Summer Reading Scratch-off Boards

Kids love this fun scratch-off game that encourages summer reading!

Every summer I like to do some kind of summer reading incentive at home. We also participate in the library's program, and maybe a bookstore program or two, but the kids always love the one we do at home.

This year I made myself laugh by coming up with a devious plan to ruin their fun. I was going to offer them a dime for every book they read OR they could trade it in for a chance at the "risk board", kind of like that "Let's Make a Deal" game show. The risk board would have some really cool fun stuff on it, but also some chores or punishments. I thought it was a hilarious plan. My 12 year old thought it sounded awful. I decided against it in the long run but instead came up with an idea for a scratch-off board which so far they have loved.


Every time they read a book (or two, depending on how long/hard the books are) they write the title on our summer reading book lists and put the book away. That's an important step or we end up with books all over the house. Then they scratch off a square on our scratch-off boards and get whatever prize they reveal. The prizes I included were 25 cents, 50 cents, a dollar, ice cream (I keep drumsticks ice cream cones in our freezer for this prize), a prize from our prize basket (which contains candy, gum, bubbles, and other small things), or a free media day (where they can play on electronic devices or watch shows as long as they want once their morning work is done).

Here's how to make your own Summer Reading Scratch-Off boards:

Supplies:

foam brushes
dark colored paint
dish soap
laminator, or contact paper, or packing tape
Summer Reading Scratch-Off Boards (I have included the 4 different versions I used for my 4 kids plus a blank one you can fill in with your own prizes.  The kids were pretty disappointed when they learned not all the boards were the same and they couldn't figure out where things were by looking at what their siblings had scratched off. Hahahahaha)

Instructions:

Print out your Scratch-Off Boards onto card stock. Now you need to cover the boxes with something clear and slippery. I first tried just covering the bottom part with Con-tact paper but found it wasn't great. I ended up running the whole page through my laminator (which I love) and it worked great. Plus I can reuse the boards! I've also read that some people just cover the spots with packing tape and that works.

Next mix up your scratch-off paint. You use 2 parts paint and one part dishwashing soap. I did not measure. I just put two dabs of paint on a paper plate and then guestimated a dab of soap that was half that size. It worked. Don't mix them together too vigorously or you will get lots of bubbles.

Then, using your foam brush, paint over your boxes and let them dry. Reapply as many coats as you need in order to hide the prize. If I had thought it through, I would have printed out the prize in lighter color ink instead of black so they were easier to cover up. If you handwrite them in with a pencil that will also be easier to cover. It took 3 coats of the blue and green paints to cover the prize, and about 7 of the pink paint. Seriously. It was painful. Use dark colored paint.

I had taken a penny and scratched around the boxes to make them look nice and neat since I was taking pictures for the blog, but really don't worry too much about staying perfectly in the lines. Kids won't care.

(Also, after I posted this, my sister improved the idea by saying she just uses different colored card stock, handwrites the prizes, and then only needs 1 coat of black paint/soap mixture to cover the prizes!! It makes much more sense this way. She's a genius!)

I hope you enjoyed this idea! I have lots of other summer reading incentive ideas on the blog you might like looking at. And I'd love for you to join my newsletter or follow me on Pinterest. Thanks for stopping by!

Visit Erin (Chicken Babies)'s profile on Pinterest.

Ideas for Surviving Summer at Home with the Kids

Ah summer! - lazy days by the pool, cook-outs, water fights, reading books in the shade of a tree, hearing the sweet song of children whining "I'm bored!" or "I don't want to!" or "I barely touched him!" Yeah. Sometimes Summer is not so fun.

When I have our summer days planned out, our days go so much better, with less fighting and button pushing. Here are some things we do to help smooth out the rough spots that can happen in a home-together-all-the-time family.

(All families are different, but these suggestions have worked for my kids (ages 11, 9, 7, and 4) who are all of the rough and tumble, run-around-the-house-yelling type)


Don't Give Up Having a Schedule

It can be tempting during the summer to just let the kids get up whenever they want, get dressed whenever they want, do whatever they want . . . but we don't. For the sake of our family harmony, I give my kids (young ones especially) a schedule. Kids thrive on schedules. I don't have every minute of every hour planned out, but during the summer it helps us to have a plan of how the day is going to go and I share that plan with my kids. This helps them know what to expect, and helps my child who has trouble transitioning from one activity to another.  My kids need to move the pieces on their chore charts during the day in order to be able to do fun things with the family in the afternoon. You can click the link to read more about our Summer Schedule.



Have an Incentive for Good Behavior


Sometimes my kids need a reason to get along with each other. I've found rewarding my kids for showing consideration and kindness to their siblings works better than punishing when they are mean and selfish. We often use this Lego House to encourage positive sibling relations, and we will be bringing it out again when summer starts. Another incentive that has worked well for us is this pom-pom jar.





Have an Incentive for Summer Reading


When my kids are excited about summer reading, I am guaranteed to have some QUIET in my house every once and a while during the summer.

There are free summer reading programs at libraries and bookstores, but we like to do a family one too! I love doing summer reading with my kids. I usually create summer reading coupons that they earn by reading books. They write down the book they read and receive a coupon for money (dimes and quarters, usually), or ice cream, or a new book, or a prize from the prize basket, etc . . . We do something different each year. We've done game boards, a summer beach scene, a balloon pop, and bookworms. The kids love seeing what we are going to do each year!

Clearly this works best with independent readers, but for my preschoolers who were just learning to read and wanted to participate, I would do a literacy activity with them and let them count it as reading a book.


Set Summer Objectives 

I get overwhelmed when I think of all the fun options there for us to do during the summer. There are so many fun ideas for summer activities and sometimes when I look around on Pinterest I feel like I'm failing as a mother if I'm not doing them all for my kids.

To overcome this, I have to focus on what I really want out of the summer. For me, I just want time with the kids. I want to do something special with each of them, so I ask them for one thing they would like to do with me during the summer. If we get that done, it's a victory.

Another thing we do is come up with a summer fun list; some people call this their summer bucket list. At the beginning of our summer, we ask the kids for ideas of what they'd like to do and we add them to a list (if they're reasonable). We try to keep our list short. Some of these things we wait and do with dad, and some we can do at home. Once upon a time, I cut up slips of paper with some of our fun items on it such as "make ice cream sandwiches" or "make lemonade". I'd put these in our "summer fun jar" and when the kids were done with school and chores in the morning, we would draw one out and do that for our afternoon activity. It worked well.


Lower Your Expectations

Life with kids is always unpredictable. Sometimes my perfectly planned activities flop. Sometimes we only get 1/2 of our summer fun list done. My house is messier and noisier during the summer. I have to remind myself to just relax and go with the flow and then we will have a much happier summer.


Limit electronic entertainment devices 

I've found that relying on electronic devices to keep my kids occupied works against me. It makes my job as a parent HARDER in the long run, not easier. This is why:

a. Those activities are self-centered activities, and my kids come out of the experience feeling more selfish than before, which results in less tolerance for siblings and more anger centered on mom/dad who made them stop the entertainment. Some kids are more susceptible to this than others. My son is a different person after he watches tv or has been playing a video game for a while. He is less cooperative and meaner to his siblings. It's crazy how much it affects him.

b. Entertainment keeps kids from wondering and thinking and imagining. With TV, video games, movies, etc . . . the thrill comes easily, without much work on the kids part. When I've been sick and/or busy and have had to rely on electronics, and my kids are used to them, coming up with ideas of things to do on their own is harder. I am a lot more likely to hear "I'm bored" from my kids when they've had too much screen time in their life. It always takes them a while to adjust back to coming up with things on their own when we get rid of the devices again.

During the summer, we try not to do screen time unless it's a special movie day, or I'm sick and need to have quiet so I can nap. But really, there are so many other fun things to do that wasting time on devices is not how we want to spend our summer!

I hope some of these thoughts will be useful in helping your family get along this summer.
How do you help things go smoothly during the summer? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments! 

This post is part of the "Summer Survival Series for Moms of Boys". All through the summer you can find tips, activities, and recipes over at "The Joys of Boys".

Also be sure to check out my Pinterest board for more parenting ideas and summer fun!

Follow Erin@Chicken Babies's board Summer Fun with Kids on Pinterest.

Scheduling Summer Days with Kids Home

Our Summer vacation is quickly approaching, and I've been thinking more about a plan of attack for keeping kids happy and making sure our home is still a pleasant place to be. One thing we do to keep things running smoothly is to keep a schedule.

I don't have every minute of every hour planned out, but during the summer it helps to plan a general idea of how the day is going to go.

I plan our days in chunks. Here's how it works for us in the summer:

Morning chunk - My kids have a checklist of things they are to complete for their "morning jobs". I give them a certain time this needs to be done by. Their tasks include: get dressed, fix hair, make bed, read scriptures 10 minutes, say prayers, eat breakfast (and clean up after yourself), brush teeth, and check bathroom to make sure it's clean.

School chunk - We continue school through the summer. We don't do a lot, but the kids need to do some math, some writing, and practicing every day. Then we alternate days doing things like typing, music theory, and nonfiction reading. There will be some days during the summer when this school chunk will consist of swim lessons and music lessons. The kids also do chores (such as laundry) if assigned.

Lunch chunk - We make lunch and clean it up together. This summer I'm looking forward to giving Maren (11) and Joshua (9) more responsibility in making lunch for the family. And they enjoy preparing meals too.

Afternoon chunk - Free time. This is where the kids get to do the "summer" stuff if they've done all their morning work and school. (If they finish their school early, they have time before lunch too.) The kids will have time to play together, create things, invent things, play with friends, and we'll probably go to the swimming pool a fair amount of time as well. I also will send my kids to their rooms for some "quiet time", usually in the later afternoon when everybody's tired and needs some time alone. This is when we will check off things from our "summer fun list" as well.

Clean-up Chunk - This is the time when the kids supposedly do chores around the house. We'll see if I can get it working this summer. I understand my kids' need to have messes, which sounds strange, but it's how I function as well. I can't create and complete a project and clean it up all in one day, and my kids' projects and plays and dress-up stories are usually not finished in one day either. I have a hard time making them clean up things that they want to continue with the next day, so I don't. We always do a big clean up on Saturday, but the rest of the week we just do little clean ups. But if there is something they are definitely done with, it gets cleaned up.

Dinner Chunk (around 6)- same as lunch

Nighttime Chunk - Daddy is home (hopefully) and we have time to play together more during the summer. The kids have later bedtimes than during the school year and I'm looking forward to having more time being together as a family.

Having chunks rather than set times makes it easy to adjust things when conflicts come up. If we have something else going on in the morning, we just move the school chunk to later in the day, or get rid of it. We can be flexible like that.

How do you schedule your summer days?

Enjoy this idea? Sign up for the chicken babies newsletter for more great ideas!

Summer Reading Wrap-Up 2013

I'm finally getting around to writing down our summer reading totals for the year.  We've been busy. :)

The kids did a great job reading this summer and overall the kids were very motivated by our bookworms.  Joshua kind of lost interest towards the end of the summer.  I think it was a bit discouraging to see how long Maren's worm was getting when his was not growing as quickly.  Sometimes it's hard to be a younger sibling.

the finished worms

Maren (10 years old)
books read: 88
pages read: approx. 21,810
favorite books:

Big Nate Books
May B.
Wonder
Hero's Guide to saving the kingdom
Theodosia series
The False Prince (& it's sequel)
Enola Holmes series
The trouble with May Amelia


Joshua (8 years old)
books read: 45
pages read: approx. 6,165
favorite books:

The Sisters Grimm series
Big Nate series
Stink series
Little League: Play Ball
Guardians of Gahoole series
How to train your dragon
lots of Star Wars books


Christopher (6 years old)
books read: 44 (all short easy readers)
favorite books:

Fly Guy books
Elephant and Piggie books
Star Wars Easy Reader books
Chicken Said Cluck
Poppleton Books
What is that said the cat
More Spaghetti I say
Let's Jump In

What We're Reading - 1st half of Summer 2013

Holy Chicken! It's already the middle of July! I hate that the summer goes by so quickly.  I am loving having the kids home with lots of time to read and play.  So far, Maren has read over 50 books for a total of about 14,000 pages.  Joshua has read less, but Maren is a freaky fast reader.  So far, some of the favorite books of the summer are as follows:

Maren (age 10, going into 5th grade):

Our Only May Amelia and it's sequel

Jinx

Lord of the Rings trilogy (she is finishing up Return of the King now)

Sisters Grimm

Brotherband Chronicles

Troubletwisters

Lawless

Ravenspeak

The Ruby Key

Icefall

Silver Door

Joshua (age 8, going into 3rd grade):

Little League: Play Ball!

How to train your Dragon

The Guardian of Ga'hoole Series

Key to the Treasure

Encyclopedia Brown

Christopher (age 6, going into 1st grade):

to read alone:

Any Fly Guy book

Any Elephant and Piggie book

The Spooky Old Tree

Green Eggs and Ham

to listen to:

any book about science (especially floods and storms)

Nathan (age 3, into everything):

to listen to:

Five Little Monkeys swinging in the tree

Duck on a Bike

Who Pretends?

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

Mommy:  

I just read the 3rd Beyonders book, and it was pretty easy/fun/good.

Also read "The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner and the 3 books that follow it (Thanks for the recommendation Christina!)

Candy Shop War (we did this one for the kids book club)

The Rithmatist (I pretty much like everything I read by Brandon Sanderson)

What have you read lately?

some good looking bookworms

Our 2013 Summer Fun List

A couple of sundays ago, our family played charades.  Each child acted out something they wanted to do this summer while the rest of us guessed what it was.  We then added it to our list of fun things to do together this summer.  I think my favorite was when Christopher got up and started acting like a chicken.  We all laughed and guessed “Chicken?”  And he said “Yeah, like eating chicken nuggets at McDonald’s!” So I guess that’s his idea of fun. After a while the kids got tired of charades so we just talked about what we wanted to do.  Here is the list the kids came up with. (with a couple of additions from mom and dad)

2013 Summer Fun List

{  }  swimming

{  }  Camping, with s'mores

{  }  amusement park (I'm not sure if this one will happen)

{  }  water fight

{  }  bike ride

{  }  water slides

{  }  play with cousins

{  }  drama camps

{  }  bowling

{  }  eat chicken nuggets at mcDonald’s

{  }  picnic

{  }  baseball game

{  }  make ice cream sandwiches

{  }  watch movies in the theatre

{  }  make ice cream

{  }  watch kid snippets on youtube

{  }  go to cherry berry

{  }  catch fireflies

{  }  slip ‘n slide and sprinklers in the backyard

{  }  grill out hamburgers

{  }  get fresh vegetables from farmer’s market

{  }  make slush

{  }  visit library

{  }  go see fireworks

{  }  build a play place in the backyard

Summer Reading Charts 2013

I can not believe today is the last day of school! It snuck up on me.  Sneaky last day of school.

Our summer reading starts today!  I love doing summer reading incentives for my kids.  We've done game boards, a beach scene, a balloon pop, and this year we are doing bookworms.

I put summer reading coupons on the back of cut out circles.  The coupons are for a dime, quarter, 30 minutes screen time (wii/computer/show), iTunes download, ice cream, prize basket (which contains random small toys I've collected from different places), or new book. I put the circles in an envelope with their name on it.

I let the kids decorate one circle to be the head of their bookworm and put it up on the wall to get started.

When the kids read a book, they will write it down on their list of books read.  If I think it was a long enough, hard enough book (so at their level) then they get to choose a circle out of the envelope, pull off the coupon, and add the circle to their bookworm (using painters tape so as not to damage the wall).  If it was an easy peasy book for them (i.e., it took them 20 minutes to read) they can still write it down, but will need to combine it with other books in order to earn a segment of their bookworm.

It will be fun to see how long their bookworms will grow this summer!  Yay for summer reading!!

(See how our long the bookworms grew and the kids' favorite books in this summer reading wrap up post)

Kids' Book Club - "Joyful Noise" by Paul Fleischman

This summer we decided we wanted to do a summer book club for the kids with our friends again.  The only problem was that we were really busy, and moving, and people were on vacation, so we didn't quite do as much as we had originally hoped.

We started by getting everyone together and discussing dates for book clubs and which books we were going to do.  The kids' input was considered, but they mostly just played while the moms talked.

We decided to try and get together every 2 weeks to discuss the book and do related activities. Each family was in charge of hosting one book club at their house and planning the activities for that book.

The books we did this summer were a book from "The Riot Brothers" series, "Joyful Noise", one of the "Geronimo Stilton" books, and "The Borrowers".

We were in charge of hosting the "Joyful Noise" book club.  I admit my kids did not choose this book, and they were not that excited about it, but I was excited.  It's a great book of poetry, written for 2 people to speak different parts out loud at the same time.  It was difficult at first for the kids to read in rhythm with another person, but they ended up enjoying the challenge.

We started the book club with a poetry reading of course.  We took turns saying the poems with a partner and then we talked about which poems were our favorites and why, etc. . .

Since the poems are all about bugs, I had planned some simple bug related activities.




The first was an art project.  We talked about symmetry and then with a black oil pastel we drew one half of a bug.  We then folded the paper and pressed down to make a complete bug.  The kids had fun filling the outlines in with bright colors.

After the art project, I think I had planned to do some kind of bug movement games, but I don't think those ended up happening.  Instead we skipped right to the treat.

The kids decorated cupcakes with candy and pretzels and sprinkles to make bugs on top.  They each made a couple so they would have one to eat right away and another to take home for another time.  The kids had a lot of fun with this activity.

It was a good book club.

For book club activities we've done in the past, click below:

"A Pizza the Size of the Sun" book club

"Cam Jansen" book club

"How I Became a Pirate" book club

Where's the summer gone?

This summer has flown by and my blogging has gone the way of the ducks.  (I don't really think that means anything, but I just wrote it down.)

Other than taking care of the 4 kiddos, we've been busy packing up a house and moving into a new one.  So, that's my excuse.  I haven't really been a fun mom.  I've mostly sat the kids down in front of the tv so I could pack and then unpack.

Here's a short summary of our summer in pictures

swimming with cousins and friends

some kids needed summer haircuts
(I do miss his long hair though, so we're growing it out again)

attended some magic shows

packed

unpacked
(thinking of the best way to get the piano up the porch stairs)

dressed up with friends and cousins
(and yes, Christopher is the little mermaid) 

went to watch Maren sing the national anthem with her choir group
at a minor league ball game

Maren singing (she has the white headband on)

sometimes the summer wore us out

We did do some fun activities, which I will post eventually.  We already started school for the year, and Maren is now attending a public school, which has been both bad and good, but more on that later.

Summer Reading Chart 2012

It's June 1st and that means summer reading!  The kids are always excited to start their summer reading charts from the library, from Grandma, and from home.

Last year's reading incentive plan worked really well, and I would have done it again this year except that we are trying to sell our house and I can't have stuff all over the walls while people are coming through.  Instead, I came up with an incentive that will be easy to take down for showings, can move easily with us to our new house, and I think is still fun and motivating, and probably more complicated than it needs to be, because I like to do that to myself.

First, I made coupons on the computer for various prizes.  Prizes this year include money, ice cream, new books, prizes from the prize basket, movie days, and play dates.  I made 20 coupons for each child, then cut them up and put them in an envelope labeled with the child's name.  That way I can make sure each child receives all the same things by the end of summer reading.

*This post contains affiliate links

Next I pulled out my balloons, counted out 6 for each child, and assigned each child a couple of colors.  Maren's balloons are red and pink, Joshua's are yellow and green, and Christopher's are blue and orange. I then took 6 coupons out from the envelopes for each child, folded them up, stuck one inside each balloon and blew it up.  I used pretty small balloons.

I made 18 X shaped slits in a piece of poster board and stuck the end of the balloon through the holes. I put the poster board up on the wall with tape, as well as a piece of paper for each child to write the names of their books on.

When the kids have finished an approved book, they get to pop one of their balloons and see what prize they won.  I'll then replace the balloon with another one of their color using an extra coupon from their envelope.

Maren was very excited to start reading today.  I told her she needed to be all done with morning chores before she could start a book, so last night she made a schedule for herself so that she'd be able to start as soon as possible.  It went something like:

1. wake up, make bed, be dressed by 6:55 (she didn't quite make this deadline)
2. practice violin until 7:30
3. eat breakfast until 8
4. leisure time until take J to camp (this part was my favorite)
5. practice piano until 9
6. READ!!! (she had more exclamation points, but I'll spare you)

And she and Joshua are both upstairs reading right now.  Another great part about summer reading is that when the kids are reading, it is nice and quiet and there is no fighting for a while.  Hooray for summer reading!

If you liked this idea, be sure to check out my other summer reading posts!

Summer Reading Beach Scene

Summer Reading Game Boards

Summer Reading Book Worms

And follow my summer fun board on Pinterest!

Follow Chicken Babies's board Summer Fun with Kids on Pinterest.

Summer Slush

yummy 

Every year my mom would make this slush for summer eating.  She would freeze it in large pans and we would just take chunks out with a fork when we wanted some (when we were older, not little kids of course) and pour lemon-lime soda over it.  And if you let it sit for a little bit, and get just the right ratio of soda to slush, it will mix up into a delicious slushy treat.  Mmmmmmm.  It reminds me of home whenever I eat it.

And just as a side note, if ever all of your grown up kids but one are visiting back home, but the last one can't come because she's stuck in Kentucky, and you're having dinner together, eating some of her favorite food (perhaps grilled salmon and fruit salad) PLUS delicious slush (which just might be what puts her over the edge), and she happens to call during dinner, don't tell her what you're eating all together and what she's missing out on, because she might feel really homesick and cry the rest of the night and remember it for a long time.  Hypothetically.

Recipe for Summer Slush:

4 cups sugar
6 cups water
Boil 3 minutes and cool

Add:
1 large concentrated orange juice
Juice of 3 lemons
48 oz. pineapple juice
5 mashed ripe bananas

Mix and freeze

I usually put the bananas in the blender with a bit of pineapple juice and blend it smooth before adding it to the other ingredients.  When the slush is all mixed, pour it into two 9x13 pans (or more) and put in the freezer to freeze.   I used to just add orange juice, because the recipe my mom gave me just says 1 large orange juice, but I learned recently that what she meant was 1 large container of frozen orange juice concentrate thawed.  I thought my sister was crazy when she was making the slush last weekend with concentrate, but she turned out to be right.  Weird.

To serve, just use a fork to get small chunks of slush, put them in a glass, and pour lemon-lime soda over the top.  I usually have a straw and a fork in my cup to drink and eat at the same time.

Joshua asked me for a glass of slush yesterday, and I gave him some.  He then quickly drank all the soda and left the slush in the cup.  I told him that next time he could just ask for soda if he didn't want the slush and that seemed like a crazy new idea to him.  Silly boy.  So I guess not everyone likes slush as much as I do.

Crazy Kids Drama Camp

3 years ago, my daughter was enrolled in a week long arts camp at a public school with a few friends.  The camp was cancelled for 3 days because of a crazy guy the police were trying to catch who had keys to all the schools.  I was sad my daughter didn't get to go to camp with her friends, so I invited them over to do a drama camp at our house.  We played some drama games and video taped a 5 minute version of "Jack and the Beanstalk". The kids had a great time, and loved watching themselves on the TV.  And that's how "Crazy Kids Drama Camp" was born.

The next year the kids came over for 3 hours a day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  We thought of different fairy tales, raided our halloween costumes and dress up boxes, and tried to put them all together.  Our final product was 25 minutes long, complete with commercials.  It was entitled "Pickle Chicken, a Fixed Up Mairy Tale".  

This year, our production was called "The Wonderful Writer of Loz" and was part of an "Enchanted Theatre" TV show.  It ended up being 32 minutes long, so I won't post it all, but I wanted to share a few parts.  One of the girls was the hostess of "Enchanted Theatre", and sat in a armchair in front of the fireplace. She introduced the show at the beginning, and closed it at the end. Her parting words were "Join us next week for our presentation of "Egg White and the 7 chickens", and the kids thought it would be funny to make a trailer for that show, so I thought I'd share that. 

The kids are very creative, and come up with all sorts of silliness to put in the show.  Although I usually present a basic outline, all the dialogue and such is on the spur of the moment.  Sometimes the show goes in a different direction than when we started, and so by the end some earlier parts don't make sense, but the kids don't seem to care.  I think their favorite part is making the commercials.  They come up with a product and how to present it all on their own.  Occasionally I'll throw in a few suggestions (the boys shot an "invisible steak sauce" commercial that was completely nonsensical) but most of it is their own work.  Here's a commercial they did for "Get There Right Now Programmable Shoes".

Actually, I think even more than the commercials, the kids like to see the bloopers I put at the end of the movie.  In fact, sometimes I think they mess up on purpose while we are filming so that there will be bloopers to put at the end.



As you may have noticed, we seem to think chickens are funny around here, and so in each show we always try to have a chicken.  The first year, Joshua was a chicken that laid golden eggs.  The next year he was a chicken that laid magic wishing eggs.  This year, our friend William took over the roll of chicken and was the wicked witch's devious chicken servant.  Now to start planning for next year . . .

"How I Became a Pirate" Pre-K Book Club

I started a summer book club for my 4 1/2 year old daughter and some of her friends. We're meeting once a week through the summer. Each time we will read a book, do a few activities, and have a snack. Yesterday was the first meeting and it was FUN!
We read the book "How I Became a Pirate" by Melinda Long, illustrated by David Shannon. The kids all repeated Braid Beard's (the pirate captain's) instructions as though they were the crew.
A pirate crew needs proper attire, so we made ourselves some pirate hats following these instructions.
Next we played Captain, Captain, Pirate (Duck, Duck, Goose) on the trampoline.
A sword is very important to a pirate, so the children all painted a sword made out of the free paint sticks from Home Depot. I used a large paint stick for the blade and glue gunned half of a small paint stick for the hilt.
In the beginning of the book, the boy Jeremy Jacob is making sand castles when he notices the pirates approaching the shore. We made sand castles out of rice krispy treats. This was really fun. I spread out a rectangle of Press 'N Hold paper on the table and gave them each a good amount of Rice Krispy treat to play with. I greased their hands so it wouldn't stick to the treats. They molded and snacked.
The whole morning was really fun!

Bill Harley Stories in the Car

During the summer, I know a lot of people go on road trips with their kids, and I thought I would share one of our favorite things to listen to in the car.  He's a storyteller, and his name is Bill Harley.  He tells very funny stories about growing up, and the kids love him.  There are a few stories that use words like "stupid" and "hate" a bit too much, but usually his stories are very funny.  The kids like listening to them over and over again, and grownups enjoy them too.  You can find his stories on iTunes. He has song albums, but what you want are the audiobooks. They're between 3 and 4 dollars each, which isn't too bad.  You do get just one long track for some reason though, instead of the stories being split up into different tracks, but this has never bothered us.  My kids absolute all-time favorite is "The Battle of the Mad Scientists".  It is full of delightful silliness.  Other favorites include "Weezie and the Moon Pies", and "Cool in School", which has my husband's favorite story, "Zanzibar".  He used to listen to it when he was a kid.  So, try them out, and let me know what you think. But I'm not refunding your money if you don't like them, just so you know.

Summer Reading Charts 2011

I love summer reading!  I have fond memories growing up of summer trips to the library, finding a shady spot outside to read, or spending hours in my room with a good book and a bag of candy (bad, I know, but that's how it is).  I don't remember if we had reading charts every summer growing up, but I do remember one summer when my mom was handing out prizes to Emily and Greg (my older siblings) for reading and her telling me that I was too little.  Oh, the pain!  Emily got a calligraphy set, and I don't think I even knew what that was, but it was big and I didn't get one.  I apologize to my mother that I don't remember if she did reading charts any of the other years, but that's the memory that stuck with me.  (And now you also know why my handwriting is not as nice as my sister's.)

Anyhoo, I really like making summer reading charts for our kids. Last year we had game board type charts, and this year, well, I don't know what to call it.  I guess it's kind of a "pick your prize" game.  Let me show you what I did.

First, I went to the local parent-teacher store and bought 3 packs of summer themed cut-outs.

I then printed up summer reading coupons that can be turned in for 50 or 100 points on their myjobchart.com accounts, ice cream, a prize from a prize basket, or a new book.  I made eight 50 point coupons, seven 100 point coupons, 6 ice creams, 3 new books, and 6 prizes from the prize basket for each child.

I folded the coupons and taped them on the front of the cut-outs. I made 30 for each child.

I taped the cut-outs on to the wall in our hallway and put the child's initial on the back so they could see which ones were their's to choose from.

I made a beach scene on the opposite side of the hallway that they can put the cut-out on after they pull the coupon off.

Each time a child finishes a book, they get to choose one of the cut-outs that has their initial on it, take off the coupon, and put it by their figure on the other wall.  The goal is to fill up the whole scene by the end of the summer.  I don't even know if they'll all fit, but it should be fun.  For Maren, a book has to be 150 pages to count, Joshua's have to be at least 60, and Christopher just has to read a bob book to me or do a reading activity.

The kids are really excited to start reading.  Maren told me that she gets a funny feeling in her tummy every time she walks by it and she just wants to start now.  I think it will do a good job motivating the kids to read. Maren doesn't really need help in that department, but Joshua does, and Christopher is just starting to read the Bob books, so he needs some motivation to persevere through each book.

With Maren, because she already reads so much, I'm going to write different genres or specific books on the back of her cut-outs that she must read to get that coupon to help her branch out from the fantasy books.  I'll have her read a couple biography, poetry, history, and contemporary realistc fiction books this summer.

I wish I could sit and read a hundred books this summer, but unfortunately that's not going to happen. Maren once told me "Mom, I'm sorry that I get to sit here and read so much and you just have to work".  Yup.  I'm sorry too.  Enjoy it while you can little girl.