Books of the Week – July 17, 2010

If it were up to M this week, you’d be hearing about Thomas the Train and nothing else.  If you have a Thomas and Friends lover, check out the book in the carousel above (Thomas’ Big Storybook); it is definitely the favorite around here these days. 

However, I’m going to spare you Thomas.  :)  Or maybe I’m just sparing myself!

My favorite of the week was Raggedy Ann and Rags, adapted from the stories by Johnny Gruelle:

 

M picked this up at the library without my noticing, and I was excited to see it in the pile when we checked out.  I loved Raggedy Ann and Andy when I was a child, and had forgotten about these great, detailed stories.  This book probably took us a good 20 minutes to read, but M hung on every word.  The story tells of how Rags (the dog) was found and then has his first adventure – where he helps the other toys save Raggedy Ann and another doll from floating away to sea. It’s really such a great and engaging story, and captured M’s imagination with the idea of toys having a secret life of their own, and I can’t wait to find more of these!

We also liked Elliot’s Shipwreck, by Andrea Beck:

We like all the Elliot Moose stories, and this was no exception.  It’s a great story of friendship, adventure, imagination, and problem solving!  A great add on activity for this book would be making little boats from various materials and seeing which ones work and which ones get shipwrecked!

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and Feed Me Books Friday. Have a beautiful day! :)

Summertime Sidewalk Painting

Last summer we had a lot of fun making sidewalk paint and using it on our patio.  I had completely forgotten about this great activity, but apparently it stuck with M, who asked me about it a few days ago. 

Here’s the oh-so-simple recipe:

1 part cornstarch to 1 part cold water
5 to 6 drops of food coloring for each color you want to make.

We used 2/3 Cups of both cornstarch and water.  And we ended up with two good-sized containers worth of paint (a bit bigger than an applesauce or jello snack container).  It went fast, so we definitely could’ve used more!
Just mix the water slowly into the cornstarch.  If you are using a whole box of cornstarch, you’ll need to use a whisk or maybe an electric mixer.  Pour it into your individual containers, then add your food coloring and gently mix it in.   Food coloring will stain clothing so be careful!!  It did wash completely off of our driveway with the first rain, so no worries there, although you could always use a dab of washable paint for color in place of the food coloring.

We used regular old paintbrushes and some foam brushes to paint with.  It’s fun to watch the watery paint dry quickly in the sun – it becomes so vibrant as it dries!  Pretty, pretty, pretty. :)

M drew a pirate ship.  Obviously. ;)  And some other things I can’t remember.  I drew our family and the earth and sun.  It’s really hard to resist getting down and having fun with this sidewalk paint – we had a wonderful time doing this together!
Have a beautiful day! :)