back to school

A tree in  my apple.  

These we learned early as little children: The ABC's and the 123's:  

↓Kindergarten work sheet with a smiley face. 

They are embedded in the deepest recesses of our minds. Perhaps letters and numbers are the last to leave our memories. 1,2,3, in progression 4,5, 6...

↑In kindergarten, a child has practiced letters the tail end of the alphabet. v x z y ↑ 😊

   

In memory care, an elderly man practices  standing,  and counting  at the same time.    The helper counts 1,  the elderly patient counts 2,  helper 3,  patient 4,  helper 5,  patient 6.  The sequence.

With supervision, the  patient  stands and  takes off counting up to 50 on his own.  😊  

Deuteronomy 32:2 "small rain upon the tender herb."  

Elderly  play and care at  hollyhockjunction

FISH PUPPET TO MAKE

FISH PUPPET PATTERN

PATTERN:

Download the fish pattern and enlarge to nearly 11” (the size of a sheet of typing paper).

CUT

Cut two fish bodies from two 9” X 12” felt squares.    Choose a variety of felt colors.  Young children seem to like hot pink and blue.  

Or to  make six fish, cut 12 felt bodies from one 36” X 36” piece of fabric. 

On one side,  mark dots at the bottom of the fish with chalk or permanent pen.  Mark the  *stars at the  mouth and fish tail sewing guides. 
A top fin can be added.  Insert the fin at the top before sewing the two fish bodies together.  

SEW AROUND FISH

Put the  two felt fish bodies together.

Sew from Dot 1 at the  the bottom of the fish around the top of the fish to Dot 2. There will be an opening left at the bottom of the fish.  This is where the hand will go into the puppet.

SEW ACROSS TAIL

Decorative seam: 

Sew indent for the mouth as shown.   Sew across the tail to the *starst in the middle of the tail.   It will look like a curved x on the tail  as shown.   (The X stitching  on the tail gives the puppet strength.)

DECORATE FISH

Add  eyes using felt circles,  googley eyes or buttons.  Secure the eyes using a hot or low melt glue gun or tacky glue.  Tacky glue will take several  hours to dry. (Tacky glue takes longer to dry on humid days.) 
If a toddler will be playing with the puppet,  use felt eyes instead of  buttons as googley eyes could cause a choking hazard if swallowed.

Instruct the children to embellish the fish however they choose using scraps of fabric,  lace,  pom poms, foamies etc.  Have an adult assist if glue guns are used. 

PLAY!

Put your hand in the puppet and form a pinching position with your hand. 

Pretend to swim the fish by moving it up and down with your wrist,  or move your whole arm and swim the fish up and down in broad strokes. 

Find a fish book or song to swim along with!  
See other  fish puppet  how-to's on my 2012 posts.  Hollyhockjunction.blogspot.com

Enlist your favorite seamstress to sew fish puppets for a class to be used in as library activity, church school, or specical services young and old.