Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Hat, by Jan Brett

Theme: The Hat, by Jan Brett
Honey Pot is 2 years and 7 months old

We are again participating in the Virtual Book Club! This month’s featured author is Jan Brett. I really enjoyed the books we found of hers at the library this week. Honey Pot did too! So many wintry scenes and Christmas stories. I love how she also puts a new spin on classic tales such as The Three Bears. Her version, The Three Snow Bears, was Honey Pot's favorite of the selection we brought home. She requested it often throughout the week, and we even caught her Elf on the Shelf reading it one morning with our giant bear stuffed animal!

I decided to choose The Hat, though, because it had a new and exciting character! And I immediately thought of a few activities to accompany the book. Take a peek at them below!

Clothespin Practice

The story opens with a young girl hanging her clothes on a line, when one of the stockings blows away!


I decided to give Honey Pot some clothespin practice as well. I didn’t have any rope handy so I created my own line by connecting a few chenille stems together. I attached them between two chairs at her level, and provided five clothespins. Then I gathered five small items of clothing and asked Honey Pot to hang them up. She really enjoyed this, and it was quite a challenge!





Play Doh Hedgehog

In the story, a little hedgehog pokes his nose into the stocking and it gets stuck on his spikes. When the other animals ask about it, he tells them that it’s a hat to save himself from embarrassment. We don’t often come across hedgehogs in our books and crafts, so I wanted Honey Pot to create one. First I grabbed our homemade playdoh (the fragrant one we made during our Pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns theme) and molded it into a hedgehog shape. Well, use your imagination on that part! Then Honey Pot helped me break up some spaghetti noodles. I grabbed two googly eyes and a pink brad for her to create the eyes and nose.


Then I asked her to push the noodles onto the hedgehog’s back. She loved doing this!



She kept asking for more! And even Little M&M was curious about our activity.






It came out awesome!


Stocking Craft

Since “the hat” is a stocking…and it is Christmastime after all…I wanted Honey Pot to do a stocking craft as well. First she got some cutting practice, as we cut up little pieces of red and green scrap paper. After she had cut a few, she also decided to rip them with her hands.


I printed a stocking template from the Internet onto cardstock, and had Honey Pot squirt glue all over it.


Then she placed the red and green pieces all over it. She asked me to do it with her, so I helped a little bit. Little M&M is always so curious about our big kid crafts!



When the stocking was full, Honey Pot added glue to the top as well.


And she pushed a few cotton balls onto it!


Merry Christmas!



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Visit the Virtual Book Club's Facebook Page!


 Virtual Book Club for Kids 


We are linking our activities up to the Virtual Book Club!
Check out what some of our blogging friends did with this month's theme:



Sunday, December 9, 2012

Christmas Trees

Theme: Christmas Trees
Honey Pot is 2 years and 7 months old

Felt Board

I was so excited to make Honey Pot another set for her felt board! I created the tree in pieces so that she could assemble it as well as decorate it with ornaments and presents. And of course it became a nice review of simple shapes like circle, square, triangle and star...as well as an introduction to the trapezoid!



She enjoyed this a lot, and did it a few times throughout the week!




We even snuck in some counting practice!



Books

We took a trip to the library this week for some Christmas books that mention trees. Out of the six, Honey Pot’s very favorites are:

The Night Tree, by Eve Bunting (Highly, highly recommend this!!)
Clifford’s First Christmas, by Norman Bridwell

And we also bought a classic called Mr.Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert E. Barry. What wonderful Christmas stories! They really get you in the spirit of the season.

Name Christmas Tree

This craft was inspired by the blogs Miss Kindergarten as well as No Time For Flashcards. I combined the name recognition with some fun q-tip painting. First I provided Honey Pot with the pieces of her name tree and some glue. (Sorry for the poor Photoshopping, as I removed her real name!)


And she assembled her tree, including the trunk and the star.


Then we took out the white paint, and I demonstrated how she could make snow around and on her tree. She loved this!


After she had her fill though, she decided to use her finger to make more snow (note the top left, lol). Lastly, she added some snow along the bottom.


It's hanging on our fridge right now. Love it!


O Christmas Tree Song

Honey Pot has a wonderful Mickey Mouse Clubhouse songbook with an attached piano. I decided to include some singing in this week’s theme, because Honey Pot loves singing along to Christmas music! I sang it a few times, and Honey Pot soon was able to join in a bit. The book lights up the notes for you to play it by yourself, and Honey Pot was even able to follow the red light and play the song. She did about a stanza before losing interest. So we moved on!



  

Do-A-Dot Tree

Lastly, I also provided Honey Pot with this do-a-dot worksheet from DLTK. I deleted my pictures by accident while uploading (Doh!) so I can’t show you her finished product. It isn’t hard to imagine though, as Honey Pot only used the blue dot marker to make her “ornaments,” lol. So there you have it!





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