Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Marie Baumann, an Usborne Books consultant. Please consider buying any Usborne books through her links! Neither Usborne Books nor Marie are affiliated with Poppins Book Nook.
For our Poppins Book Nook theme of Where In The World, we decided to take it literally. Marie Bauman, an Usborne Books consultant, sent us a copy of Usborne’s Illustrated Stories from Around the World.
Usborne’s Illustrated Stories from Around the World is a thick book about 6×6. It’s easy to hold, if a little heavy. The pictures are beautifully illustrated. The book includes 10 stories from around the world. There were stories from Africa, Russia, Japan, England, Scandanavia, India, Ancient Greece, America, China & the Middle East.
After reading the stories, we looked at where the countries were in the Usborne Children’s Atlas that I won a few years ago. The Usborne Children’s Atlas has pages about the different landforms/habitats, and maps of the continents with countries. If your children are animal fans, Usborne also made an Animal Picture Atlas that has the same map illustrations as well as information on different kinds of animals. We read all the stories, but only did extra activities for 4 of them.
Japan
Our first stop was Japan. The first story was about a stonecutter who wasn’t happy being a stonecutter.
After receiving our most recent Saint Mail kit, I got the idea to make the Japan flag out of flannel & puffy paint. Mostly because it was handy–remember, there won’t be much hands on craft stuff here.
I also dug out the kiddy chopsticks (that I intended to use for Montessori transfer activities…oops) and had intended to try eating various foods with them, but they were interested to go to the next country so I skipped it.
And I found a book of Art Projects From Around the World on my shelf and I talked to my daughter about Japanese art. We talked about water colors and flowers and this was her interpretation. She’s the artist, I don’t get picky.
England
The next week, we read the story of Dick Whittington from Usborne’s Illustrated Stories from Around the World. As a part of England, we tried these yummy British tea cookies I bought. They were yummy & not very sweet.
We also had a bunch of Little Passports floating around & England happened to arrive that week. She (I) built a double-decker bus.
Since we did that one on St. Patrick’s week, we talked about how the UK is England, Ireland & Scotland. We watched this Riverdance clip on YouTube and ate Corned Beef. We also talked about St. Patrick’s Day, leprechauns and ate Lucky Charms (i.e. junk cereal)
Africa
Our story for Africa was about a tree who complained a lot & so the gods got angry and buried him upside down. Funny how our culture is full of complainers, but other cultures don’t like it :).
We made these easy african masks we saw on Pinterest. Itty Bitty drew her own face & even put a few hairs on herself (she’s 3). Lil Bit did everything except punch the holes. My hole punch is a bit wonky. Oh, I guess I did cut out the masks & the yarn, too. I was feeling exceptionally crafty that day.
For Africa, we also had a Little Passport for South Africa that we opened up. Not much fun in that particular package, but they liked the water bird whistle :). I wanted to get a Toob of safari animals to play with, but never got that far.
India
The story from India was about a fish that talked. It turned out to be one of the Buddhist gods telling the boy to build a boat & save the world. Essentially it looks and sounds like Noah’s ark, but written by Buddhhists. That may not make some of you happy, but I used it to point to the truth if the Bible (look, every culture has a flood story!) and pointed out that the Indians don’t know about God.
For India, we looked at our Little Passports, kit which included a stuffed Tiger. We also made this cool Indian sand art pattern called rangoli. We made ours from glue & glitter. Lots of glitter. Obviously I made the 3 year olds — she picked out the colors and had I thought about it, she could have poured the glitter, too. But she didn’t ask so it didn’t occur to me. Oops.
My dear loving husband was also nice enough to grab a package of naan at the grocery store for the girls to try. My youngest didn’t get any closer than the pic, but the oldest was all over it. Yum!
I know I said you wouldn’t get much crafty out of me but honestly, my daughter loves art and I made an effort to support that love for her. So I looked for easy, authentic art to copy on Pinterest. Emphasis on easy. And quick and very low prep. I often didn’t look for directions but found a picture & said, “oh! We can do that with x.” Done.
Oh, and my printer was broken for 2 weeks. I thought I was going to lose my mind! That’s also why we were so crafty. I’m hoping to share some printables in next month’s post about Planes, Trains & Automobiles. We are concentrating on trains!
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Clip Art by Melon Headz
Check out more Poppins Book Nook posts from around the world by these lovely bloggers:
Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God’s Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Faith and Good Works ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy’s Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy’s Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ The Kennedy Adventures ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Water on the Floor ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom’s Heart ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A “Peace” of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama
Poppins Book Nook Giveaway! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win a copy of Where in the World! The winner must reside within the United States. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom’s disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}. Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:
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Go to the Poppins Book Nook to see more themed children’s book fun!
Do you have a fun project to add?
Jennifer
10 April 2014 at 1:23 PM (10 years ago)My printer ran out of ink last month so I understand. You did interesting introductions to the different countries. I’d enjoy the food.
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Ashley
8 April 2014 at 7:20 AM (10 years ago)Looks like you did some fabulous crafts to go with an amazing book!
Ashley´s last blog post ..Simple Water Displacement Experiement
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