Create your own story shop

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Transform your classroom into a Story Shop like Uncle’s. Using objects suggested here, brought in by your children, or already housed in the classroom, create an exciting and imaginative environment in which to inspire new stories, role play and literacy activities. Tables can be dressed with blankets, cushions and pillows to suggest seating areas, and mats to signify a story telling space.

To create the sense of a real shop, it is useful to show the main front entrance. This could be a curtain; a frame built using poles or an open walkway for the children and staff to safely enter. A shop till is a useful object to signify a place of business and trade.

The children can then dress the shop with objects that can inspire story telling imagination. These objects can be from traditional stories, or more abstract items such as kitchen utensils. The objects might inspire a story, help to develop the tale, take the story into unfamiliar territory or ultimately end the story.

Below are some suggestions for useful items that might suggest a range of different characters, settings and events.  These objects might already exist in your setting with a few additions sourced elsewhere.

  • A toy robot
 
  • A single glove
  • Plastic or fabric flowers or greenery
                             
  • A wicker basket
  • A big boot (wellington, work boot)
  • Peacock feathers
  • A toy car
  • A magic wand
  • Juggling balls
  • A parrot
  • A women’s shoe (like Cinderella’s slipper)
  • A teddy bear
  • A shiny silver tray
  • A colander
  • A toy frog
 


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Dress the Story shop window

Description for teacher

The activity is designed to allow the children to create an attractive shop window, using any or all of the objects. Once the child has finished dressing the window, their design can be printed out on paper. An example of the style of window is included in this folder.

Description for teacher and Yr1 children

Can you use the objects in the box to decorate ‘Uncles Story Shop’ window?  Drag the objects that you would use to make up a story into the window. Try to make it as colourful and exciting as possible. Then print out your window for everyone to see and to help you tell your stories.

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Games

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The following are some games to play with the whole class to stimulate the children’s imagination  and to get them working physically.

Same as

The children walk around the hall together and the leader says “Find children who have the same…as you”. The children have to get into groups of whatever the leader has said. For example, groups of same colour socks, groups of same colour eyes, or groups of same colour hair, groups of children who have a brother, who like jelly. This game requires that the children work together and is a good way of getting them communicating with each other. The game highlights similarity and difference which you can then discuss with your class.

Follow my Leader

Everyone stands in a long line behind each other. The person at the front is the leader and the rest of the group have to copy exactly what the leader does as he/she moves around the room. After a while the leader can clap his/her hands and the next person in the line becomes the leader who moves in a different way and everyone has to copy him/her instead.

Group and Create

Ask the group to move around the room in all directions, avoiding contact.  Call out a number, the children get into groups of that number.  Once in their groups call out a letter or number and tell them to make the shape of it using only their bodies. After each shape has been made they begin moving around the room again and another number is called.  The grouping can work with one person in a group up to the whole class.

Once they’ve got to grips with the game it’s possible to add in more abstract words or themes for them to create in their group. Eg. Friendship, love, loneliness,  garden,  giant etc. the idea of the game is that they create the number, letter or word as quickly as possible by co-operating with each other.

Hug tag

A simple tag game with one or two people on. People are safe if they hugged by someone else. Hugs can only last three seconds. It is possible to grab a partner if you need help or hold out your arms to offer sanctuary to someone in danger of being caught.

Why don’t you send us examples of what you’ve created? You can e-mail us here.

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Dressing Up

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Dressing up allows children to invent and inhabit characters and transform into someone very different from themselves. Even if they do not use dressing up as a way of role playing often children enjoy the physical experience of feeling different textures and seeing themselves and others transformed.

It is possible to buy specific dressing up costumes in child sizes (nursed tabards, princess dresses) and these can often be found in Early Years settings. These purpose made costumes leave no creative gaps for the children to set the agenda of who they will become. An adult observing children dressing up and role play will often witness highly creative scenarios that have been stimulated by the feel of a velvet curtain or the wearing of a floppy hat that would not have occurred with a mini nurse’s outfit.

A dressing up box can be anything large and relatively strong. A strong cardboard box, a blanket box, an old suitcase or a large wicker basket would all be ideal. A mirror is very important so that children can see their transformation!

It is an added bonus that children also learn about the different textures of fabrics through this sort of play, so try and include materials such as velvet, fun fur, tweed and silk and satin etc. Ask the children to describe to you how the different fabrics look and feel.

   

Things to look out for:

  • Colourful fabric both plain and patterned.
  • Fabric that moves in different ways
  • Textured fabric such as sequined or furry
  • Strange or outrageous clothes that might provoke the question, who would wear this?
  • Hats of different shapes and sizes
  • Bags for work, shopping bags, evening bags, suitcases for travelling
  • Scarves that can be used as headgear, belts, skirts, tails
  • Gloves are very sensory and transforming.
  • Shoes that change the way you walk

 

Why don’t you send us examples of what you’ve created? You can e-mail us here.

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June 14th, 2011

September sees Language Alive!‘s 25th year of bringing the curriculum to life across Birmingham and the West Midlands. We’ve just released next year’s programmes which are available to book. Apologies for the delay – funding, as you’d appreciate, has been a bit scarce, but we’ve been able to raise enough to keep school contributions the [...]

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