Backyard Book Club: Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms Overview

Our August Backyard Book Club meeting may have been the best of all! Once again, here's an overview of everything we did. (Click the links below for detailed instructions and more information.)

For this month's meeting, the kids read Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms. It was a little longer than our previous picks, so we made sure everybody knew they could still come even if they hadn't finished. (Click here for the book spotlight with online resources and other ideas.)

Our book trivia challenge took the form of Beech Road Bingo (click for printable) where the kids each filled out their own bingo card with significant numbers and letters from the book.

Next, we took a page from April, May, and June's book and tried to make our own edition of the Beech Road Guardian. We divided the kids up into teams and gave them an assignment for our newspaper. We had news, weather, a fabulous feature article, and several movie reviewers. Click here for the PowerPoint template I used to put the newspaper together after the meeting was over. (I emailed the finished project to the parents so the kids could print their own copies of the paper.)

If we'd had more time (and hadn't been quite so noisy) we would have done the Bird Behavior Scavenger Hunt. But since we were running a little late, we went straight to the main event...

The magic show! The kids watched with great attention while I performed the tricks and couldn't wait to learn how to do them themselves. And hopefully their careers as magicians are just beginning thanks to their take-home magic kits. :)

We finished up the meeting by eating brownies and cupcakes (just like Stuart and the triplets). We had so much fun this summer and the wheels are already turning for next summer's meetings...

Backyard Book Club: Magic Show

The most popular activity at our August Backyard Book Club meeting was definitely the magic show and lesson. The kids were impressed with my meager magic skills and loved learning all the tricks themselves!

There are tons of great resources for learning magic tricks online, but we started with the very basics. We learned classic tricks like The Jumping Rubber Band, The Necklace, The Jumping Paper Clips, The Rubber Pencil, The Magnetic Pencil, and a couple of card tricks from my youth (similar to the ones found here.)

After the magic show, I passed out a magic kit to each book clubber. The kits contained a deck of cards, paper clips, pencil, string, beads, and a dollar bill--everything they'd need to do all the tricks from the magic show! I demonstrated each trick for the kids in super-slow motion with detailed instructions. Then we had practice time and the kids helped each other work on the tricks.

I had many reports from parents afterward about kids enthusiastically performing magic shows for their families, which totally made my day. :)

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms (Backyard Book Club)

by Lissa Evans

From Goodreads:

As if being small for his age and also having "S. Horten" as his name isn't bad enough, now 10-year-old Stuart is forced to move far away from all his friends. But on his very first day in his new home, Stuart's swept up in an extraordinary adventure: the quest to find his great-uncle Tony--a famous magician who literally disappeared off the face of the earth--and Tony's marvelous, long-lost workshop.  Along the way, Stuart reluctantly accepts help from the annoying triplets next door… and encounters trouble from another magician who's also desperate to get hold of Tony's treasures.

My Two Cents: This is a lovely little British book that has so many elements that appeal to kids--humor, puzzles, mysteries, magic, and even a very fun set of triplets. It's exciting and adventurous without being scary or threatening. My kids loved Stuart and his family and it certainly introduced them to fun new words and concepts. There's a bit of set-up in the first third (as there needs to be), but once the mystery got going, they were always begging for one more chapter.

Grade Level: 2-5

Additional Resources:

• Be like Stuart's dad and create your own crossword puzzle.
• Learn a little more about what life was like for people like Great Uncle Tony during the Battle of Britain.
• Stuart thinks "GRAVEST FLATE" must be an anagram. What words can you make by rearranging the letters in your name? (Try it on your own first, then plug the letters in here for a big list!)
• Go on a bird behavior scavenger hunt like the birdwatchers in the book.

More to Read:

• Another boy who is excellent at getting to the bottom things: The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin
• Another book about a boy in Britain who has to solve a very big mystery: Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
• Another (more sentimental) book about unlocking family secrets: Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur
• Another book of miraculous mechanisms and a boy unlocking the secrets of his past: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik

Check back in the coming weeks to see what we did for our Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms meeting of the Backyard Book Club!

Backyard Book Club: Ellie McDoodle Overview

We had tons of fun at our Backyard Book Club meeting in July! Once again, here's an overview of everything we did. (Click the links below for detailed instructions and more information.)

For this month's meeting, the kids read The Ellie McDoodle Diaries: Have Pen, Will Travel. (Click here for the book spotlight with online resources and other ideas.)

We started with a double art activity, learning to draw Ellie (the kids were really good at this!) and learning to keep a sketch journal.

Then it was time for a science activity. We learned how to distinguish between pine, fir and spruce needles, then went on a leaf hunt. This is just a small sample of what we found!

After the leaf hunt, it was game time! There are so many great games in Ellie McDoodle that we just chose a few. We tried Blob Tag, Human Pretzel, Sardines, and Fing Fang Fooey. So fun, and so much energy burned! :) (You can see one of our casualties in this picture.)

Finally, it was snack time. I set bowls of dried fruit, cereal, nuts, and chocolate chips and let everybody make their own bag of trail mix. Then the kids munched and relaxed while they worked on their sketch journals. Another Backyard Book Club success, thanks to these great kids!

Backyard Book Club: Leaf Hunt

During the month of July, our Backyard Book Club read The Ellie McDoodle Diaries: Have Pen, Will Travel. One of the thing I loved most about Ellie is that she's an artist, but she's a scientist too. She's always observing, recording, trying new things, and using all this info to really figure out the world around her.

One of the things Ellie pays attention to is the plant life around her. (She's definitely on the lookout for poison ivy!) So our club did a little leaf hunt right in our own backyard! The challenge was to see who could find the most different kinds of leaves.

Before heading out, we discussed different kinds of leaves. We talked about how things like grass and pine needles are actually leaves. We also talked about conifers and how to tell the difference between three main types of conifers using the handy Square Spruce, Flat Fir, Packet Pine trick (on the last page of the linked pdf). In our yard, we have two out of three kinds of conifers, so I challenged the kids to figure out which one we don't have. (And they totally figured it out!)

Look at all the different kinds of leaves they found! I challenged the kids to do the same thing in their own yard or a local park. Leaves would also make a great thing to add to a sketch journal, wouldn't they?

Backyard Book Club: Sketch Journal

During the month of July, our Backyard Book Club read The Ellie McDoodle Diaries: Have Pen, Will Travel. So of course we had to learn how to start our own sketch journals!

The first thing we tried was drawing Ellie from the step-by-step instructions in the book. (If you look closely at the photo above, the Ellie on the whiteboard was drawn by my 6-year-old!) The kids concentrated really hard on this! Then we talked about different ways to show emotions when drawing faces with the help of this great guide.

We read How to Keep a Sketch Journal (from the bonus material of the book) and talked about what the kids would want to include in their own sketch journals as well as some really basic drawing techniques (don't start with super-dark lines, look at the shapes in an object, etc.)

Then we handed out tiny notebooks and pencils and let the kids loose! I'm excited to see what they record in their sketch journals.

Check out some of Ruth McNally Barshaw's own sketch journals here. What a great way to keep a record of all your cool experiences! And learn more about how Ruth's sketches turn into the actual illustrations in Ellie books here.

The Ellie McDoodle Diaries: Have Pen, Will Travel (Backyard Book Club)

by Ruth McNally Barshaw

From Goodreads: One girl. One sketchbook. One week with the world's most annoying relatives.

When Ellie McDougal's parents go out of town, she's forced to go on a camping trip with her aunt, uncle, cousins, and baby brother, Ben-Ben. Ellie can handle mosquitos and poison ivy, but sharing a cabin with her crazy relatives? No way! From her aunt's many rules to her cousin Eric's constant teasing, Ellie needs her sketchbook to survive this family vacation.

My Two Cents: My kids and I loved Ellie McDoodle! They laughed out loud and begged for more every night. The text and illustrations work perfectly together, and Ellie is such a realistic and relatable character. My kids were crazy about her, even when she was being naughty, and the book gave us lots of opportunities to talk about sibling and family dynamics and having empathy for each other. We'll definitely be reading the rest of the series!

Grade Level: 1-4

Additional Resources:

• Check out Ruth McNally Barshaw's wonderful website.
• Learn how to draw different facial expressions like Ellie can.
• Ellie is good at identifying plants. Go for a nature walk and see how many you can identify! For the ones you can't, find them in an online field guide for plants or trees.
• Do the Hokey-Pokey (even if it's not Ellie's favorite.)
• Ellie draws great maps. See if you can draw a map of your room or your house, or make one online.
• Play blob tag like Ellie, or play one of these other fun tag variations.
• Ellie and her cousins caught one kind of amphibian and told a story about another kind. What other kinds of animals were in this book? (Dead or alive...)
• Start keeping your own sketch journal or nature journal! (There are great ideas for how to do this at the back of Ellie McDoodle, too...)

More to Read:

• Another creative, artistic kid with realistic family relationships: The Adventures of Beanboy by Lisa Hardraker
• Another book about a girl getting to know her cousins better on a camping trip: I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson
• Another story about a kid who likes to doodle and takes a memorable summer trip: My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian
• Another funny illustrated journal (although I much prefer Ellie): Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Check back in the coming weeks to see what we did for our Ellie McDoodle meeting of the Backyard Book Club!

Backyard Book Club: Ivy + Bean Overview

We had a great time at our first Backyard Book Club meeting! I'm considering it a success, especially since one of the kids requested that we hold book club every day. :)

Here's an overview of everything we did, all in one place! (Click the links below for detailed instructions and more information.)

For this month's meeting, the kids read Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record. (Click here for the book spotlight with online resources and other ideas.)

After weeks of waiting, it was time to meet in person! We did our fossil-making activity first so the plaster could dry before the kids had to go home.

Then it was time for the Excavation Trivia Challenge! The kids loved digging up "artifacts" from the book and figuring out how each one was connected to the story. (Although they never found the M&M's...)

Next, it was time for physical challenges and relay races! We used some of the items we'd excavated to see who could stick the most spoons on their face, which team could carry an M&M in their spoon (and the spoon in their mouth) the fastest, and which kid could blow a berry across the patio with their straw the quickest.

Finally, it was time for refreshments. Just like Ivy and Bean, we enjoyed some banana bread (and some more M&M's) and played until it was time to go home.

Thanks so much, kids and parents, for making our first meeting such a success! And a special shout-out to one amazing mom, Sherie, for baking the banana bread and helping out! Couldn't have done it without you. :)

Have you held your own Backyard Book Club yet? Do you have questions or suggestions for ours? I'd love to hear them!

Check back next week to see what book we've picked for July!

Backyard Book Club: Excavation Trivia Challenge

When the Backyard Book Club read Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record, we decided to follow in Ivy and Bean's footsteps and do a little digging of our own. Before the rest of the kids arrived, our trusty assistants buried these items in the sandbox (some of them protectively sealed in plastic bags):

• Ivy
• Beans
• plate and dish soap
• masking tape
• shovel
• wine glass
• puzzle
• spoons
• straws
• scorpion
• M&M's
• world record (or similar) book

When the kids arrived, we divided into two teams. Each team had a shovel and team members took turns digging up an item. When the discovery slowed down a little, we opened up the dig site (a.k.a. sandbox) to all the kids until all the items were found. Then we sat down together in a shady spot and figured out what each item had to do with our book. The kids had lots of suggestions as to what they'd bury if it were up to them! It was a really fun way to review what happened in the story and a great follow-up to our fossil-making activity. After we were done, some of the kids wanted to keep digging, just to make sure we hadn't missed anything. (Come to think of it, we never did find the M&M's...)

Check back next week for our final Ivy + Bean activity!

Backyard Book Club: Making Fossils

During the month of June, our Backyard Book Club read Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record by Annie Barrows. So what could we do but make fossils at our meeting? The kids loved this activity and were so excited to take their fossils home.

To make fossils of your own, you'll need these materials:

• aluminum foil
• modeling clay
• Plaster of Paris
• whatever you want to fossilize--plants, shells, plastic bugs (but don't worry, all you'll do is push these into the clay and take them back out. They won't really be fossilized!)

Here's how to make your own fossil in just a few minutes (plus drying time):

1. Put a lump of modeling clay on a piece of aluminum foil and flatten it until it's about 3/4" thick.

2. Press whatever you want to "fossilize" deep into the clay, then carefully remove it. We used plastic bugs and butterflies, sea shells, and clippings from juniper and spruce trees. (It looks best if you put the bugs belly-up in this step.)

3. Mix up a little Plaster of Paris by stirring powder and water together according to package instructions. Then pour your plaster over the top of your clay and use the back of a spoon to press it down into all the little indentations. (Warning: Your plaster may set even before the package instructions say it will, so it's best to mix the plaster right before you're going to use it. :)

4. Play other fun games while you wait for the plaster to dry! Ours were ready in about an hour.

5. Turn your fossil over and carefully peel back the clay. (You can reuse the clay for other projects.) Don't they look great?

More about fossils:

• Read Fossils Tell of Long Ago--a great picture book about different kinds of fossils and how they're createdhttp://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/fossil_activities.html
• Watch this fossil episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy 
• To review, check out the fossil crosswords and word search puzzles here

Come back next week for another fun activity from this month's Backyard Book Club!

Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record (Backyard Book Club)

by Annie Barrows

From Goodreads: World record fever grips the second grade, and soon Ivy and Bean are trying to set their own record by becoming the youngest people to have ever discovered a dinosaur. But how hard is it to find one?

My Two Cents: Ivy and Bean are spunky and clever and appeal to both boys and girls. Their adventures, dreams, and mistakes are at once universal and totally unique. What kid hasn't dreamed of breaking a world record? But what kid has tried to do it by shattering a glass octopus using only the power of her voice? Like the characters themselves, this series is totally original and tons of fun.

Grade Level: 1-4

Additional Resources:

• Find your own world record to break at Guinness World Records, or see what records are most amazing to you! (Are the records in Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record real?)
• Learn more about Mary Anning at this great BBC site for kids.
• Check out the American Museum of Natural History's PaleontOLogy site (and all their other great OLogy sites) for games, activities, drawing lessons, and lots of other fun resources!
• Make this kid-friendly banana bread recipe and have your own backyard playdate!

More to Read:

• All the other books in the Ivy + Bean series! (This is book 3.)
• Another girl who looks to a book when she wishes her own life were more interesting: Utterly Me, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child
• Another girl who sometimes has conflicts with her older sister: Beezus and Ramona (and all the other Ramona books) by Beverly Cleary

Introducing the Backyard Book Club!

 

Summer vacation has officially started for my family, and I've decided to switch up the blog format a little to celebrate! This summer, we're hosting a Backyard Book Club for my son and daughter and a few of their friends. I think I'll call it the BBC--that acronym's not taken, right? :)

Here's the plan, in case anybody else is itching to start a Backyard Book Club of their own:

Each month, I'll post our book pick here as well as a few resources that go along with it. Then during the course of the month, I'll post pictures, instructions, and printables for all the activities we do at our meeting. By the end of the month you'll have everything you'll need to host your own Backyard Book Club! (Except the kids. You have to provide those.)

Stay tuned--next week I'll reveal our first book pick! Here's a hint: It involves dinosaurs, cartwheels, world records, and all the M&M's a kid can handle...

What about you? What books are you and your kids reading this summer? Any suggestions for our Backyard Book Club?