The book I chose is titled 'And the DISH Ran Away with the SPOON', by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. It has such a fun storyline and endless possibilities for activities too!
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
Every night the rhyme gets read. Every night Dish and Spoon run away. And Every night they return--until tonight!
Where can Dish and Spoon be? The rhyme can't go on without them, so Cat, Cow, and Dog set out to search for their missing friends. But where to start? Should they go north? East? Northeast? They'll just have to read Fork's map, ask directions, and try not to get lost in Little Boy Blue's haystack or under Miss Muffet's tuffet or in Big Bad Wolf's kitchen--
"FEE, FI, FO..."
Oh no. Could that be the giant?
-forward from 'And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon'
My kids and I (with my sister's help too) thought of some activities that you might enjoy that fit right along with the storyline of the book. I suggest reading the book first, doing some of the activities throughout the week, and then reading the book again. This time you'll have a map to follow and a fiddle to play! We hope you have as much fun as we did!
Directions: Find a couple of boxes (or just one). Trace around a small bowl or plate then cut out the circle. Be sure to leave enough of the box so it will be strong enough to support the stretch of the rubber bands. You can purchase a bag of rubber bands in assorted colors and sizes for around 50 cents. Tape the two boxes together with duct or packing tape.
Decorate with stickers, glitter glue, paint, or markers if you'd like, or leave it plain like we did. (Remember, it doesn't need to look pretty to be fun!)
Take a few minutes to talk about the map in the book as you read. What is a map key? Why is it important? Talk about how far the Dog, Cat, and Cow will need to travel before they reach their destination.
Have your children draw a map (with a key) of your home and yard or neighborhood. They might even have fun following the map in search of a special treat!
This is a version that I came up with for younger children. Older children could use a regular dice and grab for the spoons if a 1 or a 3 is rolled.
In the book, Dish falls from Jack's beanstalk and breaks into pieces everywhere. They take Dish to the house that Jack built, who is a jack-of-all-trades and nimble and quick too! He is also the person that puts Humpty-Dumpty back together again every day after he falls off of the wall, if anyone can fix Dish Jack can!
Make fruit pizza with kiwi, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple--whatever fruit you like. Break 'Dish' into pieces and enjoy!
- Act out the story: Make stick puppets--draw the characters in the story, cut around them and glue them to a Popsicle stick, or use items from around the house and make simple costumes to wear.
- Have a jumping contest: Pretend you are jack jumping over the candlestick.
- Print and color a picture of Humpty-Dumpty, cut it into a puzzle.
- Have a relay race: Race to the finish line carrying an egg on a spoon.
- Make a spider: Add black string licorice to a rice crispy treat for spider legs.
- Play sheep/sheep/wolf instead of duck/duck/goose.
- Draw a maze to get to the dish and the spoon.
- Make Little Bo Peep's lamb: Glue cotton balls to a picture of a lamb.
- Plant a bean: Grow your very own beanstalk!
- Make a matching game: Match the cow to the fiddle, the dish to the spoon, Little Boy Blue to the haystack, Jack to the candle, etc.
- Color paper plates to look like 'Dish'.
*There are so many nursery rhyme activities that you can do even if you don't have access to the book.
I think you'll really love this book! Happy reading!
fabulous post, janet! its full of wonderfully creative ideas for little ones! tfs:)
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