Week Twenty-Four: We're Going On A Bear Hunt

Week 24 we read We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen:

After reading it, I set up this dramatic/ sensory play for them:

I put on a read out loud video of the story that they watched over and over as they acted it out with the characters:

First I laid down a plastic table cloth, anticipating a big mess.  The first thing in the line was a toy bed.  The first tin had green Easter grass as the long wavy grass in the story.  Next came water for the deep cold river.  After that was edible mud (made using this recipe, you could also use chocolate pudding) as the thick oozy mud.  Then came toy trees to represent the big dark forest.  Next was a tin of real snow as a swirling whirling snowstorm (you could always use cotton balls if there's no snow on the ground).  Then was a Playmobil cave as the narrow gloomy cave, complete with a toy bear.  

They played with this over and over and over.  When we were done, I rinsed off the toys and scooped up and threw away everything else.  Super easy.

Next, we drew pictures sequencing each of the things the family went through on this page.

On Friday, we made gorgeous story based maps, but forgot to take any pictures.  They were inspired by these ones by Buggy and Buddy:

They kids loved acting out the story using their maps.

Week Twenty-Three: The Carrot Seed

Week 23 we read The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss:

I made a carrot sensory bin using the lentils from Lentil week, a gardening hand shovel, some brown pots, and a plastic carrot.

I also made a carrot harvest egg carton (inspiration here):

We watched this YouTube video about carrot harvesting, as well as others we found about carrots on the side bar.

 Next, we made this adorable carrot craft:

Finally, we attempted to grow carrot tops but it didn't work for us because the water would dry up since we only came in twice a week.  Oh well.  Here's the beginning, anyway:

Lastly, we colored these plant diagrams.

Week Twenty-Two: Lentil

Week 22 we read Lentil by Robert McCloskey:

After reading, I set up a taste test with cocoa powder, lemon slices, sugar, and salt.  They used these sheets to record notes about how each food tasted.

I set up a lentil sensory bin using lentils (which didn't really stay in the bin):

Next, we made harmonicas out of popsicle sticks.  Here is how.

On Friday we played with our harmonicas again, played with the sensory bin again, and then we whittled like Old Sneep using bar soap and plastic knives.