Lockdown Special: Creating Story Sacks for home – with a little help from the internet! BUG Belly Babysitting Trouble by Paul Morton

In this our second lockdown stock sack special, we are going to show you how you can compile story sacks, by shopping online, opposed to purchasing the components from bookshops, charity shops and toys shops on the high street.

So for you all out there here’s a reminder of what a story sack consists of….

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  soft toys 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.
  
  

Books

The book I’ve chosen to construct the stock sack around is Bug Belly written and illustrated by Paul Morton. It’s an early reader chapter book, about Bug Belly the greediest Frog who has to save all his nephews and nieces he’s babysitting when their pond begins to drain. Using an ingenious plan Bug Belly outwits Heron, Pike and Snake, who are all ready to goggle up him and the tadpoles, on their journey form Top Pond, through Middle Pond to Bottom Pond. This funny and vibrant book is an excellent read for the time of year, as it’s tadpole season, plus it supports the Key Stage One Curriculum. It’s perfect for home educating! 

I’ve paired Bug Belly with Scholastic’s From Tadpole to Frog early reader by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, which is an early reader photographic non-fiction book about the life cycle of a frog.

Toys

For soft toys I found a Wild Republic frog, which was relatively inexpensive. Of course you can get other frogs, from finger puppets (Ikea do a cheap one) to larger toys, to suit every budget.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find ANY plush tadpoles, so I got my so to sow some from felt and buttons. These were easy and inexpensive. 

Snake toys you can fairly cheaply and easily on line if you wish. Pikes, are trickier but you can buy a 45cm Pike toy/cushion for £8.99 from Ebay. Heron’s get pricier but it’s worth looking around. 

For budget sake, and to keep my son company as he made the tadpoles, I made this like Pike, (sorry sowing isn’t by strong suit). But making characters with thing you have around the house is a good activity for lockdown!

Game / Toys

For the game element I have included an Insect Lore frog life cycle set of figurines, which again is good for home educating.

For printable activities, you can also visit the bug belly web-site  Here

The whole story sack cost (including postage and packaging) cost less than £20.00 and all arrived in a week. So thereby showing that you can produce story sacks from home.