by admin on September 18, 2008
Library Mouse Craft and Book
Library Mouse – Tissue Paper Roll Mouse & Book
Library Mouse written and illustrated by Daniel Kirk is a fantastic book about reading and writing. Sam, a mouse who lives in the library, loves to read. He is so inspired by books that he decides to write one and sneak it into the library collection. Soon, all the children are buzzing about Sam, the new author. They ask to meet him and in a clever twist, Sam surprises them all and inspires many more authors. In this craft, you will make the tissue paper roll mouse and a small book.
Materials:
Tissue paper roll
Construction Paper
Chenille Sticks (pink and white)
Glue
Stapler
Directions
To make the mouse, from construction paper, cut out a tail, two ears, and two eyes. Pinch one end of the tissue paper roll shut, inserting the tail in the middle. Staple it shut. Wrap the tail around a pen or pencil to create a curl. Pinch the opposite end of the tissue paper roll in the opposite direction (it will look like a triangle). Glue ears at the top and an eye on each side. Cut a small piece of pink chenille and ball it up into a nose, leaving an end sticking out to insert into the tissue paper roll. Cut two small white pieces of chenille stick and fold it in half, creating whiskers. Glue on each side of the nose. Your mouse is ready and will look like this.
Library Mouse Up Close
To create the book, cut four equal sizes of white construction paper (the inside of the book). Create a front and back cover in a different color. Staple the book on one side. Voila! Now you have Sam the Mouse and a book of your own to write in! Happy Tales to You!
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
by admin on September 17, 2008
Wild About Books Paper Plate Snakes
Wild About Books Paper Plate Snakes
“In a flash every beast in the zoo was stampeding
To learn all about this new something called reading.
Forsaking their niches, their nests, and their nooks,
They went wild, simply wild, about wonderful books…”
And so begins one of my favorite new classics written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. The story is clever and inspiring while the colorful illustrations slither, stomp, and stampede across the page. To go with this modern classic, I have chosen one of my favorite classic crafts – the simple, slithery paper plate snake.
Materials:
Paper plate
Crayons or markers
Scissors
Directions
Color both sides of the paper plate in any design you wish. Starting on the outer edge, cut the paper plate into a spiral about an inch wide. When you reach the inside, stop so that you have enough paper plate left to form the snake’s head. Make two eyes with a marker. Ssssssssss. Now you and your snake can curl up with a good book.
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
by admin on September 17, 2008
Eliana Drawing Humpty on a Blown Egg
Humpty Dumpty Egg-Splodes – Blown Egg Humpty
This is a great book by author and illustrator, Kevin O’Malley. Kevin has a wonderful sense of humor (in person and in books). The story begins with a man telling a story… Humpty Dumpty is ginormous and he’s on a rampage. This book is a uproarious romp through Nursery Land with spoofs of nearly every nursery rhyme you can think of. And the end is the stuff made of legends. A great book for boys but equally fun for girls too. Incidentally, Kevin O’Malley won the 2008 Louisiana Young Readers Choice Awards for his book, Once Upon a Motorcycle Dude.
Materials:
Raw egg at room temperature
Pin or Sewing Needle
Pencil
Ultra-thin permanent marker
Colored markers
1X5″ strip of construction paper
Directions:
With a pin or sewing needle poke a hole at each end of the egg. Over the sink or a bowl, blow into one side of the egg. The egg’s insides will emerge out of the other end. Rinse thoroughly then dry in the microwave for 10-15 seconds or bake in an oven for 15 minutes at 275 degrees. The heat will sterilize the egg and harden it further. With a pencil, draw Humpty’s face on the egg. Humpty’s expressions in the book are fun and easy to copy. Next, trace over the pencil with a permanent marker. Color the egg with colored markers. Take the strip of construction paper and tape it into a circle, creating a base for the egg to sit on. We used two eggs (Eliana did one and I did one) and didn’t even waste an egg! This was an egg-citing, egg-ceptional craft!
Egg-ceptional Humpty Dumpty X 2 (Eliana's is on the right)
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
by admin on September 17, 2008
Where the Wild Things Are Paper Bag Puppet
Where the Wild Things Are – Wild Things Paper Bag Puppets
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak was one of Soleil’s favorite books as a child. I read it over and over and over again. And then she read it over and over and over again until Mommy said, “Be still!”
Materials:
Paper lunch bags
Construction paper
Scissors
Glue
Directions:
This is such a fun craft because I basically let the children cut out their own wild thing features – horns, nose, lips, teeth, hair, eyes, ears, arms, and legs. Simply glue them on to the paper bag. Anything goes! Eliana had a ball with this book craft and wouldn’t let me look until her wild thing was done.
“And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws…”
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
