Rattlebang - bang! - The Rattlebang Picnic

The Rattlebang Picnic
By Margaret Mahy
Illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Laptime: preschool - early elementary
Story Circle: preschool - early elementary

When the newly married McTavishes have to choose between "a wonderfully speedy car that never breaks down" and lots of children, they choose lots of children and a rattlebang car. Packed to overflowing with The McTavish family, including seven children, Granny McTavish and the family pets the rattlebang takes them on adventurous picnics to shark infested beaches and volcanic hot springs.
Steven Kellogg's colorful and imaginatively detailed illustrations take you along with the family on a picnic full of adventure. Join Margaret Mahy's McTavishes on their rattlebang journey and don't forget the pizza!


Laptime Activities

• Go to somewhere adventuresome and have a picnic.
• Make English Muffin Pizzas - Spoon spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce on an English Muffin. Top with cheese and your favorite pizza topping. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is bubbly or, if you want them done quickly, put the pizzas under the broiler but watch them carefully so they don't burn.

Story Circle Activities

• From the materials in your scrap box (see Ideas from Miss Kay) have the children design their own Rattlebangs.
• Once their Rattlebangs are finished have each child write or dictate where they would drive on a picnic adventure.

Snowy Mystery - The Missing Mitten Mystery

The Missing Mitten Mystery
by Steven Kellogg
Laptime: preschool - early elementary
Story Circle: preschool - early elementary

Our weather today is almost identical to the weather in this darling story. There is enough snow on the ground for snowmen and snow forts and sledding but it is warming up and starting to rain. You can find all kinds of treasures when the snow starts to melt which is just what happens in The Missing Mitten Mystery.
After a long day of snowplay Annie discovers that she has lost her mitten. Since this is the fifth mitten that she has lost Annie and her dog, Oscar, decide that they had better backtrack and find it. As Annie retraces her steps you discover what a fun day she and her playmates had. Annie is also wonderfully creative as she imagines all of the places that her mitten could have ended up. Is the mitten now a hat for a baby eaglet? A sleeping bag for a mouse? Or maybe a seed for a mitten tree?
Author Illustrator, Steven Kellogg, combines beautiful watercolor illustrations with a story that keeps you guessing - which is the point of a mystery.

Laptime Activities

1. Put on your mittens and go outside and build a snowman. Don't forget to give him a mitten heart.
2. In the story Annie imagines planting a mitten tree and giving the mittens that she grows away to her family and friends. Donate mittens to a local clothing bank or school.

Story Circle Activities

1. Hide the Mitten - Choose one child to be Annie (or Oscar if they are a boy). Annie should leave the room or close her eyes. Hide a mitten somewhere in the classroom. When Annie begins to look for it have the class give hints by clapping slowly if Annie is far away from the mitten and quickly if Annie is closer. When Annie finds the mitten let her/him draw a name to be the next Annie.
2. Make a Mitten Tree - You will need: butcher paper, construction paper, scissors, Pencils for tracing, lace, yarn, buttons, fabric scraps, etc., glue, sticky tack. In the story Annie imagines a tree full of mittens. Draw an outline of a tree with branches on a large sheet of butcher paper. Give each child a sheet of brightly colored paper. Have the children place one hand on the paper and trace around it to get a mitten shape and then cut out the mittens. If you have younger children you may want to provide precut mittens. Provide lace, yarn, buttons fabric scraps - whatever you can think of to decorate the mittens. When the mittens are finished hang them on the tree with sticky tack so that the kids can take their mittens home later.