Ulog No. 10: "Making Story Stones"

Our children at the Early Learning Centre will be reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" by Eric Carle this coming week, so I thought of preparing activities that are inspired by this book that would make children busy and at the same time work on their colours recognition and vocabulary development.

One of the activities is called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" Story Stones. To prepare this, I need:

• black stones (preferably flat)
• glue
• contact paper
• animal printables

So yesterday, I went to Cheap-as-Chips, Mitre 10, garden shop, aquarium, and pet shops to look for black flat stones, but to no avail. I found something that I preferred from Mitre 10 Hardware Store, however, the stones are sold in large quantity, where I will only be needing up 20 pieces. I decided I would just use what I bought from Cheap-as-Chips, because they're worth $2 for a small bag. I thought, "This will do."

I got home and printed out the animal printables. I cut them out and glued onto individual stones. I wish I had Mod Podge, which is a waterbase glue and sealer with a gloss finish. It would be easier than using contact paper. I have not used Mod Podge before, but other teachers recommend this in making story stones.

But anyway, I used what's available and what's more economical for me (also I need to promote sustainability - but in saying that, I should have just gone to the beach and look for stones that I needed). I am sure that these story stones will be used many times.

I made two lots of these, so that two children will be able to play this at the same time. The children who will be engaged in this activity can use the story stones for their own creative play or tell a different story other than the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."

After making the stones as a story tell aide for the book, I am now thinking of buying the whole bag of the flat black stones I found on Mitre 10, which is worth $29, or I can just devote a time to look for stones at the beach. I want to make different story stones, where each one will have a picture of a character, an animal, a place or an object. This will be a great group activity at 'circle time' that I am thinking of introducing to my little darlings at ELC. I will put all the stones in a basket and will pass it around. Each child will take it in turns to draw one stone from the basket to add a sentence to the made-up story.

The children can also use the stones as a sorting and grouping activity. They can sort out the stones according to people, animals, food, etc. How children play and learn from these story stones is actually open-ended. When used as a literacy activity or in an imaginative play, the experience promotes creativity, vocabulary development, and communication skills. When used as a numeracy activity, it fosters problem-solving and critical thinking skills.