Jaguar J

My son really wanted to make a jaguar – as in the luxury car, for the letter of the week today,  but I have my limits.  I have no clue how to make a car look like a lowercase j. I need to take my own advice and remember that the act of creating and talking about the Jaguar j is the lesson, not if 40 out of 50 people can tell exactly what it is. As long as your child can you are golden!

1. Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper ( yellow and brown),small piece of red paper,  scissors, glue, googly eyes, and marker.
2. Start by making a lower case j on your yellow paper.
3. Have your child color the j if they want. I was very interested to watch my son write a j on it instead of simply scribbling. I love watching kids learning evolve.
4. While they do that cut out spots  and ears from the brown paper ( I used just a small strip from the top so I could still use the rest of it for the backing later.
5. Cut out a nose and mouth from the red paper.
6. Add glue, maybe not as much as we did.
7. Add your spots.
8. Add the eyes,  nose , mouth and ears!
9. Let dry.
10. Cut out and glue onto the remaining brown paper.

Books

Lisa in the Jungle by Anne Gutman made me giggle and my son really liked it to. It’s about Lisa who spent all summer at the pool instead of off on a wild vacation in the jungle. Lisa decides to ignore what she really did all summer and tell a tall tale to her classmates. It’s an endearing story because it’s told exactly the way a young child would tell such an outrageous story. My son loved the parts about stepping on sleeping crocodiles and feeding baby leopards. Jungle Party by Brian Wildsmith is a cautionary tale about a python and it’s tricky ways. In this book the jungle animals are tricked by a python into having a party with him, only to end up in his belly! Luckily a wise elephant is there to help and the animals get the last laugh. I liked this book although after about half way my wiggly 2 year old started loosing interest. I don’t think it’s the books fault, it’s just a little long for such a young audience. For slightly older kids this is a great book for making predictions about what will happen next.

Deep in the Jungle by Dan Yaccarino is a deceivingly deep book. While reading it to my son before nap today I was taken aback by how the Lion and the circus man in the book could be symbolic of so many historical and social things. However the surface story is about a Lion , the king of the jungle who is enticed out by a man who promises him a better life of fame in the big city. Soon the lion is in the circus, whipped, caged and with no power or fame. After eating the man and running back to the jungle he finds his subjects in cages as well. Although he was not a kind ruler before he saves his subjects from their captor. Seems all very heavy, but my son loved it. It is long and I was impressed he sat interested for the whole thing, he even said “Animals sad in cages!” proud moment for me!