Paper Lanterns

By Stefan Czernecki

Paper Lantern is a very poignant and heartwarming story about a friendship between Old Chen and Little Mouse. Old Chen is a master lantern maker and makes the most beautiful lanterns in all of China, but he is getting tired and there is no one to replace him, until Little Mouse comes along. Little Mouse begs Old Chen to let him be his apprentice but instead Old Chen offers him work around the shop. Little Mouse patiently studies and watches Old Chen and his two apprentices and practices diligently at home. One day Old Chen is not well enough to make the Dragon lantern for the lantern festival so Little Mouse steps up to the plate to show that patience and persistence really does pay off.

I loved this book! It teaches of friendship, work and dedication. It shows that through patience and perseverance you can achieve anything you want.


Activity : Paper Lanterns

We decided that today we would work on our own lanterns just like Old Chen and Little Mouse did in the story.


Supplies:

8.5x11 Cardstock
Scissors
Stapler or Tape
Anything you would like for your child to use to decorate their own lanterns.

Supplies we used:

Fold your 8.5 x 11 cardstock in half lengthwise. Cut horizontal slices every inch starting from the folded edge and stop about 1” from the open end. Cut a 1 x 11 inch strip from another piece of cardstock to use for the handle.

Eg.

After cutting, open the paper out on the table and have the children decorate however they wish.


Here's what we did:


Sonny Boy figuring out how to apply stickers


Sweetie Pie working away


We're done!

Cook-A-Doodle-Doo

by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens

Cook-A-Doodle-Doo had me smiling from beginning to end. It was a delightful story about Big Brown Rooster (who happens to be a descendant of the one and only Little Red Hen) and he is sick of eating chicken feed every single day. He sets out to make a delicious Strawberry Shortcake with the help of some of his friends Turtle, Iguana and Pig.

This was an entertaining story about how each character has a part to play and each has something different to contribute but when you work together you can achieve great things.

I liked how the sidebars of some of the pages contain additional information about baking terms and procedures and the back page of the book contains a recipe for Strawberry Shortcake.



Activity: Strawberry Shortcake

We had to make the recipe for Strawberry Shortcake that was at the back of the book.


I am not going to post the recipe because I want to encourage you to get the book :)


Ingredients needed


A chef in the making



The end result


Yum!

The Grouchy Ladybug

by Eric Carle

The Grouchy Ladybug was a fun book to read. It is about a boy ladybug that starts the day off by not being willing to share and wanting to pick a fight with a friend. He then decides that this other ladybug is not big enough to fight and his grumpy mood takes him off in search of bigger competitors until he eventually goes back to his friend who is still willing to share the food with him. At first it might have been over food but eventually his reason for wanting to fight other animals was 'just because'. It is about one of those days where you want to fight the whole world and not necessarily knowing why.

I love Eric Carle books. They are always so visually pleasing to the eye, his books are also entertaining and have a message which can be a great discussion. It teaches a message that children can relate to.

Since Sweetie Pie is currently learning how to tell the time, I felt that this book was completely appropriate. We were able to watch the clock on each page as we followed the events of the Ladybug's day. This book would also a great resource to use along with a unit on feelings.



Activity: Ladybug Cookies

For this activity we decided to make up some "Yummy Ladybugs" instead of "Grouchy Ladybugs".


Supplies:

Sugar cookie dough (divided)
Red food coloring
Baking cocoa powder
Chocolate chips


I made up a batch of sugar cookies from the night before and split it into 2 sections. I mixed in 1/4 of the batch with some baking cocoa power and 3/4 of the mixture with some red food coloring. Sweetie Pie was happy rolling the balls of dough into the sizes that she wanted her ladybugs to be.


Putting on the black spots


Cut into half the ladybug so after it has baked you can see the outline of the wings.


The delicious end result


Sonny Boy's contribution



Thanks for the inspiration - Almost Unschooling

The Apple Pie Tree

By Zoe Hall

The Apple Pie Tree is a cute story about the experience of two little sisters as they watch their apple tree go through it's life cycle starting from the Winter season through to the Fall. It follows not only what happens to their tree during the space of a year but also a family of Robins that are growing along with the tree. The back of this book also contains a recipe for Apple Pie and shows how bees pollinate apple tree blossoms.

I loved how simple this book was and also how clearly it teaches about the life cycle of an Apple Tree. I found the illustrations simply beautiful. This book provided me and Sweetie Pie opportunities to have numerous conversations about the seasons, the life cycle of an apple tree and also the desire to make Apple pie! I promised Sweetie Pie that we had lots more apple books to read and we will be making yummy apple pie soon!



Activity #1: Apple Tree Sun Catcher

While Sonny Boy was down for a nap, Sweetie Pie and I made this beautiful apple tree sun catcher that is hanging so beautifully on our front door. It is so lovely!


Supplies:

Clear contact paper
Brown cardstock or construction paper (for the tree trunk)
Scissors
Red tissue paper (for the apples)
Green tissue paper (for the leaves)


I cut the tree trunk from the brown cardstock (you can get a pattern from the pictures in the book itself), the leaves from the green tissue paper and red apples from the red tissue paper. I folded the tissue paper many times before making any cuts, and this made the cutting much faster. Cut the contact paper twice the size of your tree because you will be folding this in half.


Lay the sheet of contact paper sticky side up, and attach the tree trunk to one side. It might be helpful to secure the sides of the contact paper with masking tape to avoid it shifting around.

Have your child to arrange the leaves and apples on and around the tree branches. When they are done fold the blank side of the contact paper over to cover their work.


I just love Sweetie Pie's idea of having an apple falling from the tree.


A beautiful sight!




Activity #2: Apple Wrapping Paper

Supplies:

Red Tempera paint
Green Tempera paint
Paper (any size you wish)
Half an Apple
Potato (cut to make a leaf stamp)


Secure your child's paper by taping down the sides with masking tape. Have your child stamp away.



When Sonny Boy was done painting and ready to eat an apple, I let him do that. Sweetie Pie was ready to take over and stamped the leaves on with the potato stamp.


I wish I got a picture of the very end but I didn't. When the paint was dry I went around the edge of each apple print with a black marker. This made a lovely gift wrap for my nieces birthday present.


Thanks for the inspiration Frugal Family Fun Blog

The Paper Bag Princess

by Robert Munsch

The Paper Bag Princess is a fun story about a beautiful Princess named Elizabeth whose castle is burned down by a dragon who carries away her handsome fiance Prince Ronald. Unfortunately, the dragon has also burned all her clothes and the only thing she has to wear is a paper bag. She wears this and decides that she is going to save her Prince. She cleverly outsmarts the dragon and saves the day except for the fact that now Prince Ronald does not want to be with her because she smells like ashes, her hair is all tangled and because she is wearing a dirty old paper bag. He tells her to come back when she is dressed like a real princess. Elizabeth then says "your clothes are really pretty and your hair is very neat. You look like a real prince, but you are a bum" and they don't get married after all.

This book gave Sweetie Pie and I the chance to talk about being respectful and caring for people no matter what they look or dress like and also about respecting yourself enough to not worry about what others think of you. I know she would have liked the 'happily ever after' scenario but she also understood that Prince Ronald was rude and ungrateful after all that Princess Elizabeth did for him and that should have been more important to him than what she looked like.



Activity: Paper Bag Outfits

We followed this story up by making our own paper bag outfits. They both did a great job even though Sonny Boy tried to eat the paint. The end result was darling!


Supplies needed:

Paper bags
Paint
Crayons
(any other materials you want to use to accessorize your outfit)

Cut a circle at the bottom of the bag for the child's head to fit in and sides for the arm holes. Then let them paint and decorate away and then allow for time to dry. This outfit will quickly experience 'wear and tear' but it was fun while it lasted.





Thanks for the inspiration - Almost Unschooling