Hello there! I am so excited to share this week’s free resource to go with our folk song of the week, The Fox Went Out. If you haven’t already, you can get your free song card here!. As I was considering different ideas for resources to create I decided on using a crankie to go through the storyline of the song. Crankies are an old, old folk storytelling tool, and are so wonderful in creating atmosphere and wonder around a story. They are always a huge hit! I learned about crankies from Sue Truman, of The Crankie Factory. You can see more of her work and learn more about her by clicking here.
Because of the number of verses in this folk song, I had to go about creating this crankie differently than I did with our Hop Old Squirrel Crankie. I decided to essentially create storytelling backgrounds for this crankie, with the rolling hills going by as the crankie is turned. Most of the scenery does not include any characters, who are instead separate characters you can put on a popsicle stick and move around the scenery. That way the fox can really “run” away from the farmer, and he can really swing the goose across his back and hold onto it as he runs! I thought this would be a fun little detail, and I’m very happy with the way it turned out.
There is a download for the instructions to see how to assemble the crankie, as well as the crankie file itself. Make sure to download both, because the two (main!!) characters are actually on the instruction page.
After assembling (believe me, the time spent assembling is worth it!), enjoy singing through the song as you move slowly through the different backdrops. I created it so that just about every full “frame” in the little cut window of the crankie aligns with one verse of the song. If you want to really set the mood, turn off all the lights and either light candles around the crankie (very, very carefully and only with careful adult supervision!) or use a little camping lantern nearby, because the story happens at night! Children LOVE atmosphere/mood setting, it makes the experience so special. And special experience = remembering the folk song, which is our goal! Hopefully you will sing through this lots of times, both with and without the crankie. Like I said in my song card post for this folk song, this folk song is easily top 5 Olson family favorite, and hopefully it will become beloved in your home or classroom as well.
As a helpful note: Because this crankie involves turning the cranks AND manipulating the puppet characters, you will need at least two people to operate this crankie.
Thanks for being patient with me as I finished this. Between the election news last week, getting things done for my family, and general inability to finish anything I’m trying to do even though it feels like I never stop trying to get things done?! Just one of those weeks… Anyway, I feel bad this came out a week later than it should have BUT hopefully you think it’s cute enough that it makes up for its tardiness.
Here are the download files, make sure to download BOTH!:)
Click here to download the crankie instructions and two popsicle stick puppet characters
Click here to download the crankie file
Have so much fun, and reach out over on my instagram if you make one and let me know how it goes!
Happy singing!
-Lauren
Ps- As you’re sharing this folk song with your family or class, you may also want to read this gorgeous book to them. I absolutely adore the extremely detailed illustrations, and it is a family favorite. We’ve loved our copy to death, and I need to re-tape a few pages back into the book! I shared about the book a few days ago on my instagram but thought I’d share here as well so it gets a bit more of a permanent spot!