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Storytime!
An Apple Extravaganza!
Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the “Little House” books, referred to southwest Missouri as “the land of the big red apple”. While we no longer live in that beautiful area of the state, we have always enjoyed the fall expedition to our local apple orchard, complete with wagon ride and cider. We are talking about apple cider so good it was just like drinking an apple! Yummy!
These activities will help you extract every ounce of juicy learning from your apples.
The Quiltmaker’s Gift
The Quiltmaker’s Gift will forever and always be one of my top five children’s picture books. The author is Jeff Brumbeau and the illustrator is Gail de Marken.
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A Nature Walk!
On a beautiful day, enjoy the summer weather; take your child exploring by going on a nature walk! Just a few moments in your backyard, at grandma’s house, or at a local park can unearth a wealth of information and fun.
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Watercolor Spray Paint
We have been spray painting with liquid watercolor. It has been fun and fabulous. First, we make a literacy connection by reading “Mouse Paint” by Ellen Stoll Walsh. It is great little book about three little mice mixing and stirring primary colors.
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Denise Fleming ~ Author & Illustrator
The last few days have been a wonderful opportunity to recharge at the Conference on the Young Years. One of the highlights was author and illustrator Denise Fleming. She was a seminar leader and keynote speaker. She was fun, entertaining, happy, and cheeky! As demonstrated by her books, among her loves are rhythm, rhyme, onemotapeia, alliteration, verbs, nature, and color.
Denise gives consideration to every detail of a book. Every word and inch from cover to cover has been carefully and thoughtfully designed. She described some of the small details in her books that can easily go unnoticed:
- The Tall Tall Grass has a caterpillar on each page to give scale to the illustrations.
- There are three small living creatures, such as three bees, and a little mouse in each illustration of Momma Cat Has Three Kittens. This story is based on a mother cat who took up residence under her front porch with her kittens.
- The Small Small Pond has hidden living creatures such as fish and frogs, that you must look to find.
- Barnyard Banter can be sung to “Skip to Skip to My Lou”. She did not know this when she wrote the book; a teacher pointed it out to her.
- In The First Day of Winter each illustration has a picture of the material that will be used next on the snowman when you turn the page. (hope that makes sense!)
- She pays homage to Vincent Van Gogh in the The Cow that Clucks with a feature of Starry Night. Then inside the pages of the story you can find an occasional small cameo appearance of Van Gogh in the background of the illustrations.
At her website, there are dozens of activities, patterns for hats, recipes, and instructions to make illustrations using her techniques with paper pulp. Denise encourages adults to set the mood when reading to children. Turn off the lights, make a campfire with battery powered flickering pumpkin lights, (found at Lowes) tissue paper, and cellophane. Use drama and props when reading, have your children act out the story and use movement for each of the words. She did a great job of demonstrating the use of animal puppets. She prefers puppets from Folk Manis because they can easily be moved and manipulated to appear alive. The supplies that she uses for activities are cheap, and can be found at the Dollar Tree, end of the season sales at Joanne’s Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, and other local discount and craft stores.
Denise was fun and funny. She likes the Aussie show “McLeod’s Daughters”. She chatted up the crowd while we waited for her to sign the books, then drew a cute little illustration along with her signature.
Be sure and check out her website! The handouts from the conference are there too. And if you ever have the opportunity to hear her speak…go!
Denise ~Thanks for visiting the Show-Me State!
Super Spider!
A most favorite activity is this pipe cleaner spider. It is super duper simple, but my kiddos absolutely love it!
All you need are four long pipe cleaners (chenille wires) and one short one.
First, take the short one, make a loop and twist it so that it holds. Then, at about half way, twist together pairs of the long pipe cleaners. Have your child do the twisting for fine motor development.
Place the loop on the legs and twist to secure
Once all body parts are secure, shape them into a spider. This one is similar to the grand-daddy long legs that we see frequently in our neck-of-the-woods.
There are many creative and educational options. The spider can be any color. It can have short or long legs. The body can be larger or smaller. It can be associated with a science lesson on spiders by researching and discussing their habitat, webs, and food. Are You a Spider? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries is a simple non-fiction read for young children that describes basic characteristics of spiders. Reading the Very Busy Spider is another delightful literacy connection.
Making the spider is just a fraction of the fun. The real fun is playing with it. It can be formed it into various shapes. Children can engage in pretend play by having it climb onto furniture, up the curtains, onto cabinets, and around table legs. They love having it climb up there arms and onto their head. Scaring their mother is the best!
Have fun together!
This activity has been linked to NurtureStore and Red Ted’s Art Blog!!!!
“Bear Wants More”
“Little Blue Truck” ~ with cars, dinosaurs and a John Deere tractor!
Little Blue Truck
I recently discovered Little Blue Truck by Alice Shertle, with illustrations by Jill McElmurry.
It is a fun story. It has a cute main character,
farm animal sounds,
…adorable illustrations, rhyming words, and more animal sounds…
But best of all, it is a story of friendship and helping others.
I plan to use this book and incorporate dramatic play with cars, animals, blocks, boxes, and toys.
Match box cars were recently on sale at Walmart for dollar each, a great find!
I used a small blanket, blue painters tape, duct tape, scissors, a wrapping paper tube, and a variety of toys that I have used over the years to make a portable community.
Blocks can be stacked to create buildings and various constructions.
Your children can use whatever action figures they have to create action in their play.
Clean up is easy. Just toss the toys in a box and roll up the blanket and you are ready to go!
Another option:
For a more washable version, I have decided to use an 8 foot vinyl table cloth, fold it in half, then sew or hot glue the edges together. This gives a smooth surface on both sides that can easily be cleaned with a disinfectant wipe. We can then use dry erase markers to draw rivers, buildings, woods, and etc. on the surface. The possibilities are endless!
Have fun together!
A ‘HUG’ for Valentine’s Day – art and activities too
HUG by Jez Alborough is a favorite children’s book for Valentine’s Day. A literacy connection can easily be made with the Valentine’s Day with art and activities too!
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