Charlie Needs a Cloak ~ Tomie de Paola {Virtual Book Club for Kids}

For Virtual Book Club for Kids this month, we were to read a book by Tomie de Paola and do some activities.

I was excited to read another book by de Paola because he is the author of one of my favorite books that prompted a phenomenal Christmas for us a couple of years ago. For Christmas 2010, we read the book An Old Fashioned Christmas and then decided that we were going to replicate it the best we could for our own Christmas celebrations. We bought a ball and burlap tree, made all of our decorations (popcorn garlands, paper ornaments, crystal ornaments, salt dough ornaments, orange pomanders), ordered and burned authentic bayberry candles on Christmas Eve, made luminaries, and made our own candles. Our kitchen table was covered for two weeks with all of our crafts and activities. It gave us a true appreciation for how important Christmas was for the originators of the holiday in America and how their whole family invested in preparation for it. It was so special!

For the Virtual Book Club blog hop, we chose Charlie Needs a Cloak.

For our activities, we made yarn dolls.

We then watched a couple of Youtube videos showing how to shear sheep and how to spin wool into fiber. Then we discussed the next step of using a loom to turn fiber into fabric, and then how to use patterns to make a garment and how to dye fabric.

The next step was to dye some "wool" to make a cloak. We took white felt (pretending it was wool) and dyed it "red" with boiled cranberries and white vinegar.

We used the fabric to make cloaks for our dolls.

Again, this book showed us and gave us an opportunity to experience how before our modern times, folks actually had to WORK for what they had. They didn't just go to the store to buy it. Dying the fabric took work. Fitting it to our dolls took work. And we didn't even have to spin the fibers into the fabric before we dyed it. (I was hoping that making the dolls from yarn would give us a similar appreciation for the work involved.) We were also able to discuss and see how these processes still take place today, but on a grander scale, to give us the clothing that we have. Our clothes start somewhere.

This was a great book with great lessons. We are linking up with Virtual Book Club for Kids at Toddler Approved and Read Aloud Thursday with Hope is the Word.

Next month ... a book by Jan Brett. And we have chosen a Christmas one!

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

A New Year, the Same Me

Happy 2019! It is that day of the year where everybody is up extra early starting their new exercise routine, eating only healthy foods, cracking open the pages of a new planner and Bible study, and debuting their Word for the year. You chuckle or roll your eyes, but you are doing at least three of these things. By the way, so am I. So let's start with the Word of the Year. Mine this year is Lagom. It's the Swedish word for "not too little, not too much, just right". It's a concept of being, doing or having just enough. So let's rewind to last New Year's Day. My Word was Might. And that's how I planned to tackle my year. And, I did. I worked out hard, I mommed hard, I traveled hard, I worked hard. And it was a good season. It prepared the way for this year. I accepted the Challenge I set for myself and succeeded. But, I don't need to keep up that pace. I am at a place in my life where I can kind of sit back and enjoy my life without f...

Science Sunday ~ Hmmm ... Let Me Think About It!

This week in our study of the Human Body , Brynne moved on to the Nervous System . Our first stop was a Pamela Hill Nettleton book called, Think, Think, Think: Learning About Your Brain . As part of our discussions about the brain , and the fact that it's the BOSS of the body, we discussed the importance of the spinal cord . We did a hands on spinal cord project by alternating gummy Life Savers and wagon wheel pasta on a pipe cleaner. We talked about why there was the "squishy" stuff in between the vertebra and how the back can bend and sway because of it. We completed "The Brynne" by adding the stomach, small intestine and large intestine, from our study last week of the Digestive System (although I just realized I have the large intestine coming out of the stomach, when the small intestine should be) and the brain and spinal cord. We are now done talking about the parts of the body and will conclude our study of the Human Body with a two-day unit ...

Erin D - The Usual MayhemDecember 8, 2012 at 6:59 AM
How could I have forgotten about yarn dolls? I hadn't thought about them in probably 30 years until I saw yours! I'll have to show my kids.

I love that you gave them an understanding of how much work went into everything at that time. What a greatlesson, especially in the season we're in where there's a lot of instant gratification!
MaryDecember 9, 2012 at 9:25 AM
What a great unit!
AnonymousDecember 9, 2012 at 3:29 PM
Love this! This was one of my favorite picture books. And we love all of Jan Brett's books, so I can't wait to see what's next:)

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