Last year’s Halloween story walk was so enjoyed by the neighborhood, that I decided to do another one. This walk featured the story, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything, by Linda Williams.
Creating the Story Walk
I made a few improvements. The main one is that I stapled most of the laminated story pages to wooden posts instead of my fence. That way people can view it from the sidewalk and not have to step up to the fence to read it.
You can buy the fence posts from a seller on amazon: Greenes Fence 4 Ft. Garden Stakes (25 Pack). They come with a pointed end and can be driven into the ground with a mallet.
To laminate my story, I bought two copies of the paperback book from Amazon, then used an X-Acto knife to carefully cut out the pages. I glued them to construction paper, numbered them, put each one in a laminating pouch, and finally ran them through a laminating machine.
Here are the amazon links to the laminator and pouches:
Scotch TL901X Thermal Laminator, 1 Laminating Machine
Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouches, 100 Pack Laminating Sheets, 3 Mil, 8.9 x 11.4 Inches
Creating the Story Prop
The next challenge was making my story prop. I found cheap green pants on amazon, and used 3-dimensional paint (Michael’s again) to paint stripes on the legs. Then I hemmed the cuffs and sewed red “patches” on the knees.
Next, I bought an old shirt from Good Will, a foam top hat and gloves from Spirit Halloween Store, and repurposed a pair of my worn-out hiking shoes.
PVC pipe made the frame, but it was top heavy, so I propped the whole structure up with wooden posts and anchored it to a heavy piece of old medal. You have to rig things up sometimes to make them work! And this theater cord–SGT KNOTS Unglazed Cotton Tie Line – Multipurpose Polyester Core for Theatrical Projects–was indispensable to tying all of it together.
For the Jack-O-Lantern man I bought a foam pumpkin from Michael’s Craft Store and an electric hot knife to easily carve through the foam. Then I did my best to duplicate the face.
The Finishing Touches
After placing all the story posts (with a huge assist from my husband!), we put out lights and timers so the walk can be read at night.
The neighborhood is loving it. If you want to add something new to your Halloween decor, I encourage you to make your own story walk. The possibilities are endless. But please keep it G-rated, family-friendly!
