I can’t seem to be able to plan a session at work without relating it to a book. Planning activities that link to a books helps bring the book to life, increases the learning opportunities and gives you and your child a chance to explore the book together in a deeper way.
Now the 6 weeks holidays are here, it means you either have a bit more time to set up some activities or you need something different to entertain the kids whilst you get some work done.
So here are six children’s books that you probably have or can buy from Books and Pieces and a few activities loosely based on the theme.
Week One – The Gruffalo
Who doesn’t love the Gruffalo. I’ve read it a million times and still love it.
The great thing about Julia Donaldson books is you just have to look on YouTube and you’ll find the animated versions and Julia Donaldson has written songs for most of her books, the Gruffalo song is amazing and comes with Makaton Signs too.
So what about activities…
Owl Ice cream – Make an ice cream shop – you can either use real ice cream or fake ice cream (Depending on how much sugar you want consumed!)
I used a kit from ikea, but you can use the ice-cream scoop from your kitchen and real ice-cream cones. Cotton wool balls, make great ice cream and Pom poms make good sprinkles. You can even use scrunched up tissue paper for icecream. Add in a till and you’ll cool down in this hot weather we’ve been having.
Gruffalo Crumble – This one could potentially be messy, but go with it and have some fun! Make a gruffalo crumble. Put out some pots of porridge oats and flour along with some scoops and bowls. Kids love scooping and mixing.
Woodland Walk – Go to your local woods and go on a search for the Gruffalo. Take the book with you and search for some of the creatures and animals in the book, it’s not just the mouse, owl and fox etc, but the pictures are full of other creatures, go on a Gruffalo scavenger hunt!
Act out the story – Have some fun drawing the main characters in the book together. Then stick them on some lolly sticks and you have Gruffalo puppets, use the puppets to act out the story. If your drawing skills are not up to it, have a look online and print off the characters.
Week two – You can’t take an elephant on a bus
Brilliant book – entertains children who love transport and animals.
Transport Scavenger hunt – draw a picture of each of the types of transport in the book (Maybe not the roller coaster) and take a walk. How many of the different types of transport did you cross off your list?
Car drawing – yes you can draw with cars. There are a few ways to do this.
1. Stick a felt tip to the back of a car and put out a large piece of paper. I used a roll of wallpaper and then drew on a road map. The kiddies can then drive the cars on the paper whilst making drawings.
https://clareslittletots.co.uk/2014/02/drawing-with-cars/
2. Get a tray and put on a thin layer of flour or shaving foam (not both together) get some plastic cars and see what shapes you can make in the flour or foam.
Transport Hand Prints
Do some hand painting and once they are dry try and make them into the different vehicles from the book.
Week Three – Welcome to Alien School
This is a great book for kids starting school in September. Yes, this isn’t an exact representation of school, but it gives the basic structure in a fun way.
Chalk painting – get some thick chalks and have fun drawing on the pavement outside. Once the kids are bored with this give them a thick paint brush and some water and paint over the chalk. At work we drew a giant map in the play ground in chalk, and they used the play cars to drive around the map. Only really doable if you have a garden and a play car.
Planet pictures – If you have some plain white paper plates at the back of the cupboard then make the different planets in the solar system. When we did it, it worked great with paint dabbers, but you can just paint them. You could then hang them up to make the solar system.
Space Tray – Use whatever you have in the house to make a space small world. Anything shiny and bumpy!
There is Quinoa in this tray if you are brave enough.
Week Four – Going on a bear hunt
What a fab book! I’ve recently re-discovered it and there is so much you can do!
Story Spoons – Now I made these without any help from little ones because I needed them for work, but you could get the kiddies making their own so that you could use them to retell the story.
These are painted with Acrylic paint, but you could use felt tips. Once dry you can paint over the top with child safe varnish to protect the spoons.
Sound Tray – Lay out some instruments and different materials that can be used to make the sounds in the story, you can then make the sounds whilst reading the story or just let the kiddies have fun making sounds.
Teddy Bears Picnic – set out teddies on a rug in the front room and have a tea party, use some plastic cups and bowls. You could even have an inside picnic for lunch!
Make a cave – If you have some sheets or blankets, make a cave under the table.
Week Five – Squash and a squeeze
This is a brilliant book, I for some reason always give the old man a Newcastle accent when reading it! It’s a good book to think about being thankful and content with what we have.
Thank you jar – Being thankful and having a thankful attitude is so good for your mental and physical health and gives you a different outlook on life. Why not decorate a thankful jar together, then on little bits of paper every day add something you are thankful for. If children can’t write, can they draw a picture or tell you what to write. Then when it’s full, look back at it and be reminded of the things you are thankful for.
Pipette fun – You can find pipettes online quite cheaply. They are great for fine motor skills. Then get some water in a bowl and squeeze water into different containers. The little connectors in Duplo are also fun to squeeze water into. I added blue food colouring into the water too.
Sponge painting – Finished with your cleaning sponges or have some spare makeup sponges, dip in paint and see the different effects they make. You could even buy some cleaning sponges that a quite thin and then cut them into the different animal paw prints from the book.
Week Six – The hungry caterpillar
What a classic book, so great for learning numbers, days of the week, food and the life cycle of a caterpillar. There are so many amazing activities you can do with this book.
Again you can find animated versions of this incredible book on YouTube and Netflix. But nothing can beat holding a book in your hands. My little one is over 5 but still asks for this one on a regular basis.
Feed the monster – Now this one takes a bit of prep, but once you’ve done it, it’s a toy you can use over and over again.
Get a wet wipe box – if you can’t find one of these, take the lid thingy off of a packet of wet wipes and stick it to the top of a tissue box. Using a glue gun would insure it being longer lasting, but I’m aware not everyone has one of these. Then make it look like a monster. You can be as creative as you like or go very simple. Then print off and laminate pictures of food. Again if you don’t have a printer or laminator, cut out food from a magazine and stick it on some card, like a cereal box. Then have fun feeding the monster, you can chat about the different foods, being healthy, what time of day you eat them that type of thing.
Biscuit decorating – kids love, love, love decorating biscuits. And all you need is a packet of rich tea biscuits (they have the perfect surface) and a packet of icing tubes. Poundland have started selling them too. Then let the kids go crazy.
Pom Pom Maze – stick objects to the floor or on the table then blow the pom poms round the maze. It’s great fun and also helps to strengthen the muscles around their mouth aiding communication. Use objects from your recycling such as toilet roll tubes and cardboard.
I’m not sure what it has to do with the hungry caterpillar, but it is good fun.
So, I know this won’t fill your whole holiday, but hopefully there will be something amongst this that will mean you have fun together whilst being engaged with books.
For more ideas see…
https://stayinghomemum.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/book-month-part-2/
https://stayinghomemum.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/book-month-part-3-robot-week/
https://stayinghomemum.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/book-month-part-4/
https://stayinghomemum.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/book-month-part-5/
Staying home Mum 