A Life In Review

This past winter and spring I had the pleasure of entering a brief period of homeschooling my preschooler. It took a minute to get the hang of it. Working with your own child is VERY different from working with other people’s children. We found a groove and a curriculum that we really enjoyed, but we truly made it our own. We did a lot of book centered lessons which led me to book centered crafts. This is post one of a few with some Book/Craft pairings. I cannot wait to share what we have worked on and give you ideas (in a simpler way) to do with your kiddo this summer!

How This Works: I will share a link to the books and you can see pictures of the crafts. I will link things for the crafts if I feel like it’s needed, but most of them will just have a list of needed materials!

Crocodiles Need Kisses Too by: Rebecca Colby
Materials Needed: Clothes Pins || Green Paint || Mini googly eyes || Paint Brushes || *Optional white paint for teeth

Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type By: Doreen
Materials Needed: Paper Plates || Black paint || Googly eyes || Paper (for ears) || Craft sticks || Construction paper

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by: Eric Carle
Materials Needed: Glue || Construction Paper || Food pictures from google

Stellaluna by: Janell Cannon (This could be done at any point in the year but we did it in the spring/summer time. This craft idea came from Raising Veggie Lovers blog and it was so much fun to do).
Materials Needed: Print out from the blog || Straws (any color) || Black Yarn || Tape

Where the Wild Things Are by: Maurice Sendak – This is another Teachers Pay Teachers craft. I did modify this one a little bit because my daughter is younger than the craft was intended for, but I think it turned out so cute.
Materials Needed: Print Out (on cardstock) || Crayons || Blue construction paper || Scissors || Glue

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by: Laura Numeroff (we made actual cookies to go with this craft too which was a fun little extra).
Materials Needed: This Print Out || Construction Paper || Glue

The Giving Tree by: Shel Silverstein
Materials Needed: Cardstock || Brown Paint || Green tissue paper || Red Construction Paper || Glue || Marker

And Then Comes Summer by: Tom Brenner – I got this craft right from Teachers Pay Teachers and it’s so dang cute. I didn’t alter it at all. It’s free so I’ll link it here.
Materials Needed: Print Out || Glue || Markers

Harold and the Purple Crayon by: Crockett Johnson – I took a few different things from online and made my own craft because I didn’t like what was online. I will put my free PDF down below for you to print. You will also need some extra purple things for this one.
Materials Needed: Print Out || Magazine || Glue || Purple Crayons, Markers, Pencils || Other Purple things (pompoms, glitter, pipe cleaners)

This was such a fun post to do. We have worked hard on school this past semester but my favorite part were these book and craft companions. I have more to share with you, but wanted to get you started with some ideas for this summer while the kids are home. I hope you have as much fun with your kids as I had with mine. You can make these as easy as you want (I did them with my one year old) or you can add to them to make them more fun for your older kiddos. The point is to get them reading and make reading fun this summer.