Mo Willems: Summer Virtual Book Club for Kids

Safety Tip: Be sure to be careful with the hot glue. This play set contains small pieces that young children could choke on.

I made Gerald (the elephant) and Piggie with pipe-cleaners, pom-poms, and felt. The arms are one long piece of pipe-cleaner folded and glued underneath the head. The legs are also made from one pipe-cleaner that is glued to the bottom of the characters. Piggie’s nose is made from a pony bead, and Gerald’s ears are felt.

Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems

I also made miniature props for some of our favorite Piggie and Elephant books. For Should I Share My Icecream?, I created miniature waffle cones from brown plaid scrapbook paper and glued small pom-poms on top. I couldn’t resist making a little Pigeon cone like the one shown on the back cover.

Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems

For Can I Play Too? a pom-pom made a perfect ball (also great for Watch Me Throw the Ball!). I used pony-beads and a green pipe-cleaner to create the snake.

Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems

Don’t be intimidated by the pipe-cleaner trumpet for Listen to My Trumpet! My son insisted that we make a trumpet for the play box. I didn’t think I could make one, but by looking at the trumpet in the book and twisting the pipe-cleaner to match it we came up with a pretty cute looking trumpet. I did need some hot glue to secure the cone of the trumpet.

There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems

I made a little nest with some fresh twigs from our herb garden and added some miniature pom-poms as eggs for the book There Is a Bird on Your Head! The love birds were made from pom-poms, pieces of colored feather for wings and tails, and small glass orange beads for beaks. (Be especially careful hot-gluing feathers.)

I Will Surprise My Friend! by Mo Willems

For I Will Surprise My Friend!, I made a rock out of aluminum foil. Obviously, a real rock would have looked better, but ever since I was hit by a pom-pom by Ben pretending to be David (lucky me got chosen as Goliath) I’ve been a little nervous about bringing real rocks in the house.

As you can see if you look closely at my photos, my play box is far from perfect. Gerald is blue (no gray pom-poms in town) and his ears are glued on upside down. (I noticed that after writing this whole post!) Ben loves his play box though, and I love the imaginative play that flows from it. You don’t have to be a perfect crafter to make something your child will enjoy!

Elephant and Piggie list of books (links go to Amazon where you can see inside most of these books):

Today I Will Fly!, My Friend Is Sad, I Am Invited to a Party!, There Is a Bird on Your Head!, I Love My New Toy!, I Will Surprise My Friend!, Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Watch Me Throw the Ball!, Elephants Cannot Dance!, Pigs Make Me Sneeze!, I Am Going!, Can I Play Too?, We Are in a Book!, I Broke My Trunk!, Happy Pig Day!, Let’s Go for a Drive!, Listen to My Trumpet!, and Should I Share My Ice Cream?

Check out the fabulous ideas from my Co-hosts: Toddler Approved, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, Rainy Day Mum, Reading Confetti, Inspiration Laboratories, Play Dr. Mom, Mommy and Me Book Club, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Two Big Two Little, Creative Connections for Kids, The Golden Gleam, Juggling with Kids, Taming the Goblin, Crafty Moms Share, Ready Set Read 2 Me, Famiglia and Seoul, The Good Long Road, The Educator’s Spin On It, Imagination Soup, 3 Dinosaurs, Royal Baloo, BeingAConsciousParent, and Toddler Approved

Now it’s your turn. Link up your Mo Willems activities and articles:

July’s author will be Don and Audrey Wood (link up on July 16th) and August’s author will be Kevin Henkes (link up on August 20th). Mark it in your calendar and don’t forget to come back by and link up!