|
|
Book Activities |
Estelle Takes a Bath by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma (E-1) This cute picture book is about a mouse who finds himself inside Estelle's cozy little house out of the cold and snow while Estelle is taking a bubble bath. My, what pandeonmium breaks out when Estelle and her cat try to rid their house of this nasty little mouse. There are bubbles, brooms, bumping, thumping, lurching. shrieking, bouncing, hopping and squeaking galore! I can't give the surprise ending away--you must read the story. And perfect activity to feature this book is making bubbles (good for some age groups) or just blowing bubbles, perhaps having a contest for The Biggest Bubble, The Most Bubbles, etc. The children could chase each other while blowing bubbles at each other but safety would come first. Another activity would be the children making pom pom mice. Contact me if you need a recipe for bubbles or a mouse pattern. |
What could make a story unforgetable? Why, of course, a fun activity or a souvenir that goes along with the storyline! Take a look of some of my ideas for book activities. I welcome your ideas as well. |
Rocks in My Pockets by Marc Harshman and Bonnie Collins, illustrated byToni Goffe (E-3) The Woods family live on their farm on a mountain top where the wind blows all the time and there are rocks everywhere. Now this is a resourceful family and they make do with their lot. They load up their pockets with rocks to keep them from being blown off the mountain, they play games with rocks, they use rocks to keep their toes warm in bed. And then one day, a couple of visitors give Father another idea for using these special rocks. When sharing this story, you could have a bunch of polished rocks in your pockets and play with them as you visit with the audience. You could also give a rock to a child in the audience to hold for you. At the conclusion of the story, give a rock to each person in the audience. I guarantee they'll love their rock and they won't forget this story. I had a very small copper bucket, about 6" high, that I used for everything. The bucket filled with rocks could be passed around. And don't forget there are candy rocks, too. |
Mrs. Biddlebox written by Linda Smith; illustrated by Marla Frazee (E-1) Mrs. Biddlebox does an very interesting thing when she wakes up on "the wrong side of the bed" one morning. After giving it a great deal of thought about how to deal with her grumblies, Mrs. Biddlebox decides to bake a cake but you'll never guess what ingredients she uses...unless you read the story. (2002, 2007 [11/07] As I reviewed this new book, I thought to myself "This is great book for an activity!" What a super subject to feature--the bad morning mood, plus a fun way of making that mood go away. You could bake a cake with your audience--make sure you add all the ingredients mentioned in the book. Or you could bake the cake or cupcakes yourself and serve as refreshments but be sure to mention those ingredients again. Try dressing up to make yourself as ugly and scruffy as you can, using Mrs. Biddlebox as your model. After showing the book, try telling the story without the book and in first person. Exaggerate all the action and don't forget to use props. |
New! |
The Cowboy and the Black-eyed Pea written by Tony Johnston; illustrated by Warren Ludwig (E-3) This story is a play on The Princess and the Pea tale with a reverse angle. Farethee Well, the daughter of a rich Texas rancher, is courted after her father dies. To find a "real" cowboy she thinks up a very clever plan. It all involves black-eyed peas, lots of saddleblankets and sore bottoms or not sore bottoms. (This is book is also listed on the Western Stories page.) I shared this story with a group of students and gave them each a black-eyed pea. Word is that they sat on their peas all the way home on the bus! |
Crictor by Tomi Ungerer (E-P) I love this story. Madame Bodot receives a birthday present from her son who is in Africa studying reptiles. She opens the box and...IT IS A SNAKE! Well, Madame Boodot studies up on snakes, feeds her new pet, brings in trees, makes him a special bed, takes him for walks, knits him a sweater. And then, one day, she takes him to school and he helps with lessons and on the playground and the children love him. Crictor becomes a hero, however, when he captures a thief who climbs through Madame Bodot's window. He is awarded a medal for bravery, a statue is made is his honor and a park is named after him. I wrapped the lid of a big box as a birthday present. I scream as did Madame Bodot did when I open the present and there is a SNAKE! I feed Crictor from a toy baby bottle in which the milk disappears, bring out a knitted hat (instead of a sweater). When I slowly bring Crictor out of his box to show how much he has grown, he is ten feet long! When we go to school, he makes letters on the floor and I ask if anyone has a name that starts with that letter and when he makes numbers on the floor, the kids identify them. He helps them play Jump Rope at recess and lends himself in tying knots. Beforehand, I ask two children or adults to help with the jump rope, one to help me turn Crictor as a rope and one to jump the ropes. I also pick one child to help me by being the thief. I describe the thief sneaking about as Crickot nabs him and wraps himself around the child...and then, of course, he must unwind himself. I made a medal for Crictor, make him stand proud as a statue as tell my audience about "Park Crictor". |
The Ghost with the Halloween Hiccups written by Stephen Mooser, illustrated by Tomie de Paola (My Favorite Children's Room no longer has this book.) Mr. Penny is going to be a ghost for the Halloween play but, alas, he has the hiccups. Everyone offers cures for those hiccups and Mr. Penny tries them all. |
Baby Crow by John A. Rowe (My Favorite Children's Room no longer has this book on the shelf but it has been kept as a resource book because I wrote a puppet show for it.) The whole crow family live in a tree and they are singers, every one of them...except for Baby Crow.This is disappointing for the family until Grandfather Crow discovers what the problem is. When Baby Crow then sings and sings and sings and keeps everyone awake at night, Grandfather Crow solves that problem as well. For the puppet show, we made a standing tree out of a large refrigerator box, making a special spot for each puppet. I applied an insulation foam from a spray can to add texture to the tree and then sprayed it brown. We decorated the tree with some silk leaves here and there. I made four crow puppets and each had a hat to identify Grandfather, Father, Mother and Baby. |
Santa's Stuck written by Rhonda Gowler Greene; illustrated by Henry Cole (E-1) All the children leave Santa treats on Christmas Eve and, of course, he can't resist a one of them. But after the last treat, Santa gets stuck in the chimney. A dog, a cat, and the reindeer all try to help but they can't move Santa until a little mouse has a clever idea. For Christmas my kids gave me a life-sized Santa bear that would play Christmas songs and move when you walked up to him. He was a lot of fun at the Library. One year I decided to have my Santa bear tell this story in first person. We decorated the Storytime area with a Christmas tree with toys, a fireplace and plate of cookies and milk. I was offstage, telling the story through a microphone in a Santa voice and he was moving. The kids were awe-struck. |
You have to like a story that you are going to share with an audience, especially children who will know that you're not enjoying yourself. |
You have to enjoy sharing stories to be successful. Children will sense you are not having fun and they will react to your demeanor. |
Sometimes you may be required "to stand on your head" or "get down on the floor" to engage your audience. They'll love you for it. |
Book Bug One year our little Storytime friends earned one pompom for their Book Bug when they attended all the Storytimes during each month. (If the kids missed a Storytime or two, they still received their pompoms. Rules are made to be broken, right?) The 4" homemade pompoms were attached by tying two longer pieces of yarn from one pompom to the next. The kids' name were attached to their Book Bugs which were displayed in the Children's Room until Storytime concluded. |
Little Book During a book discussion group we sponsored for junior readers, we read a book about two detectives that kept notes as they followed the trail to solve a mystery. The kids made this little book out of a small gold hinge about 1 1/2" high. You can buy hinges in various sizes. I made stickers with my graphics program on adhesive paper of the kids' initials for the front and back covers. For the pages, fold strips of paper cut to size of the hinge as you would for a fan. These strips should be folded carefully so they are neat and will lay flat. End the fan fold with an inside fold on each end. Glue the one end of the folded strip to the inside of the front part of the hinge and the other to the back part. If you want to write on the pages, do it before you glue the strip to the hinge. |
This picture is of Baby Crow with his bib and cap. Each puppet wore an appropriate hat to identify its character--Baby, Mother, Father and Grandfather. I made these puppets "from scratch", hoping I'd end up something good! Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think I did OK this time. You can see a wire that helped Baby Crow's wings move. |
Here's a picture of Crictor in his big box. The top of the box is covered with birthday paper which you can see in the background. You can also see Crictor's bottle of milk, his hat and his medal. What you don't see is that Crictor is over ten feet long! |
I wrote a puppet show based on this book. The ghost was a blown-up balloon with a white flannel round with two black eyes draped over it. I taped, using double-sided tape, the cloth to the balloon in spots so that the fabric didn't slide. By holding on the string-tied lip at the bottom, it was fun making the balloon move up and down with the hiccups. For children's craft, the kids can blow up the balloon, make the black eyes on the beforehand cut-out fabric. Cut a small hole in the center of the fabric to thread the string and lip of the of balloon through (You can use a few pieces of cut yarn to make hair to cover the lip) and the ghost can be walked along the floor. Using a ghost made either way, the story sharer could use the story without the other puppets. You could have the audience (adults, preferably) call out the hiccup cure suggestions. Be sure to give them a print-out of what they are to say with the suggestion given before so they'll know when to do their part. |
One day I found a cute puppet show with flower characters in a magazine called Plays . Again, I made these puppets you see not knowing what they'd be. But they turned out really cute and we had a good time. |
You have to know the story you will be sharing so read the story several times. Then practice, practice, practice presenting the story in front of a mirror. |
Practice the story so much that if your are interruppted or lose your place, you can carry on without hesitation. |
When sharing a story, feel free to substitute words or leave out words that you think would make the vocal sharing better or the audience might not know |
If you are sharing a favorite story that a child knows by heart, he/she will most likely object and let you know if you make changes or leave things out. Once my daughter was visiting me and her little son wanted to read his favorite story To save time, she tried skipping a page or two and shortened the script some, but Corey wouldn't buy it and they had to start over and do it right this time! They don't have that problem anymore 'cause Corey is 16 years old now. |
Pancakes for Supper! written by Anne Isaacs; illustrated by Mark Teague * This story is based on a story, The Story of Little Black Sambo, published in 1899. Toby is a happy girl, dressed up in her new clothes traveling to town when the wagon hits a bump and Toby is thrown into the forest. There she meets, one by one, fearsome animals who accept her clever offer to make each "the grandest animal in the forest" in exchange for her safety. In the end, Toby reunites with her parents and they have the grandest feast, thanks to those very same animals. (2006) [1/08] A 2007-2008 Wyoming Buckaroo Book Award Nominee I can see that this story could be an interactive play with an adult playing Toby and telling the story in first person and children being the animals who put on the clothes that Toby offers them. They would enjoy running around the tree and disappearing. A recipe for Toby's Animal Pancakes is in included in the book which would make a great book activity. The recipe has ideas for making the pancakes into animals. Of course, the pancakes would be served with maple syrup! |
Chicks and Salsa written by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Paulette Bogan (E-1) Ever get tired of the same old thing for dinner? Well, it happened at the Nutcracker Farm until a very enterprising rooster finds a way to spice things up and, "Ole!", it's fiesta time! And what's next? Perhaps a French cuisine, "Ooh la la!"? There are recipes included in the book for the yummy dishes the animals make. (2005) [1/08] A 2007-2008 Wyoming Buckaroo Book Award Nominee What a great book for an activity. The group could dress up with bandanas, somberos, serapes. I can see that they could make their bandanas or somberos with a decorated hat attached to a head band. They could learn some easy words in Spanish--or teach you some. They would have a great time doing the Mexican Hat Dance or a version of it. And then there's refreshments made from the recipes included in the book which could be made with the group or served. |
Stuck in the Mud written by Jane Clarke; illustrated by Garry Parsons (E-P) If you love mud, you'll love this story that resonates of another tale entitled The Enormous Turnip in which everyone in the family has to help pull a big turnip out of the ground. In this story, a mother hen finds her chick stuck in some mud and everyone in the farmyard tries to help pull him out with no success. There is a surprise ending that will make the reader giggle. (2007) [4/08] This book is also included on the Spoof Tales page. This story would make a great flannel board story that children could participate with placing the animals on the board and making the animals sounds in their turn. Be sure to practice the sounds before you begin the story--the kids love this kind of activity. A craft could be a chick made with yellow pompoms. A chocolate cookie would make good mud--the non-messy kind and then there chocolate pudding--could be messy. |
New! |