You Pinspire Me
I love books. My love affair started when I was just wee, and has continued through my life. I always blasted through the ‘suggested reading goals’ in Grade 1 and 2, and by grade 6 and 7 I was reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (perhaps not the best choice for a 12 year old) and John Grisham.
Yes, I am about as cool as I look in these pictures.
I love reading to my kids, but there are times when I can’t be reading to them because I’m making supper (or writing a blog post). My kids get 30-45 minutes of ‘screen time’ on an average day. Occasionally, they get to choose what they’re going to watch, but because I have to listen to whatever it is that they’re going to watch (and one can only take SO MUCH “Backpack, Backpack, Backpack, Backpack!” “SWIPER, NO SWIPING! SWIPER, NO SWIPING! SWIPER, NO SWIPING!”) I have the final say.
As I’ve said before, we don’t have cable or satellite. All our kid’s content is streamed on Netflix – and there’s so many good things to choose from! Not surprisingly, I gravitate towards the video renditions of books. There are several collections of Scholastic books (including some classics like The Snowy Day), Harold & the Purple Crayon (I heart Harold, I really do!), Danny & the Dinosaur, The Lorax, Ernest & Celestine, and, of course, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (& other stories).
I tend to get distracted from my own work when these are on, because I just can’t resist a good story. The TV version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is bright & colourful, calm & soothing, and exciting & captivating all at once, much like the book that we all know & love.
There are all sorts of very easy The Very Hungry Caterpillar activities to do with your kids. Two years ago, I made this super cute eggshell carton caterpillar with one of my babysitting kids after reading the book together – head over here for the easy instructions!
This week, we read the book (again), watched the movie, and then decided that we’d make a beautiful butterfly!
Materials Needed:
- round coffee filters
- Crayola washable markers
- spray water bottle
- wooden clothespins
- pipe cleaners
Directions:
- Press the coffee filters flat and have each child draw all over them with different bright colours.
- Hang the coloured coffee filters on a line and spray lightly with water.
- Allow the filters to dry completely.
- Place a clothespin at the top middle of the coffee filter with one hand, and with the other gather and push the coffee filter from the bottom middle up so that the whole thing is pinched.
- Feed a pipe cleaner through the spring and curl each end.
- Draw a face on the butterfly.
I love to read my kids the books before we watch the movies of them – that way, they associate the movie with the book rather than the other way around, and get more excited to read the book again after they watched the movie. Do you like to expose your kids to the literature first, or the movie first?
Disclaimer: I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam. I receive special perks in exchange for my posts, however all views & opinions are honest and mine.
Jenn vanOosten
Latest posts by Jenn vanOosten (see all)
- How I Epically Failed the #RenewLife 30 Day Challenge… and Why that Failure is Helping Me Kick Off a Great 2018 - January 8, 2018
- What to Watch on Netflix: Jenn’s Top Picks from 2017 #StreamTeam - January 2, 2018
- I’ll take my Netflix To Go, Please! - December 5, 2017
