Press Here: A Story Mob
Ever since I heard of Toronto’s Story Mob, I’ve been wanting to try it. I wasn’t sure exactly how I could make it work as an after school program, but I finally figured it out! I have great success with series programming at my library. I decided to run this program as a series:
- Week One: Design and Decorate Props
- Week Two: Design and Decorate Props
- Week Three: Practice
- Week Four: Perform for parents
I chose one of my favorite stories, Press Here by Herve Tullet, to be the inaugural story. I ordered the following materials for the props:
- DIY Knight’s Armor from Oriental Trading. I ordered 2 dozen: you need 15 for the story, plus a few in case of mistakes! $22.99 with shipping
Or, you can use two pieces of 11 x 17 white construction paper and two strips of 3 x 11 for shoulder straps - Glue sticks (about 1 stick for each prop: total of 15)
- Scissors
- Construction paper in 9×12 size:
-
- 12 Yellow (2 for each Yellow dot costume, plus 1 for 1 Red, and 1 for 1 Blue)
- 10 Red (2 for each Red dot costume)
- 10 Blue (2 for each Blue dot costume)
- Construction paper in 11×17 size:
These will be used to create the dots dancing and getting bigger at the end of the story. You can cut a variety of circles: whole, half and quarter.- 7 Yellow
- 7 Red
- 7 Blue
- 7 Orange
- 7 Purple
- 7 Green
- Circle stencils (I used the lids of my pots and pans set from home)
- Black crayons
- 2 pieces of masking tape or Velcro to add 2 Yellow dots on top of 1 Red and 1 Blue for the beginning of the story
- Optional: Musical instruments: I already have egg shakers and scarves from storytime
- Optional: 5 small flashlights and hole puncher
- Optional: I laminated each Dot costume because I used this for class visits and for professional development.
Instructions for Props:
Assemble 15 DIY Knight’s Armor into three equal piles:
- 5 for yellow
- 5 for red
- 5 for blue
Please note: Yellow’s construction is different than Blue and Red.
5 Yellow Dots:
Front side: Yellow dot in front with black crayon for lights out.
Backside: Big circles of different colors.
Optional for 5 Yellow: Add small LED flashlights to light up the yellow dots.
4 Red Dots:
Front side: One red dot.
Backside: Black crayon for lights out.
Front side: One red dot with black crayon for lights out.
Backside: Big circles of different colors.
1 Red Dot: Add Velcro or tape and add Yellow Dot on top of Red for the first few pages:
4 Blue Dots:
1 Blue Dot: Add Velcro or tape and add Yellow Dot on top of Blue for the first few pages:
Now you’re ready to create a Story Mob! You’ll need 15 children to be each dot. All extra children can have scarves and shakers to dance around with and shake. If you have under 15, you can use parents or adapt the story to fit the amount of children you have. For example, tap the Yellow dot three times.
Are you ready for the story? Here we go…
“Ready? Press Here and see what happens.”
“Press the yellow dot again.”
“Gently rub the dot on the left” (do the same with the right and rip off to expose a Blue dot):
“Five quick taps on the Yellow dot.”
“Five quick taps on the Red dot.”
“Five quick taps on the Blue dot.”
“Not bad. Shake them up a bit!” (Kids dance and shake.)
“Perfect, let’s see what kind of pattern we’ve made…Blue, Yellow, Red, Blue, Yellow, Red. An A-B-C pattern!”
“Uh, oh! Who turned off the lights?!” (Notice that the yellow dots are illuminated by the flashlights?!)
“I bet our dots can make a rainbow!”
“What happens if we clap our hands?” (Clap 1,2,3,4,5 and let the other kids shake shakers, clap hands, wave scarves and run by everyone.)
“Oh, boy! Should we do it again? Press Here and start from the beginning!”
My school collaboration partner, Joanne Moore, and I worked together with the kids to create a video so you can see how it came out. We did this program as a class visit to promote my awesome summer reading programs. I think I’ll have maximum attendance!