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Bringing Books to Life

We love to read books in our home. We have a few of our own, but most of our large piles are borrowed from the library. My kids love the library and often get hooked on a book or two and don't want to return it.

So we've taken a few of their favorite stories and made them come alive with a craft or activity of some sort. Be creative and let the imaginations soar to get those characters and rhymes to jump off the page and into your home!

Here are some of the ways we've brought our books to life.

Where The Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

A few years ago my daughter became obsessed with the children's book Where The Wild Things Are. It is no exaggeration that we read that book more than 10 times a day almost everyday for quite some time. Her love for the book was propelled by the way my husband would read the book with fabulous voices and sound effects each night at bed time.

Soon enough she and my husband had that book memorized in both English and Spanish and full on plays were being acted out. Several years later these night time story tellings and plays are still going on.

One day we decided to make a prop and chose Max's boat. We used a empty diaper box, paper, wooden skewer, glue, tape and a pen to make the boat.

It was simple, frugal and added a lot of fun to the story telling! I'm thinking it's time to make another one, or two or four!

Disney Stories

Back in college I took a children's literature class. It was such a fun class. We got to read children's books, give book reports, and order from the Scholastic book order forms just like when we where in Elementary school.

One of the books I ordered was a Disney Stories Collection book.

My kids like all the short stories from the book that summarize the Disney movies (many which they've never seen).

This summer in our efforts to keep up on reading and learning the kids chose the story of Aladdin. We decided to make paper bag puppets of some of the main characters. We used lots of papers, markers and glue. Again, nothing elaborate was done or used but everyone got to help create and bring the characters to life.

When done with the crafting I read the story and they played with the puppet characters.

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Suess

Oh boy! My three oldest kids (7, 4 and 3) have this book nearly memorized! They love, love, love this book and we read it a lot. It's silly, creative, has a good message, and is a classic rhyming tale by Dr. Suess.

This time we got a little messy and did pudding painting (find out more about this HERE) to bring this story to life.

While reading the story to my kids I would stop every few pages and they would a picture in the pudding about what I was reading. Don't forget to lick your fingers many times throughout this activity. That is what makes it the most fun!

How do you make books come to life in your home?!
Please share. I'd love to implement or even showcase your ideas here on my blog!

Want a book collection of your own at a great price?!  They have books for all ages and a huge collection to choose from. Books are my favorite to give and recieve! Check out this book club - it would make a great gift too. Posted by Daisha at 1:16 PM Labels: Books, Crafts, Kids, Learning, Reading

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