Making Little Red Riding Hood

Mom, Red Riding Hood, The Big Bad Wolf, The Woodsman, and Grannie

Okay, so you know the thing in the middle doesn't look terribly wolfish, and I know it doesn't look terribly wolfish, but my three year old thinks it's The Wolf. You know, the actual archetype that appears in so many of his favorite stories. (Actually, I'm pretty impressed that it came out even looking remotely canine, since at one point it most resembled a wingless, gray duck.)

What's going on here is that I'm assembling a "table play" set to use in a preschool lesson. I'm planning to use a small box to make Granny's bed and then I'll be done. Ian loves these wooden little people and we've also done the Three Little Pigs this way. You can buy these wooden peg people very inexpensively here and customize them to whatever story you want using paint or (as in this case) props and clothes. I've also seen it suggested that you create a set as party favors for children's parties, which is an idea I LOVE and may have to use.

This is a very quick, approachable project.  I created the forest backdrop as a mini-felt board using sticky-backed craft felt, a USPS shipping box, an exacto knife, a ballpoint pen, and a pair of scissors from the dollar store.  The dolls' clothes are felt scraps and yarn.  I opted to sew them so that when the kids rip them off the dolls they aren't ruined, but you could just as easily glue them on if your child is more enchanted by dolls than by seeing how they are put together.  I plan to create a crochet pattern for what I did with the wolf, but you could also put grey felt ears and snout on one of the peg people.  The less realistic the figures, the more details the kids fill in with imagination, so "perfect" is "finished so we can play with them," not "incredibly detailed and realistic."