I am so excited to be joining the Enchanted Homeschool Mom and many other wonderful bloggers in the 2014-2015 Poppins Book Nook! The Poppins Book Nook is a monthly themed virtual book club for kids ages preschool and up. Each month participants will read a book based on that month’s theme and share crafts and activities that go along with the book on the last Monday of every month. It’s a great way to learn about different topics, build literacy skills and have some fun! 

The theme for March is “Where in the World?” I am excited to use this as a starting point in teaching Caden some geography and a little about where we live. Where in the world can you find a big blue bug, coffee milk, and bakery pizza? Rhode Island of course! Rhode Island may be the smallest state, but there are tons to see and do here! I am sure I could fill the whole month with activities based just on Rhode Island!

For this months “Where in the World?” theme I chose to read the book R is for Rhode Island Red by Mark Allio. This is a great alphabet book for all ages as it has simple story book text as well as bits of information on the side detailing history and interesting facts about Rhode Island. For Caden who is three years old, I read mainly the rhyming verses for each letter of the alphabet and only a little bit of the historical facts on the pages that interested us the most. 

One morning after reading R is for Rhode Island Red, we decided to take a drive past one of Rhode Island’s favorite landmarks, The Big Blue Bug! We have driven past Nibbles Woodaway (That’s really his name!) many times over the years and it is always fun to see! It is a 50 foot long giant bug (I think technically it’s a termite!) that sits atop the Big Blue Bug Solutions building (formerly New England Pest Control) on the side of the highway in Providence, Rhode Island. 

On the page in the book featuring Nibbles Woodaway, it also features some of Rhode Island’s favorite foods! So after driving by the Big Blue Bug (twice! Once going down and then coming back!) we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some tasty treats for lunch! First we stopped at the bakery department for some fresh bakery pizza. I don’t get it, but lifelong Rhode Islander’s love their bakery pizza! It’s basically soft crust with pizza sauce! No cheese, pepperoni or other toppings! Strange, I know… Rhode Islander’s also love their coffee! And in 1993 a tasty drink called Coffee Milk became Rhode Island’s official drink! So we picked up a bottle of coffee syrup, which is like chocolate syrup, except coffee flavored and came home to mix up a glass of delicious coffee milk to go with our bakery pizza! And it was gooood! 

A few days after our little field trip to visit Nibbles, Caden and I sad down at the kitchen table and crafted up our own Big Blue Bug! To make your own you will need a few things first…

Supplies:

• 2 medium-sized styrofoam eggs
• 1 smaller sized styrofoam egg
• 1 Q-Tip
• 2 Silver pipe cleaners
• 3 Black pipe cleaners 
• 2 googly eyes
• Black paint
• Blue paint
• paint brush
• scissors
• toothpicks 
• shoe box (optional) 

Knowing how much Caden dislikes getting paint on his hands, I set up our craft beforehand using toothpicks and an empty shoebox to hold the styrofoam eggs for painting. Then your child can easily paint the eggs with the blue paint.

This set up worked really well and made it easier for Caden to paint the eggs, as well as allowed for easier drying. Caden did really well painting the eggs and got them mostly covered with the blue paint. 

After the eggs were completely painted with blue paint, we set them aside to dry and went off to play! By  the next day the paint was dry and we were able to finish the craft! 

We added two googly eyes so Nibbles could see, two black antennae (made by cutting the Q-tip in half and painting it black) to his head and then used toothpicks to stick his body together! These are great activities for developing fine motor skills! 

Then we gave Nibbles some legs by using the three black pipe cleaners cut in half and poked into the sides of his body. And added some wings so he could fly by sticking two silver pipe cleaners folded in half into his back! 

Caden was still in a crafting mood when we had finished, so I gave him some black and white paint and the paint brush so he could make our little blue bug, Nibbles a building to stand on, by painting the shoe box. He ended up painting himself…

Even though Caden made a big ‘ol mess with the paint, he sure did have fun! And little Nibbles got a building that looked a little less like a shoe box! 

I hope you enjoyed learning some interesting facts about Rhode Island and have fun making this simple craft inspired by R is for Rhode Island Red, no matter where in the world you are! Below you will find the linky so you can link up and read about more crafts and activities inspired by this months Poppins Book Nook “Where in the World?” theme. 

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

Please come back & join us on April 28  when we share all our “Planes, Trains and Automobiles!” Book Activities!

And be sure to follow Poppins Book Nook on Facebook and Pinterest!

Clip Art by Melon Headz

 

© 2014 – 2017, Stir The Wonder. All rights reserved.