Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd and published by Penguin is a fantastic rhyming story about a dog who gets given a bone and the other dogs that live near get jealous and follow him. There are lots of different stories in the series so if you enjoy this one then there are plenty more to enjoy too. The first one I read was at the vets and I thought that was a brilliant place to have one of these books placed.
Activities
Hairy Maclary mask
Rhyming words pairs
Name as many dog TV shows/films as you can in 3 minutes
Doggy Research
Jealousy discussion
Hand print dog
Skeleton using cotton buds
Dog agility course
Dog spot
Human fetch game
Musical bones
Cuddly toy dog show
Doggy inspired snack
Paw print cakes
Hairy Maclary cupcake
Indoor
Younger children could make a Hairy Maclary mask using a paper plate, some string to hold it in place and some black wool. If your child wanted they could also use some white card to make a bone to go in Hairy Maclary's mouth. If you draw the dog face on the card then cut the black wool into strips and glue it round it will look like a dog face. Your child can be as creative as they want and they might want to add a tongue in if they do not want to do a bone. You could use coloured card or buttons for the eyes. When your child has finished their creation make two holes in the sides and tie some string on so that they can wear it as a mask. If you don't want to use string then you could add a lollypop stick and glue it at the back on the bottom so that they can hold it in front of their face. Older children could make a list of the rhyming words and then cut them up so that they are on separate bits of paper or card and then they can play a game of pairs. Lie all the words face down and then take it in turns to choose two. If the words rhyme then it is a pair and they keep them. The person with the most pairs at the end wins. They could also have 3 minutes to name as many films and TV shows with dogs in that they could think of and the person with the most on the list wins. You could do this as boys versus girls or adults versus children. If you want to teach your children about research then you could have a trip to the library to look for some books on dogs and then they could try and work out the types of the dogs in the book that follows Hairy Maclary. If you don't want to have a trip to the library then they could also research on the internet and find some facts about the dogs and pictures of what they would look like in real life. You could have a discussion about jealousy and what it feels like. A really quick (but slightly messy) activity is to do a hand print dog. Paint your child's/children's hands and print it onto some paper. The four fingers are the legs and the thumb is the tail and then create a head and stick it on. These look really effective. On the bone side you could make a skeleton with your child by using cotton buds as the bones. It might be easier if you start with a drawing of a body outline and older children could write the names of the different bones.
Outdoor
If your family has a pet dog then you could get your child/children to set up an agility course for them in the garden and then time how long it takes for your dog to complete the course. You could go for a walk in the local area and do a dog spot. Your child could write down the different dogs they see or do a tally chart and see which dog is the most popular in your area. You could then do this again in a different area and compare the findings. Younger children could play fetch with their siblings or friends and take it in turns to throw and retrieve an item. Musical bones could be a fun game to play and older and younger children can take part in this. If you cut some bones out of big pieces of white card then your child could play musical chairs but instead of sitting on chairs they sit on the big card bones that you have made. Don't forget to take one away each time. A final outdoor activity could be a dog show with cuddly toys. They can judge the toys on different things just like a dog show judge does and they could make a rosette to present to the winner.
Food/Cooking
Dogs eat lots of different things. A lot of the time things we don't want them to eat. A doggy inspired snack time you could do carrot, twiglets and breadsticks. For a sweet treat you could make a large chocolate cake with your child /children and then four small cupcakes and arrange them so that they look like a paw. Another idea could be to make some Hairy Maclary cupcakes by piping black icing onto a cupcake and then adding raisins for the eyes and a half cherry for a tongue. Don't forget to post your creations in the members forum. I would love to see them.
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