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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Having fun using ideas from picture books

We've had a spell lately of finding books that the boys really, really enjoy that have inspired some fun in real life.

The first is Anthony Browne's, The Shape Game.  G and M were very quiet while we read it which can mean they are really thinking and taking it all in or can mean they are bored and .01 seconds from getting a massive case of the wigglies.

When they came to the page where every person in the painting has the dad's face, including the dog, M just about fell off the bed laughing.  Later that day, when D came home from work, M made a point to show him that page in the book.

What was really fun was when I explained the shape game to N, G and M, and we played it together.  The results were pretty cool.

The point of the game is for one person to draw a random shape/squiggly in one color of marker/crayon.  The other person has to make something "real" from that nebulous shape using another color of marker/crayon.

The top figure is what G came up with from the purple blob I made.  The bottom figure was my idea from his green criss-crossed shape.  

The top fish is my creation from N's green blob.  The bottom horse is her creation from my blue blob. 


 G drew the green funnel-shaped squiggly, which I then turned into a cobra being charmed out of its basket.  

 N drew the brown blob, which G then turned into a whale.

This one took a little bit of discussion.  I drew the blue squiggle.  G just made the green line in between.  When I asked him what it was, he said it was the thing they put in between his teeth when they took pictures of his teeth at the dentist.  I suggested we draw eyes, a nose and the special camera.  I was pretty amazed at the idea he had just from my blue squiggle.  


The other book we read that G especially loved is Substitute Creature by Chris Gall.  I had read it with him a few times, but when he read it with my mom (Nana), they decided to make cookies similar to the ones at the end of the book.


I love it when books inspire us to do things out of the ordinary, use our imaginations a little.  

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