"Rain" Puppet

This is my rain puppet. We're just going into what we call our "monsoon" season when we often get a rain storm in the afternoon. So, I am just in time to get this finished to use with the younger children in singing time. This puppet has been in my brain for some time now. I made it specifically to go with the song "Rain is Falling." BTW, I am having so much fun singing with the nursery kids. Sometimes they get so excited to see me and that feels pretty good ;o).

To make the puppet, I used an ordinary white cotton knitted work glove as the base. I used plain white thread and a long needle to tack bunches of polyester quilt batting down on top. I tried to keep as much of the thread as possible on top of the glove so that it wouldn't catch on my fingers when I put the glove on. Then I took some blue, gray and white acrylic paint and dabbed it on the batting and the bottom of the glove to create a rain cloud look. The paint actually helps stabilize the batting. I used nylon thread and blue crystal beads to make the raindrops. I threaded the beads on the nylon and then tied knots to suspend the beads in the air. I threaded the beads on to the bottom of the fingers so that the raindrops would dance. When I wiggle my fingers, the crystal beads catch the light and sparkle beautifully.

This puppet is somewhat fragile, in the respect that the littlest nursery kids could tear it apart fairly quickly. Because of that, and the fact that the beads are small in size, I'll restrict its use. (I'll try at least, perhaps I won't even be able to use it in the nursery, depending on the various factors at work there.) I'm hoping to make some smaller puppets (larger beads or drops dangling from a popsicle stick or maybe a child's white tube sock) for the kids to use as we sing the song.

Here are more pictures.

Rest Activity - Pioneer "Fun to Do"

I've put this activity in my Sunday box and I'll carry it throughout this month. I can pull it out if I have extra time or if the kids need a rest or a change of pace. The slips go with the song "Fun to Do" (CS-253). Have a child choose a strip and then pantomime the action. See if the other children can guess what it is. Be prepared to give some clues. Sing the song and do the action together.

This week is going to be pioneer week on this blog. I have so many pioneer things that I'll post several times. I hope you enjoy them.

New Wiggle Worms

This coming Sunday is the first day of Spring. To honor the occasion I've made new wiggle worms and a bait can. At Christmas, my adult kids had so much fun making new objects for my singing time out of Sculpey clay. I've been wanting to get my hands in some Sculpey ever since, so I made these worms. I used numbers this time so that the worms can be more generic than my other wiggle sticks. I just have to make a numbered list of the wiggle songs to choose when I use these.

I wonder what else I could make with Sculpey clay? Any suggestions?

Choosing Wiggle Songs - wiggle sticks

These are my wiggle worm sticks. They have wiggle songs written on the back and the children can pick one of the worms to choose a wiggle song. They are easy, easy to make - just paint the sticks and glue the wiggly eyes on them. I keep them in a "bait can" and they are handy on the weeks that we're working hard to learn a new song.