Story Machines

Annie Riechmann from Alphabet Glue and Bird and Little Bird is with us today to share a lovely activity that will bring a new level of excitement to story writing in your home.

There are times when kids write stories just for the sake of writing and wanting to share their ideas and imagination. Then, there are times when they write them because they have a clever idea for displaying their writing, which creates a bit of extra motivation to get busy with paper and pencil. Such is the case with these foldable paper story machines. Once my daughter caught hold of the idea to make and decorate a “machine” that produced her writing for friends and family to read, she was hooked. The result is a fun and whimsical bit of three-dimensional artwork that contains a bonus surprise for the person who picks it up and discovers that they can pull a story out of the side!

Interested in making a few story machines or your own? You can download complete instructions and templates here. I’ve also included a robot book list for some extra fun! This story machine activity can be found in Vol. 9 of my magazine Alphabet Glue and is just one example of the type of project you will find in every issue.