Day 56: bring on the animals

When we brought the Usborne book to life the other day it got me thinking, "how could we do this in other ways?" DUH!  Stuffed animals!  We don't own any puppets, which would be perfect for this, but we do have a lot of stuffed animals. 

We also got a new stuffed animal and book from Acorn Naturalist.  Sorry folks, I love loons so this one that they sent is staying here with us!! hehehe But I am going to tell you about it and SHOW it to you (yeah, I remembered the camera this time! or rather I made Chris shoot pictures for me). 

So the book is "Loon at Northwood Lake" by Elizabeth Ring and it comes with a small stuffed loon.  The book is not perfect for a two year old (lots of words and some bigger ones thrown in) but there are great actions involved in the story.  This is why I thought it would work great for bringing it to life with the animal (I'm assuming they did that on purpose and had the same thought I did!).  Sam could make the loon fly high, dive into the water, walk on land and swim in the ocean.  She loved hearing about what the loon was doing, how the loon had babies and how the loon looked like a clown when it walked on land.  

Even though this is not the best book for Sam right now it is a really great book.  The story covers the entire natural history of the loon; every neat feature, call, adaptation, habit, everything that you could want to know.  This would be a great book for older kids that like a story that has a bit more "meat" to it!  

And this is what it looks like when my girls are DONE with story time!  No Avery is not feeding, she is doing her absolute best to squirm out of my arms. 

But after Sam was done she turned around and had story time of her own!  For your VIEWING pleasure...

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

There are tons of ways you can bring a book to life but for little kids I think using stuffed animals, dolls or puppets might be a really good one.  It is a great way for kids to get more involved with a book, remember the information that they read (or have read to them!) and stay interested in the book for longer.  I can't wait to find more books that this would work for. 

Comments

[Bella Mendes]

Nice video.Thanks for sharing.I think your daughter likes the stuffed animals too much.

[Counting Coconuts]

Great post! I love loons too (I'm originally from Minnesota) - I need to make a mental note to find a loon book the next time we visit there.

Thanks very much for stopping by my blog and for taking the time to comment! I truly appreciate it. :)

Warmly,
Mari-Ann

[amber]

LOVE this! We have so many stuffed animals around our house, this would be a great use for them. Sam is incredibly adorable (as is Avery) the video is beyond cute!

[Louise at Tales from the Sandpit]

Yes! I have a story play table - low coffee table - which I set up with props (puppets, soft toys, plastic animals , found objects, sedpods etc whatever fits the story)and a book - often a predictable one or one that the children are already familiar with - it's one of the most used areas at my kinder - stories that can be told not just read are magic.

[MaeKellan]

That is just too cute. THE (turn a couple of pages) END

[custom logo design]

Thanks to dropping in yesterday on my creative writing blog, Mullin Avenue Workshop. I do have an early childhood blog, Early Childhood Education and Commonsens, and I'd like to invite you to drop in.