Yes, make your own book.

I never knew that my project during my masters program at DLSU will be put to good use (well, instead of collecting dust). We were tasked to make educational materials for young students, and I made an interactive book, complete with puppets. 


Now that we're homeschooling, I thought of this book, and behold -- still intact inside the tambakan! 


I wanted to place a specific time for manners/etiquette daily, so today we're focusing on saying "Excuse me," and teehee, we're using MY book!


You too can make your own. Make your storyline first. Select the main character, and 5 of the supports, should you have. 


Prepare 2 illustration boards for your cover (title cover and the back cover).

Write your story on a paper you prefer (that should be the left page; I used a simple oslo paper), and make illustrations on another page (that should be the right page). Leave an ample amount of space for a hole that you'd want to put for your main character. You must be able to fit your finger through that hole. The hole/space can be put on corners as what I did, or in the middle (very artsy) or anywhere you like. Draw them circles (holes) now. Make sure you align ALL the page holes or else it will destroy your puppet. (I did draw all of the circles in the lower left corner first before I wrote the words.) Now, draw circles too on your 2 board covers; they have to be all aligned with the pages, alright.

Should you want to print the words and pictures, do so. (There's a plethora of clip art and fonts online; these downloadables make me like a kiddie with new stationery packs!).

At this time, you should have designed your title cover. Then, cover the boards with plastic, then have the pages laminated (you're in luck if you have your own laminator; green eyed). Keep in mind that as typical books, a story (words) page will be on top of the illustrated page before having it laminated (I used double-sided tape for this). Make the holes using a cutter or an X-Acto knife.

Set aside the pages and make your puppets. My main character, Cranberry, is a caterpillar. I used old flannel cloths that we kept in our craft box. I drew along my index finger on the cloth itself using a crayon. Make 2 of this, cut with a millimeter of allowance around, sew them together along the crayon lines, except for the lower part (stronger than glue, can withstand really excited kiddie hands). Voila! A finger puppet! Googly eyes, colored wires, complete the whole shebang. Then a hand puppet for your left hand. Same procedures but make the lower part neater because your not going to cover it like the finger puppet. Glue laminated characters, then place the googly eyes or antennae.

{Guess on that page Cranberry should have said "May I pass through?" Oops!}

Time to assemble the pieces. I had mine wire bound somewhere in Legarda; felt it's cuter than the ringbind. Glue binding will be too rigid for the puppet. When done, glue the finger puppet on the inside of your back cover board, covering the hole of that board. Glue the laminated right page (which should be the end of your story) to cover the mess that is the finger puppet. Also, glue the first page on the inside of your back cover. Now, slide the puppet through the holes till you reach your cover board. There you go!!! Your very own interactive book, strong enough to withstand grabbing hands and writing marks (as the pages are laminated).

{Here's the last page of my story where Cranberry grew wings after a deep sleep (used velcro to attach it at the back of the puppet; wings were attached using a string). Cranberry flapped her little surprise and accidentally hit Lady}

 {Here are Cranberry's friends, using my left hand. The setting is the green garden, hence the color of the cloth. I had to insert some conversations in between the story.}

LIGHTBULB: Instead of a caterpillar, you can make it a talking hotdog (real cute), a growing tree (who'd have leaves in the end) or a stump (for environmental stories), a tall guy, or a short guy (with tall people as illustrations; for a story about self-esteem/confidence), a crayon/pencil, and a lot more. :) 

Enjoy and believe that you're a crafty momma!!! {momhug}