We kicked off our summer reading today, or at least C (age 8) and E (age 10) did, with the Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew series. Of course, I realize it's not quite summer yet, but we found the series today, and it's perfect for summer reading, so we're calling it a kick-off.The short chapter books, by Carolyn Keene, are light, entertaining, and easy reading. They are geared for ages 6-9, so maybe a little too easy for E, but there are a lot of them (40 so far), and the girls loved the first story (E said it was better than Ivy and Bean - which is quite a compliment).
Best of all though, each book has instructions at the back for a quick craft or snacktivity to go along with the story. That makes 40, simple, boredom buster crafts ready to go, bringing the books to life, and adding a bonus incentive for the girls to make it to the end of each story. I've got a couple of series like this, in mind, for the girls to check out over the summer (more on the others later).
Today, while they read "Sleepover Sleuths", the first book in the series, on their Kindles (before we decided to make a run to the library to pick up as many as they had on hand)...
...I gathered the supplies for the craft so we'd be all set...
...to cut...
...fold...
...and decorate, paper plate crowns, as soon as the girls finished the story.
There were also instructions for making paper bag "tea" hats for themselves, or their dolls, but the girls decided they were happy enough with the paper crowns for today.
6 comments:
I've been thinking of similar things for my kiddos.
What a great idea for summer fun!
This is neat. We just started a "book club" with Smarty with a similar premise. Our first book is Tuesdays at the Castle
We have lots of Nancy Drew books that belonged to me when I was a child. All my girls enjoyed reading them. I love the paper crowns. Such a simple idea but very effective. I would never have thought of using paper plates!
Awesome! What a fantastic series for summer.
Blessings, Dawn
Looks like this was a hit!
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