Flannel Friday: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer

Wayyyyy back when I was still in library school, I took a children's materials and services class where our assignment was to tell a story using props, flannels, etc. I was also working part-time in a library and I knew about their storytelling kit for the book Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. It consisted of a cardboard box made up to look like George the dog along with a lab coat, yellow rubber glove, and puppets.

This past year, I decided to do a pet-themed storytime and wanted to create something similar. It was relatively painless and cheap to do!

1. I grabbed a cardboard box (about the size of a Baker & Taylor shipping box for reference) from our ILL department and taped it closed on both sides.

2. Then I drew a marker line across the "front" of George about 6 inches up from the bottom.

3. Next, I drew 2 diagonal lines on George's "sides" that began at the top corner and met at the straight front line.

4. I used a box cutter to cut along my lines. Then I used packing tape to tape down any cardboard flaps on the inside.

Please forgive the blurriness. I was trying to take the photo with one hand.

5. Then I cut up some paper grocery bags (I cut off the bottoms and up on one seam) and used them to cover the box and make it look more like dog fur.

6. Lastly, I used construction paper for the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, etc.

For the rest of the kit, I just added Folkmanis puppets. You can set the puppets in the box in reverse order and just pull them out during the story. They end up looking like they are coming out of George's mouth!

Storytime Katie is hosting this week's Flannel Friday. You can find the round-up over on her blog! For more information on Flannel Friday, check out their website, Facebook group, or Pinterest page.