Yet again, I love the CBCA’s theme for this year’S Book Week. ‘Escape to Everywhere’ encourages creativity, imagination and travelling from the comfort of your armchair.

Now, you can’t travel without a passport, can you? So, make sure your children are prepared with a passport in hand, ready to jump into the pages of the books they read during Book Week 2017.

I apologise that I don’t have a printable for you this year. We are in the midst of a move. Most of our belongings are packed away in storage boxes and computers and printers are out of order. You’ll notice that our own Book Week 2017 passports are a little makeshift. In all honesty, kids don’t mind though, especially because they’ll love creating their own passports.

What you need:

• A4 paper
• Coloured paper or card stock (or coloured manila folders)
• Scissors
• Staples
• Drawing and writing materials
• Stamp and inkpad
• Lots of books to read

How to create your Book Week Passport:

1. Fold your white A4 paper in half horizontally and vertically

2. Cut the folds to create a mini booklet

3. Cut the coloured paper/cardstock to create a cover for your booklet

4. Place the white paper pages inside the coloured cover and staple in place

5. Add a title and decorate the cover of your passport

6. Write prompts on each of the inside pages of your passport

• Title:
• Author:
• Illustrator:
• Destination:
• Form of transport:
• Travel notes:
• Plus leave a place for a visual note (illustration)

7. Escape to Everywhere by reading as many books as you can throughout Book Week and record your thoughts about your books and travels on the pages of your passport ( e.g. What you saw, what you learned, your favourite part etc.)

8. Have Mum, Dad or your teacher stamp each page of your passport to validate each of your bookish travels.

Going further:

a) Be inspired by Crichton Award winning book, The Patchwork Bike, and create your own form of transport from recycled or unused items from around your home. Get cosy inside your ‘patchwork’ vehicle to help you travel through the pages of the books you read.

b) Create your own escape space within your home or classroom, somewhere you can hide away and read.

For Reading Hour last year, my children and I dressed up and re-enacted a new book we had recently purchased, Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes and Stephen Michael King along with other fantastic read-alouds. After an adventurous and fun-filled night of stories, I tucked my children into bed and realised Australia had its very own version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

Once upon a scary night, three friends set out on a journey.

Hare with a hat, Cat with a cake, Pig with a parcel.

Just like We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Scary Night is a wonderfully captivating story for young children. Its clever use of exciting verbs and prepositions makes it wonderful for re-enactment but there are also many opportunities for children to join in with the repetitive phrases and SCREAMS as three likeable characters wander through the night to a secret destination!

But where were they going in the dead of the night, tip-toe creeping in the pale moonlight?

It was a mystery!

Given how much my children have enjoyed the story and our re-enactments, I’m not surprised this book has been shortlisted for the 2015 Early Childhood Book of the Year. I hope this becomes a book that you can find in every Australian home, kindergarten, preschool, early learning centre and classroom.

Over hill and over dale, through the woods and down the trail.

Across the creek, watch your paws, crocodiles have snapping jaws!

Using standard supplies, I’ve got some ideas to help you make simple costumes and props for re-enacting Scary Night. Make them to use during Book Week 2015 or enjoy the story for many years to come. With the help of an adult, these props are definitely easy enough to be made by young children!

Were they scared? You bet they were!

Did they shake? You bet they did!

Did they give up? Of course they didn’t!

On they went.

Hare with a hat, Cat with a cake, Pig with a parcel.

SCARY NIGHT BOOK DETAILS

Scary Night

Author: Lesley Gibbes

Illustrator: Stephen Michael King

Publisher: Working Title Press, 2014

RRP: $24.99  Available through The Kids’ Bookshop

HOW TO MAKE SCARY NIGHT PROPS AND COSTUMES

Have fun with your little people preparing, creating and using your Scary Night props with these simple instructions.

HARE WITH A HAT

You will need:

• Blue or purple cardboard party hat
• Purple or blue sticky-backed felt stars
• Brown cardstock
• Split pins (optional)

1. Decorate your party hat with star-shaped stickers.

2. Cut ears out of the brown cardstock and attach them to the hat with split pins (the split pins allow you to lift Hare’s ears when he is scared or surprised. Otherwise the ears can simply be stapled to the hat).

CAT WITH A CAKE

You will need:

• 1  egg carton cup
• Black Paint
• 6 short, black pipe cleaners
• Elastic
• Purple (or black) cardstock
• Household sponges
• Glue
• White paint or felt
• Glitter
• Pom poms

1. Paint the egg carton cup black and stick the pipe cleaners to the inside of the cup to look like whiskers. Then make holes in each side of the egg carton cup before threading and tying the elastic to create a cat’s nose and whiskers.

2. Cut two cat’s ears from the purple cardstock and staple them to the front of a purple cardstock headband (Measure around your child’s head before stapling/securing the band).

3. Turn your household sponges into a cake and decorate with glitter and pom poms using these Easy Peasy Glitter Sponge Cake instructions from Kate Grono of The Craft Train.

PIG WITH A PARCEL

You will need:

• 1 egg carton cup
• Pink paint
• Elastic
• Pink cardstock
• A box (if you don’t already have a box available simply wrap a cube shaped item in wrapping paper)

1. Paint the egg carton cup pink and draw two nostrils on the front before threading and tying the elastic to it.

2. Cut two pig’s ears from the pink card stock and staple them to a pink-cardboard headband (measure your child’s head before stapling/securing the band in place).

Feel free to use these ear templates as a guide for your animal headbands. Simply download and print the templates then trace onto the coloured cardstock.

SETTING UP YOUR SCARY NIGHT SCENE

Once you’ve prepared your props, set up an obstacle course to represent these parts of the story

• Over hill and over dale
• Through the woods and down the trail
• Across the creek
• Past the cool and rocky cave
• Climb the mountain
• Along the path and up the stairs

And don’t forget to finish your re-enactment with some party poppers and cake!

And hold onto your props (maybe in a story basket) because I can guarantee your kids will want to re-enact this story over and over again!

Like this post? You might also like our other Book Week ideas.

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Books Light Up Our World…they really do and this theme for Book Week 2015 really gets us thinking about the ways in which books light up our world.

But have you ever thought about ‘lighting up’ a book? It’s easy! You just need a book, light and a projector!

How to set up a Light and Shadow Book Play Scene.

1. Photocopy a prominent scene from a book (This does not need to be colour photocopied). We have chosen the tree house from A House of Her Own by Jenny Hughes and Jonathan Bentley, which has been nominated for this year’s CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year. The tree house is prominent in the majority of book scenes.

2. Cut the outline of the scene.

3. Place the scene outline onto an overhead projector and project the scene’s silhouette onto a blank wall (Before I found this second-hand overhead projector I used a large mirror and a lamp/torch to project images).

4. Invite your children to ‘furnish’ the scene with other props and pieces that represent the story.

5. They might also like to dress up as the characters in the book.

6. Facing away from the light (especially so children can see their own shadow at play), invite the children to play with the scene…possibly re-enacting the story, extending the story or creating a story of their own.

‘And somewhere to sip tea,’ said Audrey.

‘And a cupboard to hide the dirty cups.’

Dad made somewhere to sip tea.

‘And somewhere I can play, with a bathtub for snorkelling.’

‘And don’t forget a stove so I can cook cakes, and lick the bowl clean.’

Like this post? You might also like our other Book Week ideas.

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Now that I’m a school mum, school holidays mean so much more than ever!

I’ve missed Cammy and I want to make up for things we no longer have time for during the school term. But, I also want to take inspiration from the much-loved book, Today We Have No Plans, spending slow days at home to give Cammy the opportunities again to play freely and without structure or time limitations.

I’m just a little worried that the winter weather might rain on our parade.

I’ve put together a few ideas we’ve featured at My Little Bookcase over the years for those of you like me, who are looking for inspiration to keep the kids happy, entertained and engaged on cold and rainy days.

EASY-TO-SET-UP INDOOR PLAY

10 Ideas for Playing with Books

Using Books to Create Small World Play Scenes

Archaeological Choc-Chip Dig

Office Play

Indoor Discovery Trail

Set up a Pretend Bookshop

Aussie Animal Fine and Gross Motor Games

Story Skittles

WRITING AND STORIES

365+ Fun Ways to Write

Write to Fairies

Story Stones

Sticky Storyboard Telling

Shadow Puppet Show

DIY Puppet Theatre

FUN WITH PLAYDOUGH

Number Cookbook Play

Playdough Pavlova Mat

Sugar Plum Fairy Lolly Shop

CRAFT

Make your own Snuggle Pot and Cuddlepie

DIY Washi Tape

Make and care for your own Pretend Pets

BAKING

Lamington Wombats

ANZAC Biscuits

An Invitiation to Cook

OUTDOOR WINTER FUN

Bear Hunt Picnic

Mud Kitchen Recipe Book

Painting with Mud

Become Environmental Print Explorers

Kite Making and Flying

BIG PROJECTS

Hungry Caterpillar Necklace

Publish and Launch a Book

Dine with a Book Character

Magic Faraway Tree Afternoon Tea

Make a Recipe Journal

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Originally written by Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid has been a much-loved story in our home for so many years -as have Three Little Mermaids and The Singling Mermaid. Mermaids have certainly captivated Cammy and her playful imagination, and inspired the underwater theme of her 5^th birthday party.

Cammy’s 5th Birthday- A Little Mermaid Party

Mermaid Party Invitations

Cammy’s request was for an invitation that ‘makes you feel like you are in the sea’. I tried to achieve that by creating guests with a ‘window into the sea’.

• We started with a piece of folded cardstock, cutting a circle into the front half.
• We then filled and secured a cellophane bag with mini aqua and purple star sequins, green shredded plastic strips and sea creature loom band charms.
• Once the cellophane bags were secured, we attached them to the inner side of the circle cut out and the wording for the invitation was secured to the opposite side of the card- effectively creating a ‘window to the sea’.

Mermaid Party Table Setting and Decorations

Cammy’s party was held at our local indoor swimming pool, which provided table cloths and coloured balloons. We added to the atmosphere by adorning the tables with collected shells, colouring sheet placemats and sand pails filled with colouring pencils.

To make the treasure box I wrapped a box and lid in brown paper and embellished it with black cardboard (e.g. padlock). I filled the treasure box with newspaper before adding bits and bobs you might find in The Little Mermaid’s grotto e.g. jewellery.

Our easy DIY mermaid skirts doubled as decorations along the fence. (Cammy got the idea for mermaid skirts from Childhood 101 but being completely useless with a needle and thread I had to think of a no-sew alternative)

• I cut lengths (approx. 1m x1.5m.) of tulle in pink, purple, aqua and blue.
• I used two separate elastic bands to gather and secure the two bottom corners of the tulle, creating a mermaid fin. I then brought the two elastic bands together and tied small strips of tulle around the elastic bands to cover them.
• Initially the skirts were going to be no-sew mermaid skirts (because I can’t sew!) but at the last minute I asked my sister to sew lengths of ribbon to the top corners of the skirts for easier tying around the waist.

Note: As it turns out I think the no-sew option would have been better because the strength of the water pulled some of the ribbon away from the delicate tulle as the children played in the water. Otherwise the skirts were beautiful in the water, gliding across the surface as the children played and swam.

Mermaid Birthday Party Food

The sandcastle cake at Paging Fun Mums provided the perfect inspiration for Cammy’s birthday cake. We didn’t follow the instructions exactly; I made cakes according to the size and shape of the cake tins I already had at home. My only piece of advice is to crumb the biscuits as you go. I crumbed all mine at the beginning and could have filled a truck with the leftover crumbs.

The meal boxes I made for our Bear Hunt Picnic were such a success that I decided to borrow the idea for Cammy’s birthday party. Once prepared, meal boxes make food serving easy at a party.

I purchased boxes that looked somewhat like clam shells. Cammy had free-range and enjoyed decorating the tags with stamps and underwater-themed stickers.

The meal boxes were filled with:

• Fish-shaped Sandwiches (I love themed cookie cutters!)
• Croissant Crabs (I adapted this idea, using cherry tomatoes and mini bocconcini cheese on the toothpicks)
• Penguin Jelly Slice (using a classic Woman’s Weekly recipe)
• Cucumber Squid (I had seen squid frankfurts at Frog, Goose and Bear but because I was preparing the boxes in advance and didn’t have access to a stove or microwave I opted for a cook-free alternative and tried using mini cucumbers instead)
• Starfish and Seaweed Fruit Cups (Watermelon simply cut using a star-shaped cookie cutter and grapes threaded onto a toothpick for a seaweed effect)
• Oyster and Pearl Shells
  • I really wanted to make the macaron version but chickened out at the last minute and stuck with what I knew- meringues.
  • I tinted my meringue with pink food colouring and dropped dessertspoon quantities onto baking paper to make mini meringues.
  • Two mini meringues were secured together to look like an oyster shell using green butter-cream icing and a mint ball
• Homemade Smoked Salmon Dip (400 g of chopped smoked salmon, a handful of chopped chives  and a squeeze of lemon stirred through 1/2 cup each of sour cream and cream cheese, topped with a capsicum octopus- A cute idea I borrowed from Denna’s Ideas)

Mermaid Party Fun and Games

The children had free water play for most of the party, but there were three fun games we organised:

• An underwater relay: Teams of children had to swim through hoops of seaweed and back to the pool wall.
• Octopus, Octopus, May I Cross the Sea?: Played like Crocodile, Crocodile May I Cross the River? across the pool.
• Sea dive: Children were invited to swim to the bottom of the sea to collect weighted treasures.

Mermaid Party Thank you Favours

I’m always looking for sugar-free favour alternatives but Cammy fights me tooth and nail on this idea. We came to a compromise and filled a blue organza gift bag with one octopus lollipop (decorated  with tissue paper and pipe cleaners), gold coins and a pearl necklace.

We made the necklaces with faux pearls on thin leather straps and placed them into mini bottles with  mini thank you notes-so adorable!

Huge thanks to my sisters for helping and taking photos on the day of Cammy’s party.

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You’ll see that our backyard is really quite simple but it inspires wonderful play and provides opportunities to engage in play-based learning.

Let me take you on a little tour of our backyard space:

Santa built this cubby house for Cammy a few years ago. It is a mini replica of our little 1950s weatherboard home (I might have given Santa a few specific design instructions- wink wink!), and I just love it- so do the kids!  It is certainly the hero of our backyard. Sure, I enjoy being up there with Cammy and Ike, but I also love getting a glimpse of it as I hang the washing on the line and every now and then, when I’m shutting up the windows and door, I’ll steal a few extra minutes to sit up there by myself. It is just so tranquil and innocent.

Books are important to us so they have certainly influenced the décor in the cubby house.

I made a beautiful Possum Magic bunting for Ike’s first birthday party, but it was such a windy day that all the flags just gathered into a little bunch, and it sort of went unnoticed. So as not to waste this beautiful piece, it now hangs proudly  in the cubby house.

The walls are adorned with some of the kids’ own artworks and gorgeous illustrations we cut and framed from the My Little Bookcase 2013 calendar , along with the Ikea spice rack bookshelves that Cammy proudly painted herself. We rotate the books seasonally.

In the cubby house there are a few specific spaces:

A reading corner

We rotate the books seasonally.

A play kitchen

The play kitchen is filled with a mismatch of unused furniture and surplus toys.

A Dressing table (that doubles as a writing desk)

A round table set

This table used to be in our home before we re-organised the writing station for the kids, and then it was moved into the cubby house. It is sometimes used as a dining table here and other times it becomes an art desk.

At the beginning of every season, we like to give the cubby house a bit of a spring clean: a dust, a window clean, and a wash down of the toys. We rotate the books in the reading corner and add a vase of fresh flowers from the garden.

At Christmas we enjoy jazzing it up with some seasonal decorations.

I specifically asked ‘Santa’ for a double story cubby house to create extra space in the back yard. We haven’t really created a specific use for the space under the cubby house,  other than adding a few nails in the structure to hang pots and pans and a swinging sign for Cam’s Cafe (which we converted from a piece of Cammy’s artwork). It’s a great place for the kids to create mud-kitchen recipes and run little pop-up cafés though (Print your own mud kitchen recipe book template for outdoor cooking).

Cammy loves creating all sorts of concoctions (which is where I got the idea for a mud kitchen recipe book- you can download and print a template here).

It’s been five years since our extension and we still haven’t planted flowers in our garden beds, which is okay because Cammy likes to use them to create fairy gardens. We’ve got quite a few around the place. Fairy gardens provide a wonderful opportunity to build an interest in writing.

The back fence is a canvas for all sorts of art- I simply provide a bit of chalk, paint or mud.

and the generous grass area provides space for gross motor activities, impromptu play and planned outdoor literacy and book-inspired activities.

MORE BACKYARD AND OUTDOOR INSPIRATION:

Check out some more of my favourite Australian backyards and cubby houses.

Children’s Books Daily: A cubbyhouse that became an art studio

Mummy Musings and Mayhem: Easy recycled pallets for outdoor play

Adventures at Home with Mum: A marvellous mud kitchen

Happy Whimsical Hearts: A magical children’s garden

Learn with Play at Home: A simple mud kitchen

Suzie’s Homeschool Adventures: A DIY outdoor kitchen

Be a Fun Mum: A makeshift tinsel tent for drawing

Octavia and Vicky: Tissue box traffic lights

Mother Natured: Spider Web Obstacle Course

Also visit Childhood 101 for a host of inspiring outdoor spaces

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