Fun With Geese

I know I always feel like a better parent when I tie my children's books with other activities. A multi-media experience, as my sister puts it. So, I scoured my cabinets and closets looking for something I can turn into a goose project. Then it hit me - Play Doh and Cookie Cutters. I pulled out my goose (okay - duck) and egg cookie cutters. And Keegan requested the zebra (horse) cookie cutter. There is no zebra in Gossie & Friends, but the kid is obsessed with zebras. Plus, this is just fun, imaginative play.

We rolled out our mixed colors, flattened the Play Doh, pushed our cutters into the Play Doh and pulled out fun goose, egg and zebra shapes. Keegan made the geese talk to each other, piled and counted the eggs, and the zebras ruled the playing field. It was a lot of fun!

Plus, I had other project and activity ideas if you have these materials on hand.
1. Blow Bubbles - In BooBoo, that silly blue gosling eats a bubble and burps backwards,forwards, under water and in the weeds. So blow bubbles that look so delicious that BooBoo would want to eat it.

2. Bubble Art - In an unbreakable plate with raised edges mix water, paint and dish soap. Put straw into one end of the pan and gently blow to form bubbles. Put a piece of paper gently on top of the bubbles until a few pop. They will leave a bubble imprint on the paper. Set paper aside to dry.

Good project for age 3 and up, since you don't want them DRINKING the bubble solution through the straw. What you will need:

Tempera paint (about 1-2 tablespoons)
Liquid dish soap (about 1 tablespoon)
Spoon
White construction paper (Light colors will work best.)
Drinking straws
Raised dish
1/2 cup water

3. Make some construction paper geese. Cut out a goose body using yellow construction paper. Add an orange bill and legs with orange construction paper. Draw on eyes or use googly eyes, depending on the age of the child. Then let your child add yellow, blue or other colored feathers, available at any craft shop. Gertie, Peedie and Gossie are yellow. BooBoo is Blue. Ollie is Brown.But your child can make up a new gosling character using pink, purple or green feathers! A good example of how to do this can be found at NoTimeForFlashCards.com.

4. When I was in college, I used to do Felt Boards for the stories I read to classrooms. I would just cut and make the characters out of felt. And then I would use a huge piece of felt and cover a sturdy piece of cardboard. Fold the extra felt over the cardboard and glue it in place. On the back of the characters glue a piece of sandpaper, so they will stick easily to the felt. Either way, making characters for one of the Gossie stories would be adorable and fun.

5. Paint or dye eggs. Pretend it is Ollie's egg and you are going to make it prettier since he won't come out. You can put fun shaped stickers on the eggs or rubber bands to create interesting patterns if you want to dye them. Or just go crazy with paint!

The Play Doh was the simplest idea for me right now, with two underfoot. But if you try these other craft ideas or have a new one - feel free to share!