Welcome to the first edition of Family Fun Fridays! I’m so glad you could stop by!

— 1 —

It began as a box. It was just sitting around, waiting for the Recycling Fairy to take it to the garage.

It could have turned into a train, a storage container, or a decorated carriage for a princess.

— 2 —

Maybe, though, this adventure began as a mother’s desperate attempt to do something crafty with her summer-weary children.

The oldest child, age seven, is quite a craft-loving girl, and the middle child, age four, is quite the enthusiastic cheerleader for any venture involving scissors and drama.

— 3 —

What you’ll need:

  • Large box
  • A towel, sheet, blanket, or piece of fabric
  • Duct tape and possibly packing tape

— 4 —

What you do:

  1. Fold the flaps of the box inward.
  2. Cut a large square into the back of the box.
  3. Reinforce the inner sides of the box with packing tape, duct tape, or both.
  4. Place the towel/sheet/blanket/fabric over the hole you cut, securing it at the top with duct tape (or, if you’re clever, some other attaching device that will work better).
  5. Sit back and enjoy the show, camera in hand!
Here’s the finished product:

Front view:

puppet show theater from box, front view

Back view:

puppet show theater from box, back view

Top view:

puppet show theater from box, top view

— 5 —

Some notes from my experience:

I would not have made the square larger, except that my seven-year-old insisted that it be the size of the entire box. Let’s just say I used A LOT of duct tape and packing tape to reinforce the edges.

My seven-year-old had a ton of fun cutting out characters from different coloring books, drawing some of her own, and attaching them to popsicle sticks.
 

I really underestimated how long this would entertain all of my kids.Observe:

— 6 —

The box is still around and intact, two weeks later. I plan to whip it out next week when we’re pulling our hair (again) out in the midst of this August Armpit of Summer!

— 7 —

I couldn’t help but think of other ways to use this handy dandy puppet show theater box:

  • Reenact Bible stories, especially the dramatic ones (I’m thinking princesses, of course, though we are always fans of things that involve projectiles and silly responses)
  • Use puppets/characters to show and explain to my seven-year-old how her first confession will probably go (because she’s been asking about her First Communion a lot this summer, and just the other day, we were talking about how souls go to heaven and all sorts of deep way-over-my-head theological concepts)
  • Host a musical, a la Sound of Music (those dangly puppet things are too cool, though we will have to settle for something far less fancy, as my craft skills are rudimentary at best)
  • Pretty much anything from Chapter 2 of Catholic Family Fun (yes, that’s a plug for my book, and yes, I find myself needing to use it A LOT this summer)

Can’t wait to see what family fun YOU are up to! Include a link back here, if you would, and enjoy the journey through the other submissions.

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This post is also linked to 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.