Marvin and Marigold A Stormy Night by Mark Carthew and Simon Prescott and published by New Frontier Publishing is a lovely book about two mice who are afraid of the storm. They keep hearing noises and seeing things that are frightening so they hide under the bed where they feel safe but then there is a knock at the door. The book rhymes which children seem to love and the pictures are detailed and colourful. The noise words are written big and bold and C liked to ask me what the different ones said. A perfect story to read on a stormy night.
Activities
Watch a storm (in real life or on video)
Rhyming words activity
Noise activity
Stormy pictures
Fears activity
Do a scary activity
Make your own storm
Rainy walk/play outside
Noisy rice krispies
Raindrops, clouds and lightning biscuits
Cheese and biscuits supper
Indoor
If you are able to watch a storm with your child/children then that would be exciting for them to see. You could talk about why you think the mice were so scared as it will be easier for your child/children to empathise as they are seeing and hearing the same as the mouse. If not you could always watch a video on the internet. For a literacy activity, older children can look at the different rhyming words in the story and see if they can think of any others that rhyme with them and younger children can look at the noise words and see if they can think of anything else that makes the same or a similar noise. If they are struggling you can choose a noise and look around the house for things that make the same noise, for example rat-a-tat-tat is a sound made on the window in the story but you could make the noise on a flat surface in your home and see if it sounds similar. Another fun activity could be to make some stormy pictures. These could be made on grey or black paper (if you have any available or you could paint some paper and then use it when it is dry). Cotton wool could be used for the clouds and then lightning can be painted on with yellow or gold paint or you could cut some lightning bolts out of yellow or gold card and then they can be stuck on. gold pipe cleaners shaped into a zig zag could also be used. Your child/children could paint rain on their picture if they wanted and older children could add different words for what the thunder sounds like. Another fun activity could be to get your child to draw him/herself and then draw around them what they are afraid of. It's important to talk about fears and let children know that everyone is different so what they are frightened of may be different to what someone else is frightened of. You could then come up with some ways of helping people who are scared. if someone is scared of spiders for example and someone else isn't then the person not scared could move the spider. It's a good time to introduce reassuring phrases too.
Outdoor
If you want to get out and about then you could take your child/children somewhere that they find scary. If they are scared of spiders you could take them to a bug zoo or if they are scared of heights then you could take them climbing for example. They might enjoy it and wonder why they were so afraid. An activity closer to home could be to make a thunder drum. You could use an old bucket or bin or even a metal bin or saucepans and then your child/children could make their own thunder storm. If it is dark or they do this activity in a garage then you could always use a torch too and flash it as if it is the lightning. A final outdoor activity could be to go for a rainy walk. I don't know about you but unless I have to go somewhere in the rain we tend to stay inside or go to an inside activity place but it is good for children to go out and play in the rain. If it is warm enough then they could go out without a coat on and feel the rain on their skin or if it is cold they can put on their rain outfits and welly boots and go splashing in the puddles.
Cooking/Food
For breakfast your child/children could have rice krispies with milk on and then they can talk about the different noises that their breakfast makes as they eat it. For a sweeter activity you could make some rain drop, clouds and lightning shaped biscuits and ice them. You can get easy recipes online or from a cook book and your child/children can get involved in the measuring, mixing and decorating of the biscuits. A final food inspired activity could be to have a supper of cheese and biscuits just like the mice do in the story. You could always introduce a new cheese to your child/children that they haven't tried before as there are so many varieties out there now and there are lots of different biscuits that go with cheese too.
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