Beyond the Book: "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney

 S requested a story stretcher about bunnies this week shortly after his Bubbie sent Y a copy of Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You along with a plush version of Little Nutbrown Hare. We actually had a copy of the book at home from S's baby days! Sometimes when we end up with doubles of a book, I pass along the extra to a friend or our local children's book bank. Other times, I hold on to an extra for a Mommy & Me set or a Brothers set. This is one of those books that is worth extra copies of! With S beginning preschool in a week, I also thought a book about the love shared in a family would be very appropriate right now. (Ok, admittedly, one of us needs the extra love and snuggles right now more than the other, and it may not be S!)

Sometimes when I prepare a story stretcher, I gather ideas from online. Other times I hit the books. And other times, I dig deep into the recesses of my imagination and come up with our plan. That is what I did with this one! So I invite you today to come along with me as we travel to the very back of my brain where story stretchers are born...

Children's literature is full of themes to play and learn about--both overt themes and more subtle ones. This  story is about Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare sharing a sweet bedtime exchange about just how much they love one another. There is certainly a theme of love and bedtime routines here and the main characters fulfilled S's bunny request. For the sake of our play and learning activities, I thought it would be fun to dissect the title. We ended up with a collection of activities involving guessing games (Guess), measuring (How Much) and love/family (I Love You).

I also needed to make sure to incorporate the bunny theme as well, since that was S's original idea. We began our afternoon reading the book all together. S held one copy and Y and I manned the second one. Then we switched copies and read it again, per S's request! We started our activities at the little table with a homemade color matching game: Pin the Tail on the Bunny. I set our bunnies out on the table and kept the tails inside a drawstring bag. We tried to guess which color would come out next before matching and sticking them onto the corresponding bunny's backside. Here's what you will need to make your own version of the game:
DIY Pin the Tail on the Bunny
Materials:

• rainbow colored printing paper
• velcro dots (scratchy side)
• pom poms in rainbow colors
• laminating machine & printer
• scissors

I searched the internet for a simple black and white silhouette of a rabbit. After copying, pasting and adjusting to my desired size (you can do this on a Word document or whichever computer program you prefer), I printed off copies on colored paper. I laminated and cut out each bunny and stuck a velcro dot to the tail. Now we were all ready to play! The pom poms stay put fairly well without adding velcro, however if you want them to stick better (or to be able to use them on a vertical surface) you may want to affix velcro dots to the pom poms as well.

We were ready for another guessing game. This time we gathered at the easel with my Mystery Bag. S's mission, should he choose to accept it, was to reveal a mystery word by guessing, one letter at a time, what letter I was hiding in our Mystery Bag using only his hands, no peeking! You can add in a blindfold if you wish. One at a time, I hid a large magnetic letter inside the Mystery Bag. S felt through the bag, making his guesses along the way, but was mostly excited to pull out the mystery letter and reveal our special word.

 And the word was LOVE. We looked at the title on our target book to see the same word! Now that we had spelled the word and read the word, it was time for some writing!
Early writing adventures include a multi-sensory approach. I love to show pre-readers and writers the ways in which they already read and write--even if not in the same way that older people do. Fostering feelings of competence and success at this stage inspires children to love the process of learning these skills. Today's writing activity was a fun one for the whole family and a great one to do at home with your own family:

Love Notes/Family Fan Mail
Materials:
Choose some or all of the following and add in any other materials you'd like:

• markers
• lined labels for writing dictation on and/or writing prompts
• I added prompts to several labels like "I love you as much as...," "I love you more than...," and "I love when..." Others I left blank so that S could dictate his own love notes!
• heart shaped stickers
• letter stamps with L, O, V, E, 
• heart themed stamps (leftover from Valentine's Day season last year)
• heart shaped doilies, foam cut outs (alternatively you can use construction paper or print off heart shapes--older children can cut out their own hearts and observe how symmetry works by tracing half a heart onto folded paper)
• red gift bags

For young ones who are new to the art of writing love notes, you will want to model this. I prepped a Fan Mail Bag for each member of our family. I prepped a love note for each member of the family and read them to S. We placed them in the appropriate bags for family members to read later on. Love notes can be sweet, silly, simple or more detailed. Using labels allowed for S to place the words on paper, even if he's not yet doing so directly through writing. He had a great time dictating and doodling love notes to each of us and even requested help to write some for a few of his friends. We all especially enjoyed reading them at the dinner table later on and I think I might keep my "I love you more than sticks" love note forever! A bag full of fan mail is also a great treasure on a day you may feel down in the dumps--it's always a nice reminder to know much we are loved!

Y and the Purple Crayon...do I see another
story stretcher in our future??

For our final activity, I had set out and taped down some large sheets of white craft paper. I helped trace each of the boys bodies so we could guess and then measure how big both of the boys are--using magnetiles! You could definitely use a ruler to measure with if you prefer. At this stage, inches are still pretty meaningless to S and Y. Magnetiles are totally awesome and fun--plus they naturally stick together and come in a standard, measurable size. You can use any type of block as a measuring unit so long as each one is the same size and shape. Once both boys were traced onto paper, I cut out their shapes. We left those taped to the floor. Y was officially tuckered out by now and fell asleep. S got busy decorating both tracings and gathering our square shaped magnetiles. We started by making a guess (or estimate) of how many magnetiles tall each brother was and then used the magnetiles to measure. I recorded the process on each tracing and at the very end, we hung them up on the door (so our living room would look less like a crime scene!).

Even with S heading off to school next week, story stretchers will be a special way for us to connect and spend time together in the afternoons. S will likely need a little more open play time and quality family time after a morning of preschool's structure and routine. Play through children's literature is one of many great ways to incorporate that. Y will also have an opportunity now in the mornings for some Mommy & Me time and I look forward to sharing that experience as well. Whether you're gearing up for this back to school season (or counting down the hours), may we all enjoy these last days of summer while happily playing!

 

Community Helpers: Being a "Family Helper"

Bathing baby was so much fun--this baby got about
a dozen baths in one afternoon!

BWhenever I teach a Community Helpers theme in the classroom, I take at least a day to talk about being helpers in our community. That ranges from how children can help (right now!) in our classroom, to their homes, to the community at large. It can be so much fun to imagine a time when they are grown up enough to go to work in the occupation of their dreams--and yet it can feel so big and far away. Many of my students were also at an age in which they are fascinated by superheroes. We would take a morning to create a puppet and story of each of them as their very own version of a superhero. A would allow them into their fantasy world in which they can have incredible powers and do incredible things--and then I would welcome them back into our classroom world in which they already have incredible power to do incredible things. We would talk about being a good friend, a helpful member of the class, a helper in their homes and in our community. So many of our community helpers truly are super people doing super things in our neighborhood.
For the sake of a homeschool scenario, I wanted a play and learning opportunity to focus on how my son is a family helper in our home. He is at the age and stage where he loves to help! He likes to help in the kitchen, help with washing the table, help with sweeping and mopping, help when his Tatty is using tools for something. He is curious about how so many things in this world work. Sometimes his curiosity manifests as anxiety. Machines and things that make noise in particular are a little frightening to him. He feels less worried and more in control when we explain that something is "safe" (as opposed to "not scary" when he adamantly feels it is), and when he gains an understanding of how it works, what it does, and why. Animals that can move independently of him into his space are rather frightening to him, so we visit parks and zoos and farms and pet shops. Babies or other children crying also seems to worry him, so we talk about ways to help in those times. On the one hand, seeing a peer cry is a reminder to him that emotions are all OK and always fleeting. His friend is "sad" right now, but the sadness will pass. With babies, it is a bit more complicated. Cries do not always mean "sad," and that is a world he does not remember! He loves to play with baby dolls at home, particularly feeding them, putting them to sleep, pushing them in a stroller and bathing them. For our Family Helper day, I set up a dramatic play activity to do all of the above plus more. He loved it--and who knows, these skills may just come in handy soon enough!

Play is a great way for our children to work through anxieties, to develop social and problem solving skills and to gain a sense of control and understanding about their environment at large. In that merit, happy playing!

Along with our babies, I set out blankets, board books, baby toys and rattles, bottles and toy dishes for feeding. Our diapering station (comprised of a plastic lap desk!) was stocked with actual diapers (a travel pack from the Dollar Tree), old baby wash cloths we still had from my son's infant days, doll clothes and baby wipes. If you prefer not to open the can of worms that is allowing a toddler access to his own baby wipes, you may prefer to use fabric or wash cloths and even to use or make your own doll cloth diapers.

Our bathing and feeding station all ready to go (minus the soap and water at this point). On a nice day, this would even be a great activity to take outside for some waterplay! It is also one of our favorite bath time activities at home, and almost a surefire way to get my toddler in the tub on the rare occasion that he is not wanting to take a bath. I just filled our basin with a shallow layer of warm water and dish soap and provided plastic toys, wash cloths and towels. 

Diapered and ready to go! 

This baby is drying off from one of her dozen baths of the day and about to enjoy another book! 

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!