Easter/Spring- week1

Book Ideas:

Owen’s Marshmallow Chick by Kevin Henkes
"Oh what joy it is Easter morning and Owen's basket is full. He can't wait to start enjoying all of the goodies. Among his favorites are the jellybeans, which he promptly devours, then the gumdrops, next the butter cream eggs and another favorite, the chocolate bunny. There is only one item left, a yellow marshmallow chick that looks just like his fuzzy yellow blanket. Owen plays with his chick all day and when evening comes, he puts it on his shelf with a sweet kiss goodnight. After all, it really is his favorite Easter treat."



Five Little Chicks by Nancy Tafuri
This little chick went to the garden.
This little chick found a worm.
This little chick eyed a berry.
And this little chick gave a squirm!
With counting, fun, and vibrant illustrations, acclaimed storyteller Nancy Tafuri brings the farmyard to life.


The Surprise Visitor by Juli Kangas
One morning, Edgar Small discovers a blue, speckled "roundish thing"-an egg-on his front step. Who could it belong to? Edgar visits several animals, but the roundish thing does not fit in with any of them. All of the animals are willing to help, though, and they decorate the egg to make it more attractive. With a coat of fresh yellow paint, a smiling face, and a big bushy tail, the roundish thing is looking quite handsome-but when the egg finally reunites with its mother, will she recognize it as her own?




Arthur’s Jelly Beans by Marc Brown
Arthur wins the jelly bean hunt at Muffy's Spring Fling party in an unexpected way.

Last One in is a Rotten Egg! by Diane deGroat
Gilbert and Lola are excited that their cousin Wally is coming to help with the Easter egg hunt in the park. But when Lola finds the prized golden egg high up in a tree and asks tall Wally to help her retrieve it, Wally claims it for himself. But Gilbert finds a way to set things right.

The Grumpy Easter Bunny by Justine Korman
Hopper does not share the other rabbits' enthusiasm for their Easter rounds and instead of hiding his share of goodies, he eats much of them himself, before learning the real joy of Easter.



Activity Ideas:

Idea #1: Edible Nests

Read one of the book titles about chicks or birds ("Owen's Marshmallow Chick", or "Five Little Chicks", or "The Surprise Visitor") and then let your child build their own tasty bird nest.

You'll need some chocolate chips, La Choy crunchy ChowMein Noodles, gummy worms, jelly beans, and a marshmallow chick.

All you do is melt some chocolate chips in the microwave and then dump in some chowmein noodles and stir until their coated in the chocolate. Then spread the chocolate covered noodles out on a tinfoil or wax paper lined plate and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes. Then let your child press the noodles into a nest shape and decorate with the candies.





Idea #2: Crayon Resist Egg

Read one of the stories and then design your own Easter egg using heavy white paper, crayons, and watercolors.

Draw a large oval, using a crayon, on a piece of white cardstock or construction paper.

Have your child draw whatever designs they want, using crayons. Remind them to press hard so that the crayons will show well after they add the paint.

Next, let them paint with watercolors right over the top of their crayon designs.

When done, set aside and dry. Once dry cut out the egg. Here is an example of a two year-old's work and a five year-old's.

Idea #3: Toilet Paper Roll Rabbit

Read one of the stories and then make this fun little Easter Bunny.

Here are the items you'll need to have ready, as seen in the photo:

1 toilet paper roll

2 large back leg cut-outs

2 small front leg cut-outs

Bunny ears

Circle- for bunny head

Googly eyes

pink nose

1 cotton ball
(I just drew the body pieces onto cardstock paper)

Let your child assemble the head first. Glue the ears to the back of the circle. Then let them glue the eyes and nose to the face and draw on their own whiskers and mouth, however they want.

Next, squeeze glue around the rim of one of the toilet paper roll ends and place the head on top.

Then, glue on the front and back legs and the bunny tail. Set aside to dry.




Idea #4: Jelly Bean color sorting and counting

Read "Arthur's Jelly Beans" and then practice counting and sorting jelly beans by colors.
Ask your child to group all the greens together, and all the yellows together, and so forth... then count up how many are in each group. Make a guess which has the most before counting them. Count how many jelly beans their all total for practice counting in the double digits. These are all important skills to practice before going to school.

Idea #5: Egg Hunt

Read one of the books and then, using plastic eggs, send your child on an egg hunt. Hide some eggs around the house and have your child find them. This is a great activity to reinforce colors or counting. You could have your child find a specific color of egg or find only a specific number of eggs to see if they can keep track and count on their own.

Rainbows/ Colors

Book Ideas: The Teeny, Tiny Mouse by Laura Leuck
“A teeny, tiny mouse and his mommy point out objects of various colors all around their teeny, tiny house.”

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? By Bill Martin Jr.
“Children see a variety of animals, each one a different color, and a teacher looking at them.”

A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
"A small boy imagines what it would be like to have his own rainbow to play with."

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
"The charming story of a chameleon searching for his own color, who ends up finding a true friend."

Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
"Three white mice discover jars of red, blue, and yellow paint and explore the world of color."

Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
"Dog starts off the day with one black spot on his ear. But it seems that wherever he goes, he runs, rolls, and trots right into colors. As he wanders around town, Dog collects spots made of red jam, blue paint, pink ice cream, and more. When he finally arrives back home, Dog has ten different colored spots. And then it's bath time for this colorful canine, who makes learning colors and numbers easy, messy, and fun! "




Activity Ideas:

Idea#1: "Color a Rainbow" Dice Game

Read one of the stories and then play this rainbow game.

You will need crayons, dice, and a numbered rainbow printout.

Take turns rolling the dice and coloring the corresponding number on your rainbow paper. (Example: if you roll a six than you color-in the rainbow band numbered 6.

The first to color all the bands on their rainbow wins.

Activity #2: Paper Plate Rainbow

Read one of the stories and then let your child paint their own rainbow using all the colors talked about in their books.

Cut a paper plate in half and then cut a small semi-circle at the bottom. Draw lines arching across the plate.

Give your child colorful paints and a paintbrush and have them paint each band a different color. This is good fine-motor skills practice to see if your child can steady the brush as they paint between the lines.




Activity #3: Rainbow Mosaic

Read one of the book titles and then make a rainbow Mosaic.

First draw a simple rainbow outline like the photo above.

Next, cut small pieces of paper in each color.

Squirt glue, one row at a time, and have your child smear the glue around using a q-tip. Then let them sprinkle and press down the various colors in each row.

Glue on Cotton balls for the clouds.







Activity #4: Rainbow Toast

Read one of the stories and then paint some edible rainbow toast.

Fill small containers with milk and add a few drops of food coloring to each.

Using a clean basting brush for cooking, let your child paint on the colored milk to their bread. Make sure to tell them only a thin coat of "paint" (Don't let them saturate the bread or it won't toast well). You can use a paint brush if you are not going to eat it afterwards.

Once your child has covered the bread in the colors they want, place the bread in the toaster (you may have to put it in a couple of times to dry out the bread). Enjoy!

Activity #5: Paper Towel Tie Dye

Read one of the stories and explore colors further by making your own colorful designs using a paper towel and some watered down food coloring.

Mix the water and food coloring and place in small bowls or cups.

Scrunch up various sections of a paper towel and loosely place rubber bands around each. Then let your child dip the sections in various colors. You may need to ring out the paper towel to squeeze out the extra liquid before opening up their paper towel to lay flat and dry.

****Another way to do this activity is by using an old medicine eyedropper. Lay the paper towel flat on the table and then let your child squeeze little drops of the colored water on the paper towel in various patterns.

Activity #6: Color Guessing Game/Eye Spy Color Game

Read one of the stories and then play a guessing game. This can be done two different ways.

Version 1- Give your child small paper squares of various colors. Then tell them a clue and have them hold up the correct color square. Here are some possible clues:

"I am thinking of a color that tells us it is night"

"I am thinking of the color of a sunny day"

"I am thinking of the color of fire"

"I am thinking of the color of grass" etc.....

Version 2- Play "Eye spy" using colors as clues. For example: "I spy something orange" and then your child would make a guess of something that is in the room that is orange and continue guessing until he/she guesses the item you were thinking. This is a really good way to assess what colors your child knows.

Weather- Clouds and Rain

Book Ideas: Cloudy with a Chance of meatballs by Judi Barrett
“Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers--until the weather takes a turn for the worse.”

Raindrop, Plop! By Wendy Lewison
One little raindrop, dark, dark sky. Two little raindrops, clouds go by...
“A spirited rhyming text that's ideal for reading aloud and cheerful illustrations capture the unexpected pleasures that a little wet weather can bring to a young child's day.”

The Police Cloud by Christoph Niemann
“In this funny and tender picture book for the youngest child, a fluffy cloud gets a job (with the help of his friend the police helicopter) as a police officer. But no matter how hard he tries, the qualities that make him a cloud seem to get in the way of his duties. He blocks the sun at the park instead of helping people and obscures traffic at an intersection instead of directing it. Upset, the cloud starts to cry. And it's his streaming tears—which inadvertently put out a fire in a burning building—that lead him to his true calling in life: as a firefighter!”

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
“‘Sometimes it looked like a Sheep. But it wasn't a Sheep.’ So what was it? In this imaginative book, a cloud appears to be a bird, a tree, an ice-cream cone, and other objects familiar to children. The white images set against a deep blue background are striking. This wonderful book can be used as a guessing game or gentle read-aloud.”

Little Cloud by Eric Carle
“The clouds drift across the bright blue sky-all except one. Little Cloud trails behind. He is busy changing shapes to become a fluffy sheep, a zooming airplane, and even a clown with a funny hat.”



Activity Ideas:

Idea #1: Cool Cloud Book

Read "Little Cloud" or "It Looked like Spilt Milk" and then sponge paint your own silly cloud shapes and make your own cool clouds book. You will need some cookie cutters, pencil, scissors, old cereal box, piece of sponge, blue paint, white paper, 1 piece of construction paper, stapler, and markers.

First you will need to trace 5 different cookie-cutter shapes onto an old cereal box or plastic yogurt lids (whatever you have on hand). Cut them out.

Next, Cut 3 pieces of white paper in half. Squirt some blue paint on a paper plate. Place one of your shape cut-outs on your paper. Dip your wet sponge in the paint. Holding the shape in place, press your sponge around the edges of the shape. Lift off the cardboard shape and you should see the outline of your shape. Continue making a different shape outline for each page until you have done them all. Set aside to dry.

Once dry, staple together the pages with a piece of construction paper on the top and bottom for a cover. Add the title, "Cool Clouds," to the cover and the predictable text to each page: "Clouds that look like a _______." (Fill in the blank with whatever shape you have on that page). On the final page, write "Cool clouds are everywhere".

Idea #2: Cotton Ball Clouds

Read one of the stories and then make your own rain cloud. You will need, 1 piece of white cardstock or construction paper, cotton balls, glue, 1 Gallon Size Ziplock Bag, silver glitter glue, tape, hole puncher, and string.

First, draw a large cloud shape on your white paper and cut it out.

Next cut 1 inch strips out of your gallon-sized Ziplock bag.

Tape the Strips to the back of your cloud paper, at different lengths (In the photo, we had already glued our cotton balls, but it would be better to tape them to the back first).

Squirt a glob of glue on the cloud shape and let your child spread it around, using a q-tip.

Completely cover your white cloud with cotton balls.

Dot the clear strips with silver glitter glue to make raindrops. (If you don't have any glitter glue, you could cut out raindrops from tinfoil and glue them onto the strips). Set aside and let dry.

Punch a hole in the top and attach a string for hanging.



Idea #3: Water Color Umbrella

Read one of the stories and then make your own colorful umbrella. You will need one paper towel, watercolor paint set, scissors, tape and a piece of construction paper.

Cut your paper towel into an umbrella shape.

Let your child drip water colors and paint designs all over the paper towel. Set aside to dry.

Cut out a handle out of construction paper and tape it to your paper towel umbrella.




Idea #4: Paper Towel Tube Rainstick

Read one of the stories and then make your own paper towel tube rainstick. For step by step directions click here. (This is a much safer version than most home-made rainsticks using sharp toothpicks or nails). When done, decorate your stick.


Idea #5: Early Writing: I wish it would rain _______.

Read one of the stories and then have your child "write" (draw) about what they wish it would rain. Make sure to label the picture.