Pet story time continued this week with three new and amazing books! The first one we read was The Best Pet Ever by Victoria Roberts, about a little girl who has some very unusual pets, like a candy wrapper in a fish bowl. The children all thought this book was very funny and laughed the whole way through.
Our second book was Yip! Snap! Yap! by Charles Fuge. This book was such a blast to read. Each page had a dog sound or action that the children could imitate, which they loved. They also loved the author’s illustrations, which are bold, colorful, and funny.
Our last book was Zorro Gets an Outfit by Carter Goodrich, which continues the story of Mister Bud and Zorro’s friendship. Zorro is horribly embarrassed of his new outfit, but a new dog at the park may be able to teach him that outfits are pretty cool after all. The illustrations, also by Goodrich, are a highlight of this book as well. Mister Bud’s and Zorro’s personalities leap off the page and the range of emotions Goodrich has them show through facial expressions and body language is incredible.
We followed out stories with a rhyme:
Five little puppies playing in the sun.
One saw a rabbit, and he began to run.
One saw a butterfly, and he began to race.
One saw a cat, and he began to chase.
One tried to catch his tail, and he went round and round.
One was so quiet, he never made a sound.
After the first verse we put up our hands, fingers stretched out. After each subsequent verse we bent one finger down, until all our fingers were bent down and the rhyme was over.
We decided to bring out the exercise dice this week, but with a twist. Instead of traditional exercises, we did animal noises and movements. I took a soft, over-sized die with clear plastic pockets on each side, and in each pocket I put a slip of paper with an instruction on it. The instructions we used were:
Bark like a Dog
Stretch like a Cat
Fly like a Bird
Swim like a Fish
Slither like a Snake
Hop like a Bunny
After everyone had a turn to roll the dice, the children were allowed to go to one of our stations:
Station 1: Laminated Printable Roads from Picklebums, wooden vehicles, and foam building blocks.
Station 2: Play-Doh and laminated Pets Playdough Mats from Twinkl (free registration required).
Station 3: Pug coloring sheets from Drago Art, crayons, Just Like Dad Printable Prop Kits from
Paper Coterie, scissors, and glue. The idea was to create an outfit/costume/disguise for our pugs, just like Zorro!
Join us next week for more pet stories!
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