Book Walk Reading Activity

I originally saw this idea on a website from Vermont. A story is placed on stakes around the location of your choice at regular intervals and children take a walk to read the book. I loved the idea and decided to try it at home.

They had laminated book pages and placed them on nice stakes. I did a cheaper version and essentially did not spend a dime.

Each page of the book was on a separate stake.



I found these fans at the Colonial golf tournament several weeks ago. I came home with a handful at the end of the day.

It took two copies of the same book to create this book walk. I used a small Clifford book I had at home and used a tape runner to adhere the pages to each fan. I numbered them so I would not lose track of the order of the pages.



 


The only disadvantage to the fan stakes was we had to squat to read each page

This was our third time running around to read the book

We had a visitor along the way

Now the goats want in on the entertainment. My son was having so much fun he ran from page to page!

My children and I had an amazing time on our book walk. I love any activity that encourages reading. I am sure there will be more books and book walks to come.

Just a Hint:

This is easiest to do with books that do not have illustrations or text that crosses the pages.

*The StoryWalk™ concept was created by Anne Ferguson and developed in cooperation with the Kellogg Hubbard Library and the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition. To read more click here StoryWalk.

Other fun suggestions for a book walk:

• In the dark with flashlights
• Father's Day with appropriate themed book
• In a park or on a trail
• On a family camping trip
• On a miniature golf course

Parties I linked to:

  

Dollhouse Transformed to Firestation

I found an old shell of a dollhouse on a curb last summer. I picked it up without knowing yet what I was going to do with it. My husband would call that a bad habit. Lol! My son was totally obsessed with fireman so I decided he needed a fire station for Christmas. I had a lot of trouble finding the perfect one online and they were very expensive...so I created my own.

The dollhouse started out light wood. I began by sanding it down and spray painting it red.

The next step was to cut out a small hole and install a fire pole. The fire pole was a wooden rod painted silver.

I used some small brick dollhouse paper on the front and varied colors and patterns of contact paper in the house for flooring and wall paper. I sewed a rug, blankets, and pillows from fireman themed fabric.

I used black and yellow felt to sew coats to hang in the lockers.

The rest of it was dollhouse furniture from when I was a little girl.

It was a huge hit with my little fireman.

Sound the alarm! 

Parties I linked to:

Skip to my Lou  

Between Naps on the Porch

 

Ramen Noodle Salad (Coleslaw)

I would love to share one of my favorite "water" holiday recipes. I consider water holidays Memorial, 4th of July, and Labor Day. Our family always finds a lake or a pool to celebrate by, enjoy, and eat tons of food!

The only trick to this easy meal is it needs to be made several hours or the night before your event (best) to taste perfect.

Ingredients:

1 pack slaw

green onions finely chopped (approx 1/4 cup or less)

1/2 cup toasted seeds (sunflower or almonds)

2 packs ramen noodles (chicken flavor) broken into small pieces

3/4 cup oil

1 tbsp pepper (scant)

4 tbsp vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

1 of the chicken pack flavorings in ramen noodle package

Now for the difficult instructions...

Pour, Toss, and Chill!

Additional tips:

I like to go in and use a fork or my fingers after several hours and break up the ramen noodles even more. Best chilled over night.

                                  Photo by Kathy Maister

Parties I linked to:

   

Candy Bouquet

We are so lucky to have the teachers we did this year for our kids. We wanted to properly thank them. I wanted a gift my son could help with so we decided to make a candy bouquet with gift cards as well.

Supplies:

Medium size basket

Floral foam

Skewers

Miniature candy bars

Tissue Paper

Hot glue gun

Gift cards (if desired)

To start we placed some floral foam in the bottom of the basket. I like to cover at least 3/4 of the bottom.

Next we used the hot glue to attach the candy and gift cards to the skewers. I bought a bunch of $5 gift cards to different places such as Starbucks, Subway, Chick-fil-a, etc.



Then I cut tissue paper into four squares each. I like to use a variety of colors and prints. Gather it as if you were putting it in a small gift bag and then place the skewer through it.

Begin positioning them one by one in the basket. It will look better the more you fill.

Once the basket has an even distribution of candy and tissue paper begin adding the skewers by themselves to fill the holes.

I am lucky my little helper did not eat them all before we were done!





I hope they enjoy it!



I linked to these parties:

        

Between Naps on the Porch

The Gypsy Corner

Hamburger Bun Pizzas

These are not that original but they sure were fun and fast. I have always heard of using English Muffins for pizza but I had never tried hamburger buns. We always have some leftover from hamburger night and they are flexible because you can put any toppings your kids want on.

I sprayed them with nonstick spray with the open side up. My son added the cheese and the pepporoni's. Of course you could add any toppings you desire.

I forgot to spray the butter before the cheese and pepporoni's. Oops! That is not grease....just butter spray.

I broiled them in the oven for 2 1/2 minutes.

Cade was much more willing to try a new lunch because he helped make it.

One little happy guy with pizza mess all over his face!

Creative Baby Shower Wrapping

I have a sweet friend that just had twin boys...which means she needs double the clothes. I hit a huge sale before they arrived and bought her some matching outfits for the fall. I love clever wrapping so I hung all the clothes on a line like this.




 This obviously was a baby girl's shower I did previously. The last thing that she pulled out of the box on the line was a nursing bra. That gave the girls at the party a good laugh!

Supplies needed: rope, clothes pins, and lots of cute clothes. I started with a medium size box. It is surprising how big it needs to be when you start folding the clothes in there with the clothes pins on.

Start by hanging your first two items on your "clothes line" with the clothespins right side up.

Then flip the second item over with right sides together so you can add your next two items.

Continue this process until all of your clothes are folded into one pile. Place in desired box. When your baby shower recipient pulls them out they will all be hanging on the line with right sides facing the party.