Bookworms: Beezus and Ramona

We had our first Bookworms (mom and me book club) activity of the summer on Friday!
Officially, we were just supposed to discuss the first chapter of "Beezus and Ramona", but I included activities from several of the Ramona books.
Since our book club is all ages (ranging from 18 months to 11 years), we go about it a little differently. Instead of sitting in a circle and having a discussion, I come up with a few different discussion questions and activities to go along with them and the kids can think/talk about the questions as they play.

My "brick factory" was a giant ice cube I made with a large tupperware container. I put it in the wading pool with some rocks and the kids smashed it to bits.

I set out our BYU vs Utah checkers set in a corner on the deck to go with this discussion question.

I unrolled a long sheet of butcher paper and provided crayons for the kids to draw the longest picture in the world. This was just when they were getting started, but it turned out so cute!

I put together a little sensory bin with sand, shovels, and a little steam shovel. This was mostly for the little kids like Juno.

I made these tin can stilts a few months ago during a crazy big afternoon thunderstorm that was terrifying my kids. It's amazing how such a simple, free toy can capture a child's imagination!
Well, there you have it--my Ramona party. It was so much fun to plan and so much for the 20 or so kids that came.
And now a word on Ramona. I love the Ramona series. Something I really admire about it is the way Ramona's parents are so down to earth. They love and support Ramona, but they don't make excuses for her, they don't solve her problems, and they let her learn from her mistakes. As a parent, it is so easy to want to protect your kids from everything, even (maybe especially) from themselves. Maybe our society has changed, maybe it's because now everything is instantaneous and broadcast all over the web, but it's one thing I really love about Ramona: it reminds me to accept that my children will make mistakes and to let them make mistakes.
What books are you reading this summer?

that time of year again!!

School is almost out and you're probably wondering what to do with your kids all summer.

One thing you can add to your list is Bookworms, our mom-and-me summer book club! If you are in my area, you are more than welcome to join our neighborhood in this fun summer activity. If you're not local, start your own chapter! The goal is to keep kids reading all summer long, while having some fun along the way!

Our first activity this year will be a really fun Ramona themed party where we will discuss the first chapter of "Beezus and Ramona" (it's a long chapter and all the chapters in this book are stand alone stories so it works out perfectly). And when I say "discuss", I don't mean sit in a circle and talk about the book--I mean play games, do activities, and eat food from the book! At this activity, we're also going to decide what to read for the rest of the summer (we meet again in July and August) so come with ideas.
I hope to see LOTS of you there, ready to read!

Bookworms: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" party!

The summer is coming to a close. We've been reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and today we had our last Bookworms meeting to discuss it!

"I've got a golden ticket..." That song has been stuck in my head for weeks, ever since I made these little invitations to hand out to the neighborhood moms.

Since we had such a big age range (from toddlers Juno's age to almost 11-year-olds), I decided to do something a little different. Instead of sitting in a circle and discussing the book like a traditional book club, I set up a couple different stations where the kids could do activities inspired by the book. I included a few discussion questions at each station to guide the conversations.

The Inventing Room

Our "Inventing Room" was a play-dough station. I was inspired by this awesome blog post about Willy Wonka play dough. I made a few different kinds of play dough and provided beads, buttons, jingle bells, pompoms, and star confetti to help the kids create their own kind of candy. I also set out little plastic bags and tags so the kids could write a description of their candy and take it home with them :)

 
Hard at work!

This is our cute neighbor, Dylan. He made bacon flavored candy--he rolled a pink ball and then added beads for eyes and a button for a snout! So creative!

Juno loved this station. She stayed here pretty much the whole party--at least until she realized there was unattended candy on the deck!

The Juicing Room

I put discussion questions in blue balloons and invited the kids to pop them and answer the questions. Most of the questions were simple things like "Who was your favorite character?" or "Which child do you think you are most like?"

The Fizzy Lifting Room

I didn't get a picture of this station, but I set up our bubble machine, inspired by the fizzy lifting drinks that Charlie and Grandpa Joe drank. This station had questions about rule-breaking. Have you ever broken a rule and later wish you hadn't?

The kids had fun rotating through the stations and then digging in to the candy and running around the yard. Here's Tempe and Helena with their twins, Blake and Luke, who are the cutest identical twins ever. Tempe can already tell them apart!
Bookworms was a great experience this year--I can't wait to do it again next summer!

Bookworms: Teddy Bear Picnic

We had our very first Bookworms club meeting of the summer recently!
If you don't remember, Bookworms is the neighborhood mom-and-me book club a friend and I put together for the summer.
We're reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to discuss in August, but getting together in June and July to discuss picture books.
Our June activity was a teddy bear picnic!
All the neighborhood kids and their moms were invited to bring their special childhood bear (or moose, in Tempe's case) and favorite teddy bear story. I set up a little snack station in the backyard, spread some colorful blankets on the lawn, and provided a stack of teddy bear books, a plush picnic basket with plush food, and a teddy bear puzzle for entertainment.

My friend Lauren made scrumptious lemon-blueberry scones and I made sparkling blackberry lemonade (strawberry lemonade + blackberry Izzie + frozen mixed berries). I scoured the DI until I found three little chairs like the ones Goldilocks might have found in the home of the Three Bears.

I filled our picnic basket with a stack of teddy bear books from our own collection and from the library. We listened to a Teddy Bear Picnic song and I read my family's favorite teddy bear book--"Where's My Teddy?" by Jez Alborough. After I read my book, all the kids got a chance to stand up and tell us about their bear and the book they brought. After that, the kids had a great time looking at each other's books, playing with some of the toys I put out, and snacking while the moms visited.

The lemonade was an especially big hit!

Tempe, Helena, and I have been having a great time reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and choosing what books to take to our next Bookworms meeting in July.

Are you doing anything special to encourage summer reading? I'd love to hear about it!