Tent Town #3

This week we had another successful Reading Tent Town!

(To read about the other times we've done this and find out what it's all about, click the tab at the top of the page.)

The most notable change this time for me was that Primus decided to be a reader instead of a participant.  Its very bittersweet for me to watch her grow up so fast and decide that she's "too old" for things like this.  She was a great reader, though.  I've been training her for a while to be a good storytime reader and am very proud of her.

 I love to hear the positive feedback from the families that come.  It seems like for most of the kids, it is a very enjoyable experience.  I really know we did good when I saw that 2 days later, one of the little girls was still wearing her card.

The most exciting part is to see the growth that some of the children, especially my own son, have had.  The first time we did this, I think Tertius spent most of his time wandering around and then playing inside the house.  The second time, he went to a few tents but not all.  This time, he listened to every single story and proudly got his card marked off.

Besides just growing and maturing, I think another thing that helped is that this time I made it sound like I wouldn't give the kids their treat at the end unless they could show me their filled up card.  There were a couple kids who came to me with an incomplete card and I was able to encourage them to go listen to last stories and then come back. 

This time we had 6 story tents (plus the first joint story) and 12 children.  Here are the books read: Before You Were Born, Handa's Surprise, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and the sequels were available as optional alternates), Leaf Man,  DinoFours: It's Snowing!, and various princess stories.  This time, to the delight of several of the children, Snow White and Rapunzel were back to read the princess themed stories.

Like before, we started all the kids off listening to one story all together.  But this time we decided to do a craft instead of making lunch.  Also, we didn't even set up the large tent this time; we just did it on my nice covered/enclosed patio.  To make sitting on the cold cement a little more comfortable, I had large foam squares for them. 

Grandma Cindy read, "Today I Feel Silly," a book about different feelings.  And then for the craft they made puppets displaying a feeling using these pre-cut people-colored face shapes from Lakeshore.

The treat/favor at the end was a juice box made to look like a book.  This was so easy and turned out cute!  I just cut a 9X12 construction paper into 4 equal pieces and that was the perfect size.  Then I hot glued the paper to the back and the side of the juice box.  Don't glue the front cover down.  It looks more fun this way.  And besides, the attached straw would be in the way.

The plan is to do the next one in January.  It will be interesting to see how it goes if we get rained out and are forced to do it inside!