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Friday, February 4, 2011

I Stink!

Special Notes: Please bring a toy Matchbox style garbage truck and a "robot claw" toy, if you have either to share.
 
Gathering Activity: Truck Puzzles and Truck Books
We read truck themed books and worked cooperatively to complete truck themed puzzles.






Circle Time: I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullan

I have to confess that I wasn't a big fan of this garbage truck book the first time I read it to my kindergarten class. It is filled with references to gross things like dirty diapers, puppy poo, and ugly underpants.   But fast forward 7 years and now I am the mom of two little boys who think the funniest things in the world are diapers, poo, and underwear.  Seriously, all one of them has to do is whisper the word "diaper" and the two of them are in hysterics.  And they LOVE watching the garbage truck.  So, I gave the book a second chance.  And I am glad I did.   The McMullans do a great job teaching facts about how the garbage truck works and why we need the garbage truck.  And while I am still not a big fan of the gross out factor of the Smelly ABCs included, all of my little 3 old friends thought it was hilarious.  And since it was in an appropriate context, I even loosened up and enjoyed the book right along with them!  I think the little ones enjoyed the reading of this book more than any other we have shared together this year.



After laughing at the story, we sang Oscar the Grouch's "I Love Trash."  Which the little ones also found very funny.

Art: Recycled Garbage Trucks

Materials Needed Per Truck: Recycled brown paper grocery bag cut into a large rectangle for background, green construction paper scraps cut into one small square, one large square, and one triangle, 4 small black circles, brown and blue paint, matchbox sized garbage truck toys




1-Glue pieces onto the paper bag in the shape of a garbage truck. 
I got the idea for this part of the craft here at No Time for Flash Cards.  Love that site!


2- Using the trucks as paint brushes, paint tracks on the truck.




Snack: Garbage Can Pudding 

 We made dirt pudding and placed it inside a plastic cup wrapped with aluminum foil to look like a garbage can.  We added a worm sticking out.  They turned out very cute...and yummy.




*I know that I found the idea of wrapping the cup with foil to look like a garbage can on someone's blog, but I can't find it again.  If it was your blog, let me know and I will add a link!  It was a great idea!




Games: Trash Pick Up and Toss it in the Trash 

1-Trash Pick Up



I spread out objects on the floor that are found in the story such as diapers (clean), neckties, empty, clean containers, toy apples and bananas from the play kitchen, and newspapers.    Then the children take turns using their robotic claws to pick up trash and placing the items into clan garbage bags.  When not picking up trash, they thought it was just as fun to be the one holding the big garbage bag. 

2-Toss it in the Trash




The children tossed newspaper balls into a clean waste basket.  We just had them all toss in at the same time.  Then they would run and grab a ball out and try again.  No waiting! (While patience is a great skill to practice with 3 year olds,  it is fun when there is more playtime then waiting time in an activity). 

12 comments:

Deborah Stewart

I am so glad you started this blog and love each book you have selected! Your blog is such a find!

Kimberly

Excellent example of how a book is supposed to ignite other activities. Thank you:)

Melissa Taylor

Danielle,
I'm having trouble finding your RSS feed, do you have one? I'd love to subscribe. Also, your Mommy and Me book club is so fantastic - would you be interested in sharing about it on my blog, http://imaginationsoup.net? I think my readers would love to learn more about it and your blog!!

Melissa at imaginationsoup.net

Shauna

I love your blog. What a wonderful idea! I am sure your friends just love you. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading through more of your past posts.

Melanie

I just found you from No Time for Flashcards and I love your site!! I just added you to my google reader :-) Great ideas!

http://ourcraftsnthings.com/

Fatima

Looks like great fun! Hope you'll hop over to my silly little blog if you get a chance and share this. ;)

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

love your ideas! What a wonderful group!!

I am a huge fan of reading books to kids and then letting it spark other activities! You are so creative!!!

new follower - check out my blog when you have a moment! I have lots of crafts & activities and books that I post based on themes I do with my girls at home.

Bernadette
http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com

Anonymous

Hiya,
I'm your newest follower from Relax and Surf Sunday Blog Hop. If you get a minute please stop by and follow back.
http://alittleoftheother.com

Have a super week,
Ellie

Unknown

JDaniel loves this book. He loves the Mount Trasharama Baby part. The activities you did look great. JDaniel picked up newpaper that was spread on the floor with chopsticks. He loved it.

Stacy

great ideas! Another garbage book we love is Trashy Town.

Unknown

Hi! I'm including a link to this post in my "Cooking Up a Story" blog post this coming Friday. We're reading "How to Be a Grouch" and well, you're ideas were so good, I couldn't top them so I'm sending my readers to you!

Alicia

This is really cool. My husband is a garbage truck driver, so you can only imagine how NUTS our 3 yr old son is about anything garbage truck related. For his birthday I built him a cake in the 3d shape of a trash truck with an open hatch in the back with mashed up cake as the "trash." I so badly wanted to figure out a way to make trash can cupcakes but I ran out of time lol... I wish i would have done this!

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Thank you for your comments! I love hearing from the readers of my blog. It makes my day! I have recently had a lot of inappropriate spam that has snuck through, so I am turning on the moderation of comments for a short time, to see if it helps. I am so sorry for any inconvience this may cause, but I want to remain a family friendly blog. -Danielle @Mommy and Me Book Club