A Fun Interactive Resource: The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

Here I have made a fun idea based on the story of The old woman who lived in a shoe which children can use and play with. They love to play with the little people and  the children (By Goki, these are a great resource and a nice small handful for a child to play with, I really like them!)

I made the resource using an old trainer boot, and then added a tall rectangular box around the back of the boot, with one long side removed. I used double sided tape to hold the boot into the bottom of the box. I made the roof with the top of the box and cut a hole for the chimney which I covered in black felt. I added a balcony with a small box, one side removed and added coloured lollipop sticks to the side, to give it a textured fence feel. The addition of the  Goki family finished it off and made it interactive and a fun toy to play with! Each part of the resource is labelled with large print and Braille, an important aspect of the resource. 

The child and their siblings or friends at school can enact the story of the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe, but also there are lots of other lovely learning opportunities within this resource. I use these resources when I deliver courses to teachers here in the UK on supporting a holisitic approach to emerging literacy skills and to promote a fun approach to stories. 

Lift the lid on the house and:

• Post words beginning with Sh into the shoe
• Post objects beginning with Sh into the shoe
• Match word to object and post into the shoe
• Write sentences to include a word with sh.
• Tell the story of the old woman who lived in a shoe
• Role play the story of the old woman who lived in a shoe.
• Make an old woman who lived in the shoe with the children involved in making the house, decorating and labelling each part.
• For each part labelled, find objects from around the environment and post in the shoe, e.g. Window, all words beginning with W, all words beginning with L for Lace, lid, etc
• Name the children in the shoe and make up a little story about each child based on the child you are supporting and linked to a familiar experience.
• Extension: Make a shoe shop and play shoe shops, visit a shoe shop.

Numeracy ideas

• Count the children in the shoe
• How many shoes does each child wear?
• How many children do 1, 2, 3, 4 children wear?
• How many children (peg dolls) fit in the big shoe?
• Categorise the shoes of the children in the class, buckles, laces, Velcro, sandals, boots etc
• Categorise by colour
• Categorise by texture or feel, shiny, dull, rubber, fabric
• Categorise shoes by those that make a different sound when the child walks in them.
• Line shoes up in twos, how long is the line of shoes?
• Line shoes toe to toe, how long is the line?
• Make a big shape with the shoes, e.g. Heart, square, triangle
• Order shoes by size, smallest to largest.
• Compare a pair of children’s shoes with a pair of adult shoes

For more shared ideas visit https://www.positiveeye.co.uk/