Book Club: Christmas-Themed Books for Children

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I love sharing holiday-themed books on my blog, A Mom's Quest to Teach. Children's Christmas-themed books can provide a mixture of stories. One can find stories that focus upon the birth of Jesus to those that share about Santa, Charles Dickens' The Christmas Carol, or spending the holiday with ones' family. Personally, I love that there is such a great variety because we then make many happy memories reading Christmas-themed books in the weeks leading up to Christmas. 

Christmas in the Big Woods 

To experience a typical Christmas in the early 1870s in Wisconsin, Christmas in the Big Woods is the perfect book to read with your children. The story is adapted from the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and illustrated by Renee Graef. The simple story certainly gets one in the mood for a family-focused Christmas. There are cookies to bake, molasses candy to make, and even snow angels to make outside. And the simple gifts in the stockings provide a perfect talking point for appreciating the small gifts we are given and what we can gift to others. 

It's Christmas 

An "I Can Read" book for reading alone, It's Christmas by Jack Prelutsky and pictures by Marylin Hafner, is a mixed bag in my opinion. I had great hopes for this slim book as the chapters are short and they rhyme, which makes reading it aloud easy, but as I read more and more of it, I found myself wanting to put it down. The child has a LONG list of wants for Christmas, the father refuses to pay for a tree so they go hunting for one in a forest, Santa Clauses abound as the family goes from place to place, and Auntie Flo buys her niece and nephew underwear. I wish I had read the book before reading it to our children. I learned again the importance of previewing materials we share with our children. 

On Christmas Eve 

Having enjoyed Goodnight Moon and Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, I was happy to check out On Christmas Eve from the library. This lovely tale about children sneaking downstairs on Christmas Eve was illustrated by Nancy Edwards Calder. I really like that the children snuck downstairs, saw the beautiful tree, and did not touch anything. While we were reading On Christmas Eve, our daughter kept saying, "No, they should not go downstairs. They are going to get in trouble." I love that she was worried about them doing right or wrong.

Christmas in Italy 

One of my goals for homeschooling our children is for them to learn about different cultures and customs. Reading Christmas in Italy by Jack Manning allowed us to talk about how important the birth of Jesus is to the celebration of Christmas in Italy. There were even directions to make an ornament at the of this short non-fiction book.

The 12 Bugs of Christmas 

Our children have seen a few episodes of Mac Lucado's Hermie & Friends. So, I thought maybe they would enjoy reading The 12 Bugs of Christmas (especially since they love the traditional version of the Christmas song). This is a cute little board book where each day brings more bugs joining in the story. By the end, 12 caterpillars join the story and are praying. This is a fun sing-along-song for the whole family.

From Christmases of the past to singing Christmas songs, there are many options to include Christmas-themed books into your homeschool day. I think it is a wonderful idea to read one Christmas book a day leading up to Christmas with children. What a great way to spend time together and spread some Christmas cheer! Does your family have any favorite Christmas-themed books that you read every year? Or perhaps you have another tradition involving Christmas stories? I would love to read about them!

Book Club: Make Way for Ducklings

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One of the books that has been included in several of our homeschooling curricula has been Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. While using StoryTime Treasures from Memoria Press, we read through the book with our son. Then, we had the pleasure of reading Make Way for Ducklings again with God's Creation from A to Z from My Father's World with our daughter. After reading the book multiple times, I decided we should make a cute craft to go along with it, too.

When you let the kids play with googly eyes, you see what happens. 

The Story 

Make Way for Ducklings takes readers on a journey with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard as they plan where they are going to live and start a family of their own. The book offers many opportunities for children to practice their reading and rhyming as they learn the names of the ducklings – Jack, Kack, Lack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack. Parents can also discuss the importance of following traffic rules when crossing the street.

What About Ducks? 

Ducks are very interesting birds to study. We are fortunate that there are several lakes within a short driving distance that we can visit to see them in person. In the past, I have worked with ducks while working in education at a city zoo.

• Ducks live in both fresh water and salt water 
• Male ducks are called drakes, female ducks are called hens, and baby ducks are ducklings 
• Depending on what types of food a duck eats, they may have to dive deeper into the water 
• Ducks have been domesticated and kept on farms or as pets for more than 500 years 
• Ducks are raised for their eggs, meat, and feathers 
• Ducks' feathers have a waterproof quality to them – hence the saying, "Let it roll off you, like water off a ducks' back."
• In many species of ducks, the males and females have different feather colors and patterns

Materials 

• Blue, yellow, orange, white, and black construction paper 
• Glue sticks and white glue 
• Googly eyes (optional) 
• Scissors 
• Feathers (optional) 

Steps

1. Gather all of your materials. 

2. Lay out all of the materials onto the blue construction paper (you will only need have a sheet of construction).

3. Glue the body of the duck onto the blue construction paper.  

4. Glue on the head of the duck onto the blue construction paper. 

5. Glue on the eyes. You can use googly eyes if you or your children wish.

6. Glue on the beak and add the nostril. 

7. If you are adding feathers, you can add them for the wings or tail.

If you have any favorite duck-themed crafts or children's books, please share in the comments! 

Book Club: Children's Autumn-Themed Books

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A short while ago, I shared some of our favorite Halloween-themed books. What if you don't celebrate Halloween? There are still plenty of great books that you can read during the months of Autumn with your children. I did a quick search of our library's collection and discovered more than we would be able to check out at one time! How exciting to have new books to read in our homeschool. 

What New Autumn-Themed Books Did We Pick Up At the Library? 

Counting on Fall by Lizann Flatt and illustrated by Ashley Barron 

This is one book in the Math in Nature series (we will need to check out the other three) where children work on their understanding of basic math concepts (like counting) while reading about different things that take place during the Fall. There are twelve different scenes that depict the following: deciduous trees, eastern gray squirrels, milkweed pods, humpback whales, Canada geese, pronghorn antelopes, raccoons, monarch butterflies, little brown bats, pikas, black bears, and grackles. In addition to the text about the images, there are questions that ask your children to interpret the images by counting and doing simple addition and subtraction. At the end of the story, you can read more about the animals and plants shared in the book. 

Personally, I really liked reading this book with our two children. I loved the 'what if' questions (that they both could take turns answering) as well as the beautiful cut-paper collage illustrations provided to accompany the easy-to-read text.  I can easily see this being a wonderful addition to your homeschooling bookshelves.

Pick a Circle, Gather Squares: A Fall Harvest of Shapes by Felicia Sanzari Chernesky and illustrated by Susan Swan 

When I picked out this book from the list of autumn-themed books our library had listed, I was not sure what to expect. I thought it might be a little too young for our kindergartner and second-grader to enjoy but I was wrong. Our second-grader and I sat together while I read it aloud and he went through and picked out all the shapes in the illustrations. 

For your preschooler, you can easily incorporate Pick a Circle, Gather Squares into your homeschool day. It would a perfect starting point for a day of searching for shapes either at a pumpkin patch or around the house. If we had a lot of pumpkins to carve, I could see us using the book as inspiration for choosing out different jack-o-lantern shapes. 

Footballs and Falling Leaves: A Fall Counting Book by Rebecca Fjelland Davis 

Like many counting books, this Autumn-themed one focuses upon the numbers one through ten for your preschooler or kindergartner. The bright colorful pictures open up discussions of bears hibernating for the winter, farming equipment like combines, how corn is used to feed farm animals, and more. At the end of the book, there is reinforcement for your child to practice counting again. There are also two pages of facts about fall, which are a nice addition to help you and your child explore more together. 

Hooray for Fall! by Kazuo Iwamura 

In Hooray for Fall!, we meet Mick, Mack, and Molly as their squirrel parents prepare for the Fall. Mama squirrel knitted her children three matching red sweaters as they explore outside, Mick, Mack, and Molly discover so many things are red like their sweaters. There are red mushrooms, red berries, red leaves, and even a red sky. 

To accompany the reading of Hooray for Fall!, you could spend some time reading about bears and create a bear craft or make a nature-themed work of art (N is for Nature). Or perhaps a walk at sunset would be a nice way to end your homeschool day? 

Fall by Moira Butterfield 

Finally, I want to share an Autumn-themed book that will explain the season of Fall to your kindergartner or first-grader. In Fall, you and your children will read about how the sun's journey helps impact the seasons on Earth. There are also great discussions about Fall weather, farm life during Autumn, how animals adapt and migrate during the Fall, and some of the stories associated with Fall. 

And if you are in search of some Autumn-themed learning ideas, this book has some ideas for you! There are painting suggestions, nature-themed puppets, and some simple science experiments. Your child can also find definitions of such important words as chlorophyll, migration, and thermometer in the Words to Remember section. 

Does your family have any favorite Autumn-themed children's books? Perhaps there are a few board books that always seem to find their way into your Fall Morning Basket? 

Looking for more children's books? If you are in search of Halloween-themed children's books, check out my Book Club post. Or perhaps you are studying the early presidents of the United States? Why not learn more about George Washington? 

Crafts: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Look Like?

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Our children love creating crafts – especially if they are centered around animals! So this month, I decided we should make a brown bear craft inspired by Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Our youngest son was gifted a copy of the book when he was quite little, and we have been enjoying this classic story ever since.

While I designed the craft, I did a little bit of research so I could share some Brown Bear facts with our children. What do they look like? Where do they live? What types of food do they enjoy eating? 

Brown Bear Facts 

• They are omnivorous mammals living in forest habitats and mountains 
• Brown Bears can weigh up to 1,500 pounds 
• They are often solitary except for gathering along salmon-spawning streams and other areas where they go for food 
• They often give birth to twins, but litters can have 1 to 4 cubs 
• There are many subspecies of Brown Bears, including ones known as Kodiak and Grizzly 
• They have short, thick legs 
• Brown Bears can hibernate for four to six months in their den during the winter months 
• They live up to 25 years in the wild and 40 years in captivity 

Materials 

• Brown construction paper 
• Glue sticks 
• Scissors 
• Construction paper for the background (I let our children choose what colors they wanted to use) 
• Googly eyes

Steps 

1. Gather your materials. I sketched the shapes needed for the Brown Bear before we made the craft. 

2. Lay all the pieces onto the construction paper chosen for the background. Glue them on the construction paper one by one. 

3. Glue on the legs for the bear. The bear is in profile. 

4. Glue on the body, head, and ear of the bear. 

5. Glue on the snout of the bear and then a googly eye for your bear. 

6. Design the background. Draw a cave, a stream, or the night sky. 

Do Your Children Want to Learn More about Animals? 

SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers many interesting and educational opportunities to learn about animals. One such course is God's Beautiful Creatures, which will introduce your young homeschooling child to 120 different animals using eBooks and activities to help them learn about backyard animals, colorful animals, desert animals, furry animals, and more! 

You can even incorporate art into your studying of bears with Learning About Art offered by SchoolhouseTeachers.com. In a previous post, I shared our experiences with the course when our children were younger. Over the course of ten lessons your young homeschooling children will be introduced to artists, letters, animals, drawing techniques, and more! 

If you are homeschooling children in third-fourth grades, you might find A World of Animals science course at SchoolhouseTeachers.com to be a useful one. In this text-based course, your children will learn about different species of dogs, owls, hamsters, and grizzlies!

Crafts: Shark Paper Bag Puppet

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If you have children, you have probably heard the Baby Shark song. There are many different versions online (some more annoying than others) but it is popular with kids as it is easy to sing and remember. Personally, I think there are way worse songs they could be sharing with me so I let them have their fun in moderation.

Our children have a Baby Shark book published by Scholastic which is based on the song. It is bright and colorful and even includes hand motions to do along with the reading or singing of the song.

An informal pop culture holiday week is held every year to honor sharks—Shark Week takes over the television programming, educators share books, crafts, and more that relate to sharks, and we see advertising with shark themes. I allowed myself to be inspired this year and created two shark crafts for our children.

Shark Paper Bag Puppet

Materials

• Brown paper lunch bag
• Gray construction paper or scrapbook paper 
• Dark gray construction paper or scrapbook paper 
• Red construction paper
• White construction paper  
• Glue stick 
• Scissors 
• Pencil

Steps

1. Gather all your materials. I pre-cut the pieces for our children to make things go more quickly. If your children are old enough, you can have them sketch out the shapes they need to create the craft on their own.

2. Glue on top of the shark's mouth on the top part of the paper bag.

3. Glue on the bottom part of the shark's mouth. It should be glued partially underneath the paper bag flap.

4. Glue on the two red pieces of construction paper to create the inside of the shark's mouth.

5. Glue on the eye. (The other eye is hidden behind the shark's head as the shark is jumping out of the water at an angle.)

6. Glue on the nostrils.

7. Glue on the teeth.

Photograph of teeth by 2211438 from Pixabay 

Shark Teeth Facts

When creating a puppet where the teeth are so prominent, we had to learn about shark teeth!

• Sharks are born with teeth.
• Sharks are continually growing new teeth in the back of their mouth. The new teeth push forward and then replace the old ones that get pushed out. 
• Most sharks have 5 to 15 rows of teeth. 
• They lose about one tooth per week. 
• Lost teeth can be replaced as quickly as in one day. 
• A shark may go through over 20,000 teeth in their lifetime. 
• Great White Sharks may have as many as 3000 teeth at one time. 
• Shark's teeth have a triangular shape. 

Photograph by Simone Moreira from Pixabay

Bonus Craft: Shark Scene

If your children still want to craft after they make their Shark Paper Bag Puppets, then let their creativity go wild with this simple shark scene.

Materials

• Blue construction paper 
• Scissors
• Glue Stick 
• Pencil
• Blue tissue paper 
• Gray Construction paper 

Steps 

1. Gather all your materials.

2. Your child can decide where in the ocean to glue their shark fin.

3. Your child can cut wavy pieces of blue tissue paper to glue onto the ocean. Glue as many layers as it takes to look like the ocean. 

Do You Want to Learn More About Sharks? 

A great place to learn more about animals is SchoolhouseTeachers.com. From studying sea creatures like marine turtles and deep sea sharks with Marine Biology to reading about alligators, beagles, and hammerheads, there are many options for your children at SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

There are several courses and lessons about animals including: All About Animals, A World of Animals, Bedbug Bible Gang - Amazing Animals, Drawing in Pen and Ink: Animals, and more!

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With hundreds of courses to choose from, you will have more than enough material to keep your little ones busy this summer!

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Book Club: The Farmer's Away! Baa! Neigh!

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If your children are learning about farm animals, The Farmer's Away! Baa! Neigh! by Anne Vittur Kennedy is a perfect choice to add to your reading time. Our five-year-old son thoroughly enjoyed reading the book aloud. He examined each of the pictures and imagined what the animals were doing on each page of the book.

Fun book for your young readers! 

Our son's favorite part was where the dog warned the other animals – "Shh!" 

The farmer is returning! 

When the farmer goes away, the animals have a very exciting day. They ride down a lazy river, enjoy a picnic, go on a roller coaster ride, and more—all before the farmer returns. 

Activities 

This book naturally lends itself to making animal noises and sounds with your children. I created a fun Animal Matching Sounds page for you to download free. Why not see if your child knows all the barnyard animals and their sounds?

If your child is a little older, research one or more of the animals from The Farmer's Away! Baa! Neigh! with a free Research worksheet. If you live near a farm you can tour, you might even be able to meet the animal in person!

Create a Mouse

Materials

• Coffee Filter
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• White Construction Paper
• Pink Construction Paper
• Black Construction Paper 

Steps 

1. Gather all of your materials.

2. Either trace and cut out your shapes prior to getting started with your children or allow your children to trace and cut out their own shapes. You will need four circles of different sizes for the ears and eyes, four long rectangles for the whiskers, one triangle for the nose, and one mouth cut out.

4. Attach the ears.

5. Attach the eyes and then the nose.

6. Attach the mouth and then the whiskers. 

7. Display your child's completed mouse in your house!

Resources 

Download Match Animal Sounds
Download Researching Farm Animals

Looking for other farm animal crafts? 

We have made cute lamb masks, paper plate pigs, and chicks from cardboard rolls.