Favorite Children's Books - Part 1

One story that has always stuck with me is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  -I want to take a quick break here.  Notice the corners of the book?  That's not some special 40th edition style, that is my 2 year old's handiwork.  See what I mean when I say she can't resist cardboard?  Anyways, there is so much to learn from this book.  It teaches us about nutrition, counting, nature, the cycle of a caterpillar, and so much more.

To start off our Hungry Caterpillar day we read the book and then took a walk in nature.  We were hoping to find a caterpillar or even a butterfly, but intead we met some other friends.  I asked my girls to look around and see what they could find.  It's amazing what you can find when you slow down. 

 We spotted a turtle.   

Then we spotted this tiny frog.  After she was done holding him she gently tossed him in the pond.  Within a second or two a fish jumped up and ate him.

Then, later at home we found a spider.  It was so much fun seeing what we could find in nature.  What will The Very Hungry Caterpillar inspire you to find?

One art idea is painting.  I love the art work in Eric Carle's books.  There are several techniques you could use to imitate his art work.  One, pictured below, is finger painting.  My girls love to finger paint.  A good idea, which I wish I would have thought of earlier, is to bring the paint with you to the park.  You could bring a large piece of cardboard or a project board and then let the kids paint the board.  If your kids are good with brushes then you could let them paint their picture.  With the paint still wet, apply plastic wrap.  You'll want the plastic wrap to be wrinkly.  Then when the paint has dried remove the plastic wrap, it leaves a cool crinkled effect to the paint.

I have started making a quiet book for my girls.  I have a very talented cousin, who has written her own childrens book (we'll introduce that later), and has also created a quiet book for her little boy.  Her quiet book is where I've drawn most of my inspiration.  I wanted to make a page based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I've started the construction of it but I haven't finished it yet.  Here's my page so far (left).  I still need to make the food and find a way to put the food in the caterpillar's mouth (suggestions appreciated).  To get an idea of what the book will look like I've added a picture to the right.  It is the underwater scene I've completed.  They match the sea animals to its coordinating button.  If you would like to know how to make the book just leave a comment below and I will put together a template.