked the kids got quite excited and even the ones who just mucked about during the session took the theatre making info and templates home though I doubt any of them got made once the play station and tv were in touching distance.

Well the theatres have been left up for kids to play with (they've survived so far!) as part of a 'Victorian Childhood' book display. World Book Day, Science Week, St Patrick's Day, Mother's Day and Easter craft events to come. Can't wait.