We are learning using BFIAR and are rowing The Little Rabbit this week:
We did a row of the Little Rabbit last year, but the girls have been asking to do a rerow of it. The reason for this sudden fascination in all things rabbit is that we were given two rabbits a couple of weeks ago. This has brought alive the book. As we didn’t cover it last time in any great depth I thought I’d add this weeks activities to this post rather than write another separate one, and simply repost it. Most of the photos are from this week but I’ve noted when they are from September’s row
Read aloud fiction books
I just used the rest of the B4FIAR bunny books:
Go along non fiction books
For more themed book ideas see:
Dress up and drama
Dressing up was simply a hair-band with ears (photo from last row):
Little world tub:
The Little Rabbit is a book about a pet rabbit owned and adored by a little girl. She takes the little rabbit everywhere with her. One day she falls asleep and the rabbit meets a boy rabbit and a while later the little pet rabbit gives birth to 7 tiny baby rabbits. I’ve included the pet girl rabbit, the wild male rabbit and some of their children; I also put in the little girl, her daddy and some of her friends, who end up taking the baby rabbits home; there is a basket, a cage, carrots, hay and grass from the fields and finally the butterfly and tortoise that the little rabbit met whilst exploring.( In fact, on closer inspection I think I may have included a turtle instead of tortoise!). This will be a perfect tray activity for B2, but also useful for A4 in her quiet time basket. (picture from last row):
Role Play:
We have bunnies for them to play with for real, but the little toy bunnies they had been given in their surprise Goodnight Moon slumber party last week, gave me an idea for some pretend play. I decided I would make a cage for the little ones to play with inside using their toy bunnies. I found a cardboard box, taped up the open side (making a waterproof roof) and cut out two doors. I began the rather laborious process of cutting out squares to make a pretend wire mesh in one of the doors and then added two bead handles, tying them on with rubber bands (simply because they were all I had to hand).
I made a sign and enlisted the help of my older children.
C10 took A4 to collect some hay from outside to put in the cage, whilst L10 and B2 went through our pretend food box for lettuce, carrots, bowls and even found a baby’s bottle we could use as a rabbit’s water bottle! We couldn’t find a carrot but thought the chilli pepper looked close enough, confident the rabbits wouldn’t notice. They are stuffed after all!:
The girls enjoying playing with their new toy:
This was such an easy project and took about 20 minutes to make start to finish and best of all cost absolutely nothing!
Trays:
And lots of tray activities, all bunny related of course!
For more art ideas:
Our Classification Cards
I had A4 look through for rabbits and hares. I wasn’t entirely certain she knew that they existed in the wild.
Printables
We don’t often use printables, but next year when we revisit each book I’ll be using them.
http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2013/01/the-little-rabbit-printables/
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/RabbitPrintables.htm
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/little_rabbit.php
Mummy and A4 activity
Cleaning out the rabbit hutch and feeding and watering everyday. I also gave both A4 and B2 lots of experience handling the rabbits:
Snacks
- Marmite toast bunnies (made during our last row)
- Decorated tortilla ‘biscuits’
I did this as a tray activity for the girls, cutting out big and small rabbit shapes from tortillas (healthier than biscuits). I put these in a tray with decorating icing pens, butterfly sprinkles and enough plates for them all:
- Homemade bunny ice-cream and fruit salad
- Bunny shaped banana sandwiches:
Our Special Tea
Our muffin tin meal from this row:
As I had already done an elaborate (albeit untidy!) muffin tin last row (see end of post), I decided to keep it simple this time:
For more muffin tin meal ideas:
Gary and I also organised a bunny hunt in the front garden for all the children, using the bunny baskets they had from last week. We gave them the baskets and asked them to guess what might be happening next. It took them a while with a few hints from Gary but their reaction was well worth the wait:
This was our rather messy muffin tin from the last row. I thought I would leave it in. It might not look like much but it was probably A4’s favourite tin meal (almost due entirely to the marshmallow fluff!)
I bought some mini carrots for ‘bunny’ to eat – you don’t need to peel these so they look kinda cool. I used some iced gem biscuits to represent all the flowers that crop up in the book, popping them on some shredded green paper for the grass! I created the white mummy bunny by making some frozen banana bunny shaped lolly pops (literally mash banana then freeze) and for the brown daddy I dipped a banana lolly in melted chocolate!
My favourite by far, though, resulted from a surprise find at the supermarket. I had wanted to recreate the little rabbits nest. I did this using my lovely find of marshmallow fluff for the white rabbit fur and shavings of chocolate for the hay. I had made 7 little bunnies (to represent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…you get the idea) which the children could dip into the nest!
I’m pleased we rerowed this book. I really didn’t do it justice last time, but this time the girls were so ready for everything I had planned and B2 that much older, added to the fact we had our very own rabbits made for a really fun week!
The rainbow colored bunny puzzle looks fabulous!
They’re great – the big one’s a bit tricky though even for me…
Looks like a lovely week! That color in rabbit seems like loads of fun 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Favorite Resources.
It’s my pleasure!
The sensory box is a great idea. Off to find some things for ours!
I found it useful for our one year old. Although she doesn’t really understand that everything is linked to the book, she still really enjoys throwing everything out and putting everything back in, with a bit of chewing inbetween! My four year old plays with them really well though and they make a fun independent tray activity.
This all looks pretty amazing and I am so proud of all the work you have put into all of their school. They are so lucky to have a mummy like you and I’m so lucky to have a wife like you. One question I have………. How does one ROW a book?
Gently down the stream…….?
What a great row! I love that you made a hutch for them to use. What a great (& cheap!) idea. I will have to snag that the next time we do this book.
You know, it was seriously easy as well and very ‘ad hoc’ in that I hadn’t planned to do until about three minutes before I started making it!
Love the idea of having the children help make their own snacks, i will try that one day (when I have enough energy to clean up, ha ha!) The homemade ice cream looks great!
I liked the fact I could make a cut out shape of the ice cream. I’m going to try frozen mashed banana next- a bit healthier!
I really like the hutch. I may have to make one and pull out the bunny books for some spring themed play here. I think all four of mine would enjoy it 🙂
I can’t even begin to tell you how simple it was, really worth the the 20 minutes or so it took to do! Thanks for popping by!
I love the hutch, the snacks, everything in fact!!
Thank you, Sarah.
Oh, how I just love anything Five in a Row 🙂
You got so much done this week! Thanks for linking with Collage Friday!
It is a lovely curriculum, full to the brim of homely memories.
Looks like you had an amazing week. I love the role play you made 🙂
Thank you! The box was a huge hit!
LOVE your rabbit hutch! So adorable!
Thanks Michelle! – Not a patch on your doghouse though!!
What a FUN week! So many great activities, but my favorite is the bunny hutch– can’t believe you cut all those little squares out! Great job!
It was a bit laborious but well worth it!!
Looks like a lot of fun!
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment!
They look like they are having so much fun!
They do really enjoy doing school!
What fun! I love all the wonderful activities you did! The hutch looks like hours of fun. I will be sharing this post on Facebook and Pinterest.
The hutch was a success and so easy to make! Sometimes it’s the simple things….
We enjoyed this book too and you picked a great time of year for it.
Completely accidently! We were given some rabbits and I was nagged to do the book again!
So much springtime fun in one post! Love all the activities and food stuffs. 🙂
Thank you!!