Creativity is critical for young children’s learning and development (Leggett, 2017). When sharing oral stories, teachers can support children's creativity by involving them in the creation of props to accompany the story. Props provide for a creative and imaginative connection to the stories, thereby supporting children’s grasp of story details and, ultimately, strengthening their language and emergent literacy skills (Bond & Wasik, 2009; Massey, 2013).
Before sharing an oral story, teachers should have an idea of which characters and/or objects from the story they would like to create props to represent. They should consider whether they would like all children in their class to make the same prop or have children make different props. Then, teachers should plan which materials they will need to create the props. As preschoolers and early elementary-aged students are still in the early phases of development, it is critical that teachers design activities to create props that keep in mind young children’s early fine motor development.
Teachers can prepare "prop boxes" or building kits that include all of the supplies needed to make the prop. While prop boxes require some planning, they will allow for quicker distribution of materials and faster clean up! In making the prop boxes, teachers will want to have essential arts and crafts supplies within their classroom such as paper, scissors, glue sticks/glue, markers, watercolor paints, colored pencils, and construction paper. For an easy prop, teachers can print out character images and have students color in the image, then cut out and glue the image to a popsicle stick to create a puppet. This is a great way for children to practice using scissors! For older children, another creative way to put together props for the story is by using Legos or other building blocks to recreate the character(s). When planning for props to accompany their oral stories, teachers should think creatively – the sky is the limit!
Sample Props
Below are two characters that appear in the R-SUCCESS sample stories that can come to life in the classroom and that you may have children in your classroom create. These are just a few of the many animals that appear in the R-SUCCESS sample stories, and we encourage you to be creative in selecting props for your students to make!
Anansi the Spider Craft
Many of the R-SUCCESS sample oral stories feature Anansi the trickster spider. Anansi is a popular character in many West African folktales.
Materials:
Popsicle sticks (4 per child)
Markers
Construction paper (black and white)
Glue
Scissors
Googly eyes (optional)
Directions:
Color each popsicle stick on both sides with a black marker. These will be the spider’s legs.
To make the spider’s face, cut a small circle out of black construction paper, then glue googly eyes on to the face. Alternatively, create eyes using small circles cut out from black and white construction paper then glue them on to the face.
Glue the popsicle stick spider legs on to the face, making sure that the face is in the center of the popsicle sticks so that there are four legs on each side of the face. This might require hot glue, which only teachers should handle.
Monkey Puppet Craft
Monkeys can be found in both South America and Africa, so they are a popular character in many of the R-SUCCESS stories!
Materials:
Brown paper lunch bag (1 per child)
Small paper plates (3 per child)
Brown construction paper
Brown, light brown, and pink paint or markers
Googly eyes
Stapler
Scissors
Glue
Directions:
Fold a paper plate in half and cut around the edge to make a smaller circle for the monkey’s mouth. Color the inside of the mouth pink using paint or markers, and color one of the outside halves light brown.
To make the monkey's face, fold another paper plate in half and cut into a heart shape. Color this shape light brown using paint or markers.
Paint or color a third paper plate brown. If using paint, allow the plates to dry completely.
Cut two ears and two arms out of brown construction paper.
Glue the heart-shaped plate onto the brown paper plate to create the monkey’s face. Attach the googly eyes to make eyes for the monkey.
Staple the folded mouth to the monkey’s face, then staple the monkey's face to the bottom of the paper bag.
Using a stapler or glue, attach the ears and arms to the paper bag.
Kim Zambrano is a senior in the Applied Psychology program at New York University.
References
Bond, M. A., & Wasik, B. A. (2009). Conversation stations: Promoting language development in young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(6), 467–473.
Leggett, N. (2017). Early childhood creativity: Challenging educators in their role to intentionally develop creative thinking in children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(6), 845-853.
Massey, S. L. (2013). From the reading rug to the play center: Enhancing vocabulary and comprehensive language skills by connecting storybook reading and guided play. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(2), 125-131.