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!