Love Books: The Lady with the Alligator Purse

(my little guy was trying to be an alligator in this picture)

This summer I was very fortunate to be able to participate in a fun activity called the Love Books: Summer Book Exchange coordinated by my blogging friends over at The Educator's Spin on It.

The exchange is chock full of bloggers who love books and doing book-related crafts and activities-- totally my favorite sort of people.

Each participant put together a box filled with a favorite children's book along with materials and directions for several book-related crafts and activities. I was paired up with Andrea at No Doubt Learning. I sent her a box filled with activities and crafts related to the book Owen by Kevin Henkes (the featured author of our August Virtual Book Club) and then she sent us a box full of goodies too.

I am excited to share several of the activities that she sent to us today!

The book that Andrea and her daughters shared with us is The Lady with the Alligator Purse by Mary Ann Hoberman & Nadine Bernard Westcott. I had heard the song before, but never knew there was a book to go along with it. The book brought back memories of singing songs and playing hand clapping games in elementary school.

Our book box arrived almost a month ago, but with tons of vacations in the past few weeks, we didn't get a chance to try out the activities until this week. My son was ecstatic when I pulled out a box of cool activities and a new book for him the other night.

Here are some of the book-related crafts and activities we did after we read The Lady with the Alligator Purse:

1. Pizza Collage

The first activity we did was make a pizza collage! In the book, the lady with the alligator purse recommends that pizza will cure Tiny Tim's ailments. Andrea sent us some finger paint, some pizza sized paper, and loads of pizza toppings. Each pizza topping was individually labeled and my little guy loved the variety of items that there were for him to touch and stick on to his pizza. Since he will only eat cheese pizza, some of these toppings were completely new to him. It was fun to talk about them and how they taste and what they are shaped like.

2. Alligator Puzzle

Our second activity was putting together an adorable alligator puzzle that Andrea made. My son loves puzzles and after a few minutes of telling me it was too hard, he figured out how to put it together all by himself. He was really proud.

3. Story Puppets

We retold the story of The Lady with the Alligator Purse using cute story puppets. My little guy especially liked telling the part about when the lady recommended pizza!!

4. Alligator Tracing

We got a darling alligator tracer that we used with crayons to make our own alligators. My son liked trying out different colors.

5. Alligator Tangrams

We used a few tangram shapes to try and create an alligator. Andrea gave us several coloring sheets, so we used an alligator picture as a guide and my little guy tried to design his own creation. Anything I created he thought looked ridiculous.

6. Alligator Mazes

My poor kid is very sheltered and has never really used any workbooks or printable worksheets, other than ones I've made. He definitely hasn't done any mazes. Andrea sent along a few alligator mazes from Busy Bee Kids Printables and he loved them. He did all of the leveled ones she sent, even the one she sent for me to try. Now I know what I will be printing off for our airplane ride tomorrow 🙂

7. Blowing Bubbles like Tiny Tim

In the book, Tiny Tim blew bubbles in the bathtub. We didn't get a chance to try this activity yet, but we're bringing the bubbles we were sent on our upcoming trip. Both of my kids will love this activity!

We feel so fortunate to have been sent such a fun-filled box of book related crafts and activities. Thanks No Doubt Learning! When we did these projects, my toddler was already in bed... so we'll have to try a few of them again when she is awake. I know she would've loved making a mess with fingerpaint and creating a pizza collage.

If you had to choose a favorite book to send to someone new, what book would you pick?

Do you have any other fun alligator or pizza themed activities you would do along with this book?

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Btw, did you know that our July Virtual Book Club is on Monday? We'll be featuring books by Don and Audrey Wood... so don't miss it! If you have a post you are planning to share, make sure to come link up on Monday!

Have a great Friday!