Ages 4-8 Count the animals on each page, and then count only the babies on each page

2 X 2 Reading List
Age 2 to Grade 2  

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  Count the animals on each page, and then count only the babies on each page.
  
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  Take a walk in your yard or neighborhood and see what animals you find.
  
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  Play a guessing game. Use the book as a starting point. What has a mask on its face? What has a shell on its back?
  

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  Author Web Site: http://www.jimarnosky.com/
  
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  Texas Parks & Wildlife Department: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/nonpwdpubs/young_naturalist/discovering_nature/nature_walk/index.phtml
  

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  Find vegetables in your kitchen. How do they grow? Up, down, or around?
  
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  With a grown up, make soup or salad using some of your favorite vegetables.
  
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  Look at the pictures on each page. What part of each plant do we eat?
  

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  Author Web Site: http://personal.chatham.edu/faculty/kayres/default.htm
  
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  Gardening with children:
  

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  Make a caterpillar or butterfly cake or cookies. Decorate in many colors.
  
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  Make a list of things you like to do. Then make a list of things a friend likes to do. What do you like to do that is the same? Different?
  
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  Draw and color a butterfly and a worm.
  

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  Illustrator Web Site: http://www.nickbruel.com/
  
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  Butterfly Coloring Pages: http://www.coloring.ws/butterfly1.htm
  
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  Worm Coloring Page: http://www.picturewindowbooks.com/PWB/pdf/PWB_AroundMe_Act2.pdf
  

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  Think of some active things you do and what color the “kid tea” could be.
  
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  What would a child be doing that would make the bath water pink? Orange?
  
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  Draw a box with a brown crayon. Divide that box into 4 parts and color them blue, red, green, yellow. Color over the whole square with a black crayon. Use a paper clip point to gently draw a bathtub shape full of bubbles. The colors will appear as you draw!
  

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  Author information: www.elizabethficocelli.com/About_Me.htm
  
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  Bubblarium: Make a simple observatory to see the amazing colors in a bath bubble.
  

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  Draw three eggs: small, middle-sized, and large. Tell which belongs to the chicken, the duck and the goose.
  
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  What do you have in your room that you could use to build a perfect nest?
  
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  Pretend to make an omelet using a whisk and a spatula: break the eggs, whip them, pour them in a skillet, slide the omelet on a plate.
  

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  Author information: http://www.catherinefriend.com/HTMLBookPages/perfectnest.htm
  
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  Illustrator Web Site: http://www.johnmanders.com/
  
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  Egg sizes: http://lujs.tripod.com/different-eggs.html
  

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  Watch the western sky at sunset. What colors do you see?
  
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  Go for a walk and name the colors you see in your world.
  
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  Make a game using crayons and index cards. Use the different colors to write color words in English on one set of cards, in Spanish on another. Play a memory game. Turn the cards over, mix them up, then, take turns to turn over two cards at a time to find matching cards.
  

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  Author information: http://www.mayagonzalez.com/
  
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  Spanish/English coloring book: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/languagebooks/spanish/colors/
  

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  Name the creatures found on the endpapers.
  
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  How many dots are on Lucy’s dress?
  
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  Play hide and seek with someone.
  

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  Author information: www.imagesofdelight.com/client.asp?id=98
  
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  Children’s Butterfly site: http://bsi.montana.edu/web/kidsbutterfly/photos
  

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  Find the hidden animal, person, or thing that reveals what is coming up on the next page and what was on the previous page.
  
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  The goose hides on many of the pages. Can you find her?
  
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  How do you know that the last page circles back to the first page?
  

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  Author Information: www2.childrensillustrators.com/illustrator.cgi/ajay
  
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  Let’s Discover Counting Game. Find the hidden animals, match the number displayed. www.letsdiscover.org.uk/count.swf
  

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  Draw a picture of your family.
  
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  Draw a picture of your backyard and put faces on things that don’t have faces.
  
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  Turn to one of Lily’s drawings and tell someone why you like it.
  

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  Author information: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/angelajohnson.htm
  
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  Illustrator Web Site: http://www.eblewis.com/
  
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  Art Activities: http://www.theteachersguide.com/Artlessonplans.html
  

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  Use crayons to draw your favorite foods on a white paper plate.
  
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  Look at the book cover and name all of Badger’s foods. Which could you eat?
  
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  What is the only thing left in Badger’s den at the end of the story?
  

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  Keiko Kasza, author/illustrator http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000020052,00.html
  
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  Learn about badgers
  

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  Design a guinea pig house for Theodore. Draw a picture of what it will look like. What will you add so Theodore can have fun?
  
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  Do you remember when you made a friend? How did you do that?
  
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  Can you list 3 good things and 3 bad things about the pet you have or want?
  

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  Author Information: www.netaxs.com/~katz/aboutme.htm
  
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  Guinea Pigs Club Online Games: www.guineapigsclub.com/gp_site/game.asp
  

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  Can you imagine a friend? What is his/her name? What does he/she look like?
  
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  What names would you give to Little Rabbit’s animal friends?
  
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  Draw a picture of Little Rabbit and Harry.
  

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  Author and illustrator Web Site: http://kateandsarahklise.com/
  
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  Friendship activities: www.atozkidsstuff.com/friendship.html
  

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  Gather 13 dried beans or small stones and see how many groups of 2, 3 or more you can make. Does it ever come out even? Why?
  
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  Draw your own bug-like character or create one using found items in your house.
  
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  Count the eyes, legs, fingers, toes, and antennae on each of the bug-like characters in the story.
  

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  Have you ever gotten a tummy ache from eating too much of a yummy food?
  
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  Go outside and look at the stars one night.
  
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  Draw a picture of what you might see on a night time walk around your neighborhood.
  

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  Office of Naval Research – Observing the Sky:
  

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  Family Fun – Cooking with Kids:
  

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  Talk about the colors you see as you turn the pages through the seasons.
  
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  List all the things the bear eats through the seasons. Do you like to eat any of those things, too?
  
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  Find animals in your world or animal pictures in books. Which are the hairiest?
  

Illustrator Web Site: http://www.mattphelan.com/new.html

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  Where do Pip and Squeak live?
  
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  Draw a picture of a favorite gift you have received.
  
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  Why was the gift just right for Gus?
  

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  Author Web Site
  

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  Talk about ways you help your friends.
  
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  Draw a picture of two fun things that you do with your friends.
  
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  If you could give yourself a new name, what would it be? Why?
  

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  Author Web Site:
  

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  What do you do to make bath time fun?
  
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  Why does Big Smelly Bear wander down to the pond late at night?
  
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  What are some things you do to make your friends happy?
  

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  Animal Planet : Animals A to Zoo – Bears:
  

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  Name all the animals found in the pages of the story.
  
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  Find young animals around your home or neighborhood. Check on them occasionally to see how much they have grown.
  
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  What does a crocodile do best, walk on land or swim in water? Why?
  

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  Nile Crocodiles facts and fun:
  

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  How many of the dogs have long ears?
  
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  How many have pink noses? Which have spots?
  
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  Which two dogs would you choose and what would you name them? Why?
  

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  Author Web Site: www.dragonflys.com
  
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  Your Pet Dog: www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/pets/dog.shtml