It's been a while since I did a book post, so I thought I'd share some favorite fish stories we've been reading...but they're not what you'd think. In fact...most people probably wouldn't even call them fish stories, but they're two of Firecracker's recent favorites.
Having exhausted all of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, we've moved on to the Henry Huggins series also by Beverly Cleary (as read-aloud books). I wasn't sure how she'd like them...but it turns out she thinks they're pretty much as good as Ramona. In the climax of Henry and Ribsy, Henry manages to catch a huge salmon with his bare hands by holding onto his gills. It's pretty exciting...REALLY. Firecracker was fascinated, but had no idea what gills were and kept asking about them.
So the next time I was at the grocery store I asked the butcher to wrap up just one tilapia for me...since they're pretty much the cheapest fish at the store and they are sold whole. I planned to do the activity with the kids myself...really I did. But Hubby was home and it just seemed more like a Father-Kid bonding experience.
NEW ADDITION: Printable Fish Pattern added at the bottom of this post!
I made these fish a while ago. Firecracker helped me sew the buttons on their eyes. (Meaning she helped with 2 or 3 and got tired of it, although she did help me choose the colors for a lot of them.) I just drew a fish pattern on paper. Sweet Pea contributed by letting me trace one of her favorite teething toys. I cut two fish out of each color. For the dark purple and green I sewed a white stripe on so the marker would show up. I used a Sharpie permanent marker for the writing but "dabbing" to make the shape, so the marker wouldn't get caught in the felt fibers.I had originally planned on making a fishing pole with a loop to go over the button eye, but then saw a fishing game in the Friend magazine (great for Sunday afternoons) that suggested a magnet fishing pole with paperclips on the fish. We certainly love magnets at this house, so I thought this sounded like a good idea. Firecracker liked helping me choose paperclips for them and they make respectable mouths. Then we used the magnet fishing pole that came with one of our puzzles. I have several plans for these fish as Firecracker gets better at her numbers. These work up on our flannel board or Firecracker likes them even better is they're on the floor and she "goes fishing" from on top of the kid craft table.
*Identifying numbers...Firecracker goes fishing and then identifies the number (or I tell her which number to go fishing for.)
*Beginning to add numbers...Firecracker goes fishing for two fish and then uses the dots to help her tell how many the fish add up to.
*More advanced adding...Give Firecracker a number and have her find two fish that add up to that number. (We're not there yet.)
*Identifying Colors (for Boy). Boy goes fishing and then tells what color it is.
Firecracker and Boy are loving them. It makes practicing their numbers fun. Firecracker even went and found a bucket to put her fish in after she caught them. Number Munching Alligator
I'm linking to:
I cut two fish out of each color. For the dark purple and green I sewed a white stripe on so the marker would show up. I used a Sharpie permanent marker for the writing but "dabbing" to make the shape, so the marker wouldn't get caught in the felt fibers.
I had originally planned on making a fishing pole with a loop to go over the button eye, but then saw a fishing game in the Friend magazine (great for Sunday afternoons) that suggested a magnet fishing pole with paperclips on the fish. We certainly love magnets at this house, so I thought this sounded like a good idea. Firecracker liked helping me choose paperclips for them and they make respectable mouths. Then we used the magnet fishing pole that came with one of our puzzles. I have several plans for these fish as Firecracker gets better at her numbers. These work up on our flannel board or Firecracker likes them even better is they're on the floor and she "goes fishing" from on top of the kid craft table.
*Beginning to add numbers...Firecracker goes fishing for two fish and then uses the dots to help her tell how many the fish add up to.
Firecracker and Boy are loving them. It makes practicing their numbers fun. Firecracker even went and found a bucket to put her fish in after she caught them.
