WEAVING ART, MUSIC & GAMES INTO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Children should be introduced to a wide variety of books. Story time is a special time for bonding between caregiver and child, a time to discover new ideas and explore new worlds. Good books extend a child’s horizon, building good reading skills and clarifying concepts. Consider well-chosen books as “stepping stones to learning and fun.”

I have chosen a few favorites, all available in the library system and bookstores. To these stories below, art, music and games have been added to enhance the text. Do these activities and create “teachable” moments. Read, Make, Play and Enjoy!

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

This story is about a little girl’s love for Wilbur, the pig. The barnyard animals also loved Wilbur, especially Charlotte, the spider who uses her web to send wonderful messages about Wilbur at the County Fair, saving him from slaughter.

1. Make a spider web using marbles, paint and paper. Use an aluminum pie pan, cutting a piece of white paper to fit inside. Put the marbles into a container of tempera (poster) paint. With a spoon, lift the marbles from the container and drop them onto the paper in the pan. Tilt the pan so the marbles can slide back and forth across the paper. Charlotte’s spider web will appear.
2. Make Wilbur, the pig puppet. Draw a pig face and mouth onto paper or photocopy a diagram from books that feature bag puppets. Using a brown lunch bag, glue the mouth under the bottom flap and the face part on top of the flap. Color the facial features with crayons or markers. For a special fur effect, glue pink cotton (found in most drug and craft stores as pink cotton balls) onto his face and around his mouth.
3. Sing the “Eensy Weensy Spider”:

The eensy weensy spider climbed up the water spout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,

So the eensy weensy spider crawled up the spout again.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

One Sunday, a caterpillar hatched. Being so hungry he ate enormous amounts of food throughout the week. Finally full, he spun a cocoon around himself, went to sleep, only to awake a few weeks later as a beautiful butterfly.

1. Make an egg carton caterpillar. Use three connected egg carton cups. For the antennae, thread pipe cleaners (chenille strips) into small holes made on top of the head. Paint the cardboard cups green and add facial features with a black marker.
2. To make a blot butterfly, fold a piece of construction paper in half. Open. Drop bright colors of poster paints onto one half of the paper. Fold the paper again and press. Open to see a blot butterfly, with both sides exactly the same. Use a brown marker to make the insect’s body and antennae. As a variation, cut out the paper into a butterfly shape.
3. A paper plate food collage is a good project to enhance this story. Cut out these items from magazines and glue them onto the paper plate. As a variation, you could draw the items onto construction paper; cut and paste. You will need an apple, pear, plum, strawberry, orange, chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake and watermelon.

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

A peddler is selling caps of all colors down the street. He wears the caps tall above his head and decides to nap under a tree. When he awakes, all the caps are gone, except his own checkered cap. Up above in the tree, some monkeys have played tricks on this peddler. Read this fun story to see how the peddler gets his caps back!

1. Make a lunch bag puppet with a monkey face. Again draw freehand or photocopy from a lunch bag puppet book. Invite the kids to color the face and mouth. Glue the face onto the bottom flap of the bag and mouth just below the flap. Cut a piece of colorful felt into a cap and glue this onto the monkey’s head.
2. Recite this famous chant:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.

One fell off and bumped his head.

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed.”

Continue reciting this rhyme with “four little monkeys”, “three little monkeys” and so on till there are “no little monkeys.”

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

A little rabbit is going to bed. As the room gets darker at night, he bids goodnight to all his bedroom belongings. A nice bedtime story.

1. Collect round jar lids and a crescent-shaped cookie cutter. Dip these into yellow poster paint and proceed to “moon print” onto dark blue construction paper.
2. Make a room media drawing. Draw a bedroom scene with crayons. Make a black or dark blue wash with poster paint thinned with water. Brush over the entire picture. This is called a crayon resist painting. When dry, add finishing touches, such as fabric scraps for the bedspread and curtains.

The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone

The gingerbread boy, a cookie, escapes from everyone who tries to grasp him. He later comes upon a fox who is cleverer than he.

1. Make a stuffed gingerbread cookie. Use a brown grocery bag, draw and cut out two gingerbread boy patterns. To stuff, use crumpled paper or polyester filling. Staple all around the edges. Now, decorate the cookie will all kinds of junk items: buttons, fabric, rickrack trim, etc.
2. Play a game, like “Duck, Duck, Goose”. One child is chosen to be “it”. He taps each player in the circle (friends and family) saying GINGERBREAD. Then he taps one person and says BOY. That player gets up and chases “it” around the circle until he gets caught or sits down. The new “it” starts the game again.

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

A little bunny wanted to run away from home. His mother loved him so much that she would try to find him no matter where he decided to go. It’s a loving story.

1. Make a set of bunny ears. Take a strip of paper, fitting it around the child’s head and staple. Cut out bunny ears from construction paper and staple these to the headband. Use the pink cotton (from the pig puppet above) or white cotton and glue this material onto the ears.
2. Play the game “Bunny Says”. Follow the commands: Bunny says---

Run in place, to run away

Swim like a fish in the trout stream

Pick your feet up high, like a mountain climber

Pretend to grow up like a flower (squat down and slowly wiggle up)

Pretend to swing on a trapeze at the circus

Run (in place) home and give your mother a big hug

Corduroy by Don Freeman

A little girl name Lisa, saw this brown bear with green corduroy overalls in a department store. “Corduroy” experiences adventure that night in the store. With enough money, Lisa went back to the store to purchase him. They both needed each other to love.

1. Sing this new song to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”:

I know a bear named Corduroy,

Corduroy, corduroy.

I know a bear name Corduroy,

Lisa is his friend.

2. Draw a bear like Corduroy on a sheet of brown grocery bag paper. Color on a pair of green overalls with crayon. Put two buttons to hold up the straps. Use real buttons or cut out buttons from construction paper. Glue these in place.

I hope you enjoy these activities to add to your curriculum when reading these books. Check our “blog” periodically to find new ideas to use with your group.

All the best,

Tania

Associate Editor/ EverydayTLC