Hi everyone! I’m Stephanie from SomewhatSimple.com, and I am excited to be part of the Books Alive series today! One of my very favorite books of all time is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff. I remember my school librarian reading this book to my class when I was in elementary school. I loved it so much I checked it out from the library again and again and again. It wasn’t until I was in college that I finally purchased this book for my own personal library, and now my kids and I continue to read it all the time.
Last week I decided to have our own “Mouse and Cookie” day with my 2 youngest kids. We colored pictures and we made delicious cookies — just like the little mouse in the book. If you’re looking for a simple Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, this one is no-fail and tastes amazing!!!
Hello! It’s the girls from Small Fry here to contribute to the Books Alive series. One of our favorite new books since starting Small Fry is The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak. It’s so clever, and we love that it ignites imagination in our kids. But, we always wondered what the book would look like if it were illustrated?
Hi everyone! Kiki from Kiki and Company, and I am so excited to be here today to participate in this Books Alive series. Ya’ll, there is one thing I love more than anything in my life… finding a great children’s book. I love it! I love finding one with meaning and one that makes my kids think. One with great illustrations and one with a great design.
Have you heard of the book What Do You Do With An Idea? Let me tell you right now… you will love it! It’s great for all ages, but especially when your kiddos really start using their imagination, and it may just inspire you too.
The book starts out with a little boy having an idea; nurturing it and watching it grow; and seeing where those little ideas, that turn into big ideas, take us!
BUT how many times a day do you hear, “Mom, I have an idea….” I don’t know about you, but that phrase is used a TON in my house. I’m a little ashamed to admit that I don’t always give their ideas the time and attention they deserve either… I mean there are just SO many, right?! However, after reading this book to my kids, I decided we should do something about it. Enter a free printable brainstorming worksheet that might change your (and/or their lives):
The point of this free printable brainstorming worksheet is to get all of those ideas out and on a piece of paper. Encourage your kiddos to keep one of these handy, and when they have an idea, even if they don’t have time to do anything with it at the moment, encourage them to write it down.
There are two worksheets, one with lines and one that is blank. I envisioned kids using them together (drawing and words), but they can use these pages however the like to best communicate their ideas.
Today my daughter had an idea — she wanted to have a baking day. I told her to take a sheet, brainstorm and let me know what she wanted to make. She wasted no time getting that idea across:
So we giggled and quickly got to work making a Watermelon Rice Krispie treat. First we melted marshmallows, then added lots of food coloring and squished the rice krispies into the pan just right. As they hardened, she simply added a few chocolate chips to create the watermelon seeds.
Have you read Roald Dahl’s The BFG book or seen the new movie from Disney? My 11-year-old daughter and I saw the BFG movie (short for Big Friendly Giant) a few weeks ago, and it was so fun to get wrapped up in Dahl’s vivid, fantasy Giant World. To be honest, my daughter enjoyed the movie far more than I did, but I didn’t mind — it was certainly a memorable and fun mommy-daughter date.
“Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign of happiness. It is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?”
One of our favorite parts of the story and the movie is the funny Gobblefunk language that Roald Dahl created for Giant. It’s close enough to English that you’ll understand what he means, but it’s just different enough to be hilarious. These fun, made up words are a hallmark of Roald Dahl books. When reading the book these words are so fun to say, and hearing Mark Rylance bring the words to life in the movie was delightful.
There are several funny parts involving “whizzpoppers,” which is the BFG’s word for passing gas through the southern hemisphere. Humorously in Giant land a whizzpopper is not only acceptable, but it is even “a sign of happiness.” The giant says, “it is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?”
After the movie my daguther helped me brainstorm some fun BFG activities. We thought it would be great to create our own whizzpopping fun at home. We made homemade slime and put it in a jar. When you quickly insert your fingers into the slime you can create fantastic whizzpopping noises. Find below our slime recipe and link to download the free printable “Whizzpopper” tag.
It’s Bonnie here from Whisk ‘Em with another installment of the Books Alive summer reading series. The Boy Who Wouldn’t Share is one of the very favorite picture books at our house! I love reading this cute book with its catchy rhymes, fun illustrations and timeless struggle of sharing with siblings. All my kids have almost completely memorized this adorable story!
In the book, Edward has a hard time letting his little sister Claire share his toys… until she gets a plate of fudge all to herself and he wants a piece. I thought it’d be fun to make the story come alive for my kids by making fudge for us to share, but considering the scorching temperatures we’ve been seeing here in Phoenix, we opted to make fudgsicles instead!
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