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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 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: