Unlock the power of imagination! Using easy-to-follow instructions and materials that can be found around the house, Making Make-Believe offers over 125 projects and activities sure to foster children’s creativity. Little ones will learn to see the world in a new way as they transform things like old sheets, rubber gloves, egg cartons, and pebbles into toys, costumes, forts, and storytelling games. With plenty of drawings and step-by-step guidelines, this book will show you how to: Create wacky hats, fabric-mâché masks, and other silly dress-up outfits - Turn your living room into a magical blanket land or a daring obstacle maze - Put on a play starring puppets made from socks, sticks, spoons, or even shadows - Whip up culinary delights like edible moon rocks, goldfish aquariums, and butterfly bagels - Make crafts and forts inspired by storybooks like Curious George , Madeline , and The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Play pretend as an artist, carpenter, scientist, treasure-hunter, veterinarian, and more! Perfect for inspiring independent play or for side-by-side fun with a grown-up, Making Make-Believe is packed with ideas for hours of creative adventure! "This book is good for children because it values pretending and playing and imagining without expensive toys or games. How wonderful for children to have time to play and create from their own imaginations!" —Dale Evans Rogers, writer, film-star, grandmother, mother, and wife of the late Roy Rogers "Children who are encouraged to use their imaginations receive a wonderful gift that will benefit them the rest of their lives! Making Make-Believe shows you exactly how to do it. Enjoy!" —Jim Davis, creator of the Garfield comic strip As a child growing up, MaryAnn F. Kohl enjoyed art, reading, music, and playing outside building forts in the woods. She currently shares her love of learning and art through workshops at educational conferences throughout the United States. She is the author of more than 20 books, including Discovering Great Artists , Science Arts , Scribble Art , Storybook Art , Great American Artists for Kids , and Mudworks .  Making Make-Believe Hands-on Projects for Play and Pretend By MaryAnn F. Kohl Chicago Review Press Incorporated Copyright © 1999 MaryAnn F. Kohl All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-914090-48-9 Contents Chapter 1 — Play Zones and Imagination Spaces, Chapter 2 — Little Scenes & Mini-Play, Chapter 3 — Puppets & Sets, Chapter 4 — Hats, Costumes, & Masks, Chapter 5 — Storybook Make-Believe, Chapter 6 — The "Let's Play Corner", Chapter 7 — Cooking, Games, and Other Activities Too Fun to Miss, CHAPTER 1 Play Settings & Imagination Spaces Simple Things Are Best Old Sheet Play Table Blanket Land Newspaper Play Space Streamer Zone Bag Block Building Room Weaving Obstacle Maze Footprints Everywhere! Cardboard Carton Play My Own TV Art Gallery, Just for Me! Plastic Jug Sculpture Two Pretend Planetariums Paper Off-the-Wall Scenery Painted Off-the-Wall Scenery Fingerpainted Ocean Simple Things Are Best Autumn Leaves * Rake leaves into pathways and trails, creating rooms and hallways for play. Blankets, Sheets, and Towels * Blankets, sheets, and towels are wonderful materials to inspire imaginative and creative play. They can be anything: a superhero's cape, the sails for a ship, a cozy cover for a doll in the hospital, the walls of a magical castle, the throne of a queen. Blocks * Wooden blocks or plastic blocks; homemade blocks or store bought blocks; big blocks or little blocks. Blocks to build with, sit on, drive, or fly. Blocks for doll furniture, or homes for gerbils. Blocks, blocks, blocks are perfect for motivating creative thinking and play. You can never have enough blocks! Boxes * Cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes — large and small, wide and narrow, tall and short — can become forts, treasure boxes, cradles, cars, a scientific laboratory, or a tidy school room. Collect and save them for play, and when done, recycle them! Cardboard * Cardboard cut into a frame that fits the face of a child can become a television screen, framed artwork, window, or computer monitor. Furniture * Use cushions or pillows to make a pirate ship. Have a tea party in a fairy glen under a table. Build a bridge with a wooden chair for the Billy Goats Gruff. Indoors or Out * Move typical indoor activities outside and traditional outdoor activities inside for an all new imaginative kick-start! Pebbles, Pine Cones, and Acorns * Add a few pebbles to the sand pile, use pine cones to make a house where acorn-people live. Pebbles, rocks, pine cones, acorns, weeds, leaves, bark, dirt, mud, sand, and grasses are just of few of the things children can play with indoors or out. Sand Box * Add containers, tools, dishes, plastic pipes, a hose and water, toys, or bare feet and bathing suits. Each addition becomes a new ingredient to stimulate creative play in imaginative new w