If are you looking for some great reads to share with you children this summer, here are the notes from our Summer Children's Book Workshop.
1. They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: This book is all about perspective and point of view. Start by drawing pictures of cats with your children. Compare and contrast your pictures and talk about why they are different and what they have in common. Then jump into the reading!
How does each animal see the cat? Why do they see it that way?
Do we ever see things differently from someone else? Have you ever tried something that looked really scary? How does it look now?
This book has inspired our family to build relationships by understanding each other's point of view. It has also made us very curious about these animals and the way they see the world. So curious, in fact, that we have experimented with tools like magnifying glasses, telescopes, this pocket microscope, binoculars, diffraction glasses, google earth, and more!
2. Mrs. Muddle's Holidays by Laura F. Nielsen
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Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas:This story unfolds as Mrs. Muddle moves into the neighborhood and Katie begins watching the interesting things she is doing in her yard. The kids in the neighborhood want to join in on the fun by dancing in the puddles on the first April shower, and skating in a parade on the birthday of the inventor of the roller skate. This book inspires readers to celebrate the simple, yet joyful moments and seasons of the world around us. Celebrating together creates family bonds and fun, and does not need to be complicated.
Talk with your family about simple holidays you already celebrate and/or would like to celebrate.
Have your family members fill out this "If I were going to create a holiday..." worksheet
and then share them with each other. You could vote on awards (most creative, best summer holiday, most fun, and the one we would most like to create in our family). Try celebrating a new holiday together!
3. Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: Did you know that the Statue of Liberty was actually created, built, and then taken apart in France before it was given to the United States as a gift. It is a symbol of freedom and acceptance and a reminder that most of us are this in this country because we or our ancestors came here from somewhere else.
The Statue of Liberty is covered in a thin layer of copper. Pennies are also made out of copper. It took about 20-30 years for the Statue of Liberty to oxidize making it the color green. The copper reacts with oxygen and water.
Try this Penny Observation to see how oxidation works.
4. It's Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: We as adults may see a box as just that, a box, however to a child a box may become many other things. Reading this book may inspire you and your kids to see a box as something much greater. After reading this story, print this art activity and let you kids draw something that could be created out of the boxes and write about their creation.
5. I Went Walking by Sue Williams
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: The pattern of language in this book can be applied to your own nature walk! "We are walking. What do you see?" Create some tools like binoculars or a spyglass from a paper tube to help your little ones focus on the details. Need a new place to walk? Check out AllTrails to find a new trail that fits your family. If your older kids need a bit more of a challenge, try GeoCaching! Build a collection book from brown paper bags to gather any interesting finds. For the instructions, check out this video. Happy exploring!
6. It's The Bear! by Jez Alborough
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: Eddie and his teddy don't want to picnic in the woods with mom. Why would you not want to go on a picnic? Well, Eddie has his reasons and this fun rhyming tale will have your kids wanting to hear the rest of the story.
Rhyming time: While reading this book, see if your kids can guess the rhyming words before you finish reading them. This strengthens your child's phonological awareness and builds creativity with words.
Role play: This is a fun book to role play or act out while taking turns reading the mom's part and the boy's and/or bear's part. This helps your child practice reading with expression.
Teddy Bear Picnic: After reading the story, plan a picnic and decide what you will pack pack in the basket. Don't forget to bring your own teddies along!
7. Gingerbread for Liberty by Mara Rockliff
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: We can all be a hero in our own little way and make our mark on history. This is a story of an unsung hero of the revolutionary war who changed history by baking.
Talk with your family about how this man used his talents to make a difference in the world and how we could do the same.
Make hero posters of people around us who are heroes in their own way. Display them for others to see.
Make gingerbread using the recipe from this book.
8. Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin
Link to book on Amazon Link to read aloud on Youtube
Activity Ideas: This book is a fun way to learn counting, colors, and maybe even resilience when we lose something we love.
The Youtube read aloud for this book is super fun and has a catchy little song that your kids will love to sing along with.
Count and find colors and then create a sensory bin with rice (or button shaped pasta) and buttons of various sizes and color to continue the learning and fun.
Link to book on Amazon Link to read along on Youtube
Activity Ideas: Build a life cycle out of pasta! Use four different types of pasta (Acini Di Pepe, Rotini, Shell, Farfalle) to represent each phase of the life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, adult).
For further exploration, plant some milkweed in your yard to attract monarchs or order a butterfly growing kit and watch the whole process happen!
10. One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II by Lita Judge
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Link to book on Amazon Link to read along on Youtube
Activity Ideas: One Thousand Tracings is a true story written after the author Lita Judge, found a box of interesting letters in her late grandmothers attic. The letters were from friends and strangers all over Europe who needed help after World War II. This book teaches gratitude for the simple things we have, the importance of letter writing and journaling, and the importance of helping others in various ways.
Keep a family journal this summer about things your family is doing, things you have learned, and activities you love.
There are people in our own neighborhoods who could use our help. Talk about others around us who may need help with something and see if there is something you can do. Say hi to someone who looks lonely. Take flowers from your yard to someone who is sick. Do you have an elderly neighbor that needs help in their yard, shopping done or just a listening ear?
Just Serve.org is a great resource for finding a service opportunity that your family could help with.
Make a gratitude list of simple things that you enjoy each day. Shoes, clean water, a soft bed, food to eat, safety, a car to ride in so we don't have to walk everywhere. Write and or draw pictures on a poster that you can add to as the summer goes on.
Bonus Book:
The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury by Janet Schulman
Link to book on Amazon
This book is a little different than most, it being not just one book but 44 of the best children's stories written in the 1900's. Janet Schulman worked in the children's book industry for over forty years and this her compilation of her favorites. There are many of the classics with characters like the Sneetches, Madeline, Alexander, Curious George, Miss Nelson, Winnie the pooh, Frances, Babar, D.W. Amelia Bedelia, Ferdinand, and more. And there are others that you may not find as familiar that are also amazing stories.
"As every mother or father knows, abiding by all the rules that define a "good" parent is a Herculean task. But I, like millions before and after me, somehow knew that sharing a book with a young child who's cuddled up next to you is one of the nicest rewards of parenting. It was not a task, Herculean or otherwise; it was fun. I find it gratifying to see that more and more Americans understand that books help give children a leg up on the ladder of life."
-Janet Schulman
**For a fun treat to go along with a book you are reading, pop some popcorn and then add a flavor, candy or treat that coordinates with the book.
Examples include:
Chick a Chick Boom Boom - alphabet crackers or cereal
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Chocolate chips
It's a Bear - teddy graham crackers
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - little cookies
Pete the Cat's Button - M&Ms
Good Night Gorilla - Animal cookies or crackers
A Snow Day - Marshmallows