Cindy Moo by Lori Mortensen

For book club this week, we read Cindy Moo. This book is so cute! One night a herd of cows overhear the nursery rhyme, “Hey Diddle Diddle”, and one courageous cow (Cindy Moo) gets the idea to try to jump over the moon! The other cows laugh at her, but that doesn’t stop Cindy from trying—and failing—night after night--until a trick of nature shows Cindy a way to triumph. I love this book because it teaches the importance of goals, optimism, and never giving up! I also enjoyed the rhyming. Definitely check this out if you haven’t read it yet! It held the attention of all the kids (ages 2-4)! The crafts and games are limitless with Cindy Moo and a classic nursery rhyme as your inspiration!

Hooray for book club!

 

Song/Fingerplay:

Hey diddle diddle,the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran way with the spoon.

Since this book is based on the nursery rhyme, “Hey Diddle Diddle”, I thought it would be perfect to have the children act it out, to reinforce it and to help them memorize it. I had the children line up and each one acted out a part of the nursery rhyme as we said it out loud together. For example, when we said “the cat”, one child meowed like a cat. The next child pretended like he was playing a violin. For the cow, I had that child “jump over the moon” by going on their tummy over a white exercise ball. The kids loved this one!

Craft:

The Dish and the Spoon craft

What you need: paper plates, white plastic spoons, school glue, sharpies, washable paint + paint brushes

We had two different crafts for this book. The first was simple—painting a paper plate, drawing a face on their plastic spoon with sharpies, and then gluing the spoon to the plate. We also talked about cows, and where milk comes from, which led to…

Udder Painting

What you need: plastic disposable gloves, white washable paint, white crayon, black cardstock, and a needle/push pin or tiny scissors

This was so fun! I saw the idea here and the kids loved it! I filled some plastic gloves with white washable paint from Wal-Mart. I filled up the paint enough to fill up the fingers, and then tied off the top. Then, I poked tiny holes in the end of each finger. I made 4 gloves worth of paint, but we only ended up using 3 (for 6 kids). When they came to this table, they wrote their names in white crayon, I held the “udders”, and they went a-milking! It was funny.

Snack:

Cheese in the shape of stars (I used a star shape cookie cutter), a whole banana (for the moon), and what better way to incorporate milk, than milk and cookies! …So we had some oreos and milk, too!

Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

For book club in September, We read Pat Zietlow Miller’s charming story, Sophie’s Squash. This book (one of my favorites!) centers on friendship, change, and the circle of life. After reading the story, we talked about some other foods that grow on trees or in a garden, and sang a little song about each fruit or vegetable they could think of.  For the craft, naturally, the children decorated their own “Bernice” squash. I picked up some squash at the grocery store, and let them make faces with sharpies. I also picked up some fabric quarters at Joann’s and had each child pick out the pattern they wanted, and that became their squash’s blanket. It was so cute hearing what each of the children wanted to name their squash. For snack, we had veggie straws, apple slices, and pumpkin spice cupcakes.

Fall Book Club was a great success! Sometimes simple is best!

Song/Fingerplay:

Way up high, in a tree, (raise hands high in the air)

5 big apples smiled at me, (Show 5 fingers)

so I shook that tree as hard as I could. (Pretend to shake tree)

Down came the apples…mmm! Were they good! (Rub tummy)

Continue singing with 4 apples, 3 apples, etc. or use other kinds of foods that grow on trees.

Craft:

Make your own Bernice Squash

You will need:

Squash & Sharpie Markers

Snack:

Veggie straws, apple slices, pumpkin spice cupcakes

Welcome to the Book Club Bear!

My children and I have been part of a preschool book club now for quite a few years. I decided to create a place where we can share ideas and crafts to go along with some of our favorite children’s books!