How to make a Story Sack

Making a story sack requires a little time and lots of imagination. Story sacks help a teacher or carer to tell the tale of a book using visual aids, usually via a collection of toys and objects related to the story being told. Children can be fully involved, both with the making of the sack and with using it, which encourages them to look at books and reading in a different way.

In this article, we will deal with the making of a story sack. A subsequent article will give guidelines on how to use your sack, but there are no hard and fast rules for story sacks, which is part of their appeal. They can be used in any way that suits your child and adapted constantly to new demands and levels of competence in your child.

Materials - There are two ways to go about creating the actual sack to contain your story items. Not everyone is good with a needle and thread, or has the time, and for those people we have the easy method:-

Easy Method - Find a large pillowcase. If you don't have one spare in the house, ask your friends and family. If that fails, take a trip to your local charity store and search through their items. It really doesn't matter how your pillowcase looks, but you might want to choose a plain one over patterned. Plain pillowcases allow you and your child to do some decoration which personalises the story sack. Add three Velcro tabs along the open side for quick opening and closing.

Sewing method - Find a piece of material which, when folded in half, makes a sack about the size of a large pillowcase. Follow the guidelines for the easy method when choosing your material and sourcing it. Turn your material inside out and hem up two of the long sides.

(You might be tempted to use iron-on hemming at this stage. Only bear in mind that the sack is going to get a lot of use and the time taken to sew the seams may well make you story sack stronger in the long run)

Turn over the top of the sack and sew around, making sure to leave an open space at each end. This allows you to thread a cord or ribbon of your choice through the turnover and, when pulled tight, closes the sack.

Now you have your basic sack. Hopefully, you managed to source some plain material and now you need to find your child. It's time for -

Decoration - Decorating your story sack is a task which requires two things - Imagination and a child. Always bearing in mind the safety of your child, anything can be used to decorate the exterior of the story sack. The following are a few tips you might use, but plenty of ideas will occur to you and your child, once you begin. Every sack should have the words 'My Story Sack' on it somewhere, but beyond that, the world's your oyster.

1 - Marker pens - Any amount of designs can be drawn onto the sack and in as many vibrant colours as possible. One tip for marker pens, as they have a tendency to leech through to the other side of the fabric. Either spread the fabric out on a protected surface and draw on your design before sewing up or place a piece of thick card inside the sack to catch any pen which leaks through.

2 - Fabric and ribbon - Cut up old clothes (recycling is good!), collect ribbons and bows from family and friends and turn your story sack into a riot of colour. Fabric can be glued on, with adult supervision. The adult can cut out shapes and the child can create with them. People, animals, trucks and cars, absolutely anything can be created with fabric and ribbons are great for spelling out words.

3 - Fabric paints - These can be used in the same way as marker pens and give great results.

Now you have your basic sack and it is time for a treasure hunt. For this you will need:-

One child

Family and friends

Cupboards, boxes and under the bed

Charity shops

Other parents and children

That may seem like a strange list, but you will see why. A story sack needs to contain a variety of objects with which to tell a story. However, there is one vitally important piece of the story sack which must be dealt with first -

The story mat - The story mat is the first thing out and the last thing in when it comes to using the story sack. How big your story mat is depends on you and how much space you have. It can be big enough for the child to sit in the centre as a story is told or small enough to sit on a table-top.

The story mat can be ready-made, for example, using an old cot blanket, or something you make yourself. This is where imagination, family, friends and charity shops come into the picture. Think about the stories you may tell. A piece of green fabric, hemmed to prevent fraying, can serve as a field or grass. Blue can be sky or sea and yellow can be sand. Try to have a range of coloured mats to use, but using one plain piece, perhaps in white is a perfectly viable alternative.

If you really want to put some extra effort in, try and make a mat specific to your child’s favourite books. A Thomas the Tank Engine mat could have train tracks made from ribbon sewn onto it. A Peter Pan mat might have fairies and Captain Hook’s pirate ship. The possibilities are endless, so have fun with making your story mats.

Once the mat is dealt with, it’s time to hunt down items for your sack. One item which is vital to this part of the process is a box or a space tucked away in a corner. This is your story sack box, or space, and it’s where you will store the excess items, not currently in use.

Items for your sack can be as basic or fantastic as space and finances allow. The following are a few suggestions for your sack store, but a myriad others will occur to you as you use the story sack.

1 – Animals – Raid the toy-box and try to have one of as many animals as you can find. Ask family and friends for any they can spare. Visit local charity shops and raid their toy section. Animals can be plastic, wooden, fabric, stuffed or even pictures cut from a magazine and pasted onto card.

Note – If you do buy from a charity shop, make sure you give the toys a good wash as they accumulate dust and germs from other people handling them before purchase.

2 – People – Every story sack needs a population. Try to add as much variety as possible, using the same techniques outlined above. Taking a quick look through your child’s books can be a great help as you will gain some idea of the people you might encounter during a reading session.

3 – Buildings – Some form of house is usually a must. You can add shops, farms, schools and anything else you think might crop up. Use magazines for more exotic ideas, such as straw huts, space stations and other planets.

4 – Wool, cottonwool, paper (in various colours), material, lolly sticks, pipe cleaners, glitter, glue and anything else crafty – This isn’t really for the reading part of the story sack, but more for running repairs and when something crops up that you haven’t got. Keep your repair and emergency kit with the sack store and you’ll never be stuck for an item.

5 – Vehicles –In all shapes and sizes and descriptions. Vehicles pop up in most stories and having a large variety is useful.

6 – Other parents – This may seem like a strange idea, but other parents are a great resource. Once you begin using your story sack, talk to other parents and arrange toy swaps. When using a story sack, the tendency is to concentrate on one story for a few days. Arrange with another parent to swap a toy you need for one they want and swap back after the preset number of days. This is an excellent way to expand your toy ‘library’ without incurring huge costs.

7 – Everyday objects – Pots, plates, cutlery, anything which might be in use around the house or garden. This can be full-sized items or toys.

8 – Special items – Books, by their nature, take your child to new worlds and help them experience new things. When choosing a book for the story sack, take note of anything in the story which does not appear in your home or sack store and make an effort to track it down. If you can’t find what you need, draw it or print off a picture at the library or from the internet at home and use that.

9 – Letters and numbers – According to the age and stage of your child, have a set of numbers and letters. These can be made very simple and cheaply. Write the numbers/letters onto white paper (or cut them from magazines). Glue them onto cardboard (cereal boxes are fabulous) and seal with a coat of PVA glue.

10 – Word cards – Pick out the important words or words you wish your child to learn from whichever book you are using with the story sack. Using the technique for numbers/letters, create cards with these words on them and store for future use.

Those ideas should get you started, but once you are in the swing of using a story sack, plenty more will occur to you. A story sack is marvellously flexible and can be adapted to any budget and any child.

Written down, this looks like a lot of work, but it can be done very quickly and you can be using your story sack by the end of the day. An article on using a story sack is to follow. The most important thing to remember is – Have fun!.