The Paper Bag Princess

by Robert Munsch

The Paper Bag Princess is a fun story about a beautiful Princess named Elizabeth whose castle is burned down by a dragon who carries away her handsome fiance Prince Ronald. Unfortunately, the dragon has also burned all her clothes and the only thing she has to wear is a paper bag. She wears this and decides that she is going to save her Prince. She cleverly outsmarts the dragon and saves the day except for the fact that now Prince Ronald does not want to be with her because she smells like ashes, her hair is all tangled and because she is wearing a dirty old paper bag. He tells her to come back when she is dressed like a real princess. Elizabeth then says "your clothes are really pretty and your hair is very neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum" and they don't get married after all.

This book gave Sweetie Pie and I the chance to talk about being respectful and caring for people no matter what they look or dress like and also about respecting yourself enough to not worry about what others think of you. I know she would have liked the 'happily ever after' scenario but she also understood that Prince Ronald was rude and ungrateful after all that Princess Elizabeth did for him and that should have been more important to him than what she looked like.



Activity: Paper Bag Outfits

We followed this story up by making our own paper bag outfits. They both did a great job even though Sonny Boy tried to eat the paint. The end result was darling!


Supplies needed:

Paper bags
Paint
Crayons
(any other materials you want to use to accessorize your outfit)

Cut a circle at the bottom of the bag for the child's head to fit in and sides for the arm holes. Then let them paint and decorate away and then allow for time to dry. This outfit will quickly experience 'wear and tear' but it was fun while it lasted.





Thanks for the inspiration - Almost Unschooling