story telling stones: mouse picnic

After months and months of drawing pictures of mouse picnics with Chick, I decided that we should make a mouse picnic for her to play with. This project began with peaceful stone gathering and then turned into an excuse for indoor water play since all of the stones needed to be rinsed. The very very end left us covered in glue and feeling eager to see who our little stones would become once dry. Chick chose which shapes and creatures should be at the picnic, and I cut out the shapes and did most of the gluing . This afternoon, she worked on a more abstract set of rocks that are still drying - I'll post pictures of those soon. I'm realizing that this project doesn't really have an end; there is always one more little friend or food or burst of color to add to the set. The best part is that I found out my kid can tell a pretty involved mouse story; these little friends have names, back stories, and very specific likes and dislikes. Like, for instance, the cheese is definitely colby jack - not swiss.

Here is a little tutorial showing how this passel of mice and company were created.

Materials:
stones of all shapes and sizes
bits of fabric and paper
hole punch
scissors
pencil
Mod Podge

Step 1: Collect stones in a bucket. Try to find different shapes since that will ensure that there are lots of options later on. The smoother the stone, the better.

Step 2: Dump the stones into the sink, fill the sink with water, and have someone who loves to play in water scrub each one with a brush. Just rinsing the stones is also perfectly fine too. Once all of the stones are rinsed, set them out in the sun to dry.

Step 3: Using a fabric pencil, draw a mouse shape on your favorite gray or tan fabric and cut it out.


Step 4: Find a stone that seems to work well with your shape, and coat the stone with Mod Podge. Then, put the shape on the stone and put another layer of Mod Podge over it. Use your fingers to rearrange the shape, so that it is positioned just right on the stone.

Step 5: Use a hole punch with a super small hole to punch out a little eye and glue it on the mouse. Then, cut out a tail and glue that on as well. Be sure that the entire mouse has a layer of Mod Podge over it.

Step 6: Let the mouse dry.

Step 7: Make some mouse friends, food, and play things for your new friend.



xo e