When we read Pond by Jim LaMarche, I immediately thought it would make a fun activity for the kids. It’s about a boy who finds a former pond area and restores it with friends and family. In return, the healthy pond has a wonderful impact on the boy’s life.
To recreate the pond area, I set up our Tuff Tray and laid down the Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth first. Then I added grass mats, stones, sticks and vegetation and poured water over it all. Finally I added the animals, clean recycling, some bowls and scoops.
When the kids saw the tray, they dove right into pond clean-up and enjoyed playing with all the elements of the pond. They did need a little prompting to think of this activity in terms of the book. We haven’t done a lot of book sensory play, so it may be that we just need to practice that way of thinking and do book-related play more often.
The book and activity fit right into our week of pond play and was a great precursor to Earth Day.
Materials
- Book “Pond” by Jim LaMarche (Amazon)
- Tuff Tray (Scholar’s Choice)
- Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth (The Playful Peacock)
- Yellow Door Education Rustic Pourers (Sewing Seeds Play – save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
- Rocks, grass, vegetation, glass beads (Dollarama)
- Cattails (DIY – skewers & painted corks in floral foam)
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