Short Stretch: It Looked Like Spilt Milk

It's our third day playing about our target book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett and I had a couple of additional theme-related books I wanted to incorporate this week. I decided today would be a great day to do a short story stretcher on the book, It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Green Shaw. This book follows the curious mystery of a differently shaped white splotch on each dark blue page. The reader can observe it take on a variety of familiar shapes that it looks like, including spilt milk, an ice cream cone, a sheep...until the very end when it is revealed that it is, in fact, a cloud! This particular book was a great candidate to incorporate the themes of food and weather presented in our target book. We read the book together first and then proceeded to make our own version of the story with a simple and fun art activity.

To make your own version of It Looked Like Spilt Milk, you will need:

• blue construction paper
• white paint
• plastic spoons
• a cup or bowl for your paint
• a marker for writing (we used a white marker to resemble the book, but a darker color is fine as well)

Begin by drizzling white paint onto your paper. S really liked this part! Huge puddles of paint are not ideal but little puddles are just fine...

Next, fold your paper in half and press your hands over top to smooth the paint across the page.

The grand reveal is always exciting! This is a great opportunity to teach the concept of symmetry. Next your young author and illustrator can decide what the resulting picture resembles. We had a lot of butterflies, snow storms, and flowers here--but we also discovered a turtle and a dinosaur fossil! 

S loved creating this book together and dictating the story. He equally loves rereading it and showing it to Y!

This short book and simple activity are a great fit for when you're short on time. If you'd like to do more with it, here's a peek at some of our other activities today related to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and our supplement story, It Looked Like Spilt Milk:

• We are making homemade banana milkshakes this afternoon for snack. S is not such a fan of milk but does love smoothies!
• What do milk, meatballs and macaroni all have in common? They all begin with the letter Mm, which makes a sound just like the one we make when something tastes delicious: mmmmm. To review the letter Mm, we made this simple Munch Monster Game:

Fold a white paper plate in half and decorate it to look like a monster. We used markers and stickers for eyes. Inside his "mouth" I always write the letter Mm--older children can trace it or write it on their own. Munch Monsters are always hungry but only like things that begin with the letter Mm. I like to use sticky notes for children to write/dictate or draw their Mm words on. You could even use magazine cut outs if you prefer or printed images/words.

Mmmmmm, the letter Mm is delicious!

• It's always fun to sneak some science into the routine. We set up and created our own sun resist art today. This simple weather related science experiment produces a picture also somewhat in the style of the illustrations in It Looked Like Spilt Milk!

We used a cookie sheet and blue construction paper. Any darker color of construction paper will work well. You can purchase sun resist paper online or in craft shops that will actually turn white beneath the objects, but this produces significant results on its own! Choose objects from around your home to place on the paper. I recommend flatter objects for the best results. You can even use items found in nature if you prefer, like leaves, flowers, rocks, etc. Set your materials on the paper as you like and leave in a sunny spot. We left ours outside for a couple of hours this morning during the peak sun in our backyard and came back to amazing results!

The finished product can also be used like a puzzle. S loves fitting the objects back on their "shadows."

• For some more fun playing with your food, these free printable fun food playdough mats paired with your favorite playdough, tools and accessories make for a lot of creative fun in constructing and pretending about favorite foods.

S made a lot of cupcakes, birthday cakes and spaghetti with meatballs!

• For some more cloud themed fun, shaving cream is a great medium for sensory play.

You can squirt some shaving cream on a tray, use it in the tub or even outside. If you like, you can add some food coloring or paint. You can even observe mixing colors if you wish. It's a great medium for practicing strokes, lines, shapes and letters for early writers, for just getting your hands messy for those who like to, and for those who don't, feel free to add in tools like a spoon or fork , comb or craft sticks...

Hope you find one or a few of these short stretches a good addition to your own summer fun! We'll see you next time and until then...

Happy Playing!