September Books 2014

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

by Karen Beaumont

Why we liked this book:  This book was great!  The kids laughed so hard at the end.  It's about a kids who decides he is going to paint everywhere on himself .  It is a great rhyming book!!!  He just can't help it!  He loves to paint!  You can read it like a song too if you want!

Activity:  If you want you could have your kids actually paint all over them, but I decided to trace the kids on a piece of long parchment paper instead.  They drew their clothes and facial features and then began to paint following the reading in the book.  Much cleaner but probably not as fun as actually painting on themselves ;)

Parts

by: Tedd Arnold

Why we liked this book:  I actually was a little hesitant to read this book based on the title.  I wasn't quite sure what it would be talking about.  (That is why it's important to read new books first so you know what you are reading to your children!)  It actually had nothing to do with what I thought it was about and we all got a good laugh from this one!  It does not talk about body parts!!!  It talks about a kid that is falling apart or so he thinks.  It includes topics like losing hair, belly button lint, ear wax, etc.  Not body parts!

Activity:  I had no idea what to do for an activity until my son asked, "Mom, where do boogers come from?"  We found a GREAT website that you can find answers that kids (and lets be honest adults too) can understand.  There are even little quizzes after each article.  Now my kids now why we get boogers!  I also thought these were good topics but you can type in whatever you want in the search bar at this site!

What causes hiccups?

Why do I yawn?

What's a booger?

No More Water in the Tub!

by: Tedd Arnold

Why we liked this book: I think one of the greatest places to use your imagination as a kid is in the bathtub.  My son has pretended to be a deep sea diver, shark, fish, etc while my daughter has pretended to be a mermaid, underwater explorer, etc.  This book shares this little boys wild imagination in the tub as well.  Another great Tedd Arnold book.

Activity: I thought it would be fun for the kids to do an activity where else, but in the tub.  I bought those glow in the dark bracelets you can buy at the dollar store or walmart, turned the lights out in the bathroom and tossed them in the tub.  Each kid got a turn in their own glow in the dark bath tub.  This is something we also do around Halloween.  The kids love it!  They stay in there forever!

Green Wilma

by: Tedd Arnold

Why we liked this book:  We have enjoyed reading a few Tedd Arnold books.  This one plays with your imagination a little bit!  Is Wilma really a frog or a little girl dreaming? My kids are still trying to figure it out!  Lol!

Activity:  What else do you think of when you think about frogs, but slime!!!  We thought it would be fun to make some green slime.

Slime Recipe!!!

If you want it to look more "slimy" I suggest using the clear glue rather than the white.  Also, while you are mixing, if it seems too watery just add more glue and knead in the bowl with your hands.  My kids seriously had a blast with this!  We put the slime in a container when we were done and they have asked to play with it every day for a week!

June Part 2 Books 2014

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

by: Jon Scieszka 

 

 

Why we liked this book:  I remember reading this book in elementary school and thinking it was so funny to hear the big bad wolf's side of things.  I have always believed and still believe there are always two sides to a story and this book does just that!

Activity: We built a house of straw, sticks and bricks.  Luckily we also had a toy pig and a stuffed big bad wolf.  We placed the pig in each house and then turned the fan on full blast to pretend it was the big bad wolf blowing the houses down.  My kids LOVED this part!!!  The house of straw and sticks blew away but our house of bricks didn't even budge!  they thought it was awesome!  If you don't have a fun you could also use a hair dryer! 

House of Straw (we used straws, imagination, and lots of tape!)

House of Sticks (we used giant popsicle sticks, glue and again lots of tape!  we built 4 walls and used 7 sticks verticle and two sticks horizontal on the back.  we glued them at first so it kind of looked like this # symbol but then we used tape to reinforce it.  remember these aren't supposed to be grand crafts that take hours to make, just something to fill your afternoon for an hour or so! make sure to ahve your kids decorate each wall before you tape/glue the 4 walls together to form a box)

House of Bricks (legos and imagination!!!)

 

***Remember these are IDEAS!  You can totally make these projects your own!

Pete's a Pizza

by William Steig

 

 

Why we liked this book:  So at first when we were reading this all of us were like this is kind of strange...but as the book went on we were all laughing.  Cute, cute book!  I love how it showed that even if things don't go according to plan, YOU make your own fun!

Activity:  We made pizza!   Pretty simple too and the kids had a blast not only making it but eating it as well!

 

 

Easy Pizza Dough Recipe

 

I used this sauce recipe that is found on the back of the Jiffy Pizza Mix box. 

Add 1/2 teaspoon oregano

and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

to an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce.

Mix well. Spread on crust before adding toppings.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

by Candace Fleming

 

 

Why we liked this book:  The kids thought it was fun to see the different ways this man tried to keep the crazy rabbits out of his garden.  They thought it was funny he had to go to such extremes!  I thought this would be a good book to read since we have planted a garden this year!

 Activity:  Since we do have a garden, I had the kids paint different rocks and label them with all the plants we are growing in our garden.  Then we went out and placed all the rocks in our garden by the corresponding plants.  Now when something comes up they know what it is by the rocks they have made!  If you don't have room to plant a garden you can do some plants in small pots or containers like peas, tomatoes, peppers or even just some flowers!

 

 

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type 
by Doreen Cronin

Why we liked this book:  A fun book to read about some silly farm animals and a duck that likes to get into trouble.

Activity:  I had a hard time coming up with an activity for this book so we decided to act it out like a play.  I found some animal masks on line that I printed out and the kids glued them on some Popsicle sticks so they could hold them up to their faces.  Then they took turns being the different characters from the book.

Duck Mask

Cow Mask
Duck Mask

Froggy Goes to School 
by Jonathan London

Why we liked this book:  A fun book for kids who might be nervous on their first day of school.  It was an easy read and my 4 year old was able to "read" it back to me, summarizing what happened on each page.

Activity:  We mad frog puppets out of googly eyes, paper plates, paint, glue and pipe cleaners.

The link for instructions on how to make these can be found here:

Frog Puppets 

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock 

by Eric Kimmel



Anansi the Spider 
by Gerald McDermott

Why we liked these books:  They are just fun books to read and it was fun to read about folk-lore from another country.  Anansi is a West African god that likes to play tricks, who came to earth in the form of a spider.

Activity:  The kids made their own "Anansi spiders" out of construction paper but you could use whatever materials you have!