Pouch!

 This week's activities were inspired by the book Pouch by David Ezra Stein.  

Gathering Activity- Kangaroo Pouches
 
We made these adorable Kangaroo Pouches that I found at Brilliant Beginnings Preschool Utah.

 

Instead of writing the letter K on each pouch, we helped the children write their names.   Lacing the pouch together provided excellent fine motor skill practice!  

It was definitely a parent and child activity.  That is one of the reasons I really enjoy Mommy and Me Book Club.  We have a one-to-one ration.  (Though this craft could be done in a center with a small group of preschoolers).


Circle Time
 

POUCH! by David Ezra Stein is the delightful story of a shy little Kangaroo who timidly ventures out of his mommy's pouch, one hop at a time.  Each time he encounters a new animal friend, he runs back to his mom, crying "POUCH!" The illustrations are fabulous.  The children and mommies laughed aloud at Joey.  But, even with its humorous moments, it teaches a sweet story about feeling a little shy. 

We Sang a little Kangaroo Song
(sung to This Old Man)
Jump, jump, jump,
kangaroo,
I thought there was one
Now I see two!
It's a mommy and her baby
With his head popping out.
He holds on tight
As they jump about.
Author Unknown

Art-Paper Plate Joey Craft 
We were inspired by an adorable Kangaroo Plate Craft we saw at Danielle's Place.  Although, I do love her site, unfortunately I do not have a subscription for the printables.  One of my little friends has a big brother who kindly drew the heads, tails, and feet for us, and we created our own version.

We used paper clips to hold the pieces on until the glue dried.

Snack - Pita Pouches
How could we not have pita pockets filled with peanut butter and  bananas for snack.   We served them with milk, because that’s what joeys drink. 

 

Games
 
1-Guess What’s in my pouch?  

One of the moms wore a long apron with a large pouch.

Inside of the pouch, she placed several different shapes of varying colors.  

We  let the children each take out a shape and name the shape and color. 

 Then they placed it inside their own pouches we made at the gathering activity. This was a very fun game.


2-Kangaroo Hop Freeze Dance-  

We played music while the children danced and jumped up and down like a joey.  

Then, when the music stopped, everyone stopped dancing and ran back to their mommies (like in the story) yelling "POUCH!"   

When the music started again, they went back to dance and hop.    Isn't it funny how the simplest ideas are usually the best?  The children loved pretending to be Joey!  They loved yelling "POUCH!" as loud as they could, and of course they loved snuggling with their mommies!  

 
I am excited to announce that this week we are beginning a new adventure.  We are participating with a few other blogs in a weekly project called The Children's Bookshelf.  

Mommy and Me Book Club will be participating 3 Mondays each month.  (The exception will be the 3rd Monday of each month when we co-host the Virtual Book Club).   So, three weeks a month, I will ask you to share ANY book-inspired activities you would like to share!   Then once a month we will all share activities on the same book!  (Make sense)? 



So, now, it is your turn to share with us with all of your kid lit inspired posts this week. Please link up any children's book posts below and don't forget to follow The Children's Bookshelf on Pinterest or visit TCB's co-hosts: What Do We Do All Day?, No Twiddle Twaddle, Smiling Like Sunshine, Mommy and Me Book Club, My Little Bookcase and Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

By linking up you are giving permission for any of the co-hosts to pin and/or feature a your photo on a future The Children's Bookshelf post.

 

Apple Trouble

This week's Mommy and Me Book Club activities were inspired by Apple Trouble by Ragnhild Scamell.

Gathering Activity: Fall Themed Exploration Box

The story is set in Fall, so we let the children explore some fun fall items before introducing them to the story.   Exploration Boxes don't need to be expensive.  Simply pulling together liked themed items into one place can create a new experience and help children to make connections!

Circle Time:

Book Review

Apple Trouble is the story of an adorable hedgehog who has prepared a lovely nest of leaves under an apple tree.  A large apple lands on her back and becomes stuck there.  Many attempts are made by several animal friends to remove the apple.  However they are all unsuccessful, and while trying to remove the apple, they each manage to add another object to the hedgehog's back! By the end of the story, the hedgehog has an apple, a leave, paper, nuts, berries, and more stuck in her quills.   Luckily, a goat friend helps her out in the end! (This book is alternatively title OUCH! outside of the USA).

Fingerplay: "Way Up High in the Apple Tree"

Way Up High in the Apple Tree, 3 little apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree as hard as I could.
Down came the apples, Mmmmm...they were good!  

Sorting Practice: 
I gave each child a red and a green foam apple.  The children sorted the apples into two different baskets by color. 


Craft: Play Dough and Spaghetti Noodle Hedgehogs

We made these awesome hedgehogs inspired by an idea I saw at the Muslim Learning Garden.  Make a hedgehog shape out of brown play dough and add broken spaghetti noodles.  We used red play dough to create an apple to stick on his back like in the story.  This activity was fabulous for fine motor skills.  The children broke their own noodles and placed them in the play dough.  This held their attention for a long time! 




Snack:  Hedgehog rolls and apple slices

Life As A Schoolhouse had these wonderful hedgehog rolls we just had to try!  We of course ate an apple with our rolls!


Game: Hedgehog Quill Game 

Materials needed: plastic fork (break off all but one of the prongs), picture of hedgehog (colored, then taped to the fork), raisins

The children used their one fork prong to pick up the raisins.  This was a very simple game, but the children enjoyed it a lot!  It was another great opportunity to practice our fine motor skills.  

Good Night, Gorilla

Our activities this week were inspired by the book, Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. 

Gathering: Zoo Animal Toys and Books

The children played with the Fisher Price Zoo Animals and Zoo Train.  We also read zoo books with mommies and played with zoo animal masks and puppets.

Circle Time:
 

We read Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.  I love this story.  There are very few words, but all that needs to be said is conveyed through the pictures.  As a zookeeper closes his zoo for the night, he says "goodnight" to each animal.  A gorilla sneaks behind him and unlocks each cage with the zookeeper's OWN KEYS!  They all silently parade behind him into his house and into his bed!  When the animals are discovered in the bedroom, he brings them all back to the zoo.  All, that is, except the gorilla.  A cute mouse is on each page pulling a banana on a string.  The little ones had a fun time searching for him every time I turned the page.  They giggled as each animal escaped. 

We sang Raffi’s “Going to the Zoo”

and 

The Animals at the Zoo Tune: The Wheels on the Bus
(sing with the animals in the book)

The snake at the zoo goes Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss
The Snake at the zoo goes Hiss Hiss Hiss
All day long
The lion at the zoo goes Roar Roar Roar Roar Roar Roar
The lion at the zoo goes Roar Roar Roar
All day long (Add other animals)

Art: Gorilla Paper Plate Art

We found this adorable gorilla craft at Creativity Takes Flight. 

Snack: Bananas and Animal Crackers

 

We enjoyed bananas (In honor of the little banana being pulled by a mouse on each page) and animal crackers.

Activities: Zoo Cages and Good Night Gorilla Games

1-)Zoo Cages Guessing Game:

  We made 3 zoo cages out of baskets.   The creative mommy who made these, added the most adorable signs on the cages. 

 We had one child leave the room with Mom.  While they were gone,  we hide a toy zoo animal in one of the cages.   When they came back, they opened each of  the three cages until they found the hidden animal.  

2-) Goodnight Gorilla:

We had  the children pretend to be each of the 7 animals, one at a time.   We said "Goodnight, Hyena". Then they pretended to go to sleep.  

One child pretended to be the zookeeper and would rattle a set of keys and say “Wake up!”   

Then of course, the kids would all jump up.  

Why is it that pretending to sleep is such a fun game for 2 and 3 year olds?  It is one of their favorites!

Little Owl Lost

Our activities this week were inspired by the book Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton. 

Gathering Activity: Mommy and Child Owl Memory Game 

We printed a copy of this adorable owl themed memory game from Mama's Monkeys.  It is offered as a free download. We prepared one for each mom and child pair to play as we gathered, and then they took them home to play as well.  These were a big hit with our little ones! 

Circle Time

We read Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton.  This was a new find for me, and is now one of the most read books in our collection.  It is a very familiar theme, a bird falls out of a tree and gets lost.  Other animals help him find his Mommy.  However, Haughton's take on a familiar theme is fresh.  The pictures are bright and bold and simple.  Our little ones laughed aloud when the frog helping the baby owl find the mommy kept choosing the wrong mommy.  They enjoyed joining in for the repetitive parts of the story.  The moms loved that the mommy owl cries for joy when she finds her baby.  Then she invites the search party back for cookies.  It was loved by both moms and toddlers. Now my two year old daughter loves to pretend she is the owl falling out of the tree ALL the time.  It is very sweet.

Owl Fingerplays:

(Tune of Skip to my lou)

Owl in the tree says, "Who, who, who."

Owl in the tree says, "Who, who, who."

Owl in the tree says, "Who, who, who.

Who, who, are you?"

5 Little Owls-Fingerplay

5 little owls on a moonlit night 5 little owls are quite a sight.

5 little owls Are you keeping score? One flew away! And then there were 4.

4 little owls Happy as can be, One flew away! Then there were 3.

3 little owls Calling "Whoo! Whoo!" One flew away! And that left two.

2 little owls having lots of fun. One flew away! And that left 1.

1 little owl We are almost done. He flew away! And that leaves none.

Both of these were found here:

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/preschool_themes/owls/owl_songs.htm

Art: Paper Plate Owls 

The Mommy in charge of the art project this week had a sick little one, so she couldn't make it.  I pulled together supplies we had on hand.  


Materials Needed: Two paper plates, one whole and one cut in half,  2 white cupcake liners, black paint, magenta circles for the eyes and magenta triangle nose, turquoise paper napkins torn into strips or ric rac, glue, stapler

1-Staple the half plates onto the whole plate to create the body and wings of the owl.

2-Allow the children to paint the plates.   (We only had blue on hand, but I recommend black to make the owl look like the one in the book).

3- Glue the cupcake liners on the owl to make eyes.  Glue magenta circles inside. Glue on triangle nose.

4-Glue down the strips of paper napkins to create feathers.  (I had planned on using ric rac, but only had napkins on head.  They still worked, but didn't really look like the owl in the book).

Snack: Owl Sandwiches

The kids loved making these cute owl sandwiches.  You can find out how to make them here.  

Activities: Owl Bean Bag Toss

I could not resist this idea for an adorable owl bucket I saw on Oriental Trading Company. We made our own and the kids had a great time throwing bean bags into the bucket.  To make your own, follow the directions here.