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!