Last week, The Weekly Kid's Co-Op was full of great book lists and book-related activities. I have been adding many new books to our library list to get ready for summer reading. So, I have rounded up some of the best book list/activities posts from last week to help you build your summer reading list too. I find that having "new" books on hand in the summer is a big hit, especially for reading at the park, on car trips or even on a blanket in the backyard.
Children's Book Choice Awards shared by Pragmatic Mom provides top books in several age ranges. Her site is a great resource for compiling a summer reading list for your child.
Happy Birthday Author shared a number of Adam Rex books, which I am definitely adding to our library list as well as a cool way to extend Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, and his site is another great resource for children's books.
JDaniel4's Mom shared 18 of their favorite books and related activities. Her site is a major go-to for me when looking for creative ways to extend books and for new books for our library list. On her list, Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A-Z by Lois Ehlers is a great book to use this summer if you have a little one beginning to learn their letters. I love that it includes upper and lower case letters and have found that both of my boys engaged really well with the book.
Jenny Evolution shared a round-up of Caldecott Children's Book Award Winners and Honor Recipients for the past 12 years (2000-2012). The list includes many of our favorites like Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems, Gone Wild by David McLimas, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus also by Mo Willems (in fact he has 3 on the list, so when in doubt, get a Mo Willems book!) and Olivia by Ian Falconer (we are fans of Olivia books around here). I actually recently added Flotsam to my list when KC Edventures shared it has the Picture Book of the Day.
Under God's Might Hand shared 5 Favorite Goodnight Picture Books, including two books by Sandra Boynton who we recently discovered at our house and love. Our favorite goodnight book by her is The Going To Bed Book.
And Next Comes L shared a cool activity she did with Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson and Lois Ehlert. Not only does the activity look great, but this books definitely needs to be added to our library list for summer reading.
Fun A Day shared many classic and new to us books as she featured What We're Reading Now for Children's Book Week. From her list, we especially like Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, Elmer by David McKee, and Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site.
KC Edventures shared books that connect with real life with many book suggestions focused on sea life, which are perfect for summer beach trips! Plus, she also shared a round-up of Summer Reading Programs.
Fantastic Fun and Learning shared Leo Lionni Books and Resources as Lionni was the featured author of the Virtual Book Club for Kids this month. The VBCK is a great way to discover new authors and books and get ideas for extending books for young readers. We have loved being part of it. Our favorite Lionni books we've been reading this month are Little Blue and Little Yellow and A Color of His Own.
Buggy and Buddy shared 3 Books to Inspire Confidence and Creativity: Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, Not A Box by Antoinette Portis, and Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. All three are at the top of our reading list!
Sunlit Pages shared 3 books her 4 year-old loves right now: Doodleday by Ross Collins, Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman and When A Dragon Moves In.
This should give you a good head-start with your summer reading list for your little one. Plus, we shared 100+ Transportation Books last week so check it out if you missed it for even more great books to add to your list. We are heavy library users and share what we are reading weekly each Saturday as part of Project 101: Weekly Library Challenge.
I keep track of my reading list through my Library List Pinterest board, so make sure you are following that Pinboard for great book recommendations. I also often discover many new books at The Children's Bookshelf and the Kid Lit Blog Hop. What Do We Do All Day, a co-host of The Children's Bookshelf, is another go-to blog for me for books and activities.
Sharing at: Share It Saturday! The Sunday Showcase
Happy Reading! I would love to know what your child's favorite book is right now -- please share!! (Leave a note in the comments or pop over to The Good Long Road on FB.)
With all of our Virtual Book Club for Kids posts, we like to move, eat, draw and learn with our selected book. Check out all the fun we had with little blue and little yellow by Leo Lionni.
1. Move - This book provides lots of movement play inspiration and ideas -- perfect for a playdate where your little one and their best friend wear blue and yellow. Like the friends in the book, kids can play Hide-and-Seek, Ring-a-Ring-O'Roses, tag or even climb a mountain.
2. Eat - We made a yellow, green and blue fruit salad (pineapple, honeydew and blueberries). But the big hit, of course, were our little blue and little yellow cookies inspired by various pages of the book: the 1st page with little blue only, then (a few pages later) little blue and little yellow together, then the Ring-a-Ring-O'Roses page, and the colors running and plying after school followed by (skipping to the end) yellow and blue making green and then just green (the last page). We also had a cookie of green chasing orange, but Wild Thing ate that one straight away. When I asked him to get the candies for the cookies, I would ask him for the color that I needed in Spanish to practice our Spanish vocabulary. He thought our book-inspired cookie making activity was so much fun!
3. Draw - We did ice painting using blue and yellow ice cubes. The boys loved the sensory component. Of course,as the two colors merged their ice art experiments turned green.
4. Learn - We also did some primary color learning through fun water play - perfect for siblings or a play date. I gave Wild Thing a bottle with blue colored water and Caterpillar a bottle with yellow colored water with some bubbles mixed in. The boys would squirt their colored bubble water into a tray, and as they played together, of course, they got green. Beyond learning about colors, they are also learning the value of sharing, growing and playing together -- this is the wonderful message present in this book: that even though individuals can be quite different and unique from one another, together they can often create something cool and wonderful (like a new color).
(I had great photos of our ice art/play and our colored water play, but my laptop died recently and while I had backed up much of it, I had not backed up all of my photos, so you will just have to use your imaginations!)
BONUS LEARN + PLAY ACTIVITIES: a sensory bin and a Spanish language learning adventure in the making...
We have an evolving sensory bin, which we started at Christmas, then transformed for St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and (now) little blue and little yellow. Many of our green buttons and green "grass" (green dyed pasta) has been depleted by so much play (and a recent travel adventure in which we brought the bin along in a plastic baggie), but I had enough green buttons and such left to make it work. I removed most of the non-green items and added in some blue circles (milk caps) and yellow circles I cut out from yellow mini muffin liners.I also added some yellow and blue paper shreds that came in our Easter package from grandma. Wild Thing uses these items to retell much of the story (the shreds become the yellow and blue tears that little green cries). He also likes to pull out a blue circle, then a yellow circle. Then, he will stack them together and cover them with a large green button to represent their transformation. With Caterpillar, I use the bin to reinforce his colors and for shape learning. (Wild Thing is 3.5 and Caterpillar is almost 2).
Finally, together Wild Thing, Daddy and I are making a Spanish version of the book (an abbreviated version). It is helping Wild Thing and I learn new Spanish vocabulary words. I liked the idea of using this book since it builds upon our knowledge of the colors in Spanish, which Wild Thing now knows quite well. Plus, Wild Thing will be creating the art for the book. I think we will finish the book by the end of the week, and we will be sure to share it!
Are you a Leo Lionni fan? What is your favorite book of his? Or, do you have a favorite color mixing activity? I would love it if you shared it!
Shared at: The Children's Bookshelf, Mom's Library, Montessori Monday, It's Playtime! Artsy Play Wednesday, Share It Saturday!, The Sunday Showcase and Read.Explore.Learn
