Finger Puppet Fun

Consider making the most of your child’s favorite books by creating activities to do with the characters and theme. Here are a few ideas I enjoy doing with children and a special book:

• Make puppets of the main character. Trace the characters or download images to print. Add tongue depressor sticks or glue the character’s faces on paper bags for easy puppets. Then let your child use the puppets to tell the story.
• Play dress up. Look at the colors in the book and find a matching colored outfit to wear. Then have a tea party and pretend to be the character.
• Look at the theme and come up with ideas to match the theme. If the book is about sharing, work on sharing when you read it. If it is a concept book, such as a shape book, do a shape hunt after reading the book or draw the shapes and let your child color the shapes.
• Make up a game based on the characters or the theme. Draw a simple trail type game board (like Candy land) and add pictures or tickers related to items in the book. Use dice and make markers for playing pieces. You can add notes on squares, such as lose a turn, go back, or jump head.
• Cut out pictures of items in the book and hide the cutouts for a hunt.
• Think of a cookie or snack treat related to the book to make (it might be a salad for a nature book, shaped sandwiches for a shape book,, etc).
• Make a scrapbook page with photos of your child doing these activities and also photos with the book. Or even make a whole little album for your child to enjoy. Buy a ready made small album, glue on or slide in the photos and add your child’s comments. Secure pages where photos slide in so they won’t get lost.
• Make refrigerator cards, with magnets on the back, of the characters or objects in the book for your child to play with on the frig door.
• Exercise with the character by posing the way the character is shown on different pages or taking a walk to look for objects in the book.

A book becomes even more special when you dd the element of play. It also opens a child’s imagination where she or he can come up with other ideas to extend book fun.