'Blue Fin' by Suzi Shelton - A Fishy Song and a Puppet Theatre
- Mamatomo Mama
- Aug 9, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 4, 2018
We went to see Suzi Shelton last week when she was playing at the Battery Park Carousel in NYC and we had the BEST time! You might remember the origami ladybugs that I made to go with her song "Ladybugs". Both "Ladybugs" and today's song, "Blue Fin" come from her album, Hand in Hand, released in May. We heard a lot of Suzi's songs on Sunday and "Blue Fin" was one of the songs that we loved most. My son is crazy about sharks and sea-life so this activity was sure to be a winner. The song has simple counting from one to three in it and covers the primary colours too so its perfect for little ones. The song is super catchy, like many songs on Suzi's album and has a really great jazzy vibe which my kids love.
To make the puppet theatre:
Take a shoe box and tear open the lid. Fit the box into the lid as shown and tape. Take some card - I used glittery yellow card bought at Michael's. Cut it to the same size as the front section and glue. I rounded the edges as shown using a circle cutter.
Attach the sky section before the sea so that it all fits more neatly together. I made the sea come up a little into the sky section to create a horizon. I made the sea more 3D by taking a piece of card and cutting waves into it and folding it so that it could stand. This was to be the waves that the sharks would swim in.
Cut out a shark shape and a fin section, bearing in mind that the mouth part needs to be large enough so that you can pin the two pieces together. Cut three colours out. The pins also double up as eyes. Draw on gills. My five year old did this part along with attaching the two parts together with the pin. My daughter wanted to make a pink shark and so we traced the shapes together and I cut the pieces out. Depending on your kids' skill level they can help as much or as little with this.
The idea was that the sharks' mouths would open and close using sticks as shown. HOWEVER.... my kids had other ideas and ripped the sticks off every time I attached them so we kept them off and I just let them play with them any way they liked! The videos below will show you both versions. The point was to let them have a new toy and to enjoy the music and play at the same time so I was not too worried if they didn't play with them the way I imagined. Thats kids right?! Anyway it was a simple craft to make - taking about 45 minutes in all and only needing card, glue, a show box and some pins. We have played a lot with it since and it seems that sharks are firmly back in favour in this house!
If you'd like to hear Suzi Shelton's 'Blue Fin' song, click here or check out Suzi's YouTube channel. I highly recommend the album. Another song from the album, 'Raindrop', is currently at number 4 place in the 13 under 13 countdown from Sirius XM Kids Place Live . You can listen to it here.
I hope you enjoy the music and activity as much as we did. Let me know in the comments what you think!
Comments