- Your group could team with other organizations in the community so you will
have more resources for your story sacks program: an Elders’ group, a sewing
group, the girl guides and scouts, a school class, a carpentry course, a library
committee. Or ask for volunteers to come and work with you on the story
sacks program.
- Ask the Nunavut Literacy Council for resources and guidance. We have ideas
about what to put in your story sack and how to make it fun and safe for
young children.
- You may want to look for funding to buy materials or donations from local
businesses.
- Choose written stories, recorded stories or oral stories you have heard in the
past. Choose stories that are active and interesting for children.
- Decide how many people would want to work on a story sack together.
Perhaps groups of four or live would be a good number. Brainstorm all the
items you want to put in your story sack. Make a list. Make a work plan. Who
will do which jobs? Post your work plan so everyone in your group will know
what jobs they are responsible for.
- Make a recorded version of the story to go in the story sack. (See
Talking Books in the Oral Projects section.)
- If the story is a recorded oral story, type up a written version in large clear
print, using the exact words of the storyteller.
- The facilitator teaches mini-lessons on the writing process, syllabic
keyboarding, grammar and any other topics as they come up.
- Make a backdrop from cardboard, skin, fabric or light wood. The backdrop will
show a background scene from the story. You may have one backdrop or more.
- Each story sack group can decide how they want to make the characters in
the story: hand or finger puppets, masks, hats, costumes or handmade dolls.
Or you might use stuffed toys, or plastic or wooden animals bought at house
sales, dollar stores or found around home. When masks or costumes are used,
the children and adults become actors and perform the same actions as in the
story. The way you make the characters depends on the interests and skills of
your group members and the resources you have available.
- Make or find props that go along with the story. These are things like a
kakivak, guitar, rile, fishing net – anything that will help people act out the
story. The props don’t have to be perfectly like the real thing or like the
illustration in the book. They can be realistic, but they can also be silly or
funny.
- Here are some ideas about safety:
- Use thread to design the eyes and nose instead of buttons or commercially
produced plastic eyes.
- Use fabric to ill dolls, not seeds or beans.
- Look at labels to make sure toys are non-toxic.
- Use ire-resistant materials.
- Don’t include small toys or parts that might be swallowed. The inside
cardboard roll from paper-towel is a good test for size. If a toy or part can
pass through the roll, don’t include it in your story sack.
- Check all stuffed toys carefully to make sure they are safe and washable.
- Find a non-fiction book that relates to your story.
- Make a large cloth bag – large enough to hold your backdrop and all your
characters and props. Put the name of the book on the outside of your story
sack. Use felt, cloth or skin letters or fabric paint.