Finger Puppet Stories

I have a little collection of finger puppets and today Paige and I decided we would use them to tell stories. We went through a really simple nursery rhyme book that we have and found nursery rhymes that we had finger puppets to go with. We improvised a little, we didn't have any sheep, so Little Bo Peep had a sheep that looked an awful lot like a deer, but 3 year olds don't care. We had a lot of fun. I've had my finger puppets for a long time. I bought them when Blake was a baby, but we've never used them much. I thought my kids would just automatically come up with creative stories for them, WRONG! However, using them with a familiar story worked out great. We also did the Mrs. Wishy-Washy story from yesterday and that was fantastic because Paige could remember it from yesterday. If you don't have finger puppets, use stuffed animals or Barbie dolls or matchbox cars. You and your kids will have a great time. After awhile Paige even suggested that she wanted to draw a picture of the nursery rhymes we were doing. She is really into drawing and coloring at the moment, so above are her versions of Little Bo Peep and Little Miss Muffet.

Thankful

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would share a book I am thankful for. My mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas a few years ago. I had wanted it so bad and was so excited to get it! Mary Englebreit is one of my favorite illustrators and her huge book of nursery rhymes is amazing! This book sits on one of my end tables in my front room so I see it everyday and we read from it regularly. When I was in college and taking classes about teaching children to read, I remember hearing about how important nursery rhymes were in helping young children develop pre-reading skills. Professors stressed that nursery rhymes were something that society was failing to teach their children and it made reading much more difficult. I thought that was silly. Nursery rhymes seemed so lame, there was so much other great literature, why waste time on nursery rhymes. Several things have changed my mind. I have discovered that there are amazing nursery rhyme collections available that make reading nursery rhymes much more exciting. More importantly, I have seen how reading and re-reading nursery rhymes helps my children. Unlike other stories, nursery rhymes are quick, uncomplicated and easy to remember. Young children love the singsong beat and rhymes. As you read them aloud, children listen and then as they become more familiar, chant right along with you. It makes reading aloud so fun. Later, the ability they have developed to recognize rhymes, helps them learn to read. I am thankful for my big red book of Mary Englebreit nursery rhymes and the way it sits in a very visible place in my front room and reminds me daily to take advantage of the little minutes here or there in my day and read a nursery rhyme or two to my kids.

P.S. I just discovered that there is now a Mary Englebreit Nursery Stories book that is full of fairy tales like "The Three Little Pigs". Guess what I plan on adding to my Christmas list!

My Favorite Board Books

My sister requested that I do a post about some of my favorite board books, the ones I would buy first if I were starting over with my first baby. The first book I think every child needs to have is a copy of Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. We also love In a Big Red Barn, by the same author. I believe the most important type of book to read to very young children is Nursery Rhymes. There's a lot of research out there saying how important nursery rhymes are for beginning readers, so kids should be familiar with them from the very beginning. It doesn't really matter what versions you choose, but my own personal favorites are by Mary Englebreit and Tomie daPaola. You should also have a couple of counting books. Some of our favorites are Doggies, by Sandra Boynton and One Hungry Monster by Susan O'Keefe. ABC books are also important. Again, it doesn't matter which ones you pick, but in my opinion, Dr. Suess's ABC is a classic. Next, make sure you have several books that have rhyming, sing song text. Sandra Boynton's Snuggle Puppy is wonderful! Several others that are personal favorites are Mrs. Wishy-Washy, by Joy Cowley, Peek-a-WHO? by Nina Laden, and Is Your Mama a Llama, by Steven Kellogg and as many Dr. Suess books as you can get. I beleive it is never too early to read to your kids. I start with mine from the very beginning and I do my absolute best to try and read some with them each day. Reading out loud to young children every day is the very best thing you can do to help them be successful in school. It doesn't matter if it is the very same book every day. In fact, I try to read nursery rhymes to my 5 month old almost every day. I know how hard this is, but our natural instinct is to take the books away from babies and toddlers because they chew on them and we are afraid they might ruin them. That is part of how little ones learn to love books. I'm not saying you should give them your very best, expensive books, but you need to make sure that you have at least 10 or so books that your child can have that you don't care if they chew on or ruin. One of our copies of Goodnight Moon, has no cover and is beaten to death, but we still read that copy regularly, because that is the one my kids love.