Polly's Pink Pajamas

Emmy became her own event planner for her fifth birthday. The one thing she was absolutely sure of was that she wanted a Pajama Party! We have always held a birthday party for her in our own home, so when I agreed that a pajama party would be a lot of fun and started telling her what we could do at home, Little Miss Party Planner informed me that the party would be held at Play Makers Family Enrichment Center (check it out here) where I have been working a few mornings a week. Emmy enjoys coming with me when I teach a play group at Play Makers. This really is the perfect place for a party...room to play, cook and do art projects.

The first thing Emmy looks for when she gets to Play Makers is which swing is hanging in the Mobility Studio. Luckily on the day of her party the boat swing was hanging, which is her favorite swing. Here she is swinging with a few of her friends.

In addition to playing, Emmy and her friends did some cooking during her party. They made chocolate chip pancakes and banana milkshakes. Both were delicious. Seeing her number five candle sitting on top of a stack of pancakes was a great surprise. It was such fun to see Emmy surrounded by her friends and all of them really enjoying themselves.

After cooking, Emmy and I shared the book that inspired her pajama party - Polly's Pink Pajamas by Vivian French with illustrations by Sue Heap.

"Polly loved her pink pajamas.
What did she wear when she went to bed?
PINK PAJAMAS!
What did she wear when she got up?
PINK PAJAMAS!
What did she wear when she ate her breakfast?
PINK PAJAMAS!
What did Polly wear all day long?
PINK PAJAMAS!"

Emmy LOVES wearing pajamas and would much prefer wearing
them everyday/everywhere than anything else in her closet. She also loves the color pink so this book was a great match for her. Emmy laughs as Polly enlists the help of her friends to find an outfit to wear to Fred's party. When Polly takes a look in the mirror and sees her mismatched outfit, she becomes sad, but not for long. Fred calls to find out why Polly is not at his party and quickly informs her that it is a PAJAMA PARTY!

"And what do you think Polly wore to Fred's party?
PINK PAJAMAS!"

After the story, Emmy and her friends each decorated a pillowcase with fabric markers. Emmy thought this would be a great project because then she could share her sweet dreams with all of her friends. Here is Emmy's pillow front and center on her bed. She decorated it with shooting stars!



All in all having a party at a location other than home was wonderful. There was lots of room to move and play and absolutely no set up or clean up. I actually got to engage in the activities and feel a part of the party rather than worrying about each little detail.

Turning five certainly is extraordinary!

Pinkalicious

The book Pinkalicious is certainly not a new one for Emmy and me, but whenever I sat down to write about it another book would come to mind and get written about first.

Well, Emmy recently had a rash that began on her face and traveled down her body (Fifth Disease).When the rash appeared on her face, she looked in the mirror and said, "Mommy, I'm Pinkalicious! I must have eaten too many pink cupcakes." She then diagnosed herself with Pinkititis and prescribed herself a diet of green foods just like the main character in the book!

After this connection to the world of reading, I thought I had better write a post about this very entertaining book especially since every time we go to our local bookstore Emmy takes Pinkalicious off the shelf and insists that we read it first!

Reading Pinkalicious is a delightful way to celebrate the color PINK! Victoria and Elizabeth Kann are the creators of the charming Pinkalicious who is completely enamored with the color pink. This is also Emmy's color choice for just about anything...crayons, clothes, stuffed animals, and, of course, cupcakes! When Pinkalicious eats one too many pink cupcakes, she

turns pink! This was at first delightful, but turns into a problem when she awakens the next day looking more red than pink.

One of Emmy's favorite pages in the book is when Pinkalicious is surrounded by bees, butterflies and birds because they mistake her for a pink flower. I love this line spoken by Pinkalious' mom when Pinkalicious begged for one more pink cupcake..."You get what you get, and you don't get upset." Adding to the fun of this tale is its clever ending. When dad asks what happened to all of the pink cupcakes, Pinkalicious' brother comes around the corner saying "Pink-a-boo!" And of course he is completely pink!

Enjoy this book with a yummy cupcake with pink icing and enter the imaginative world where everything is better when it's PINK!

Colors

As a former teacher of young children, who always had a project up her sleeve, I thought that Emmy and I would be doing projects constantly. Sadly, that has not been the case. Days seem to go by without even a crayon being taken out of the box. Well, that is going to change! I know that allowing Emmy the opportunity to work with lots of art materials is a must and I am on a mission to do a project, if not every day, then every other day.

Recently, Emmy's Daddy came across a very simple science experiment that got all of us talking about color. Using milk, food coloring, dish soap and cotton swabs, we got some first hand experience with color mixing. Here's just how simple this project is: pour milk onto a plate, squirt small puddles of red, yellow and blue food coloring (separately) into the center of the dish. Take a cotton swab and dip it into the dish soap. Now, dab the cotton swab into each color puddle and watch the colors swirl! Oh, Emmy thought she was a color magician.

This experiment got me thinking about books that discuss more than just objects of a certain color. The first book that came to mind was Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. Walsh cleverly introduces her readers to the subject of colors using her adorably illustrated white mice. When these three mice discover three jars of paint - one red, one yellow and one blue - each climbs right in. The red mouse stumbles onto a surprise when he finds out that if he steps in a yellow puddle and does a little dance, his paint puddle turns orange. The other two mice follow suit creating paint puddles of green and purple. But when a cat approaches, the three mice quickly return to their original white color and hide among the white paper. It's no wonder that this creative book has won several children's book awards.

Another book to come to mind is Color Dance by Ann Jonas. This book is a joyful celebration of color and movement with the primary colors - red, blue and yellow - being showcased beautifully by three dancers holding scarves. As the dancers begin to move, the primary colors blend together to create secondary colors - green, orange and purple - as well as tertiary colors - yellow orange, blue violet, blue green, etc. With minimal text, Jonas allows the concept of color to come across vividly through her illustrations. A color wheel at the end of the book completes the conceptual design.

And finally, Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni is another wonderful book that not only shows the color process, but also allows a glimpse into an endearing friendship. Little Blue and Little Yellow are best friends, but one day they can’t find each other. When they finally do, they give each other such a big hug that they turn green! How they find their true colors again concludes a wonderfully satisfying story told with colorful pieces of torn paper and very few words. First published in 1959, this classic book is being celebrated with a 50th-anniversary edition, to be released in October 2009, that includes Lionni’s own explanation about how the book came to be. Using torn pieces of paper, Lionni created the story of Little Blue and Little Yellow to help pass the time on a dull train trip with his very young grandchildren. I was introduced to Lionni's books by a very dear friend of mine and as such each of his heartwarming stories holds a special place in my heart that I hope will also find a place in Emmy's heart.

With these three books checked out of the local library, I am ready to continue the study of color with Emmy!

Black and White

The colors black and white create such visual delights when presented on paper. As someone who enjoys art, but don't ask me any questions, I am drawn to black and white photography and will often play with the many digital photographs I have of Emmy changing them from color to black and white and back to color again. Research tells us that babies prefer to look at high-contrast edges and patterns which explains the many baby mobiles made in those two colors. When Emmy was a baby she didn't have a mobile like that, but she did have three books by Tana Hoban which she really enjoyed: Black on White, White on Black and Black & White. In board book form with one picture on a page, these books are so visually appealing and great conversation starters.


Now that Emmy is older we've discovered a few more black and white books that we love to read. Published in 1980, the book Goodnight, Goodnight by Eve Rice is a favorite choice at bedtime. As night settles over a town, we watch as all of the people go about their nighttime activities including a kitten on the rooftop who is looking for someone to play with until he is found by his mother. "But all over town, Goodnight was creeping slowly with the dark."



Another favorite at bedtime is a book published by Peter Pauper Press titled Whoo's There A Bedtime Shadow Book. Grab your flashlight and get ready! Emmy loves to shine the images on her bedroom wall. Her favorite image is the little girl holding the kitty cat. It's amazing what adding a flashlight can do to your bedtime routine. Don't forget to try out some hand images on the wall! "I sat and I waited, and then I could see, all the nighttime creatures waiting for me."


The most recent addition to our night-night books is The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson. The story follows a cumulative pattern (think Hush, Little Baby and This is the House That Jack Built) based on the nursery rhyme This is the Key of the Kingdom which dates back to 1897. Maybe you remember it:

This is the key of the kingdom.
In that kingdom there is a city.
In that city there is a town.
In that town there is a street.
In that street there is a lane.
In that lane there is a yard.
In that yard there is a house.

In that house there is a room.
In that room there is a bed.
On that bed there is a basket.
In that basket there are some flowers.

Flowers in a basket,
Basket on the bed,
Bed in the room,
Room in the house,
House in the yard,
Yard in the lane,
Lane in the street,
Street in the town,
Town in the city,
City in the kingdom.
Of that kingdom this is the key.

With her own twist on this classic rhyme, Swanson succeeds in giving it a modern update that enables our imaginations to soar along with the girl as she travels into the world of a book. The illustrations in this book are stunning! Using scratchboard and watercolor, Beth Krommes creates a nighttime world of wonder. "Here is the key to the house, the house in the night, a home full of light."



While researching the beginnings of the original rhyme, I came across this fingerplay found in the book What'll I Do With the Baby-O by Jane Cobb that I think, with a bit of practice, I could successfully do with Emmy. In case you'd like to give it a try, here it is:

This is the Key to the Kingdom

This is the key to the kingdom.
(key—thumb/ kingdom—arms wide)
And in the kingdom there is a town,
(hands a foot apart)
And in the town there is a hill,
(hands curled over)
And on the hill there is a street,
(arms out parallel)
And on the street there is a house,
(hands peaked)
And in the house there is a room.
(Room—palms turned outward, thumbs touching)
And in the room there is a bed,
(one hand with the palm out flat flat, one hand up at a right angle)
And on the bed there is a basket,
(basket--cup hands together)
And in the basket there is a blanket,
(one hand over the other)
And under the blanket there is a BABY!
(hold out cupped hands as if something precious were inside)

Then, do the whole thing backwards:

Baby under the blanket,
Blanket in the basket,
Basket on the bed,
Bed in the room,
Room in the house,
House on the street,
Street on the hill,
Hill in the town,
Town in the kingdom,
And THIS is the key to the kingdom.