Celebrate Books!

Today I planned a Celebrate Books program for one of the homeschool groups (HOUSE) I belong too. I was disappointed though as only 2 other families showed up. It was a lot of work on my part for only 2 other families. Oh well... I guess you live and learn. It was weird though as last year we had a huge turnout. Maybe it was just a bad month?

Anyway, I thought I would share with you what we did and maybe someone else can get use out of it someday.

I told everyone to bring a book to "share". They could stand up and share about their book; why they liked it, etc. This was interesting - we got to learn about some new books that we haven't read before.

Then I read to them The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. I LOVE LOVE this story and never seem to tire of reading it aloud to youngsters. It is just a great book. I love to see their expressions when I read it.

I then had stations set up with a different book as the theme of the table. The parents could read the books to the kids while they were at that table.

Table One: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I had red felt and an apple template, green felt and a stem/leaf/worm template. They cut out their pieces, glued them together. Cut a slit and stuck the caterpillar through the apple. Put a magnet on the back and they had a great little felt apple magnet!

Table Two: I Love You, Stinkyface!
I had heart picture frames to decorate. They were the foam hearts and you stuck on decorations, like flowers, hearts, etc. Then at home you could put a photo behind the frame and give it as a gift or hang on fridge.

Also on this table I had supplies for making bookmarks. I had card stock, ribbon, stamps and foamies. The bookmarks turned out beautiful. Nate made a neat two sided one. On one side he had a sun and it was all yellow and the other a moon and it was all blue. Very creative.

Table Three: Put Me In The Zoo
Here I put a bag of animal crackers, frosting and sprinkles. They were to decorate their cookies with sprinkles like in the book. This was a HIT- of course!

Table Four: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
This was the snack table. Last year I had people bring snacks to go along with a book but this year I just bought cookies and pretzels and that was plenty.

The last thing we did was have a book exchange - which with only one other family trading books it didn't work like it did last year. Last year we got a ton of great books and the kids had so much fun trading. I am going to have to see if I can find another group to do this with as my kids really wanted to trade. How I ran it last year was for every book you brought you got to get another to take home.

Last year I also did a big drawing. I bought all sorts of prizes (books, gift certificates, bookmarks, etc.). Then for everyone present they got to put their name in the hat. I drew names for the prizes. I am glad I didn't go to all of that trouble this year because I would have had a ton of prizes leftover!

I hope that if you are planning a book celebration for your group that this helps!