Archive for October 2009
Thankful Box
Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Canada and although we didn’t celebrate with a big turkey dinner we did make this thanksgiving craft, took time to think of things we are thankful for and share them at dinner. At the dinner table last night each family member wrote what they were thankful for , and added it to the box. We didn’t keep ours a secret but you could. Our plan is to fill the box up over the next week and read it over dinner on Sunday to celebrate all we are thankful for.
- Gather your materials. You will need a cardboard craft box ( a show box covered with paper would be great too), some markers ( one permanent), glitter, scissors and plain paper.
- Cut a slot in the lid.
- Write the words ” I am thankful for…” in permanent marker on the lid.
- Have your little artists decorate the box with crayons or markers, you could use paint too, we didn’t because we wanted to use it shortly after but if you have the time to wait for it to dry, go for it!
- Don’t forget the lid!
- Grab the glitter. I think glitter makes anything a little more special than it was without it , and a box like this deserves some glitter… or a lot. We only added it to the lid because I didn’t want it interfering with my son being able to open and close the box.
- Let dry.
- While the glitter is drying write out a few things you are thankful for. These were my son’s – I didn’t coach him one bit, I admit I thought he’d say he was thankful for Hondas before anything but he mentioned his parents and great friends . I would encourage never saying ” No” to any suggestion, model the things you are trying to get your children to be thankful for but let them come up with their own. You can’t force this- but you can lead by example.
- We folded our papers and popped them in the “dry enough” box.
- We read these notes out at dinner and added more, which was when we decided to write more each dinner for a week then read the whole lot on Sunday.
Books
Thanksgiving in Canada is similar to the holiday in the United States, although we don’t have pilgrims, don’t watch football all day , and don’t line up for sales the next day either! Our celebration is a celebration of the harvest, yes we eat turkey and cranberry sauce and each family has their own traditions. These books work for Thanksgiving in both countries, something that is useful for the many families like mine that is both Canadian and American!Also I couldn’t resist adding my favorite book about home, if you aren’t familiar with Canada I urge you to find this book and flip though, it’s a great cheat sheet or introduction to Canada!
A Plump And Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman is such a cute and funny book about a town that needs a turkey and the lengths they go to to find one, including trickery! The town is sadly outwitted by the turkey and end up eating shredded wheat for thanksgiving. The illustrations kept my little man interested even though the story’s humor was above his head.
**Edited for 2009** Much of the humor is still above my wee man’s head although I was reminded how much this book’s dark humor makes me giggle. He was a little off put by the idea of the towns folk eating the turkey and was relived when he escaped before they shoved him in the oven. I like that he is starting to understand that the meat he eats is actually a cooked animal, we take that for granted but for many young kids this is a huge realization!
Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland is book that explains what Thanksgiving is, and gives lots of examples of things to be thankful for. I like this book although I could go without the page where the narrator is thankful for lollipops, all the other things are wonderful like a teacher’s encouragement, grandma’s hugs, and sunny days and to me the lollipops sorta fall flat. Easily skipped over if you are not keen on it but the book as a whole is valuable teaching tool about thanksgiving.
M is for Maple, a Canadian Alphabet by Mike Ulmer. This book will make you feel proud to be from Canada if you are Canadian and teach you something about your neighbour if you aren’t . It will also teach your children things about the country they live in and why we feel pride when we hear names like Terry Fox, Anne with an E and Gretzky! I love this book and have since I first read it during teacher’s college in Thunder Bay, if you can be happy about being in Canada during a very cold Thunder Bay winter you can be happy about it anywhere.
Pumpkin p !
You had to know this was coming! I waited to do this activity until this week because we had a special day out at the pumpkin patch with close friends today. Piggy backing learning on special events like a trip to the pumpkin patch is a wonderful way to peak interest and make multiple connections, from art to book to real life!
- Gather your materials. You will need a neutral colored piece of construction paper, a green piece of construction paper, orange paint, a paint brush,glue, scissors , green and brown markers and a pumpkin stencil ( cookie cutter) if needed.
- Start by drawing or tracing a handful of pumpkins with the brown marker.
- Write a large lowercase p on the green paper.
- Have your child paint the pumpkins, today we used a tiny fine brush, I like to mix it up for my son but you can use anything, fingers, sponges… it’s your choice! Let dry.
- Hand them the P and draw the vines, this is when going to the pumpkin patch came in handy. At the pumpkin patch today the vines were everywhere, and so my son was able to connect that to art time!
- When the pumpkins are dry cut out.
- Cut out the p.
- Add the glue . Glue stick or white glue , we have made the move to glue stick because my son is finally not eating everything. I was worried he’d bite off a huge chunk and choke before now.
- Add the pumpkins and let dry.
Books
Jeoffry’s Halloween by Mary Bryant Bailey is written in verse that is beautiful and the rhymes are impressive but I could not bribe my son to sit and read it. It was too sophisticated for him and I think probably too sophisticated for most children young enough to enjoy a picture book. I hate admitting that because I think the words coupled with the foggy dreamlike illustrations by Elizabeth Sayles are worth a look. I hope I am wrong , but I would not suggest this book for a preschool circle time , or even to be read one on one with the under 4 crowd. 
In The Haunted House by Eve Bunting is the type of story that you aren’t sure if you should or shouldn’t read to your 3 year old. Well maybe it’s just me. I am easily frightened, I can’t even watch commercials for scary movies , so I was leary about reading this book to my son. He opened it and scanned it himself and then brought it over to me so I gave it a try. He loved it. The book takes the reader through a haunted house, and each scary thing it houses. While reading it my son would stop look at me and ask ” Is that just pretend?” ” Is that just a costume?” which made me feel better about reading it since he will see some scary costumes and if the idea that they aren’t real is concrete in his mind hopefully come Halloween his resilience will be a little stronger. At the end of the book you see the little girl and her dad coming out of the haunted house, she is exhilarated, but he looks terrified! My son loved that detail, great message about it being ok to be scared!
The Pumpkin Fair by Eve Bunting is a much cheerier look at Halloween than the last two selections. In this book the reader follows a little girl to the pumpkin fair where all sorts of fun things are going on. Pumpkin bowling, pumpkin basket ball and even pumpkin seed spiting contests! There are pumpkins of all sizes to buy but the little girl has brought her own that she grew herself. When awards are given out she is sure that her little bumpy p won’t win a thing but …. will it? I really liked this book, I liked the celebration it contained and the message about not having to be the biggest or most beautiful to be worthy and recognized. This was a big hit at our house too.
Get Thee To A Pumpkin Patch!
This time of year pumpkin patches spring up all over the place, in our area they are farms, in many places church parking lots are converted and even many supermarkets have a large enough selection to work in a pinch. Explore the pumpkins, notice the differences, the different colors, textures… My son took a liking to this one small shape of pumpkin and picked as many as could fit in our wagon. We were luck enough to also see some green ones on the vines, which opened up a little lesson about a pumpkins as plants not just Halloween decorations.
Make some pumpkin pancakes!
I made these for dinner the other night and we had the left overs for breakfast today to start off our pumpkin themed day !Check out the recipe over at my other blog don’t eat the paint.
I didn’t find Katherine Marie, she found me early last year and I couldn’t be happier she did. She shared an Easter activity with us but now I want to share her blog with you. Her photography is inspiring, her crafts and art projects will leave you drooling and make you wish you could visit her house and play too! Her blog will inspire you to create something beautiful, capture something special and spend time with your kids. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Katherine Marie Photography
A Few Great Women
I have always loved biographies and they are a wonderful way to introduce history to kids . I know it was through biographies that I got interested in history, a love that culminated in my first bachelor’s degree. Do not under estimate the seeds that are planted when your child is young, encourage and offer diverse experiences and watch your child bloom. Biographies made me dream as a little girl , in that spirit I have chosen to feature biographies of great women this week.
A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David A. Adler tells the story of this great heroine in a simple way without loosing the magnificence of her life. From her illness as a young toddler, to meeting her “miracle worker” Anne Sullivan and earning the first degree ever awarded to any deaf and blind person all of the amazing things that Helen Keller acomplished is covered. The author doesn’t sanctify Helen though , they talk openly about her tantrums as a child and her naughty behavior. My son sat for this whole book, it opened up a bedtime talk about blindness to which we turned off the light and experienced a little ourselfs. I am hoing reading this book will open more doors of empathy for my son, to recognize that we are all different with different abilities but are all capable of great things.
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni is not so much a biography, but it is most definately a historical account of one woman who changed a nation. We all know the story of Rosa Parks but no matter how well you know the facts, reading a children’s book about it makes me cry. The author has done a fantastic job settingthe stage, explaining how Rosa Parks was not your typical heroine, she was just a seamstress, just like everyone else. This is imparitive to the message that a single person can stand up for what is right and make big changes. I also appreciated that the author included so much about the women who spearheaded the bus boycott. I am 32 and I feel inspired reading this as a woman, to think of the power it can have over young girls excites me. This would be a wonderful introduction to learning about the civil rights movement for kids 5-10. I did not read this book to my son, the text was far too lengthy for his 2.5 year old attention span, however it’s on the list for the future.
The Story of Anne Frank by Brenda Ralph Lewis impressed me. I struggle with how to tell such a horrifying story to young children. I should explain that this book is not geared for preschoolers, it’s a school age book , but still it’s a daunting task. This book helps break down the facts while including details about this young girl’s personal and family life. This balance of historical facts and Anne’s family life is the key to why this book works. There is so much horror to digest that the little details like how Anne was a bit of a trouble maker, and talked too much in class helps to tune the reader back into the very personal story. I think this is a fantastic precursor to reading Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl , it will give all the needed backgroud for your older child to fully comprehend and appareciate the diary itself.
Eleanor: Quiet No More by Doreen Rappaport is an inspiring look at Elanor Roosevelt’s life and legacy. Readers learn about Eleanor’s childhood, being orphaned and sent away to school in England where she experienced independece for the first time. It covers her romance and marriage with FDR is a sweet, loving way that won’t make your child cringe about “mushy” things but they will understand that there was real life and partnership. There is ample information about her work over the years as a politician’s wife as well as the First Lady. My favorite part of the book were all the fantastic quotes woven into the biography, it connects the reader to her and not just her story.
We Dig Halloween!
I bought these black beans and orange lentils for another Halloween craft but when we made it the real hit was scooping and pouring… and spilling! So we ran out to the dollar store got some fun plastic creatures to add to it to complete this easy DIY sensory tub that is small enough for even the tiniest apartment.
- Gather your materials. You will need a plastic container, some dried black beans, some dried orange lentils, we added macaroni for bones, a spoon/scoop, some plastic spiders, snakes and other spooky creatures!
- Have your child help pour the beans and lentils into the tub.
- Grab the creatures and hide them under the beans.
- Explore!
