Lettice the Flying Rabbit

Does your child dream of adventures with magical creatures? Create your own whimsical story together with this simple craft that turns storytelling into a hands-on, imaginative experience. What makes this activity so powerful is that it combines three essential preschool skills—fine motor development, creative expression, and language—into one engaging project that feels like pure play. Best of all, it requires nothing more than paper, markers, and your family's creativity, making it perfect for a rainy afternoon or a quick indoor adventure when cabin fever strikes!

What You'll Need

• Paper or cardstock — Use white copy paper, colored construction paper, or cardstock in various colors. Cardstock holds up better if you plan to reuse Lettice for multiple stories.
• Markers, crayons, or colored pencils — Have a variety of colors available so your child can make truly unique character choices. Markers are messier but give bolder color; colored pencils offer more control for detailed work.
• Scissors — Child-safe scissors work best for preschoolers, though you may need adult scissors for thicker cardstock or more intricate wing designs.
• A paper plate or cardboard circle (optional) — Useful if you want to create a spinning story wheel where different scenes appear as you rotate it.
• Tape or glue — Both work; glue sticks are less messy, but tape allows for easier adjustments if your child changes their mind about placement.
• Craft sticks, wooden skewers, or straws (optional) — These become handles to "fly" Lettice through the air. Straws are lightweight and perfect for little hands; craft sticks are more durable.
• Extra embellishments (optional but fun) — Glitter, stickers, pom-poms, feathers, or yarn can add extra texture and excitement to wings and the scene.

How to Do It

1. Create the main character. Have your child draw a rabbit on a piece of paper. Let them decide what makes this rabbit special—big floppy ears, a fluffy tail, a sparkly nose, or even polka-dotted fur. Say something like, "Lettice can look however you imagine her! What would make her the most special rabbit ever?" They can make Lettice as simple or detailed as they'd like; there's no wrong way.

2. Add flying details. Draw or cut out wings from colored paper and tape them to the sides of the rabbit. Talk about what kind of wings they want: feathery bird wings, butterfly wings, dragonfly wings with lots of transparency, or even magical starburst wings made from construction paper strips fanned out. Ask, "What kind of wings do you think would help Lettice fly the highest? The fastest? The most gracefully?" This sparks imagination while you're constructing together.

3. Design a scene. On a separate large piece of paper (or taped-together pages for extra space), create the world where Lettice flies. This could be fluffy clouds, a magical forest, a starry night sky, an underwater kingdom, a candy land, or an imaginary landscape with mountains, castles, and mysterious caves. Let your child take the lead on colors and details. Encourage them to fill the scene with smaller creatures, plants, or objects Lettice might encounter: "Who might live in that magical forest? What treasures could she find?"

4. Add dimension and texture. Go beyond flat paper by layering elements—crumpled tissue paper for clouds, construction paper rolled into tube trees, or folded paper for 3D mountains. This tactile element makes the scene more engaging and gives your child another fine motor challenge. Your child can even add details with markers after the basic scene is in place.

5. Bring it to life. Tape your flying rabbit onto a craft stick or straw, or attach it to the scene with tape that allows it to move freely. If using a stick, tape it to the back of Lettice so your child can hold it like a puppet. Your child can now "fly" Lettice across the landscape while narrating the adventure, moving her up and down, fast and slow, weaving between clouds or around trees.

6. Tell the story together. As Lettice moves through the scene, take turns adding to the tale. Start by asking open-ended questions: "Where is Lettice flying? What does she discover? Who are her friends? Does she need help with anything? What's her favorite thing to do in this magical world?" Let your child's imagination lead the narrative while you add occasional surprises or gentle challenges to keep the story moving.

7. Expand and revisit. Keep Lettice and her world in a special craft bin so you can bring them out again and again. Each time, your child can add new scenes, create companion characters, or develop the story further. Returning to beloved creations reinforces narrative skills and shows your child you value their imaginative work.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

Fine Motor Control — Drawing, cutting, taping, and gluing strengthen the small muscles in your child's hands and fingers that are essential for writing, scissor skills, and self-care tasks like buttoning and feeding themselves. These tiny movements build the foundation for handwriting readiness in kindergarten and beyond.

Creative Expression — Designing characters and environments gives children a safe, judgment-free outlet to express feelings, ideas, and personality. This activity honors their unique vision and builds confidence in their ability to imagine and create, which is crucial for emotional development and self-esteem.

Language Development — Creating a collaborative story expands vocabulary as children learn new words in context (perhaps "glittering," "soaring," or "enchanted"), and helps them practice sequencing, cause-and-effect thinking, and conversation skills essential for literacy.

Imaginative Play — Moving the puppet through a handmade world encourages symbolic thinking—the ability to understand that objects and drawings can represent real things. This abstract thinking is a milestone that directly supports reading comprehension and math reasoning later on.

Problem-Solving and Resilience — Deciding how to construct flying mechanics, what materials work best, and how to bring the story to life requires children to think critically and adapt when something doesn't work as planned, building persistence and flexible thinking.

Social-Emotional Skills — Sharing the storytelling process and taking turns adding to the narrative teaches turn-taking, listening, and collaboration, while also allowing children to safely explore emotions and experiences through the lens of their character.

Tips & Variations

• For younger toddlers (2–3): Skip the cutting step entirely and provide pre-cut rabbit and wing shapes for your child to stick onto the paper with a glue stick. They can still draw details with markers and enjoy flying Lettice around their scene, building the narrative in their own simple way.

• For older preschoolers (4–6): Write down the story they create on a separate piece of paper and read it back together during a quieter moment. This introduces basic reading concepts (tracking left to right, seeing their own words in print) and shows that their spoken ideas have value and permanence.

• Seasonal twist: Change the scene to match the season—autumn leaves and pumpkins for fall, snowflakes and icicles for winter, flowers and butterflies for spring, or a beach scene for summer. This keeps the activity fresh throughout the year and helps children recognize seasonal patterns.

• Make it interactive: Create multiple characters and scenes so your child can develop longer, more complex narratives with different storylines. A flying rabbit, a dancing hedgehog, and a singing bird in three different worlds can lead to elaborate adventures where characters interact and help each other.

• Story dice variation: If your child gets stuck on what happens next, create simple picture cards (sun, mountain, friend, food, danger, treasure) and have them draw one randomly to guide the next plot point. This removes decision paralysis and keeps the creative energy flowing.

My Two Cents

This activity is pure magic because it meets children exactly where they naturally live—in imaginative play—without requiring fancy supplies or advance planning. You're simply giving your child tools and permission to tell the stories already blooming in their mind, and there's something truly special about watching a preschooler's face light up as they realize they can *create* an entire world. I love how Lettice works for any age in the 2–6 range and how she grows with your child; the toddler who just enjoys the sensory experience of flying the rabbit around becomes the four-year-old composing elaborate narratives with multiple characters and unexpected plot twists. Keep these creations—they're snapshots of your child's imagination at a particular moment in time, and someday you'll treasure them as much as they treasured making them.