Lockdown has been interesting to see more of how the kids play. My eldest loves Lego and is energetic but will sometimes sit quietly.
My youngest not so much 😂. He spends his entirely 3yo life running, climbing or eating! This one’s for him. Thanks for reading 💖
Think my writing is being influenced by lock down🙈
Thanks for reading/watching and hope you’re safe and well 💖
The crazy mummy between kids’ snacks reading The (not so) Great Hamster Escape
The (not so) Great Hamster Escape – Kirsten Allen
The hamster, (his cheeks filled with food)
Looked through the cage bars and thought it was rude
That the humans had the run of the house,
So did the cat, the dog and the mouse.
“I’m going to escape!” He said
And plans started to clack like a wheel in his head.
He couldn’t squeeze through the gaps – they were narrow
And his bum was the size of a small wheel barrow.
When he tried to prise the metal apart
The only thing that escaped was a silent long fart.
He attempted a gnibble and attempted a gnaw
But all the chomping and chewing gave him a sore jaw
He paced up and down trying to think
Only stopping briefly for a quick drink
An idea suddenly hit him like a tank at full throttle –
He’d make a small hole in his drinking bottle!
The hamster carried out his devious plan
And the next day at breakfast over croissants and jam
The smallest human noticed the bottle was dry
And the little offspring let out a cry
“Oh mummy, oh daddy there’s not a drop spare!”
But the grown ups were too busy to care.
So the little girl decided to do it herself
And grabbed a new bottle from the pet food shelf.
She carefully put the new bottle in
Then put the old one in the bin.
The hamster’s excitement reached the highest peaks!
“She’s forgotten to shut the door!” He squeaked!
He cartwheeled and rubbed his paws with glee
Very soon he knew that he’d be free!
Lit by only the moon, the house was quiet once more,
He crept and creeped out of that door.
But oh no! Alas! Alack!
He never saw the puddy cat…..
Finger’s crossed no regrets tonight about letting the little one sleep for a bit. Big one is upstairs playing so finally I get a minute to write a very quick blog. Or at least add a couple of activity sheets and a poem to the page! This one I took to a nursery workshop and and a year 1 workshop a while ago and it worked well. As a basic for nursery session, I read the poem then chatted about the kids where they would take their alien for the day. One of my favourite responses was “I’d take them to Tesco!”. Priorities eh?
For year one, I got them to describe their alien, then the other person had to draw. For lockdown – this could work well on video call with a friend perhaps?
Gah going to have to hurry – big one has just come downstairs with a broken Lego jail…..
So here’s the poem, and worksheets with activity ideas. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and please share any pictures on Twitter/Instagram with @kidsstoryworld #AlienAntics !
I WONDER ABOUT ALIENS – Worksheet
I WONDER ABOUT ALIENS – ACTIVITIES
I Wonder About Aliens
By Kirsten Allen
I wonder about aliens
And what would happen if they came,
Down to visit planet Earth.
Do you think we’d look the same?
Would they have hands and toes like us?
Or the biggest furry paws?
Perhaps neither, perhaps both…
Perhaps GINORMOUS purple claws?
Do you think the aliens would talk like us?
What would they like to do?
Perhaps they’d want to spend the day at a local zoo?
Do you think you’d ever meet one?
What on Earth do you think they’d do?
Children’s rhymes and poems can shape the way we look at the world when we’re younger and bring back amazing memories when we’re older. To give you an example, I honestly can’t walk past a fish tank or see a kitten without fondly remembering sitting in a classroom (think it was Year 1) and learning, writing out and illustrating this one by Ogden Nash:
The Guppyby Ogden Nash
Whales have calves,
Cats have kittens,
Bears have cubs,
Bats have bittens,
Swans have cygnets,
Seals have puppies,
But guppies just have little guppies.
A.A. Milne, Michael Rosen, Roger Mcgough, Spike Milligan all have special places in my heart and different meanings for me. I think the one that terrified me was one we had to learn for a school concert: Matilda – Hillaire Belloc it’s a bit like “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” but much darker!
Children’s poetry is fantastic for repetition, vocabulary and according to one blog even physical coordination…
Why Reading Poetry is So Important for Children
It’s also great to create poems with children and get them thinking about how words can sound with rhythm. How they can be used to express thoughts and feelings or just fun noises!
A game that my 3 year old son loves it when I rhyme words and change the first letter to make new and sometimes nonsense words. He joins in which is fantastic (though we have to be a bit careful…listening to the radio he heard the name Jack Horn…he suddenly started shouting “Jack Horn! Jack Corn! Jack Forn!Jack Morn! Jack P…..” 😳 Luckily we were in the car so no one around and I managed to distract him by shouting frantically back “Jack Corn Jack Corn” and then change the topic which seemed to work)<<<<<<<<<<<<
y article that gives ideas for simple activities. I particularly love the suggestion of having a book around the house that kids can write in. I used to have my own blue notebook (would love to dig it out!) And poetry is educational, helps kids to read etc but most of all it's just good fun!
Children’s Poems <<<<<<<<<<<<
ouch and let me know – What was your or what is your child's favourite childhood poem?
Well I promised the book review of Kitchen Disco (by Clares Foges and Al Murphy) and what a book it is! It arrived on Friday and without exaggeration we have read it about 8 times already. It’s great for around 6/7 and under with so much colour, fantastic rhyming and a good beat. It almost feels like you’re at a party when you read it. It tells you to “Dance like you don’t care!” (Though my 3 year old keeps insisting “I do care Mummy!” – not sure if he means his dancing or mine! 😂)
It’s all about the party fruit have when everyone’s asleep. So “Swing your hips, shake your pips and let’s get all excited!” Such an enjoyable book that my son loves doing the moves to.
There’s also a website attached with a video (link below) though if I’m honest the book is fun enough without it.
What a lovely week! I’ve been fortunate to have been asked to do a monthly blog for a wonderful charity, Motherwell Cheshire CIO so watch this space!
https://www.motherwellcheshirecio.com/services
Also I’ve volunteered to do a regular storytime at Hanwell Library in London which starts on the 9th November. Very excited and looking forward to it!
We’ve also got a wonderful new addition to our book family (it was recommended by a lovely lady on a Facebook thread) It’s such a sweet amusing story I just had to share!!!
The Pout-Pout Fish – by Deborah Diesen
This is a story about a pout-pout fish with a pout-pout face spreading his dreary-wearies all over the place! (Think we’ve all had those days! 😂) It’s not his fault…it’s the way he was born…or so he thinks! This has lots of repetition and rhyming, alongside colourful characters. It’s a great one for the under sixes. Really love this book and so did my 3 year old. Here’s the link below. Have a great weekend!
I know it’s not until next week but with all the pumpkins, skeletons and witches about it’s hard not to get into the Halloween “spirit” (see what I did there?!)
Hope you enjoy this Halloween Rhyme!
Witching For Beginners
By Kirsten Allen 26.10.17
No one believes me,
When I say I’m a new witch
And that it was my broomstick,
That knocked my sister in the ditch.
I couldn’t find a prince to turn into a frog
But I found a magic potion in the bathroom,
So tried it on the dog.
Instead of turning into a creature, from the murky pond,
Our poor, brown, furry, four-legged friend,
Turned an orange shade of blond.
And I then I tried to tell Mum that it was my untrained super witch powers,
That accidentally whacked the heads off all her best most favourite flowers.
I’m new to this whole witching thing,
So I am at a loss,
And really don’t know the right spell
To make her stop being so cross!
©
What are your favourite Autumn children’s books?
This week Sandhurst Library have very kind in asking me to lead a storytelling session on Thursday and it’s Autumn themed. I’m so flattered that they would like to hear some bits that I’ve written alongside some Autumn type books.
So here’s a little something I wrote for the occasion:
Autumn – by Kirsten Allen
Mud squishing in my fingers
Brown conkers all around
Golden leaves are falling. What a crunchy sound!!!
Furry squirrels playing hide and seek with the acorns that they find.
Lushes lovely berries!
Types of every kind.
These are the wonderful things I think of,
When Autumn springs to mind.
©
“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.”
Beatrix Potter
Tuesday’s Challenge!
For today’s challenge, children should draw a scene, it can be under the ocean, at the zoo, in space, a pirates ship or a mystical magical land….any where they want. They can draw a few characters (maybe a fish with 3 heads, a mermaid with 2 tails or a weird alien…anything they can imagine!) and then tell you about the picture and characters. You can make up stories together starting “One day (name of character)…..”
And now for a little rhyme I hope you enjoy:
An Adventurous Day Out
By Kirsten Allen
We’re going on an adventure, adventure adventure
We’re going on an adventure and the best is yet to come!
We’ve packed our jam sandwiches, jam sandwiches, jam sandwiches
We’ve packed our jam sandwiches. Yummy yummy scrum!
We’ve packed our rainy day wellies, rainy day wellies, rainy day wellies,
We’ve packed our rainy day wellies in case it starts to rain.
We’ve put on our nice warm jackets, nice warm jackets, nice warm jackets
We’ve put on our nice warm jackets and we’re off to catch the train!
We’re choo-chooing to the zoo, to the zoo, to the zoo
We’re choo-chooing to the zoo – I wonder what is there?
I can hear a roaring noise, a roaring noise, a roaring noise.
I can hear a roaring noise – is it a noisy bear?
NO IT’S NOT A BEAR!!!!! It’s a hungry LION and he’s escaped from his cage!!!!! HEEEELLLPPP!!!!!!
We’re running back out of the zoo, out of the zoo, out of the zoo!
We’re running back out of the zoo – it’s the only thing to do!
We’re now all safe and sound, safe and sound, safe and sound
We’re now all safe and sound – BIG BIG PHEW!!!!!!
©
KIDS’ STORYWORLD 