Quarantine Solution for Remote Storytime with Grandparents

So my kids keep asking for their grandparents to read stories to them during video chats but unless there’s someone to stand there and hold the camera behind the reader, the kids can’t see the book while it’s being read – so they wander off, and the grandparents feel bad.

Solution: Three sheets of thick draftboard + two rubber bands makes a nice stand for holding a phone or iPad above the book so the kids can look at the pictures during the chat. Bonus: it also brings the microphone up high, closer to the reader’s mouth.

We made two and shipped them to the grandparents; they’re simple enough for anyone to assemble and the rubber bands hold the thing steady. Burly enough to hold a tablet too. It’s been a nice way for us to have a daily story time with a relative, we get a break from parenting and the kids get a show voiced by one of their favorite people.

I’m posting SVG files here for anyone else to use – the slots are sized for thick draftboard, you’ll want to adjust them if you’re using another material. FYI the design in the photos has shorter legs than the one I’m posting – realized some of the larger books are hard to fit, so made the legs 2" taller after these photos. Enjoy.

StoryStand_LongLegs StoryStand_Platform

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I love this, thank you!

I was lucky enough to have my granddaughter visiting when we locked down, so I got to keep her – but her little brother misses her so much, and we’ve got a stack of toddler books, I bet she’d have fun reading stories to send him. This goes on my list to make tomorrow!

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Some people are just too clever. (You. I’m talking about you…this is really cool!)

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Brilliant idea! :grinning:

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What a great idea! Thanks for this!

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What a great solution!

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A terrific Idea for any overhead photos of smaller things. :smile: Thank you

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This is one of my all time favorite practical cuts. Thank you for sharing!

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This is a much better design than my diy iphone scanner. Thanks!

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This qualifies as “elegant” from a design standpoint. I never knew I needed this until now.

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Fantastic! I see a lot of uses for this. Thank you!

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Smart solution! Thanks for the share.

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Ours is made from PG Maple, since I don’t have any thick draftboard. I finally found some rubber bands in the fridge. (Yeah, I dunno. Living in my parents’ house is a constant adventure!)

Here is Gkid reading “Are You My Mother?” for her little brother.

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That’s an oldie but goodie! :smile:

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I still remember a very early nightmare based on that book, in which I was the one looking for my mother. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I didn’t tell her that, though!

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This is wonderful…I am a teaching assistant in NY and am join my classroom teacher on a video chat but feel pretty helpless in the teaching process. This would be wonderful to be able to use and do for her as a break in between teaching. If i could i would make some of the kids them as well and leave on their door step . Some of my first graders really need so convincing and fun put into it to help them get the confidence . How do i download this? Sorry new to this

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Right click on each of the sketches in the first post, and choose Save As in the popout.

thank you :slight_smile:

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Awesome! Thanks for the photo, that’s so cool to see!

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Now I want a tiger suit.

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