Turning a Story Book alive : D-I-Y Puppet Theater and puppets

Imagination is a beautiful gift of childhood. 

With a growing collection of books, my 5-year-old is an avid reader. She loves reading through sight words and phonics and has gotten so good at it. Taking a cue, we have increased her stash of Read-it-yourself books. 

Meanwhile, her winter break project from school has been to make some puppets of their favorite story characters. 

She chose her story and wanted to make puppets of 'The Tortoise and The Hare' from Aesop's Fables.

As back to school got nearer, I got wondering whether a small puppet theater would interest her. She absolutely loved the idea. And here's what we made. 

That's a old tissue box, of which the front has been cut out. Some printed stock images for the back ground.

The images of a forest are to be glued on the insides to form a story back ground.

Some tissue paper mache. Lots of cutting and sticking. We used a watered down white glue for the purpose. Leave to dry overnight. P.S. And no we didn't do all the gluing and cutting over that pretty rug of mine.

Once completely dry and stiff , add a coat of color all over. Notice that lovely texture that paper mache gives. The idea was to get a feel of a wooden log .

This is the front. We added some paper mache to replicate grass on the inside bottom too.

Next some lovely animal cutouts from stock images. Few trees to add layers and depth to the theater. My daughter dutifully colored the main charachters - the tortoise and the hare.

Now two slits at the top one for the tortoise (bottom straight) and one for the hare. The hare has a little stop over near a tree where he takes a nap.

Time to bring in the actors.Tape our tortoise and the hare to two long wooden skewers which go through the slits in the box.

See that prize over there, guess who is going to win it? Time to get ready for the show.

Small and easy for her to handle, with simple stuff lying around the home we managed to create a puppet theater which is probably going to have unlimited shows, as we read her currently favorite story. 

This was the first time we did 'Paper Mache' at home, and that was a hit with all the glue and tearing and the mess of course. 

She carried the project with pride to school. 

Guess I need to stock up on used tissue paper boxes or any other box for that matter. We've got a lot of stories to read and many tissue box theaters to make :).

FARZ

This post is linked to 

Made for Kids-17 @The Resourceful Mama

Wordless Wednesdays @Tots and Me

        A little bird told me Linky party @ Natural Beach Living

WASIT WETLAND CENTRE SHARJAH (UAE) - An amazing winter break trip for kids.

With the winter break up, we have a huge back log of photos and posts to come up:)
Here is a place we recently had a trip to.

'Location : WASIT WETLAND CENTRE    SHARJAH,U.A.E

GPS Coordinate : 25.368095N , 55.459901E

Road : Dhaid road Exit from Interchange 2

Timings : Weekday 9:00 am to 6:30 pm

            Friday 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm

                  Saturday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm

Tuesday - Holiday

Entry Fee: Adults - 15 AED

                      Kids under 12 Free'

This seems to be a very lucky season for spotting birds. Everything is perfect, the weather, the migratory birds and new beautiful nature reserves opening up.
WASIT a new wetland in Sharjah, awaits its tourists. Its a reclaimed area that has been restored to its glory and perfectly done to house the amazing flock of birds that would live or visit. Open to visitors since a month, well within the city of Sharjah in UAE, this swanky place is glossy new with as many as 33000 birds already in house!

A huge map of UAE with all its nature reserves marked adorned the floor entrance. We made a mental note of the new info and also to re-visit the ones we had already visited. The information desk gives you a wonderful brochure with a picture guide of the different birds that call the wetland its home.  The place reminded us of Arabian Wild life Centre, with its amazing air conditioned viewing walkways.

The birds were at peace in their natural habitat. The walls held a lot of information on the species that we could observe. The call of different birds resonated from the speakers. Quite a bit of wall games with the bird theme to keep the kids entertained.
A cafeteria with a good spread of dishes and a seating with amazing view of the birds outside adds a nice touch to the place.

But the best part about the place is the carts that took us on a trip around the place through the overgrown vegetation. It was a surreal experience especially for this part of the world. Beautiful wooden observation decks merge with the landscape, ideal for a bird watcher to sit in tranquility.

The little one enjoyed the trip very much, especially the cart ride, and looking at the different sizes of bird eggs on display. She has added this visit on her winter journal :) 

A quiet place, perfect for a visit with kids. Definitely a hot spot for bird-watchers and photographers.

FARZ & ZAIN

Many more places kid-friendly places in Sharjah up on the blog:
SHARJAH DISCOVERY CENTRE
SHARJAH AQUARIUM
SHARJAH MARITIME MUSEUM
SHARJAH BOOK FAIR
SHARJAH NATIONAL PARK
SHARJAH CHILDREN'S READING FESTIVAL
SHARJAH SCIENCE MUSEUM
SHARJAH LIBRARY
SHARJAH PLANETARIUM
WASIT WILD LIFE CENTRE

This post is linked to

 

RAS AL KHOR WILD LIFE SANCTUARY & ZABEEL PALACE GARDEN :Finding flamingos and peacocks amidst the urban DUBAI

No we haven't deserted the blog :)

We were just so busy completely living outdoors this season. What amazing winters we have during winter in UAE.
Been exploring outdoors as much as we can and are going to be bringing all our expeditions to you :).

There is a place we wanted to visit for a long time but were waiting for the right season. 

The RAS AL KHOR WILD LIFE SANCTUARY.

Ras Al Khor is a protected wetland right in the middle of the skyscrapers of DUBAI.
With a view of Burj Khalifah, and the wide laned roads filled with traffic, this place is a sharp contrast. Quiet, fenced off, and brimming with life.

The skyline of DUBAI and the wetlands - a striking diversity

The place is very famous for the pink-legged Flamingos. 

The reserve has three viewing hides and we chose the one closest to us as we took the U-turn. Sadly for us the flamingos stood at the other end of the santuary. And would have been a great photographing opportunity from the other hides. We had to pacify ourselves with the view through the telescope, which we could not capture on camera :/. The reserve has free entry, 9am to 4pm Saturday through Thursday, and attracts, nature lovers , bird watchers, photographers, school children and families. 

One of the Hides

The only 3 birds that decided to entertain us :/

A much more amazing view with the telescope- a close up of the flamingos

Haha! our camera couldn't pick up an amazing shot of the flamingos. So here is a pic from the poster thats up in the hide

Apart from flamingos we spotted many other species of birds and the wetlands were brimming with fish. Ras Al Khor is frequented by many migratory birds. 

The hides are equipped with a telescope and a few binoculars. But we spotted some serious bird-watchers with their amazing gear. So if you own any professional camera, binocular or telescope, this is the best place to put it to use. 

Loved this place, hoping that next time we will be lucky with the hide we chose.

RAS AL KHOR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
25.19562°N 55.34380°E
Free Entry
9 am to 4 pm

ZABEEL PALACE GARDENS and their Peacocks


Our next stop was to the Palace of the ruler of DUBAI. In front of the sprawling palace lies a well manicured garden. This garden is famous for peacock spotting. 

Parking our car, we walked towards the garden and saw this fancy DUBAI Police vehicle on display.
The love of horses that the rulers nourish was very evident in the statues of horses that adorned the palace and its gates.

Anyways we shifted our attention back to sighting some peacocks. Heeding to their calls we looked around and found a few of them strolling around. May be because of the afternoon being a little bit sultry, not many were in view. 

Seeing the peacocks in their elements, prancing about the greens was just amazing. Their colors glistening in the sunlight. We started praying for a bit of drizzle from the clouds so that the peacock would open up its beautiful feathers. But, sadly for us, none of that happened:/

Still it was amazing to see these majestic birds up close. Some pictures for you guys to feast your eyes on the peacock that was curious enough to come check us out :).

There you have it. Two bits of places you must take kids to in winter in Dubai, bringing them closer to nature.

Have you been animal or bird spotting anywhere else within the city?

See ya!
Farz & Zain

This Post is linked to 

5 OUTDOOR FAMILY ACTIVITIES IN DUBAI THIS WINTER - My first write up for the online magazine B-Change

Well, I am back from my hiatus with a good news!

I am now officially writing for an amazing online magazine called B-CHANGE.
And this is my first post. http://b-change.me/5-must-try-outdoor-family-activities-in-dubai-this-winter/

B-Change is an amazing online magazine in the middle east region, that you must definitely follow. 

Excerpt from BChange
"We’re here to give you memorable stories about remarkable people, the reviews of hide-away eateries that missed the corner of your eye, and witty entertainment and commentary on pop culture.

We’re here to keep you up with current events, introduce you to local talent [artists, writers, musicians, furniture crafters – you name it], let you in on indie art events you won’t find on mainstream media, share novel ideas for décor and fashion, and to create a community of artists so ideas can intertwine to make lasting collaborations.

We’re here to encourage conversation about social issues that are simmering under agreeable words. We’re here to change with you and grow to live up to every promise we make.

We’re basically here because we need to talk to you."
- Bhoomika Ghaghada
- Tarun Shyam

Catch up with B-Change here:

Facebook:bchangesocial
Twitter: @BChangeSocial
Instagram: bchangesocial
Youtube:B-Change


A sneak peak at the article.

Hoping for a lot of support!

Meanwhile stay tuned to our blog for a some exciting posts to come soon :)

FARZ