Each month we spotlight a new author for Virtual Book Club for Kids. This month we are featuring books by David Shannon.
We have several favorite David Shannon books, but decided to get a new one for this month's book club. We thought David Goes To School
would be a fun book to read together as my son gets ready to start kindergarten next year.
David Goes To School is a silly book filled with things that David does at school... that he probably shouldn't be doing- chewing gum, throwing paper airplanes, drawing on desks, etc. Kids love reading about all the things they know they aren't supposed to do and this book is a fun one to read as you talk about how you are supposed to behave in school.
While we read David Goes to School we came up with three crafts and activities inspired by the book that we are excited to share with you!
Make Paper Airplanes Like David
The second my son saw the cover of this book he wanted to make paper airplanes like David did!! We've made some straw airplanes before, but it has been awhile since we have made actual paper airplanes.
We tried out the How to Make the Very Best Paper Airplane tutorial over at Creative with Kids and our kiddos were very pleased with how they turned out. I made my toddler's airplane and decorated it for her since she's under the weather and didn't feel like doing anything. Once she saw it she had to go fly it... success! My 5 year old tried really hard to make his airplane by himself, but needed some help pressing down the fold lines. His favorite part of decorating his plane was writing his full name!
Play With Gum Like David
For our next activity we pulled out a bunch of gum. Instead of chewing it, we decided to play and sculpt with it! We were pretty positive that David would have enjoyed this sort of activity!
I made my name, my toddler made a snake, my husband built an "ant" (though my 5 year old told him it didn't really look like one), and then the 5 year old tried to make a Star Wars Death Star. I loved that this activity got the whole family involved.
After we were done, we let the kids chew a clean piece of gum. I originally was worried they'd want to just eat the gum... but sculpting and playing with it actually ended up being fun enough that they didn't try to eat it.
Make a Rocket
My son is drawn to rockets, so when he saw a rocket in the book on the page when David is daydreaming and looking out the window at the clouds... I knew we'd need to do some sort of rocket craft along with reading this book.
The rocket in the story is actually just in David's classroom... and isn't something that David talked about or played with, but sometimes our ideas are inspired by the artwork in the stories... not just the text.
To make the rocket you need foam sheets (cut into rectangles circles, and triangles), tacky glue, sequins, and stickers.
All we did was glue the shaped foam pieces together and decorate them with sequins and stickers Then we flew them around and sang our favorite rocket song... "Zoom Zoom Zoom We're Going to the Moon." My daughter attempted to help me teach you how to sing the song too, so check out the video below. 🙂
Now that we've shared our three ideas with you, do you have any favorite David Goes to School inspired activities that you've tried?
What is your favorite David Shannon book? If you have blogged about it, we'd love for you to link up your post in the linky below! We can't wait to see all of your amazing ideas!
There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them:
- Link up only posts inspired by David Shannon that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
- Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
- Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you'd like.
Here's the button you can grab if you are participating!
PS- If you missed any of our other Virtual Book Club Posts you can find them below:
June- Mo Willems
July- Don and Audrey Wood
August- Kevin Henkes
September- Lois Ehlert
October- Amy Krouse Rosenthal
November- Tomie dePaola
December- Jan Brett
January- David McPhail
February- Dr Seuss
March- Julia Donaldson
You can also find loads of Virtual Book Club ideas organized by author on our Virtual Book Club for Kids Pinterest Board that we just started and will continue to be adding to!
Virtual Book Club for Kids participating bloggers;
Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators' Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little - Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Mommy and Me Book Club - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti - Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Smile Play Learn - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Coffee Cups and Crayons - Having Fun at Chelle's House- Love, Play, Learn - Juggling With Kids - Motherhood on a Dime - Growing Book By Book- This Reading Mama - Fantastic Fun and Learning
Reminder: Did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway yet?
Disclaimer: This post contains affilate links.
Super cool rocket! We will have to create it during my daughter's astronomy unit study. Will there be an author featured for May? Thanks a bunch.
Thanks!! Yes, our May author is Leo Lionni. Here are the authors we are spotlighting this year! toddlerapproved.com/2012/09/announcing-our-year-long-virtual-book.html
Love the gum sculpting, how fun!
What a great time of year to get outside and fly paper airplanes.
I love the video! How cute is she?! I also love the idea of playing with gum…maybe after we sell the house though 🙂
Super cute!! I love the rockets and playing with gum activities.
Wow! What a great selection of activities! Love the gum idea.
I love the activities you did to go along with this book, especially playing with gum! I bet that was an interesting sensory experience.