Corduroy

Last week we re-visited another old favorite, Corduroy by Don Freeman. I'm pretty sure the copy we have was mine as a child. We covered bears a little bit during our berry month over the summer, but there is no shortage of bear stories and activities in the world!

Levi reading the story to his brothers.

Food: teddy bear toast with banana and blueberries. Cute and easy!

We also made these peanut butter button cookies. It might interest you to know that the holes in Corduroy's button are only pictured on one page in the entire book: at the end, when Lisa is sewing his new button on. (It might also interest you to know that I spell "Corduroy" wrong first every single time.) Even though it's a two-hole button, we decided it would be okay to make both two- and four-hole button cookies.

Poking holes in the cookie dough with a straw. 

Silas joined in the "flattening" (er, smashing) of the balls of dough.

Unflattering picture of the finished product.

Craft: Corduroy in shapes. I adapted from this idea, using what I had on hand and what seemed easiest at the time. They're not the cutest bears ever, but you get the idea. The sequel, A Pocket for Corduroy, surfaced from the bookshelf late in the week, so I think maybe this week we'll add a pocket to our Corduroys!

I used this activity to work on listening skills. After handing them a pile of shapes, I gave instructions like, "put a small brown circle in the middle of a small green square," without demonstrating first. Some of it worked, some of it didn't, but I thought it was a worthwhile experiment. With a little more forethought than I gave it, you could easily work on shape, color, position words . . . all sorts of things!

This is not the first time I have lamented my lack of button supply. It's a good thing these guys only needed one button each. Although, if we add a pocket, I suppose I have to add the second button, too.

Fine motor skills: button lacing. I have a packet of printables from Homeschool Creations that includes big buttons to print on cardstock, laminate, and lace. In the end, though, I just cut circles out of regular paper, "laminated" in packing tape [some day I'll get a laminator . . . ], and used scissors to cut out holes. There was no way I could make a knot in the yarn big enough not to slip through the holes, so I tied one end to a plastic paper clip. That ended up being an asset, because it gave them a visual reminder on the back of the button which hole they'd started with. It also gave me something to tie the other end of the yarn to when we finished.

While his fine motor skills are no problem, Levi could NOT figure out which hole came next.

Owen, on the other hand, figured it out pretty much on his own, 

though he is asking here, "which hole next?"

Finished buttons! They're still floating around the living room, 

as both boys are pretty proud of their work.

Bible: We read Proverbs 17:17 and talked about how Lisa was a good friend to Corduroy, and how we can be good friends to other people.

I have one more bear-related science activity that we might get to this week. I'll keep it a secret for now and let you know if we follow through! :)

Find more ideas for Corduroy here, or in the Before Five in a Row curriculum.