Monica Acker

Lucy and the String, by Vanessa Roeder, is a sweet story about friendship, mistakes, and string. When Lucy spies a bit of string she cannot resist the urge to give it a tug. She discovers Hank (a bear) and his unraveling pants at the other end of the string. Lucy tries many ways to make her mistake right with hilarious accompanying illustrations. When Lucy finds the just right solution, she and Hank are bound in a close-knit friendship.

We decided to have some string fun in Creative Hands for children 3-5 years old.

What you need:

• Burlap cut in rectangles
• Yarn in various colors
• Masking or painter’s tape
• Plastic yarn needles
• Sharpie

Before the children arrived, I cut the burlap and covered the edges with tape to prevent pulling and itchiness. Then I gave the children the option to draw a shape or letter in sharpie or sew free form. It was amazing to see how quickly the children took to the up and down pattern of sewing while working their fine motor muscles. The finished products are frame worthy!

• 

• 

The Rabbit Listened is my favorite book of 2018. When a child creates a magnificent block structure only to watch it fall down due to unforeseen circumstances, all of the animals come to help. Each animal has its own coping mechanism, but when the child does not take to the ideas presented by the animals, they storm off. Only the Rabbit listens to the child and what the child needs. After experiencing all of the emotions, the child rebuilds with the rabbit alongside. Not only is this book brilliant at teaching young children empathy and emotions but I find myself remembering to be the rabbit and listen, even to the silences, when my child feels all the feelings.

I had to find a way to incorporate this book into my class. So in Creative Hands, for children 3 – 5, we made our own amazing structures and talked about how it will be ok, if it falls apart. We can build again.

Hold one end of the nuudle to the wet sponge and count to 3. Place on your paper surface and count to 3. Repeat, sticking nuudles on the paper or to each other. Turn your paper upside down to see the magic. Have fun and create something amazing!

• 

• 

• 

I hope you have nothing but love for my submission to Susanna Hill’s Valentiny Contest. The contest rules and description can be found at https://susannahill.com/2019/02/13/oh-guilty-heart-the-4th-annual-valentiny-writing-contest/

Here Goes:

Cupid Quits!

At the January meeting of Holiday Mascots, Cupid stomped his feet and whined, declaring himself grown-up. He traded in his bow and arrow for a guitar. He ditched his diaper for leather. Throwing a tantrum, Cupid quit.

Two weeks later an emergency Mascot meeting was held. Cupid needed replacing.

Easter Bunny hopped up and down. Turkey trotted back and forth. Jack-O-Lantern looked dim.

They thought Santa could do it (right colors).

But he was on vacation.

They pondered giving Groundhog double duty.

But if he saw his shadow he would sleep through Valentine’s.

They considered hiring someone new.

Armadillo had inquired about work.

The Mascots turned to their leader. “Cupid needs time to realize his gift for spreading love is irreplaceable.” Father Time stroked his long beard. “He needs to know our love too”

The door creaked open. In shuffled Cupid with a guitar strapped where his bow once was. His fingers trembled as his eyes darted from mascot to mascot. Cupid’s lip quivered. He placed his guitar on the table and dropped his leather jacket to the floor. He begged for forgiveness. He pleaded for his job back.

Father Time handed Cupid his arrows. Relieved, Cupid picked up his bow.

Father Time handed Cupid his leather jacket. Joyful, Cupid pinned on his diaper.

I have a bit of a kidlit crush on Flora, created by Molly Idle. The Flora series with their wordless stories allow for so much interpretation in the classroom. Today, we looked at Flora and the Peacock with my Creative Hands group, ages 3-5. Flora and her fan encounter two peacocks. They are wary of her at the start but then vie for her affection in a beautiful peacock dance. When the two peacocks fight over Flora and her fan, tearing it in two, they realize they must do something to make things right. In a beautiful fold out spread, the story ends with Flora and the two peacocks happily fanning their plumes.

A BUSY CREATURE’S DAY EATING is a fast favorite for the kids and grownups in my family. Mo Willems has created an alphabet book that has a complete story arc from first bite to bedtime. The reader follows a sweet little creature as it eats through the alphabet. The creature also suffers the repercussions of eating everything and anything. This alphabet book is anything but bland so I created an alphabet art activity accompany it.

Much like my three year old at home, my twos and threes at Messy Play are learning their letters. A great place to start is with the first letter of a child’s name. With that in mind we had fun making paintball splattered letters. For this project you will need:

We take a break from our regularly scheduled program to share my entry to the Susanna Leonard Hill 8th Annual Holiday Contest. If you are unfamiliar with Susanna Leonard Hill’s contest or overall awesome site, check it out here https://susannahill.com/2018/12/06/ho-ho-ho-the-eighth-annual-holiday-contest-is-here/

Now for the story:

Super Santa!

by Monica Acker

Santa is busy in December prepping presents, making mall visits, and of course dropping deliveries one special night. But what does Santa do the other 11 months?

Santa takes the names of the very naughty and takes them to jail, as Super Santa – crime fighter.

This December a particularly naughty criminal has evaded the police. First the gingerbread construction company crumbled, then a chocolate chip caper left the world chip-less, the sugar cookie factory was flooded with milk, and the hot cocoa towers were emptied of fluid.

All the Christmas cookie swaps, cookie decorating parties, and gingerbread constructions are cancelled.

Santa must stop and help. He jumps on Bolt, the speediest reindeer. Together they fly into the night to track down the sweet stealing thief. On a hunch, they head to Marshmallow Mill. He stealthily slinks through the shadows and comes upon Leif von Leaf stuffing marshmallows in a sack.

Super Santa flings fruitcake at the sack, knocking it aside. He hooks Leif with giant candy canes. Leif turns to Santa and sobs. “I only wanted to give other food a chance to shine in December. All the children want cookies, candy, and cocoa. What about some kale, arugula, or spinach? No one ever has a leafy green party.”

Santa returns home after wrapping Leif up with a bow for the police to find in the morning. Christmas returns to normal. But Santa did make Leif one promise. For Christmas Eve, please forgo cookies and leave Santa a salad instead.

I have Christmas on the brain so a gingerbread story seemed just the ticket. GINGERBREAD FRIENDS by Jan Brett inspired my Messy Play class for two and three year olds. The Gingerbread Baby lives with a little boy named Mattie and loves him dearly, but when Mattie goes off to play with friends, the Gingerbread Baby feels lonely and sets off to make friends of his own. Into the village goes the Gingerbread Baby to the bakery where there are many figures like him, but they are all still as stone. After several disappointing friendship attempts and an unwelcome encounter with a mouse, the Gingerbread Baby races home. At home, the Gingerbread Baby spots a cupcake trail leading to a gingerbread land full of friends cooked up by the best friend of all, Mattie.

The children and I set out to make our own gingerbread friends, well almost. We made salt dough friends instead. You will need:

• ½ cup salt per child
• ½ cup flour per child
• ¼ cup water per child
• A mixing bowl for each child
• Cookie cutters
• Wax or parchment paper
• A straw (optional to make an ornament hole)

Scoop and pour the salt, flour, and water into the mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together with your hands to reach a dough consistency. Put your dough onto wax paper sprinkling additional flour if sticky. Play with the dough, shape the dough, squeeze the dough. A rolling pin can be used to flatten the dough, but with this age group we decided to smoosh with our hands. It is Messy Play after all. Use cookie cutters to make friends for the Gingerbread Baby or other fun shapes. A straw works well to add a hole to your design, creating an ornament. Leave dough to dry out or bake in a 200 degree oven to speed the process. When the salt dough is thoroughly dry it can be painted.

Today’s inspiration for Messy play with two and three year olds was drawn from FLORA AND THE PENGUIN by Molly Idle. In this wordless picture book Flora meets and befriends a penguin. While Flora and the penguin enter into an ice dance above, the fish swirl through the water below. Penguin finds himself beak down in the water and catches a fish only to have it thrown back by Flora. Intent on making up for her mistake, Flora uses her skate laces to create a fishing line. Flora and the penguin catch a fresh fish with joyeux de vie and land in a beautiful lift with Olympic size flair.

After sharing the story with the children, we set out to go fishing just like Flora and the penguin, and create some beautiful string art while we were at it. To complete this project you will need:

• Yarn
• Straws
• White multimedia paper
• Stickers (I used color coding dots, you may use fish stickers if you have them)
• Washable tempera paint
• Paper plate
• Something to cover your work surface if desired

First the children applied the stickers to the paper to represent the fish swimming by. The act of peeling and sticking gave my group of two and three year olds good fine motor practice. When we were happy with the number of fish on our papers we used our fishing rod, a half of a straw with yarn looped through and tied. The yarn was dipped and swirled into the paint on the paper plates and then we bounced our fishing line on the paper to catch our fish. We had fun, made a mess, and created some interesting works of modern art.

This is where I will share lessons and crafts I have created and the children’s picture books that inspire them.

Check back soon.