Thursday, July 17

Frog's new jacket


We have been enjoying the Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel. Currently, we're reading from Frog and Toad Are Friends. In one story, titled A Lost Button, Toad thinks he loses a jacket button while on an outdoor walk with Frog. Frog and Toad retrace their steps, looking for the button. Toad is frustrated that they find a number of other lost buttons (black button, two-hole button, small button, square button, thin button), but not his own white, four-hole, big, round, thick button. In the end, he finds it at home. In gratitude to Frog who helped him look for his lost button, Toad sews all the found buttons onto his jacket and gives it to Frog. Frog loves it.
We love the story, so we created our own Frog's jacket. Except we don't have a frog, so it's for a rabbit. Whatever. This would be a fun little storytime/craft combo that's easily adaptable for various ages of children.
For ours, I drew something like the picture below on a piece of oilcloth. (For the real one, I measured and drew straight lines). I cut it out, folded it across the top, and stitched the sides (with a little help from eager children). My kids picked out buttons that fit the descriptions in the book (at least, whatever I had that most closely resembled them). They glued them to the jacket and when they weren't looking I sewed them on for added strength. I didn't measure any of their dolls before cutting and sewing, so I had to keep making little adjustments. You can see slight modifications when you look at our finished jacket below. Be sure to take simple measurements of your doll before you draw and cut.

Variations on this project:
Draw a jacket and have your children color it and glue on buttons.
Cut out the oilcloth jacket and punch holes down the sides. Have your child sew it closed with yarn. Glue or sew on buttons. (See photos above)

10 comments:

Sara said...

That's a great idea! Keely is probably a little young for the idea, but she is very intrigued by buttons lately! Can't wait to go to a library when we get home! I love all of your ideas!

Erica said...

I love Frog and Toad and I love your idea! When I taught first grade we made a class vest that we sent home with each student. They each sewed a button on at home and wore the vest the next day at school. Then they had to describe their button and the class had to find it on the vest.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love that!!

Anonymous said...

Soooooo cute! Once again, a craft tied into a book, making it all the more memorable. I can hardly wait for my next visit, to share in person all the wonderful goings-on there!

Tanielle said...

Thank you for all of your wonderful crafty ideas! Your site is a new favorite of mine! For this I award you a Bloggers Award! Check out my site! Congratulations!

Amy said...

Such a cute idea- I love it!

Shelly G said...

Oh my gosh that is a wonderful idea... I love that little book and I love your idea... I want to make one for Hope to play with... I am sure she would love it... Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us:)

Unknown said...

its a lovely idea ...I would like to know whats the fabric you used for the jacket?

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