The Clifford books have got to be some of my favorite children’s books out there. Luckily, my son is also a fan. Norman Bridwell nailed it with the big red dog, his antics and constant efforts to do the right thing with a side of “oops!” These are great stories. If you haven’t read them with your child yet, I recommend you head to the library and check out a few. Then, you’ll be ready for story retelling with Clifford!

Because we enjoy so many Clifford stories at our house, it seemed like the perfect choice for story retelling work. This time, rather than paging through one of our Clifford books to retell the story like Peanut did with Swimmy, we made (drumroll)…..puppets!

Using paper, card stock and popsicle sticks, we crafted four puppets. Peanut’s favorite Clifford story is one about Halloween, which features these characters: Clifford, Emily Elizabeth, Mak (also a dog) and Jetta. You can find this story in a great collection of Clifford stories (see the image below).

I got to practice my drawing skills and Peanut practiced coloring and cutting. Even little sister enjoyed coloring on her own page while we worked. I think they turned out pretty nicely.

Then, it was time to play. Rather than doing strict story retelling and recreating one of the story lines with the puppets, we got a bit more creative. It turned out to be a family affair, and a bilingual one! Since there are four puppets, each one of us (papa, mama, Peanut and little sister) got to use one.

The story line got quite creative. Emily Elizabeth and Clifford ate bananas when they were hungry. Jetta and Mak flew on an airplane and got eaten by a snake. Clifford hid in a cave while his friends were attacked by a dinosaur. Clifford appeared a the last minute to save them!

Boy it was exciting!

I encourage you to go ahead and print out the templates for the puppets and enjoy some creative story time with your little one(s). Imagining themselves as the characters and coming up with new story lines is a great activity that will boost your child’s creativity. Of course if you want to, you can also do a more traditional Clifford story, retelling, go ahead.

Get the free printable here: story-retelling-with-clifford

Happy story retelling with Clifford!