Budget Story Sack – The Kiss That Missed – David Melling.

I’m often told by people that they like story sack but they are too expensive to put together so every now and then I like to do a post where I put together a budget story sack. I achieve this by setting a budget and timescale to assemble the story sack in and then go and out and see if I can actually construct a story sack within both the finical and time constraints. So this is my latest Budget story sack feature, but before we being let’s have a reminder of what is in a story sack…

Story Sack Checklist

• A good quality fiction book. (picture book or novel)
• A non-fiction book related to the story and themes in the chosen picture book.
• Toys, (ideally a soft toy for younger children).
• A game or activity also related to the theme of the chosen fiction book.
• Optional worksheet based on the story and themes off the story sack.

So my Budget was set at £10.00 and the timescale at a week (obviously this was done pre-lockdown!), and I went out to my local town. So in my first job is to look for a suitable book to construct the story sack around, here’s a quick tip; if you are going to do a budget story sack then stick to popular topics, like, dinosaurs, space or as I have in this one – knight and dragons – as you will find more choice of cheap components in charity shops, toy shops and pound shops etc.

Books

So I was lucky enough to find a lovely good quality second hand copy of David Mellings beautiful ‘The Kiss That Missed’ for £1.00. The story is of knight who is on a quest to find and bring back the Kings Kiss for its intended recipient the prince. The knight journey is perilous and funny as he has to bravely tackle magical forest and ferocious dragons.

In the same shop I found a good condition copy of the book ‘100 Facts – Knights and Castle’ which provides the non-fiction related picture book which is crammed full of interesting knight educational facts, for only 50p.

Toys

For the toys I was lucky enough to find a BNWT ‘Puppet Company’ dragon & knight finger puppets for £1.00 each. I also found a BNWT box of ‘Tellatale Cinderella Finger Puppet’ set that provide the royal household for £3.00. I was stuck a little for a toy to be the Knights loyal steed but we happened to be going to Ikea that week and serendipitously they has a white horse finger puppet for £1.49. So we ended up with a whole cast of finger puppet characters which not only keeps the cost down, but also makes the story sack non-bulky and easy to transport.

Game

For the game I found a complete unused second hand box of ‘Usborne Knights and Castles Snap’ for £1.50. Which can be used to play snap or utilised to play storytelling games - like story dice. As a bonus, I happened to find a foam knights shield for 50p, to encourage make-believe play.

All in all the Story Sack came in a budget just £9.99. Proving that with a bit on imagination, and a keen eye, you can construct a story sack on a limited budget.

Also if you would like to hear David Melling reading ‘The Kiss that Missed’ press here.