Beyond the Book: "Are You My Mother?" Extension Activities

 With Thanksgiving and our family vacation behind us and some weeks ahead before Chanukah starts, we needed a theme we could slow down and get cozy with before the excitement of the winter season takes over. This seemed like a wonderful time to explore the theme of families, especially our own family! This is a topic that in preschool classrooms often gets meshed into other units and sometimes overlooked altogether. At home, it can seem redundant to talk about family--isn't it already implied? But the people that we greet and love each day are so special and such an integral part to who we are and who we become. We belong to a fabulous Mommy & Me playgroup through our synagogue that is doing a family theme this session. Rather than focusing on the family unit as a whole, the group's creator focused each of the six meetings in the session on a different family member. I thought this was such a special and cute way to address each person's important role in the family. I also see the value in viewing the strength of security of each unique family unit as a whole, so here we are doing a bit of both.

"Mommy, Tatty and ME!"

One of my son's very favorite books is P.D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?, which you can surely find at your local library or purchase. It was one of my favorite childhood books as well, so it is quite nostalgic to share it with my son now. We read this as an introduction to our family theme with a focus on mothers. Afterward, my little one created his own "family nest" with a bird for each member of our family. I based our craft after the one posted on this site, which also has some great story-related snacks to include in your own extension activities if you wish!
I provided my little bird with:

• half a white paper plate
• a brown do-a-dot marker
• pre-cut strips of recycled brown paper bag (older ones can cut/tear their own and you could also use brown construction paper)
• pre-cut cardstock "birds," one for each member of our family--he got to choose who got each color
• google eyes for each bird
• a feather for each bird--again, I let him choose the colors
• cardstock beaks (fold in half and cut a triangle for an open beak)
• school glue in a recycled plastic cup with a paintbrush 

He had so much fun deciding which bird would represent which member of our family and, of course, using plenty of glue! 

Here are some more ideas to travel beyond the book with Are You My Mother? through play and learning activities:

Dramatic Play:

Make your own nest! Set your little bird up with his/her very own nest to play in. Using an empty laundry basket, encourage your little one to gather materials like shredded newspaper/junk mail or (for less mess) blankets and cushions to build a nest. This a great a cozy place to play, to sit on some pretend eggs (you can even add in some old plastic easter eggs with homemade birds*) or stuffed toys) or to curl up with your favorite books about families, animals or birds!

DIY/Arts & Crafts:
*Chances are you have some old plastic eggs lying around somewhere. Those colorful springtime discount store finds make great shakers, matching games, dramatic play toys for your little chef, and now, home to some handcrafted little chicks. Using large pom-poms, feathers, google eyes and cardstock in colors of your choice along with some glue, you can create your own little chicks to put inside plastic eggs and to use in play. For best results, use tacky glue or a low temp hot glue gun (with supervision and adult assistance).

Sensory Play:

Use shredded paper, feathers, and add some toy birds (you can make your own as seen above) for a bird/nest themed sensory bin. You can also use bird seed for sensory play and add animals and things related to the story, like demonstrated in this great article.

Science:
Feed the birds! Help a mother bird and all birds out this time of year and make your own birdseed treats to hang outside. You can bring along a set of binoculars (or even make your own with recycled toilet paper tubes taped/stapled together) and observe feathered friends around your neighborhood.

We used pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed to create these fun little birdfeeders.

Who's My Mother? Animal Match-It

You can find a great printable set of free mother and baby animal cards here and play a game of animal mother and baby match-it. You can also talk about which animal babies hatch from eggs and which are born live. 

Reading and playing together are wonderful ways to share time as a family. Wishing you all happy playing and plenty of cozy snuggles with old and new favorite books!