Thursday, March 17, 2011

Soft House - Read Along with Me

We just happened to check out Soft House by Jane Yolen from the library last week.  It's one of those books that fits so perfectly with an activity that we used it the very next day. 

In the book there is a brother and sister who are bored and bickering and trying to think of something to do.  Finally one of them suggests playing "soft house."  They have to brave the scary attic to get enough blankets to make their soft house.  Then once they work together to get the house set up, they spend the rest of the day having fun together in their soft house.


Since Firecracker had last Friday off from school because it was a teacher inservice day, it was the perfect day to read this book.  Firecracker and Little Brother had been bickering...but once we got their own soft house (called a fort to us), they really did get along better!  I'm sure it was mostly the novelty of the activity, but it was a nice break for me to have them play so well together.

In the book, their mom makes them double crunch peanut butter chocolate chip cookies...but my kids had to settle for store bought vanilla waffers...I know...it's a tough life.

I was also shocked at how well their fort did stay up (even though I did most of the building.)  Part of it was that they were getting along so well...and part of it was my own personal super-secret trick that I will now share with you.  (I stuck our vacuum in the middle as a central ceiling support.) 


I'm still surprised it worked so well...both the vacuum helping it stay up and the fort helping the kids get along. 




If you're just now joining us, be sure to visit our Read-Along Archives to see the books we've already read.
Read-Along

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6 comments:

  1. LitLassMarch 17, 2011 at 1:56 PM

    My boys love forts! I'll have to check out that book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kathy HaynieMarch 17, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    Such sweet little people. What a happy way to spend some time together.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CriscMarch 18, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    I used to love making forts! Im your newest follower from Rea.Learn.Explore =)

    http://nextgenhomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/03/jack-and-beanstalk.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlannaMarch 18, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    I always LOVED making those forts when I was a kid. we used to camp out in the living room :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownMarch 23, 2011 at 7:13 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. UnknownMarch 23, 2011 at 7:16 PM

    How fun! I remember doing this as a kid. We LOVED making forts with furniture and blankets. And as a parent, I think I try to make it too complicated sometimes! ha ha...

    Thanks so much for linking up with For the Kids Friday! I'll be posting the next link party tomorrow night. I can't wait to see what you have to share this week!

    http://sunscholars.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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