Freight Train {Book Summary + Freight Train Sponge Stamps}

The Book: Freight Train by Donald Crews. Follow a colorful freight train on it’s journey through tunnels, over bridges until it is going, going...gone. Simple words and fun illustrations make this a great book for all the train lovers.

The Activity: Sponge stamping to create your own freight train (inspired by @buggyandbuddy)

• Start by cutting 3 rectangular sponges in half so you have 6 total sponges, one for each color. (We chose to only use one shade of blue.) Set out a few paper plates with the paint on them.

• Have your child use the sponges as stamps and re-create the freight train from the story.

• Use a marker to connect the train cars when the paint has dried.

• After my kids made their train I let them have full artistic creativity over their next creations. My five year old made his next train fast and blurry like one of the illustrations. I love allowing them artistic freedom to see what they do.

If you want to see videos of this activity in action follow me on Instagram or Facebook! And if you like this activity, please pin it to Pinterest!

Ruby the Copycat {Book Summary + Copycat activity}

The Book: Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann. A book about Ruby, the new girl in class who just want to fit in...so she becomes a copycat. Things don’t work out quite as she expected and Ruby learns the importance of being true to who you are.

The Activity: Copycat!

• Start by grabbing a baking sheet or round cake pan and adding some flour to it.

• Make a few cards with letters, numbers, words or shapes you want your child to COPY.

• Show your child one card at a time and have them copy what is on the card using the flour. And then repeat!
• To add some interest, write out a few actions on your cards to have them copy. (Bark like a dog, jump like a bunny, fly like a bird, etc.) Then let them make up their own unique drawings in the flour or actions for you to try!

If you want to see videos of this activity in action follow me on Instagram or Facebook! And if you like this activity, please pin it to Pinterest!

I'm A Dirty Dinosaur {Book Summary + Dirty Dino, Clean Dino Activity}

 

The Book: I’m A Dirty Dinosaur by Janeen Brian and Ann James. A book about a dinosaur who just loves mud. He adds mud to his head, then his face, belly, etc and has fun rhythm and repeating words making this a great story for acting out!

The Activity: Dirty Dino—>Clean Dino

• Start by having your kids help you make chocolate pudding (and try not to eat it all).

• Grab two plastic bins and some plastic figurines (we used dinosaurs to go with the book, but you could use any toy that will easily wipe clean)

• Fill the first bin with chocolate pudding (the mud) and fill the second bin with water. (I recommend doing this activity outdoors as it is messy!)

• Read the story and have your kids act out the story as you read it. When the Dino has finally had enough of being dirty, have your child put their Dirty Dinosaurs in the water (the swamp) to get clean!

*And if you want to add this book to your collection, you can shop this book from my Usborne site, click here: Shop Usborne!

If you want to see videos of this activity in action follow me on Instagram or Facebook! And if you like this activity, please pin it to Pinterest!

Growing Vegetable Soup {Book Summary + Soup Sensory bins}

The Book: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert. A book about a family who plants vegetables in their garden and then takes care of them together so that they can turn their vegetables into soup.

⁣The Activity: “Making” Vegetable Soup sensory bins

• Grab a bin or basket to use as your “garden.” Fill with dried beans (or anything you have for a sensory bin filler: crushed cereal, rice, whatever!
• Grab some fake fruits and veggies (or draw some, cut them out and throw them in) and put them in the container you chose. Add in some other items if you have some: small shovels, gardening gloves, bugs, grocery bag, watering can, etc)
• Grab a big cooking pot and some kitchen tools (wooden spoons, empty seasoning containers, ladles, etc)
• Read the story and have your kids pretend to grow the soup and then make and “eat” the soup!

If you want to see videos of this activity in action follow me on Instagram or Facebook! And if you like this activity, please pin it to Pinterest!

Let's Play {Book Summary + Line Activity}

The Book: Let’s Play! by Herve Tullet. An interactive book that takes you on a fun journey with a dot. (Check out his other dot books: Press Here and Say Zoop!)

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The Activity: Learning Types of Lines and creating patterns

• Go over the different kinds of lines that the DOTS played on in the book (straight, wavy, curly, zig zag, dotted)
• Have your child practice drawing different kinds of lines for their DOTS to travel on.
• Have them peel colored dot stickers and place them on their lines. You could also encourage the creation of patterns, create one for them and have them finish it, etc. So many different ways to play with lines and patterns with this book!

If you want to see videos of this activity in action follow me on Instagram or Facebook! And if you like this activity, please pin it to Pinterest!

Pout Pout Fish {Book Summary + Activity}

The Book: The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen. A book about a fish who thinks life is just glum until he meets a friend who makes him see his potential. He wasn’t made for pouting...there is more to life!

The Activity: Bubble stamping and interactive Pout-Pout fish for a story retelling

• I did this activity over the course of two days so depending on the ages of your kids you can split up these activities.
• I used toilet paper rolls as stamps (always save them for crafts!) And had my kids dip them in paint and stamp on paper to look like bubbles for our oceans
• I did my best to draw the Pout-Pout fish and did not draw a mouth on my fish. I drew the mouth separate and cut out both pieces and grabbed a push pin.
• Cut a small slit where the the fish’s mouth should go and use the push pin to attach the mouth. (This way the mouth can move from a frown to a smile.) Next read the book and have your kids turn the pout to a smile at the end of the book! Have them retell the story to you and act it out.

If you want to see videos of this activity in action follow me on Instagram or Facebook! And if you like this activity, please pin it to Pinterest!

Nestful of Books {A new adventure}

 

It has been a while friends! I am coming out of blog hibernation to start sharing some simple activities that go along with some of my favorite children's books. I know we are living in some weird and wild times (especially those of us who are also parenting right now!) so the former teacher in me has been reignited and I wanted to do something to inspire some creativity in myself and also to provide some resources to those of you who are trying to keep little hands busy right now! 

I would love for you to follow along if this interests you. (I am also on Instagram and Facebook) I will still be throwing in some life updates here and there about my little boy tribe, but this page has always been a creative outlet for me so I am happy to be coming home to it and sharing some ideas that I hope will be helpful to you. So hello blog world. Now I am off to catch up on about 1 million posts from you all!