Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley, for those don't know, is a book by Jeff Brown. It's about a boy who gets flattened and has some fun adventures.

What does this mean for Preschool teachers? Simple, it's a great project to spin off in the classroom. Last night I had this in my mail box:

A dear friend of mine has a 5 year old daughter. Guess what her class project is? Yep, they each made their own flat doll and have sent them on adventures. This Flat Alyssa is on a great adventure in our home for the weekend.

Want to know the best adventure I have planned for her? Visiting a preschool classroom. I have decided that one of the classrooms in our center is also going to benefit with this curriculum. Flat Alyssa will be talking to the children about her adventures so far as well as asking the children to draw pictures for her, tell her about their adventures, and ask for suggestions of where she should go while she is in San Diego.

I'm bringing in a map and we are going to look at all the places she has been and where she is going.

If I were the teacher sending this out, I would make sure to put up a map and plot all the points that the dolls were going to visit. Before hand I would have the children guess at what kinds of adventures they thought their dolls would have; then when they came back we would compare our guesses.

I would also ask the receivers of the dolls to send periodic updates to the school so that the children's interest remains alive and active.

This is an adventure that can last a whole year; if not at least two months.

Have you ever done a Flat Stanley project? What were some of your activities?