Mighty Writer Workshops: Part 2: Mary McHairy is Not Quite so Scary
After having so much fun creating 60 old sock dogs in my Bag O'Rags session with the children at Corpus Christi Catholic School, I was really looking forward to seeing how the children would bring my character Mary McHairy to life.
Here's how it went...
Mary McHairy is Not Quite so Scary.
Mary McHairy is a rollicking, rhyming read featuring a lonely tarantula in pursuit of friendship, but there’s a problem … she feasts on the creatures she wants to befriend. Will Mary ever find friendship or will she always be judged by her fearsome reputation?
In this session I wanted the children to participate in the story telling by being Mary McHairy and joining in the part where Mary asks 'Can I come and play?' So, we needed to create some spiders and fast. Hands at the ready...
The children drawing around each of their hands to make the body and the legs of the spider.
The children decorating their spider (shapes, stripes, or whatever pattern they wanted to...we had some flowers and hearts and even some footballs.)
Once hands were decorated, the children cut around their hand shapes and then overlapped then to make the body and the legs. We used cotton wool balls for eyes and sticky dots for eyeballs.
The children showing off their hand spiders. There were some very happy children and a seriously messy classroom.
Spiders at the ready for the reading of Mary McHairy is Not Quite so Scary. The children did a super job of joining in on their line...
' Can I come and Play?. They wiggled their spiders in time with the beats of the rhyme and the story.
“The spider was really tricky but it was fun to make. Tizzie and the teacher helped me make it.”
We discussed how the children could use the spider to act out other stories or rhymes that have a spider character (Incy Wincy Spider) or they could use this existing character and incorporate it into another story by writing the adventures themselves. (Just like we did with Bag O'Rags)
Stuck for what to do with your children in the Summer Holidays?
Why not make your very own Hand Spider and write some new adventures for it?
If you do, I would love to see pictures and read your stories so please send them my way.
Happy creating!
Please join me next time for the Sid the Snake workshop
