Big Green Monster

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And the award for the first “I Can Read This!” book goes to Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley…

Little Miss was cozying up in a Playhut tent on our bed with a stack of books when she came running out to the living room.  “I can read this book!  I can read this book!”*  It’s a good learning-to-read book – a fun topic with visual prompts, repetition, and not too many words.

So we decided to do a few activities in celebration. 

First was the playdough Green Monster…  I made a big batch of green playdough that I just can’t get unsticky (new recipe), but it worked for this – and then she used some of her leftover “store” playdough for the colored features.


This was followed by a quick sketch on the easel…


…and then I went hunting for printables online, of which there are stacks.  A mask, cut out by Miss Esmé herself:


A do-a-dot piece of art:


A bit of tracing work:


And a build-a-monster project (some parts cut by Esmé) combined with a sequencing mini-book…


Ahhh… A fun and scary side trip…  Now back to ladybugs…

* I’m so reminded of the “can she walk yet?” phase in this learning to read phase.  When is the exact moment a baby learns to walk?  When she can take steps upon prompting?  When she chooses to take steps on her own?  When walking becomes the default method of locomotion?  When she’s comfortable and steady with it?  It is such a gradual process that one day you realize it’s happened, but you never really captured “that moment.”  Esmé has been stuck in that “few steps when prompted” stage forever, so it’s exciting to move on to self-motivated “reading” – whether you’d classify her as a reader or not…