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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Evening Family Story Time #6

Family Story Time - Wind and Kites
Monday, March 26, 2012, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Attendance - 16 (9 children, 7 adults)

Books:  The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
             Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Board Stories:  "The Little Breeze"
                       "A Fair Wind"
                       "Dandy" from Short-Short Stories by Jean Warren (This is an old set my library has.  There is no source listed for the clip art used to make the pieces.  I also did not tell the story exactly as written but used the general idea of a dandelion seed looking for the right place to land and grow.)

Prop Story:  "How Ishikawa Became a Kitemaker" adapted from The Dragon Kite by Nancy Luenn

Crafts:  Simple kite from a single piece of paper
            Paper bag wind sock (Turn a paper bag upside down.  Decorate - I simplified some clip art to make a butterfly for one side and a bee for the other.  Accordion fold a narrow strip of paper and glue one end to the bug and the other to the paper bag.  Glue crepe paper streamers inside the open end.  Punch holes on each side of the closed end.  Tie one end of a piece of ribbon, string or yarn through each hole.)

Notes:  Again the group was small but enthusiastic.  Most were regular participants.  The two books received a lukewarm reception but the board stories and the prop story garnered applause.  The children actually oohed when the dragon appeared.  Such a response makes the time spent making the props worthwhile.  I had taken the effort to look at pictures of Chinese/Japanese dragon kites so that the one I made would look right.  I used my imagination to make the dragon but also modeled it after Chinese/Japanese dragons.  I was a bit nervous about my props when I told the story because a Chinese family was in the audience but the father nodded and smiled when I held them up.  The true hit of the evening was the simple kite craft.  Everyone loved it.  One mother made one for herself.  The children colored sheets of white copy paper (the papers were marked and the holes punched ahead of time).  I stapled the ends together and then the children added the yarn.  Since the group was small there was room for the children to run and "fly" the kites.  Even without wind they easily went up.  One of the moms even gave it a try.  Click on the link above for kite making details.

Wind Sock

Decorations for Wind Sock

Kite

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