Virtual Book Club for Kids--Don and Audrey Wood Month

Today is the day the link party for the Virtual Book Club for Kids opens for July. Our July authors are Don and Audrey Wood. I am so excited to share with you today a wonderful book by Audrey Wood that still let's me have my Multicultural Monday theme. But first, let me explain about the Virtual Book Club for Kids. 

The Virtual Book Club for Kids is a group of bloggers who have joined together for the summer (and some are extending it beyond) to look at the same author each month and do some craft and/or activity with a book by this author. Last month our author was Mo Willems and you can check it out here. This month it is Don and Audrey Wood. The blogs participating are:
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

Not Twiddle Twaddle

Ready Set Read 2 Me

Famiglia & Seoul

The Good Long Road

The Educator's Spin On It

Imagination Soup

3 Dinosaurs

Royal Baloo

BeingAConsciousParent

Smile Play Learn

Please visit each one to see what Wood book they are doing and be inspired!!

Now onto my book. I chose The Princess and The Dragon by Audrey Wood. This has become a favorite book for Hazel. It is about a princess who does not act like a princess and a dragon who does not act like a dragon. They decide to switch places and that makes everyone happy. I love this book because there are so many stereotypes you can discuss. I made an activity for older children with this and one for Hazel.
 

Hazel's is rather simple. I bought some collage people at Lakeshore Learning Store and put magnetic tape on the back of it and added some felt hair to be the princess. I traced the arms and legs of another one and drew a dragon's head, tail and wings and cut it out of green cardstock and put magnetic tape on it. Then I cut clothes out of scrapbook paper and put magnetic tape on the back of them. Now Hazel gets to dress the dragon and the princess however she wants.

The first morning as the princess the dragon wears a blue gown!

The princess is always pictured in a raggedy green dress and hat with crazy hair.

Hazel asked for some pants and tops as well!

For older kids I made a gender identity game. The game is simple and is meant to get the kids talking about gender identity. Our society puts such rolls on male and female and it is amazing to see how we all internalize it without even thinking about it. So to play this game, you know you are going to have a new visitor and you only know one thing about this visitor (the fact on the card). Your job is to determine if you think the visitor is male or female.

 Having been the only female in a class before this is something that I take personally. I also have friends who are transgendered. I think the more we can talk about such things the more it will help our children to accept people for who they are and not have all the prejudices we do.


I hope you will let me know how the game goes. We have not really talked about boy and girl things with Hazel so I have not tried it. 


Now for our link party. Remember if you have a post about a Don and Audrey Wood (or just one of them like mine) book, please feel free to share it here! The party will be open for several weeks so you still have time to do something. I will share more each week with a different book.