Books of the Week – Don Freeman

M has named Corduroy, by Don Freeman as his favorite book since we first read it almost 2 years ago.   I’m sure everyone reading this knows about Corduroy, the bear with the missing button, who wants to find a home and a friend.  He is very loveable. :)
Recently we picked up Dandelion at the library.  We both enjoyed this book about being authentic and not worrying too much about appearances.  “Be who you are” books are always a big hit around here. :)  I didn’t realize until later that it was also written by Don Freeman!

Then Vanessa, over at  Silly Eagle Books mentioned Beady Bear, also by Don Freeman in this blog post.   Of course we had to find it!  It’s an adorable story of another toy bear and his silly experiment in living like a real bear.

We were having such luck with Freeman’s books that I looked online and put another one of his books on hold for us – Earl the Squirrel.  We read it this past week.  Without a doubt, this one is my favorite Don Freeman book (of what we’ve read so far).  Earl is spoiled by a little girl named Jill and has no idea how to get his own acorns, which irks his mama to no end.  Eventually he ends up getting some acorns on his own in a very unusual way.  It’s just a cute, funny story.  And well, who wouldn’t love a squirrel named Earl, right? :)

For more book reviews, check out Natalie’s blog carnival at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Bird Craft #1

One of our little bird-themed activities was this shapes bird craft.  I cut out a few shapes (large oval, circle, heart, triangle, 2 tiny rectangles), and had them waiting on the table for M one morning.  I quickly drew a picture for him to use as a guide, and added some foam stickers, a googley eye, and some decorating options (watercolor pencils, watercolor paints, glitter glue).


You know once he saw the glitter glue he was all over this, right?  :)  Mmmm… sparkly…

As he put his little bird together I guided him by naming a shape for him to pick out, asking him where that shape was on the picture I had drawn, and then talking about that particular part of the bird.  This was a more mama-led activity than most of our crafts, but I wanted a little shape reviewing, and I used it to talk about the parts of a bird.  They have wings, not arms; a beak or bill instead of a nose and mouth; feathers  instead of bare skin or fur, etc.  I was sneaking in a little biology. ;)

After he glued everything in place the decorating began!  Of course he went straight for the glitter glue first, then used a couple of the watercolor pencils (although he did not actually paint over them with water), then used q-tips in the watercolor paints to fill in some areas. 
I just love how this little birdie turned out. :)  M named him “Easter Bird”.   He sure is a colorful one!

I made a template of the shapes we used, although it would be simple to do without them.  If you are interested you can download it here.

It would be neat to use feathers to decorate this little bird, but I. can. not. stand. feathers.  Uggh, the mess they make!  M can use feathers at Grandma’s house, hee hee.

Have a beautiful day! :)