I am a Level 3 Childcare Practitioner with over 30 years experience of working with children. Throughout that time I have always scoured charity shops in order to put together affordable Story Bags and teaching aids so that I could extend the children’s learning experiences. When I was made redundant 3 years ago, I used my redundancy money to go into business putting together and selling Story and Rhyme Bags. Initially I bought toys and props from charity shops but found these were hard to sell as people seemed reluctant to buy ‘second hand’ items – particularly if they were intended to be presents. Therefore I now use Fair Trade toys in the Story and Rhyme bags that I make to sell via my website, Sunday Market Stall and Craft Fairs.

CirculART presents a great to be able to revisit my original concept of reusing resources and generating funds for Charities through buying toys to put together for Story and Rhyme Bags. I also use sometimes repurpose unusual materials for my Story or Rhyme Bags – for example, to  illustrate the rhyme 3 Little Speckled Frogs I have used a pencil case for the log and key rings for the frogs.

Description of Sally’s Story Bags’ artwork appearing in CirculART
Sally’s Story Bags is a project for which donated/discarded toys and books are put together and turned into an educational resource which can be used to bring stories/rhymes alive for children.

Why Sally chooses to use repurposed materials
I think that Charity Shops are a rich source of resources that can be re-used.