Combining a book and a craft is a great way to nurture a lifelong love of reading.This open-ended invitation to create after reading The Gingerbread Man and the Leprechaun Loose at School was a big hit!
One of my favorite ways to get my kids excited about reading is to keep the story going after we’ve closed up a book. Sometimes that means asking questions about what they think might happen next or what would have happened if one little piece of the story went differently. Other times, it means taking my daughter’s idea and helping her make it come to life.
When Ellie and I were reading The Gingerbread Man and the Leprechaun Loose at School by Laura Murray, Ellie was convinced that she could do a much better job of catching the mischievous little leprechaun. In the story, a leprechaun visits the Gingerbread Man’s school and goes on a mess-making spree. The students and their teacher try to catch him and clean up his mess but with no luck. While everyone else is at lunch, the Gingerbread Man decides to go on a solo mission to track that little prankster down.
After stumbling upon a couple of big messes, the Gingerbread Man finally puts together the perfect idea for a trap. Once he catches the leprechaun, the Gingerbread Man makes him clean up all of his messes before he goes on his way.
Ellie enjoyed the suspense of wondering what mischief the leprechaun would get into next and she enjoyed giving detailed descriptions about how things could be improved (both the leprechaun’s mischief and trying to find that little bugger).
What better way to build off of that enthusiasm than letting her build her own leprechaun trap?