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The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School- Read.Explore.Learn

August 24, 2012 By Deirdre

This post contains affiliate links.

This week I am going to share a wonderful children’s book called The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School by Reeve Lindbergh. It is filled with fun and terrible destruction of mall displays.

The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School- Read.Explore.Learn

The aardvarks head to the mall to search for the items on their back to school list and can’t help break every rule in the mall etiquette book.

They run. They pull things off the shelves. They play with the toys and don’t put them back on the shelves. They stress out the shopkeepers.

The book isn’t just filled with terrorizing the mall. By the end of the book with the help of a bagel boy employee tells them to clean up. Guess what they do! They really do.

I am not advocating tearing up the mall, but I love the humor in the book and I love the idea of cleaning up messes.

What did we do with the book The Awful Aardvarks Shop for School?

Aarvark Tracking Activity

A simple tracking practice folder can be made by drawing straight dotted lines and connecting them with straight line ramps.

Children can practice the tracking movement they will use in reading using the simple tracking folder. I added a cutout of an aardvark for JDaniel to push along as he practice tracking.

Clothes Pin Spelling Practice

ABCs of Exploring Books with Children: R-Z

A simple picture of an object with its name placed beneath it can lead part of a very simple spelling activity. The only other thing you will need are clothes pins with the letters of the word written on them.

A child can simply clich the clothes pin with a letter underneath the letter it matches.

Here are some of my favorite Posts from last week’s Read.Explore. Learn. link up:

Biting the Hand That Feeds Me has an amazing tribute lunch to the book The Pigeon Find a Hot Dog that I am in awe of.

3 Dinosaurs created an amazing craft based on Kevin Henkes’ book birds that I really loved.

How have you been exploring books this week?

Madeline in London- Read.Explore.Learn.

August 10, 2012 By Deirdre

This week I am going to share a wonderful children’s book called Madeline in London by Ludwig Bemelmans. Madeline Visits London is a fun story takes on a trip to visit a friend in London. As with other Madeline tales, she has adventure and a little trouble while on her trip.

JDaniel was fascinated with the double decker buses more than anything in this story. He did like the horse that is given to Madeline’s friend as a gift. He gets into all kinds of trouble.

What did we do with this book?

We made a double decker bus out of a cracker box. I painted the box and cut out the windows. The box required a lot of coats of red spray paint to look red.

Once the paint was dry, I was able to cut out the windows and add a black outline to the double-decker box.

JDaniel was in charge of figuring out how to add wheels to the bus. His first idea was to use empty ribbon spools. While that was a great idea, we didn’t have enough spools available.

We then talked about what toys he had that had wheels. After discussing it for a few minutes, he remembered that the Bristle Blocks had wheels.

It took several attempts to find out how to spread out the wheels that needed to be on flat rectangular Bristle Blocks. He was so excited when he found a way to make it work.

JDaniel decided the double-decker bus needed an open level on top. He also decided that a rocket needed to ride there.

It was wonderful to see his problem solve during this activity.

Here is one of my favorite posts from last week’s Read.Explore.Learn. link up:

Following His Lead Today explored the book The Crown on His Head and her children made crowns to extend the theme of the book.

What activities have you been doing to extend the themes of children’s books with your family?

Please link them below.

Dream Big- Read.Explore.Learn

August 3, 2012 By Deirdre

Links below are affiliate link.

This week I am going to share a wonderful children’s book called Dream Big: Michael Jordan and the Pursuit of Excellence by Deloris Jordan. This lovely picture book by Michael Jordan’s mom is about how her son dreamed of going to the Olympic to play basketball from an early age.

He loved basketball, but basketball coaches didn’t always pick him for their team. Michael was cut from his high school basketball tryouts. He never gave up on his dream and I think we all know what happened to his dream to play basketball. His mom says, ” I guess you aren’t a dreamer, but a doer.” Michael was so blessed to live out his dream.

JDaniel announced a few weeks ago that he could do almost every big boy thing he could think of except tie his shoes and read. I guess you could call them his big boy dreams.

Learning to Tie Shoes

When I mentioned to a friend that JDaniel wanted to learn to tie shoes, she said she learned to tie them by practicing on her dad’s shoes. We took out my husband’s shoes and we have been parallel practicing. One of us has it mastered and the other still needs a lot of practicing.

Learning to Tie Dad's Shoes

I hope he learns in the next few months. I just ordered his school sneakers for the fall with laces on them.

Working on Sight Words

I created little basketballs that contain the first 36 Dolch Preprimer words to help JDaniel work on his dream of reading. We have been working on four words at a time.

Every time he reads me on the words he can move an orange pom-pom to the basketball hoop on paper.

I don’t want to overdo the word practice. He gets to work on each word only a few times at each sitting.

Here are some wonderful book Read.Explore.Learn post that were linked up last week:

Crafty Moms Share linked up a great dress the mole activity to go with the book Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed.

Keitha’s Chaos linked up an amazing bento lunch to that explored the book Hour of the Olympics.

Please share your book extension and exploration post below.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Green Earth #readforgood

July 20, 2012 By Deirdre

I am participating in the MeMe Tales #readforgood Readathon 2012 this summer. During the Readathon, anyone who signs up on the MeMeTales site is given access to the books being featured for free. Each week the books follow a theme. The theme this week is Green Earth. The books being spotlighted this week are Let’s Go Chipper and What Does It Mean to Be Green.

Links below are affiliate links

Lets Go Chipper-Into the Great Outdoors is a really cute story about a squirrel who know all kinds of wonderful facts about the great outdoors and taking care of the earth. He helps you to learn what to pack when you go camping and information about the animals you might see.

What Does It Mean To Be Green? takes a child through ways to recycle and help take care of the Earth that are practical and shares tasks that would be easy for them to complete.

What did we do with these books?

Nature Observation Hike or Walk

I planned to take JDaniel on a nature hike at Paris Mountain Park with a nature guide, but the hike got rained out.

Plan B was to wait for a sunny day and visit a community park not too far from our house called Legacy Park and observe nature there.

The section of the park was perfect for doing an observation walk. It contains two water structures, pathways, a small bridge, stepping stones, and beautiful flowers.

You could create a checklist for an observation walk, but on this walk, I just followed JDaniel’s lead as to what he noticed.

The waterfalls in the park are always JDaniel’s first stop. He loves to find rocks that will guide him as close to them as he can. The rocks can get slippery as you get closer to the falls and it is possible to end up with wet sneakers when you “accidentally” fall in.

Chipper found all kinds of creatures during his walk. Although JDaniel looked very carefully, he didn’t find any animals in the water.

Cracks and crevices can often contain natural treasures. Slimy rocks were all that JDaniel was able to find.

After our time exploring water, we headed over to the beautiful bushes and finally found some creatures. This beautiful blue butterfly stayed close to the buses so, we were able to watch him for a long time.

When the blue butterfly had finally taken off, we found this really pretty orange butterfly to watch. We had to be really careful about keeping quiet while observing. The butterfly seems to jump when we talked.

Research the area you are planning to observe to find out what animals you might see.

- Decide how you are going to record what you observe. (Photos, drawings, journal entries, etc..).

Wear comfortable shoes and clothes.

- Bring a snack and some water if you will be going on a long walk.

Go over the park rules. Some parks don’t want to take physically take stocks or even sticks from them.

Bring a plastic bag to store your trash until you can get to a trashcan.

Disclaimer: I have been given copies of the book mentioned in this post by MeMeTales for participating in their Readathon 2012 #readforgood program.

Two Meals from Chipper the Squirrel #readforgood

July 15, 2012 By Deirdre

This week’s theme on MeMeTales: Readathon 2012 is Green Earth. One of the free books offered this week is Let’s Go Chipper featuring Chipper the Squirrel.

I had a great time making two meals based on Chipper this weekend! They were supposed to be a part of my Read.Explore.Learn. post for Friday, but I couldn’t wait to share them with you.

Chipper the Squirrel Food Creations

The first thing I made was a Summer Garden Lasagna. The recipe is located on Chipper’s blog. It is filled with all kinds of wonderful vegetables. My family really enjoyed this version of lasagna. I have to confess that I added a little more tomato sauce to the recipe than was called for. My guys really love tomato sauce.

The second thing I made was a tortilla Chipper. He came out a lot darker than the Chipper from the book. My Chipper ended up more purple than light brown. I don’t have brown food coloring and tried to create brown using the colors I have. In fact, my version of Chipper has darker fur and his clothes have a more neon tint due to the colors of food coloring I have. He was really fun to make though. I asked my guys and they both think is could be a close relative of Chipper.

If you haven’t joined the MemeTales Readathon 2012, it is not too late. We have really enjoyed reading their e-books this summer. I think you and your children would too.

If you like this food creation, here are more creations I have made.

Star Wars Food Creations

{Fun Foods} Cookie Cutter Creations Made of Watermelon

Marshmallow Recipe- Fruity Marshmallow Cloud Fluff

Christmas Snack- Decorating Cheese Trees

You will find more fun foods for kids on my Food Creations board on Pinterest. Please take a moment to check it out.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Imagination #readforgood

July 13, 2012 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.

I am participating in the MeMe Tales #readforgood Readathon 2012 this summer. During the Readathon, anyone who signs up on the MeMeTales site is given access to the books being featured for free. Each week the books follow a theme. The theme this week is imagination. The books being spotlighted this week are There is a Dinosaur in the Park!, Doors in the Air, and Night Boy

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

I chose to focus on the story There’s a Dinosaur in the Park! this week. It is a wonderful tale of a dinosaur that only a little boy can see that the park. The boy and the dinosaur play together, explore together and have just plain fun.

Can you guess the reason that no one can see the dinosaur? It really is green and is probably fierce in the smell, but it isn’t a dinosaur it is a trash can.

I chose this book because I wanted JDaniel to open his mind to the possible of things being more than the seem. I also thought this book would help with the book extension I wanted to do.

What did we do with the book?

Story Elements Box

JDaniel and I created a story elements box. We started by going over the elements or parts of a story. The who, what, where, and when that need to be part of a story. We skipped the why. Why? I decided we had enough elements to contend with given his age. He was pretty familiar with the terms, but we did take a few minutes to break down some familiar stories into their elements to make sure he really understood them.

Then we took an old plastic briefcase that I think came filled with baby care items, and filled it with objects from JDaniel’s room that he thought would be good in a story. He really loved the idea of a character in a story being a letter A and a rocket would be a good setting for a story.

I went through some magazines and pulled out some other pictures that I thought would be good settings for stories.

Once we had gathered everything we thought we needed, we took the box down to the kitchen table and started story building. I asked JDaniel to select what he wanted for each of the elements of the story.

Then it was time to start the story. We chose to tell the story orally although I could have had him dictate the story to me.

How did your story go?

A lion and a snake live in a birdhouse high up in a tree. One day they notice that a large object has landed in front of a red bear and his car. The car needs to be put into the shop for the weekend. The lion and the snake invite the bear to stay with them while his car is in the shop. He has a great time. They are good friends by the time the bear’s car is ready.

It is not a story that has a lot of details in it. I think they will come as we build more and more stories.

The wonderful thing about a story elements box is that it can be filled with all kinds of treasures. The objects in the box can be changed as often as the storyteller feels necessary. The box is portable so it can be taken with you on car trips or to doctor’s visits. It could also be taken into a child’s bed just before bedtime to create original bedtime stories.

Disclaimer: I am being given copies of the books being featured in the Readathon 2012 in return for writing post based on the books.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Balancing Your Wants and Those of Others

July 6, 2012 By Deirdre

I am participating in the MeMe Tales #readforgood Readathon 2012 this summer. During the Readathon, anyone who signs up on the MeMeTales site is given access to the books being featured for free. Each week the books follow a theme. The theme this week is character development. The books being spotlighted this week are StickFiggy and the Piggy-Monkey, Good Habits to Have, and Ditto the Butterfly.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

I chose to focus on the book StickFiggy and The Piggy-Monkey this week. We really enjoy the other two book featured in the MemeTales Readathon this week, but StickFiggy and the Piggy Monkey hit home with some of the issues four-year-olds deal.

You may remember StickFiggy from last week. He is a happy go lucky guy who wants to be friends with almost everyone. The one person he doesn’t want to be friends with it PiggyMonkey.

PiggyMonkey is selfish. He wants all of the raspberry pie that StickFiggy makes and when he just gets one slice he throws a tantrum. He has previously cut the cord to StickFiggy computer as a joke and let StickFiggy play the computer repair bill. He is a real mess.

PiggyMonkey needs to find balance in his life if he is going to have any friends at all. He will need to learn that if people share something with him he can’t demand that they be more generous. He loves to wear a crown which I think means that he wants to be king of all things. What he really needs to learn is how to serve others! It is hard for balance your wants and others needs.

What did we do with this book?

Made a Frozen Raspberry and Strawberry Pie

StickFiggy and Piggy Monkey - Frozen Raspberry and Strawberry Pie

I found a really simple frozen raspberry and strawberry pie on the Cool Whip website. The recipe called for a graham cracker pie shell, two small cartons of raspberry yogurt and a container of Cool Whip. All you have to do is mix the yogurt with the Cool Whip and place the mixture into the pie shell.

The pie will need to freeze it for a couple of hours and you may want to garnish it with a strawberry or two before you serve it. ( You could garnish it with raspberries if your store has them in stock. We tried two stores and there wasn’t a fresh raspberry to be found.)

We really loved this dessert.

Finding Balance Activity

StickFiggy and Piggy Monkey Finding Balance

I found a clown balancing activity on the Discover Primary Science site. The idea is that placing two pennies on either side of clown printed on cardstock will give the clown help in keeping his balance.

It worked. JDaniel was shocked that it really balanced on the edge of a cup. He kept turning the cup around to see if the clown would fall.

Piggy-Monkey needed balance in his life. He just kept thinking about what he wanted. He didn’t think about how his behavior affected others. Piggy Monkey gave us the opportunity to talk through choices and their effects on others this week.

What have you been reading this week?

Disclaimer: I have been given access to the MemeTales: Readathon books and will receive copies of the books. All the thoughts and information in this post about the books are my own.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Retelling The Five Little Ducklings Activities

June 22, 2012 By Deirdre

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

We have been reading a lot of the animal books that are being featured on MemeTales: Readathon 2012 this week. The one we focused on was The Five Little Ducklings.

The ducklings in this story one at a time keep heading away from home even with Mama Duck quacking they should return.

JDaniel and I did four retelling activities to go along with this book. We usually do a variety of different types of activities with a book, but different ways to retell the story kept jumping into our heads.

Retelling Activity One: Furniture Retelling

JDaniel decided that this chair on the deck would be a great place for the ducks to climb away from the mama duck. The ducks tucked easily into the various crevices in the chair. Notice the mama duck is at the bottom watching over them.

Retelling Activity Two: Water Table Retelling

We put the ducks into JDaniel’s water table. The section divider made a great hill for the ducks to cross as they went on their way.

Retelling Activity Three- Painted Ducks on a Cooling Rack

We painted some paper ducks and put them on clothespins. The clothes pinned ducks were then put on a cookie cooling rack.

We were able to move the ducks around the cooling rack as they went away and came back.

Retelling Activity Four- Pom Pom Ducks

The pom poms had been taken out for a different activity, but JDaniel thought they would be great to use with a clothes pin to retell the story.

He simply picked up a pom pom to represent a duck in the story and moved him far away.

Next week we will be looking at the MemeTales featured books on friendship.

Disclaimer: I am being given the MemeTales: Readathon 2012 featured books for free in exchange for providing a post about them. We are really enjoying them.

Read.Explore.Learn.- That’s Not How You Play Soccer, Daddy!

June 15, 2012 By Deirdre

I love the dad in the book That’s Not How You Play Soccer Daddy by Sherry Shahan! The dad in this wonderful book realizes his son is taking his job as team captain and his playing of soccer over seriously. He wants him to enjoy the game the way the other kids do.

Actually, the other kids would gather explore an anthill rather than plays soccer. Mikey thinks every rule should be followed.

After practice, his dad takes to a different part of the park for lunch and to play. Mikey just wants to practice.

Mikey’s wise dad thinks he should play shoeless, with the family dog and with his hands. After a tickle fest with his dad, Mikey agrees with his dad.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.

What did we do with this book?

Created a Game with Tomato Cages

I planted two tomato cages across from each other in the yard imagining we would play a game that combined soccer and basketball.

JDaniel looked at the cages and decided that one cage was the starting line. You then had to run around two bushes and a tree before heading across the yard to drop the ball in the far tomato cage.

My game was a little simpler, but his game turned out to be lots of fun. Sometimes it is fun to just take out some materials and see what fun game you can create.

Made Ice Tea Playdough

Sun Hats & Wellie Boots, Nurturestore, & The Imagination Tree are asking bloggers to take the PPlaydoughPledge this week. What is the pledge? It is to try to make a new kind of play dough this week.

JDaniel and I started with the basic no-cook play dough found on Sun Hat & Wellie Boots using flour, salt, oil, and boiling water. We added to it a packet of ice tea powder. JDaniel’s dad loves sweet tea and since we had read a book about a dad, I thought it would be fun.

The play dough we made turned a tan color, but really didn’t smell like sweet tea. I didn’t dump in a full packet of Lipton’s Tea and Honey and that may have kept the full scent of the tea from coming to the surface of the playdough.

We had fun playing with it anyway.

What adventures have you had with books this week?

Read.Explore.Learn.- Gilbert the Goldfish Wants a Pet

June 8, 2012 By Deirdre

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Gilbert in the story Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet by Kelly Dipucchio is lonely and really wants a pet. He has a number of animals visit the outside of his bowl. Each time a new pet stops by Gilbert gets excited and swims around in circles and the new pet runs around his bowl.

Each possible pet ends up leaving him, wanting to eat him, or gets squashed (the fly). Gilbert’s little heart then goes pitter- patter- plop.

Finally having much disappointment, he does get a friend. You will be surprised to find out what it is.

What did we do with the book?

Create Goop and a Fish Wash

Gilbert the Goldfish- Exploring Goop in a Watertable

I found a recipe for goop on the internet and we tried having JDaniel’s ocean bath toys swim in it. It turns out they needed a friend to help clean them up after they played.

We then created an animal wash in the second section of JDaniel’s water table.

Here is the recipe for Goop:

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
small bowl, tin pie plate, water table, etc..
A little more water
Food coloring

Add the water to the cornstarch in a small bowl, tin pie plate, etc. Mix it together using your hands

Fish Counting

I created a sheet with a number of fish bowls on it. I then wrote a number on the rim of each bowl and JDaniel had to put the correct number of fish in each bowl.

Talking about Possible Fish Friends

I created a sheet with a giant fish bowl on it and put a big plastic fish in it. JDaniel then selected various plastic animals and told me why they would or would not make a great pet.

Talking about the pro and cons of each animal encourage JDaniel to think at a higher level. He had to analyze and sort through real reason they would or would not be good pets.