Storybook Week 12: The Snowy Day

The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, is one of those books that resonates with my children. My toddler never gets tired of it.

                                     

It is challenging to write about The Snowy Day at the end of a southern summer when the high temperature today is 106 degrees Fahrenheit, but I think the current weather makes the story even more fascinating to children who have not seen snow in at least a few months. (I bet some people in the United States have seen snow this summer, but let's assume they're in the minority.)

If you are reading this post in the winter in a snowy region, this particular Storybook Week will be almost too easy. :)

1. Read The Snowy Day

Read-Aloud/Language Arts

You can choose from many versions of the book - we have the board book that I found at Goodwill one year -

                                    

or watch the storybook video


                                     

or both.

2. "Snow had fallen during the night."

Story Interest/Fine Motor Skills

How cool would it be if your child woke to snowflakes on the window panes? You could go crazy and cut out paper snowflakes to cover all your windows, or just choose one window. Or, if you have a child who sleeps heavily, you could tiptoe in and cover their bedroom window with snowflakes.

For those who haven't made paper snowflakes before, there are simple instructions here at Enchanted Learning.

So, now that you have a snow-covered window, point out the snowflakes to your children when they wake. Southern families may need to have a conversation about what snow is and what real snow feels like.

For advanced toddlers, preschoolers, and up:

Ask if they want to make more snowflakes. Follow the same procedures to help children fold and cut their own snowflake decorations.

Or, let children use a hole-punch on white paper to create small, falling snowflakes. Instructions: Punch, punch, punch that paper! They're guaranteed to love this activity; just make sure it is done in a place that makes for easy clean-up of tiny paper pieces.

3. Footprints

Story Interest/Gross Motor Skills

If you have a place that is easy to sweep up and you are willing to deal with lots of fine-ground stuff on the floor, then this activity is for you. I might even recommend the back yard for this.

 Lay down a walkway of flour, cornmeal, or a similar substance. Show children how to walk with their toes pointing out to make the kind of footprints Peter makes in the story.

Let them make tracks.

Lay down some more flour to make a new, track-free surface. Make sure they are finished looking at their great tracks first. Then have them walk with their toes pointed in to make the second type of tracks Peter makes.

The third time around, have them drag their feet to make straight lines. Add a walking stick they can drag to make a third line.

Ah, sticks. They make any activity better. In the mind of a small boy.

4. Snowy Ice Cream

Cooking/Sensory Activity

This recipe is from Merry Musical Treasury Pooh Christmas Stories, a favorite of my son's.

                                         

You will need:

1 large package fruit flavored gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 package frozen strawberries (or any frozen fruit)
1/2 gallon milk
shaved or crushed ice, about a half cup per serving - or snow!

Mix all the ingredients except the shaved or crushed ice. Pour the mixture until it fills a cup half full. Add shaved or crushed ice almost to the top, stir until it is thick and creamy, and enjoy.

If it is winter and you have (clean) snow available, you can use that instead of shaved or crushed ice.

5. Snowball Fight!

Story Interest/Sensory Activity/Gross Motor Skills

Crumple up paper. It's a satisfying yet harmless way for children to get out some energy or agrression through their hands. Aren't you glad you bought extra copy paper during the back-to-school sales? Oops, I didn't.

But any kind of paper, like leftover packing paper, newspaper, or wrapping paper works.

The rest of this activity is up to the discretion of you, the parent. Either you can all enjoy a mild "snowball" fight with your wadded-up balls of paper, or you can wisely redirect your children to trying to hit a target on the wall. (Just draw a big red-and-white target and tape it up.) Bulls-eye!

Storybook Week 11: Pete's A Pizza

This week's storybook classic is Pete's A Pizza, written and illustrated by William Steig. In this book, Pete is in a bad mood. Luckily, his dad is there to help.

Image courtesy of clker.com

1. Read the Story
Language Arts
 
Read the book Pete's A Pizza, or watch the storybook video, or both.

2. Cooking Your Child

Story Interest/Dramatizing/Gross Motor Skills

Did that heading catch your attention? The second activity related to Pete's A Pizza is to make a pizza out of your child, of course. Follow along with the book or make up your own process.

In the book, Pete's dad makes him into a pizza by kneading the dough (rolling Pete), spreading it (stretching Pete's arms), whirling and twirling (throwing Pete up in the air), applying oil (water), adding flour (you just want to pretend here - baby powder can be very dangerous for young children to inhale), and topping with tomatoes (checkers, for example).

This is a great activity for children who naturally need more large body movements. It might calm down some children who need lots of physical action. Research shows that it is good for children to have "wrestling" or other physical goof-off time with their parents, especially their fathers.

Babies gain so much - even in brain development - from touch, so this particular activity would be good for babies, too.

3. Drawing Moods

Arts and Crafts/Fine Motor Skills/Music

You and your child each get a piece of paper and drawing utensils. Both of you draw a picture of a sad child. Then a grumpy child. Then a giggling child. If you like, you can play different pieces of music that have different moods (lively classical, soothing lullaby, rock 'n roll, etc.) Try to draw the music or the mood that you hear or feel.

4. and 5. Cooking Your Pizza

Cooking/Fine Motor Skills/Pretend Play

You and your child might catch yourselves feeling hungry for pizza tonight after all this pizza-type activity.

First, set up a grocery store with any play kitchen materials you have. If you don't have kitchen and food toys, see how many empty boxes and containers you can raid from your real kitchen to set up the pretend grocery store. A plastic grocery cart makes this enjoyable, but any bag or basket will do.

Set your child on a hunt for ingredients you will need to make pizza. You can get into the grocery shopping trip as much as you want to, incorporating cash register and money and making change, or just let your child play a bit before making the real dinner.

Second, make the real pizza with real ingredients. Here is a super easy and delicious recipe I often use:

Ingredients:

whole wheat pita bread (2 packs)
pesto sauce
tomato paste (1 or 2 small cans)
sliced vegetables, any you like
shredded cheese, whatever type you like or have on hand

Instructions:

Spread pesto sauce on each pita circle, then tomato paste. Add sliced onions, peppers, black olives, meat, mushrooms, or whatever you like on your pizzas. Top with shredded cheese (cheddar is delicious; mozzarella gives it a lighter taste). Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Take out when the cheese is melted. Allow them to cool and eat them as is or cut into wedges or strips for children.

Since this recipe is all about spreading and topping, children can help quite a bit.

DIY Chef-In-Training Custom Cookbook

Okay, when I post Do-It-Yourself projects of my own making, you can bet that they will be super-simple and super-quick. Otherwise, I would probably fail at them.

I also dislike spending a lot of money on a craft (except knitting! I will spend more on knitting projects), so the materials must be easy and inexpensive to acquire.

This project was inspired by my creative son and took almost no extra work to put together.

Background: My five-year-old keeps coming up with ideas for creative foods to make and asking that we cook them. They are creative enough that most of the time we wouldn't be able to make them right then and there. I finally decided I wanted to encourage this creative cooking streak, so I did the following:

Image courtesy of clker.com

1.) Bought a spiral-bound index card notebook. (Like this*, although ours is 3" x 5.)

2.) Told my son the plan and got his go-ahead.

3.) Decorated/labeled the book. My son wasn't into decorating it at the time, otherwise we could have really gone to town on it.

4.) Wrote headings on separate index cards for his recent suggestions that I remembered.

5.) Planned a time to make the recipes, one by one, over time.

These are the names of a few of his recipes: Fruit Salad Pizza, Doughnuts (decorated just like Arnie - see this book*), Yogurt with Sprinkles, Chocolate Sauce Bananas.

I think this would be one of my best ideas yet, if it were my idea. Thanks, son!


 

*Afterschool Homeschool is now a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Where I have noted that I do not receive compensation for reviewing or linking to an item, that is true and means that the relevant link is not an affiliate link. 

Twelve Fun Ways To Teach After School

1. Coach or help with a child's sport or activity.
2. Enter a parent-child contest together. Some dance studios feature parent-child performances. Or does a moonbots challenge sound more up your alley?
3.  Read the book I Love Dirt: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature, by Jennifer Ward. Pick your favorite activities and do them.
4. Plan a trip to the zoo. Or anywhere, really. Use Notebooking Fairy's K-W-L worksheet to help your children think about what they already know about the place, what they want to know, and, later, what they learned. 
5. Make homemade applesauce together. Be sure to ask ahead of time what ingredients you will need. (It's fun to think of making something out of just two or three ingredients.)
6. Make up a new language with your child, or a written code just between you.
7. Make a special field trip out of your child's passion. For my son, that would be a trip to a Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament or another tour of Narnia: The Exhibition.
8. Set up an email address for your children and help them compose emails back and forth to grandparents or other relatives or family friends.
9. Play Music-Back-And-Forth. First your child gets to choose a song to play - the louder the better. Next it's your turn to play a song you really like. Repeat. The last person to stop dancing is the winner.
10. Make up a story together. Someone starts it with a few sentences, then lets the other person continue the story for another few sentences. Take turns. You may want to have someone else typing or recording your shared story for posterity.
11. Announce Spanish Week (or any other language you want). All DVDs must be watched in Spanish or with Spanish subtitles. Try to listen to Spanish music all week. Make recipes all week long from the cuisine of Spanish-speaking countries.
12. Start a Charlotte Mason Book of Centuries. From now on, whenever you talk about, hear about, or read about something interesting happening on a certain date, enter it in the Book of Centuries.