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Homemade Show-and-Tell Theater for Summer Photos
Published 08.27.2009 | Permanent Link | Comments (12)
Now Showing on a Very Small Screen: Your Summer Vacation Photos
By Brenda Ponnay
You've done scrapbooking and you've done the homemade movie...what other way can you share your summer vacation with the class without everyone drifting off to snoresville? How about a little mini theater with real sliding-action pictures? It's like slide show 1.0!
Whatever you call it, your kids will have a blast creating their own mini theaters that they can decorate however they choose. As a bonus, when they've finished you've got a place to store all those summer "treasures" like seashells and rocks and that cheap souvenir from what-was-that-place-again?
First you'll need a small box. A shoe box will do fine as long as it's bigger than your average photograph. Next you'll need to cut two 5-inch vertical slits about six inches apart. This is where your paper "film strip" will thread through. If you want, you can create a false front to make your theater extra-fancy.
Then paint and decorate!
You can decorate your mini theater any way you like! Gluing on some seashells from a trip to the beach, or sticks and rocks from a camping trip might be fun. We didn't have anything like that on hand so we just decorated with some glow-in-the-dark star stickers and paint.
Now it's time to create your movie, or moving storyboard if you will. I just printed out a bunch of our favorite photos and my daughter and I arranged them on a long strip of paper in the order we thought would work best for a "movie." The dimensions of our paper were five inches tall by three feet wide, which is a good size for laminating machines. If you want to break out the roll of clear contact paper, you could probably make your movie longer than three feet. Personally, I hate laminating things by hand. I saved myself a giant headache with a quick trip to Kinkos which cost less than six bucks. I'm sure some scrapbooking laminators might work well for this too.
Then we threaded our laminated-paper "filmstrip" through the slits by way of a trap door that I cut in the back of the theater box. It's pretty simple. The rest is up to you!
Pop some popcorn and have some fun!
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About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.
This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Marie LeBaron is a 30 something stay at home mom in Utah. Before life as a mother, she graduated with a teaching degree in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, after which she taught four years of Kindergarten. After her first child was born, she decided to read books and sing silly songs at home. She misses the classroom, but she now gets to bring the fun and learning into her home and ours. You’ll see her kids a lot in these projects as they are her guinea pigs and for whom she's creative. You can follow more of her projects at her personal blog Make and Takes.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
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This column is only for entertainment purposes. Any recommendations or information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for advice by a trained professional. For a full statement of our site policies, please click here.
Comments (12):
bethany actually said:
I love that this could be as simple or as complicated as you make it. Crafts that are customizable to the child's (or parent's!) ability level are always welcome.
Posted on August 27, 2009 11:58
Jingle said:
This is just so cool! I love it!!!
Posted on August 27, 2009 13:42
Jamie said:
Good Lord, could that child get any cuter?! Looks like you two had a blast, as always.
Posted on August 27, 2009 13:49
xashee said:
what a CLEVER & FUN idea! thank you so much for sharing! :) Have a BEAUTIFUL day! :D
Posted on August 27, 2009 14:28
jules said:
Nice project. What kind of paper did you use? Or, where can I find that size paper? Thanks.
Brenda says: I used Drawing paper roll from Ikea. (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20152281) I love that stuff. It works for everything.
Posted on August 27, 2009 15:21
Everyday Learning said:
My daughter is OBSESSED with movies...she's always asking how they are made. I constantly hear, with a sigh, "I wish I could live in the TV."
Now I think she can. This is awesome.
Posted on August 28, 2009 17:46
lea said:
what a neato idea. thanks for sharing!
Posted on August 31, 2009 00:39
Teacher Teacher said:
Now this does indeed dress up the "what I did this summer" reports. How cute, fun, and utterly perfect. Happy to have found your project.
Posted on August 31, 2009 12:59
Amy @ Let's Explore said:
Love, love, love it! Definitely something my girls would enjoy making and sharing! :)
Posted on August 31, 2009 20:30
Katherine Marie said:
FANTASTIC!!!!! FUN!!!! FABULOUS!!!!!!
Posted on September 2, 2009 10:14
Rachel said:
This is so cute! I want to make one myself. I'll be linking.
Posted on September 3, 2009 13:59
Tess said:
I love this! I have an idea to do it with some kids that I visit but rather than pics, I think I'll pencil in boxes and let them draw pictures to go along with their own stories and imaginations. Great tutorial, thanks!
Posted on September 3, 2009 22:33