Fireflies: Storybox: Being Grateful for a Person, Place & Thing

LOVE LOVE LOVE how this Fireflies Verbal Comm idea turned out!
This idea began with the purchase of Rory's Story Cubes which I love with two exceptions: size and images. Wanting a larger size for little hands and the ability to control the story prompts (images), I decided to create my own.

Last November's post:
Magnetic Family Personalities is also a favorite of mine, and since we are focusing on GRATITUDE this month, I combined both ideas and came up with our second "Tell Me a Story" Box.

The result?
I am thankful for the "People, Places & Things" God has given to me! Read on...

While visiting our local Michael's store (a must when I begin brainstorming), I found a bin of 2 1/2 inch wooden disks for 29 cents.

Next, I picked up some paint and a few other supplies and headed home to begin this project - The Fireflies' "Tell Me a Story" Box: Person, Place, & Thing.

Keeping in mind that we are creating these verbal comm projects for young children, I decided to use three colors to distinguish between nouns [person, place, & things]. The idea is for children to pick up one of each and create a story using all three. Depending on the age of your child, you might use these as simple image recognition circles, vocabulary identification prompts, and/or story starters. For older children, add a color and introduce verbs (action words). Obviously this verbal comm project is flexible and will accommodate all developmental stages and communication skills standards.

The Process

1. Paint your wooden circles.

2. Print out 3 inch square images of family members on regular paper or card stock and affix them to one side of the circles using Mod Podge (I seriously love this stuff...) If you have never used it before, apply some to the back of your image and press it firmly onto your wooden disk, smoothing out any bubbles. Wait about 20 minutes until basically dry and then apply a top coat to your image. Mod Podge will dry completely clear.

Crop each image to a 3" X 3"square and print out.

Cut your images into circles.

With a paint brush apply Mod Podge to back of images
and press firmly onto wooden circles working out any air bubbles.

Brush Mod Podge on top of image after waiting about 20 minutes.

3. Identify nouns with your child during a conversation about gratitude. "I am thankful for...(name some people, places, & things)." I am thankful for my family, for my home, and for books, flowers, etc. Encourage your child to come up with their own list and take pictures so that their storystarters are customized to your family and personal to your child.

NOTE: I'm working on my own "I am grateful for..." list, and it's apparent that I'm going to have to make another run to Michaels for more wooden circles! In the meantime, here is the start of my collection.

4. Place the finished Person, Place, & Things Circles in your "Tell Me a Story" Box and begin creating family stories. Turn the disks over and have your child select at least one from each category. Remember that the stories can make sense or be totally fanciful. Also, they do not need to end cleanly - just have fun creating a situation, a moment, something that might happen in a complete story. The creative communication process is what really matters. Don't forget to keep a journal nearby and document your original family stories. (Oh, and Mom and Dad must take a turn creating their own stories too!)

We hope you will enjoy being together as a family "chasing fireflies" while creating memories and stories with your Fireflies' Person, Place, & Thing Storybox!