September Virtual Book Club For Kids

Rrralph  by Lois Ehlert

 

This month our featured author for the August Virtual Book Club for Kids is Lois Ehlert.  She has written and illustrated so many fabulous books that it was hard to choose just one.  That is, until I read Rrralph to my children this summer.  They thought it was Laugh Out Loud Funny. 


Gathering Activity: Doggie Ears

Materials Needed: Long strips of white construction paper large enough to wrap around a child's head.  Two Black Doggie Ears.  We cut ours to have jagged edges like those in the story.  Stapler 

1-Allow the child to color the ears and white paper.  

2-Staple the headband to fit the child's head.  Then Staple the ears to either side of the headband. (This is an adult step, but the children love to help use the stapler)! 

Circle Time:

I read Rrralph by Lois Ehlert to the children.  It is a clever book with clever artwork.  On each page, the dog's owner asks a question and the dog responds in ways that seem like he is speaking.  He tells his owner his name is "Rrralph" and he is standing on the "Roof, Roof" and the ground feels "Rough, Rough" on his paws.  The three year olds thought it was a very funny book...and so did their Mommies, as we groaned together at the old puns.  Ehlert uses recycled materials in this book to create her illustrations.  The result is bold and amazing.


Ralph (to the tune of Bingo)
There was a farmer had a dog and Ralph was his name-o.
R-A-L-P-H, R-A-L-P-H, R-A-L-P-H and Ralph was his name. 
(We sang the song, replacing one letter each time, with a bark).

Art Activity: Dog Art Collage
 

Materials Needed
*Using the image from the cover of the book, draw an outline of the dog on a ¼ sheet of posterboard (needs to be heavy paper) with a black sharpie. 

*Collage materials:  soda pop tabs, fabric, various printed papers, buttons, recycled  odds and ends, foam shapes, etc...
 

*Glue

Provide the children with various collage materials to fill in the outline to create their own dogs. Let them name their dogs and write the name of the dog on top.

I ADORE how these turned out.  The children were able to do these with very little guidance needed.    

 
Snack:  Puppy Cookie

Ingredients Needed Per Child: One Nutter Butter, One Vanilla Wafer, One large round Sugar Cookie, Brown frosting, kid-friendly plastic knife, 3 M and Ms Candy pieces

1-Allow each child to frost the large cookie. 

2-Open the Nutter Butter.  Place one piece on each side of the large cookie to create ears.
3-Place the Nilla Wafer in the center of the face.
4-Add eyes and a nose. 

The children loved making and eating these!

Games

In order to play our two games, we needed our own doghouse! 

This one was created by cutting arched doors in the two opposite sides of a large box.  Then it was wrapped with newspaper and covered with paw prints.  One of the talented moms who comes to our Mommy and Me Book Club made this.  Don't you love it?!?!?

1-Doggie Doggie Where’s Your Bone?

Each child took a turn hiding inside the box with the bone.  Another friend came and took the bone and hid it.  We all sang "Doggie, Doggie Where's Your Bone?  Somebody took it from your home.  Guess Who?"  Then the Doggie came out and tried to guess which friend had the bone.  We let them guess until they found the right person.  We did not limit their guesses. 

 2-Musical Dog House-

This was played a little bit like musical chairs. We played doggie themed music as the children crawled on the floor like puppy dogs in a circle each taking turns to crawl through the dog house.  When the music stopped, the person in the dog house stayed inside and made one of the sounds Ralph makes in the book.   

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Here are the other participants in this month's Virtual Book Club.  Please check out their great ideas, too! Can you believe how big this has gotten?  So happy to have so many other bloggers who love reading as much as we do!

Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators' Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little - Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Mommy and Me Book Club - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti - Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child

I am so excited to see what fun book inspired activities YOU did with your children, based on Lois Ehlert's books!  Please link up your posts below!

 

 There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them:

1. Link up only posts inspired by Lois Elhert that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
3. Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you'd like.

A Ball For Daisy

This week's activities were inspired by the wordless picture book  A Ball for Daisy.

 It was probably one of our favorite day of activities ever!  Especially our ball bounce painting!

Gathering Activity: Marble Runs

We explored balls of all sizes this week.  We started with very small ones.  The children each played with marble runs while we waited for everyone to arrive.  We had three different configurations set up, in order to allow all of the children a chance to experiment.  They had a lot of fun, and this activity extended well past the normal amount of time we allot to gathering time activities. 

Circle Time:

We read a wordless book this week A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka.  This book is a Caldecott Medal winner.  Through lovely and expressive illustrations the author tells a story about a doggy who loves a red ball.  You know she loves the red ball because she plays with it, can't sleep without it, and smiles whenever she has it.  Then one day at the park, another doggy pops her ball by accident.  The pictures show a very sad doggy who cannot sleep or play or smile without her ball.  In the end, the other doggy and owner bring Daisy a new ball, a blue one!  Daisy is happy again and plays with her new ball and friend.  

This was a fun one to do with my 2 and 3 year olds.  It is the very first wordless book I have featured at Mommy and Me Book Club.  I showed the pictures and guided the children through questions and observations. The children shared what they thought was happening in each picture.  They loved helping tell the story.  They were focused on the story and very engaged as they interacted with the book. 

We sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." 

Then we sang one I made up on the spot about our story.  

Daisy's Ball Song

sung to "Mary had a Little Lamb"

Daisy had a little ball

little ball

little ball

Daisy had a little ball

that she loved.

Daisy's friend, he popped the ball

popped the ball

popped the ball

Daisy's friend he popped the ball

that she loved.

Daisy got a new blue ball

new blue ball

new blue ball

Daisy got a new blue ball

that she loved! 

 

Snack: Fruit Bouncing Ball Pizzas

We were inspired by this beautiful fruit pizza at Hungry Happenings.  We wanted to make ours all red, like Daisy's ball, so we used only red fruit.  We made a large one for the moms to share, using watermelon, raspberries, and strawberries.  The individualized small ones for the children were made on flattened biscuits instead of cookies, and spread with strawberry flavored cream cheese.  Yum!  

Art: Ball Bouncing Painting

Messy outside art fun!  We dipped bouncing balls into sidewalk paint and then let the children bounce and splatter the paint onto large butcher paper.  These trays were perfect for this activity!   Talk about fun!  There were so many giggles and squeals.   This was a great process, not product activity!  

Materials Needed: Sidewalk Paint (we used these great Crayola trays), tennis balls, large sheets of butcher paper, and lots of water for clean up! 

Like all great activities, this one was flexible enough to allow the children to explore in lots of different ways.  The children quickly discovered that it was also fun to paint with their toes.

Activities: Ball Free Play

We set out assorted shapes and sizes and kinds of balls for the children to have free play with outside.  We even had an impromptu ball wash out of necessity.  The kids loved it!

Bark, George by Jules Feiffer

Gathering Activity: Puppy Headbands

We helped our little ones become puppies for the day.  We painted their noses and helped them make these simple doggy headbands from Family Crafts.  Some of them chose to be traditional and went with black puppy noses.  Others (like my son) wanted their puppy noses to be orange or blue or purple.

Circle Time: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer

This is a silly, fun read aloud about a puppy who swallows a cat, duck, pig, and a cow.  He can't bark, he can only make the sounds of the animals inside of him.   The writing is simple, the text predictable.  The illustrations are clear and simple.   And together they created something magical.  The children giggled on each and every page. (and so did their mommies).       I borrowed it from a friend.  (Although I think one of my kids will be getting this for his birthday next month).  I loved it!

We used these great print outs from Making Learning Fun to help retell the story. 

We also sang "How Much is That Doggy in the Window?" , "B-I-N-G-O" and our own song  below.

"The Animals Inside George."
(Sung to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)
The Cat inside George goes meow, meow,meow....all through the town.
The Duck....goes quack, quack, quack.....
The Pig....goes oink, oink, oink.....
The cow goes...moo, moo, moo
The person inside George goes "Hello, Hello........"

Art: Dog Biscuit and Animal Cookie Cutter Prints 

Materials Needed: Dog Biscuits, cookie cutters in the shapes of the animals in the story, paint, and large paper.

Directions: Allow the children to explore with the materials, creating prints, mixing colors.

Some of the children made very precise prints with the biscuits and cookie cutters.  Others used the dog biscuits as paint brushes.

Snack: Kibbles and Bits and Peanut Butter Doggy Toys

Kibbles and Bits: Cheerios and pretzel sticks

Allow the children to pretend to be puppies and eat them with NO PAWS!

Peanut Butter Doggy Toys: Cut the bottom off of a paper cup.  Spread peanut butter inside the entire cup and allow children to lick it out.  This is similar to the cylinder doggy toys that pet owners can fill with peanut butter.  (OBVIOUSLY DON"T USE IF YOU HAVE STUDENTS WITH PEANUT ALLERGIES).  This was a last minute idea one of the mommies thought up.  I loved it!  Thanks, Melissa!

Games: "Animal Sound Matching," "Doggy, Doggy Where's Your Bone?," and "Veterinarian Says"

1-Animal Sound Matching - Print these matching pairs of cards They are characters from the story.  Give each of the children one of the cards and keep the matching cards for yourself.  Hold up one of the cards.  The child with the matching card stands up and makes the sound of the animal. Play until all of the children have had a chance to make the sounds of their animals.  Then switch and play again as many times as the children wish.

2-Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone? - One child stands up front and a small bone is placed behind him.  Another child is chosen to come and get the bone and hide it behind her back.  The children all say the poem, "Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone?  Somebody took it from your home.  Guess who... it might be you."   We then allowed the "Doggy" to guess until he found the child with the bone.  This is easy to do with only 6 or 7 kids, and then you don't create winners or losers.  We try and keep everything cooperative.  The child with the bone is the next "Doggy. "  Play until everyone has a turn.

3-Veterinarian Says- Played like "Simon Says" but instead we had the children act out animal characters from the book.  We play so that every command begins with "Veterinarian Says."

4-Fetch It was raining too hard for us to go outside and play the day we did this theme, but we had planned to go outside and play "fetch" frisbees and balls with our "paws."

I am participating in the Read Along on Helping Hands.