Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

We are so excited to be participating in the August Summer Virtual Book Club with some of my very favorite kid bloggers!  This month we each selected a book by Kevin Henkes to read with our children.  We created activities inspired by the chosen book.

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On the first day the boys went back to school, my daughter invited a friend over for a Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse play date.

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes is the story of a little girl mouse who loves her new purple plastic purse.  It plays music when she opens it.  Inside she has placed her movie star glasses and three quarters.  She is very excited to share it at school with her beloved teacher and classmates.  So excited that she can't wait and ends up having her purse taken away until the end of the day.  She becomes so upset at her teacher for taking her purse, she draws an unkind picture of him and writes a mean story about him.  At the end of the day, he returns her purse with a sweet note and treats.  She is heartbroken about her unkind treatment of her favorite teacher.  Her parents help her figure out a way to say she is sorry.  She goes back to school with a note, treats, and her purse.  She shares her purse at an appropriate time and the class enjoys a dance party and her treats she brought to share. 

LILLY'S PURPLE PURSE

Materials Needed: Paper plate cut in half, purple paint, stapler, purple ribbon, glue, purple collage materials

1-We painted each half of the plate purple and stapled together when dry. 

2-We stapled on the purple ribbon to create a purse handle.

3-We glued on collage materials to decorate the outside of the purse.  

 The girls enjoyed carrying them everywhere we went the rest of the day. 

MOVIE STAR GLASSES

In the book, Lilly loves her teacher's glasses with a beaded chain.  She thought of them as Movie star glasses and brought her own from home in her purse. 

Materials Needed: Plastic Beads and Plastic String

1-Tie a knot at the end of one piece of string, creating a loop.  

2-String beads to fill the string, leaving enough room to create a second loop at the other end.

3-Loop each side of the beaded rope onto a pair of glasses to create MOVIE STAR glasses like Lilly's and her teacher's glasses. 

LILLY'S MATCHING COINS GAME

I used my Cricut to cut out several purple purses and silver coins.  I added a shape to each purse and created 3 coins with matching shapes for each of the purses.   I gave the little girls the coins to sort and place inside the purses. 

 

DANCE PARTY

After our crafts, the girls danced together like Lilly and her classmates. 

***On Tuesday, I will be posting a giveaway to win your very own copy of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes!  Please come back and enter!

Here are the other participants in this month's Virtual Book Club.  Many of them will also be hosting giveaways of their featured Kevin Henkes books this week, too!  

Toddler Approved, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Rainy Day Mum, Reading Confetti, Inspiration Laboratories, Play Dr. Mom, Mommy and Me Book Club, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Two Big Two Little, Creative Connections for Kids, The Golden Gleam, Juggling with Kids, Taming the Goblin, Crafty Moms Share, Ready Set Read 2 Me, Famiglia and Seoul, The Good Long Road, The Educator's Spin On It, Imagination Soup, 3 Dinosaurs, Royal Baloo, BeingAConsciousParent, and No Twiddle TwaddleCrayon Freckles, Pleasantest thing, Adventures in Reading with Kids

 I am so excited to see what fun book inspired activities you did with your children, based on Kevin Henkes' books!  Please link up your posts below! If you want to participate in September's Virtual Book Club, we will be featuring Lois Ehlert.

 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 Kevin Henkes 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.

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

We are so excited to be participating in the July Summer Virtual Book Club with some of my very favorite kid bloggers!  This month we each selected a book by Audrey or Don Wood to read with our children.  We created activities for our children, inspired by the chosen book.

We chose to read Silly Sally by Audrey Wood.  It is a fun, nonsensical rhyming book about a lady who walks on her hands backwards to go to town.  She meets lots of fun friends along the way.   The illustrations are delightful, and it is a book my children request often.


We had 4 friends over for a Silly Sally play date.  With my 3, we had a total of 7 kids ranging in age from 3-11 years old.  All of them liked the book and had a blast with our activities!  

SILLY COSTUME PARTY

After reading the book, I let the children raid the costume bins. I challenged them to come up with the silliest costume they could think imagine.  They were hilarious, and had a great time trying to outdo each other.  They mismatched pieces of several different costumes, pulled in items that were not traditionally dress up clothes, and laughed.  I loved the sound of laughter filling my home.  Is there anything better?   (For the sake of my future relationship with my son, I will NOT post the picture of him in his sister's pink fairy dress accessorized with clean underwear on his head, red sunglasses, and a sword).

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CUPCAKES


How could we read Silly Sally and NOT make Upside Down Cake????  Family Fun Magazine has a delicious and simple recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes.  It was perfect for a group cooking activity.  Each of the 5 boys took turns helping with all of the steps.  (For some reason, the 2 girls weren't interested in cooking that day.  And I wasn't interested in forcing them to cook.  We were here to have fun)!  The only part of the recipe I helped with was to put the pan in and out of the oven! 


They cut the pineapple by themselves.

They measured out the brown sugar and butter by themselves.

While the brown sugar and butter melted, the boys took turns telling the silliest jokes they could think of.  It morphed into a game of "Who would...(fill in the blank with some crazy thing a 5 year old can imagine.  Like, "Who would eat a Bionicle?").  Again, my house was delightfully filled with the laughter of silly children.

The boys took turns placing the pineapple pieces into the pan.  The only substitution we made from the original recipe was to change the cherries to raspberries.  (Only because I had no cherries).

The boys measured and mixed the dry and wet ingredients.  They even cracked the eggs!

All to make this yummy treat!  They were so proud of themselves! 

SILLY SELF

Our final activity was to create life sized silly versions of ourselves, walking upside down.

I traced an outline of each child onto large white butcher paper, with their hands reached above their heads.  (I don't have a pic of this, since I was the one doing the tracing). 


Then each child decorated his or her own Silly Self.  My two boys did theirs completely on their own.  My daughter told me what she wanted to do and we worked together.

I am so excited to see what fun book inspired activities you did with your children, based on the incredible Woods' Books! Here are the blogs of the other amazing bloggers participating!


Toddler Approved

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Rainy Day Mum

Reading Confetti

Inspiration Laboratories

Play Dr. Mom

Mommy and Me Book Club

Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Two Big Two Little

Creative Connections for Kids

The Golden Gleam

Juggling with Kids

Taming the Goblin

Crafty Moms Share

Not Twiddle Twaddle

Ready Set Read 2 Me

Famiglia & Seoul

The Good Long Road

The Educator's Spin On It

Imagination Soup

3 Dinosaurs

Royal Baloo

BeingAConsciousParent

Smile Play Learn


Want to get a head start on August?  We will be selecting books written by Kevin Henkes!

Please link up your own activities based on a book written by a member of the Wood Family below! 

Virtual Book Club: The Woods

We are excited to be participating in the Summer Virtual Book Club again this month, co-hosted by 20+ bloggers!  Each month, we are highlighting a favorite author.  Bloggers around the world are joining in on the fun.

In July, we will be creating activities inspired by books by Audrey and Don Woods.  They are in my top 5 favorite children's lit authors!  They have so many wonderful books, on so many different topics.  There really is something for everyone!  We have already featured 2 of their amazing books on our blog previously. 

One Mommy and Me focused on The Napping House.

At another Mommy and Me Book Club, we featured The Little Mouse,The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear)!

Do you want to join in the fun?  It is simple!

1-Choose a favorite book by one or both of the Woods family members.
2-Share the book with your child and create a fun activity to go with the story.
3-Blog about it and return here on July 16th to link up your post to our Summer Virtual Book Club Linky!

Don't have your own blog?  Feel free to leave a comment that shares which book you chose and what you did!  You can even post a pic of your fun on our facebook page!

Did you miss last month's fun?  We had over 50 bloggers share posts!  Click on the link to see all of the activities inspired by the amazing Mo Willems!

Want to get a head start on August?  We will be selecting books written by Kevin Henkes!

Are you going to join us this month?  

Elephant and Piggie Books

I know, it seems like blasphemy for a writer of a children’s books blog to type those words, but it is true.  That is not to say that I do not love Dr. Seuss.  I adore him!


But right now, I am the mom of a five year old learning to read.  Having taught MANY children to read over the years, I declare EMPHATICALLY that the  

“Elephant and Piggie” book series by Mo Willems

are the BEST books available for engaging the newest readers.  

I am writing this post in hopes of introducing a few of you to this amazing series.  If you are not familiar with the Elephant and Piggie books, head straight to your library and check out all they have. You won't be disappointed.   I am always surprised by the number of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive The Bus fans who don't know about these. 

The Elephant and Piggie books are early readers by Mo Willems that feature two unlikely best friends who learn and grow together.  There are currently 17 books in this series.

So, why do I think they are better than anything else out there, including the great early reader contributions by Dr. Seuss?


1- The Elephant and Piggie books are short. -Pigs Make Me Sneeze has 188 words on 57 pages.  The Cat in the Hat has 1629 words on 61 pages.  For a new reader and his enthusiastic parents, the books can be completed in a time frame that manages to maintain the interest of both the young reader and the doting listeners (before mom and dad become the “doZing” listeners).  They are the PERFECT length! 


2- Willems has perfected the use of the speech bubble.  My son loves speech bubbles!  They help him recognize which character is speaking.  They help him know if the character is speaking LOUDLY, because the word bubbles are LARGER.  He knows if they are speaking softly, because the word bubbles are smaller.  This helps him read with expression, THE VERY FIRST TIME THROUGH!  He doesn’t stumble through in a monotone voice, like he does with some other early readers.  He knows when to use a grumpy voice, give a happy cheer, or whisper quietly.  Just from the speech bubbles and font size. I never really understood the power of the speech bubble in early literacy, until I was introduced to Mo Willems.  

2 ½-Did I mention the use of speech bubbles?  Speech bubbles lend themselves beautifully to shared reading, an important part of reading instruction.  My son and I each choose a character in the book and read all of his or her lines throughout the entire book, similar to reading a play.  In fact, we have often used the Elephant and Piggie  books as scripts for puppet shows or plays.  (Any other early literacy specialists out there know that RETELL is also an important part of reading instruction).  

  

3- The books use real words.  This makes it easier to use context clues and phonetics to figure out unfamiliar words.  ‘Jertain’ and ‘Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz’ are certainly fun and silly to say, but context clues are useless to figure them out and can frustrate the newest readers.


4-Speaking of context clues...the PICTURES are so clear and simple, so concrete. Yet somehow they convey the meaning of the story so perfectly, that it is easy for a child stuck on a word to look at the pictures and determine what the word should be or the emotion with which the words should be expressed.  How do you do that, Mo?  How do you get one simple line across a pig’s eye lid to say so much? 


5-The Elephant  and Piggie books are quite simply put.... hilarious!  Laugh out loud funny.  Tears in your eye funny.  Appropriately funny.   My children and the adults in our family giggle every time we read the “Piggie and Elephant” books, whether it is the first time or the 37th.  (There is no need to pander to bathroom humor or jokes above the kids’ heads).  We all think the books are truly funny.  

6-According to the official Mo Willems website, each book is reviewed by early childhood reading specialists before publication!  (Something I didn’t know before working on this article).  I feel even better as a parent knowing that not only does my gut tell me this is good, quality, children’s literature, the “experts” agree as well.  


7-Most Elephant and Piggie books teach valuable lessons, without being too preachy.  Friends are better than toys. (I Love My New Toy).  Being outside is fun in all kinds of weather  (Are You Ready to Play Outside?).  Asking politely can make things better. (There’s A Bird On My Head).  There isn’t always just one right way to do something. (Elephants Can’t Dance).    Lots of Dr. Seuss books do teach valuable lessons, too.  But it is hard to find in his early readers.  I am not quite deep enough to find the moral of the ABC Book, the Foot Book, or Hop on Pop.   


8-Most importantly, I love the Piggie and Elephant Books because they give my son CONFIDENCE as a reader.  He can pick one up and know that he can read it with fluency and expression.  He knows he will laugh.  He knows he will enjoy himself.  And what can any parent want more for their son, then for him to LOVE to read.  





***I want to be clear that I do honor Dr. Seuss as a Founding Father of all that is good in children’s literature.  There would be no Mo Willems without Dr. Seuss and his legacy.  I have laughed at his silly absurdities with my kindergarteners and my own three children.  I have read his inspired lessons about Sneetches with “stars upon thars” with my fourth grade students, who were struggling to fit in or to include everyone.  I have even been inspired myself as a young adult, during a particularly difficult time in my life, by one of his lesser known books I Had Trouble Getting to Solla Sollew.
 

But for new readers, I think Mo Willems has Dr. Seuss beat.  Once my son is ready, he will be able  to read Dr. Seuss to himself.    But for now, I will read Dr. Seuss to him and HE will read  Mr. Willems’  Elephant and Piggie books to me.   He reaches for them each day...and we never tire of them.  Thank you for your wonderful books, Mo Willems.  Thanks for helping my son LOVE to read, and for helping the job of teaching him to read be such an enjoyable experience.   

***Mo Willems also has another early reader series, the Cat the Cat books.  We love those as well for most of the same reasons we love Elephant and Piggie!  And of course we love his famous Pigeon and his Knuffle Bunny and Leonoardo and Amanda and.......many more friends.  

On June 18th, 2012, Mommy and Me Book Club and over 20 other bloggers will be sharing our favorite Mo Willems books and activities to go along with them during the Summer Virtual Book Club.  We will even have a place for you to link up your favorites!  I hope you will join in the fun.

Summer Virtual Book Club for Kids

Although we will not be hosting our regular Mommy and Me Book Club this summer,  we have lots of "book-inspired fun" to share with you!  I am excited to announce that our summer plans include participating with 15+ bloggers this summer in a Virtual Book Club for Kids.   Each month this summer we will focus on a different featured author.  

Our June author is my children's very favorite: Mo Willems! (I have featured him twice on Mommy and Me Book Club, so I guess he is one of my favorites, too)! 

Mo Williems is the award winning author of the Pigeon books and the Knuffle Bunny books.  He is also the author of my all time favorite early readers, the Piggie and Elephant books.  His books never fail to produce fits of giggles at our home, no matter how many times we have read them!

Do you want to join in the fun?

1. Pick a book by Mo Willems to read with your child(ren)

2. Do an activity together inspired by the book.

3. Join us here on June 18, 2012 to share which book you read & any activities you do along with it on our Summer Virtual Book Club linky.