{Virtual Book Club For Kids} Tomie dePaola: Haircuts For The Woolseys & The Cloud Book
November 20, 2012 in All Posts, Preschool, Preschool Literacy, Toddler Activities
Welcome to November’s Virtual Book Club For Kids blog hop!
This month we are featuring book reviews, activities, crafts, and recipes inspired by the works of children’s author and illustrator Tomie dePaola. (All book links, including images, are Amazon Affiliate links).
I’m so excited that we have come to a month featuring an author whose books both my kids and I really enjoyed! For Book Club, we chose Haircuts for the Woolseys.
Haircuts for the Woolseys is a sweet story about a family of sheep who get sheared in anticipation of warm spring weather and then have to don their own wool in the form of sweaters knitted by Granny after the cold winter weather sets back in. The language is simple and gentle and the illustrations are warm and colorful.
My review: I really enjoyed reading this book with the kids. I was pleased that I didn’t have to alter any of the words when I read the book to them and the theme was appropriate for my toddler and preschooler.
The children’s review: The kids were captivated by the story and were very interested in understanding how the sheep children lost their wool and their granny had to knit it into sweaters for them to wear. It took a few times to explain the concept to them and then they enjoyed explaining the process back to me.
Scissor Cutting Activity
For our project, we made our own sheep and sheared them ourselves! Here’s how you can do this, too.
Materials
- Toilet or paper towel roll tubes
- Tape (double-sided tape is easier)
- Cotton balls
- Googly eyes, markers, black construction paper or pipe cleaners (optional)
- Scissors
How To
I really wanted to add feet and ears and cute little googly eyes, but my daughter insisted that the sheep was perfect as it was and that his eyes should be drawn in like she did. Since this was her activity, she was the boss, and she’s right - it’s super cute! But, you could add those extra details to your project.
What makes this activity different than other scissor-skills building projects is that the consistency of the cotton ball and the fact that the cotton balls are taped down add extra levels of difficulty to the activity, which require your child to exercise more care and attention while building her skills. Make sure to closely supervise your little one!
* * *
We also read The Cloud Book, which is a really great informational book about clouds that I will definitely be checking out of the library again when we have a specific lesson on clouds in the coming year.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in doing an interesting science activity along with The Cloud Book, try out Make Your Own Cloud activity we did earlier this year.
Did you read any books by Tomie dePaola this month and come up with your own craft, activity, or recipe inspired by one of her books? Please link up your post here!
LEARN! Literacy