I kind of feel that I’ve been out-of-the-loop!  The author chosen for this month’s Virtual Book Club was Julia Donaldson…and I had never read any of her books!

We picked out one of her most popular books called The Gruffalo. The girls loved it! It’s a story of a little mouse and the mean “gruffalo” he invents to keep the other animals from eating him.  Later, the mouse finds out that his imaginary “gruffalo” actually exists–and wants to eat him!  Don’t worry.  The mouse is quite clever and makes a great escape!

I had an idea for an activity I wanted to do with what I wanted to do with The Gruffalo:  I was going to set out old magazines and have the girls cut out various face parts–eyes, nose, lips, etc. and make their own crazy monsters on construction paper.

I’ve been trying to encourage more open-ended creativity with my girls (instead of me dictating the ideas all the time), so I decided to open it up and ask the girls what they wanted to do.

That’s how the mask idea was born!!  You’ll  notice the paper plate mask doesn’t necessarily look like a gruffalo, but it was the monster in her imagination.  You just never know what your child will come up with!

Now you get to share your Julia Donaldson activities!

1. Link up only posts inspired by Juila Donaldson that share children’s book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
3. Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you’d like.

Other bloggers participating in the Virtual Book Club Blog Hop:

Toddler Approved – Rainy Day Mum – Adventures in Reading with Kids – 3 Dinosaurs – Royal Baloo – The Educators’ Spin On It – Inspiration Laboratories – Pleasantest Thing – Edventures with Kids – Two Big Two Little – Playing With Words 365 – Kitchen Counter Chronicles – Outlaw Mom – Mommy and Me Book Club – Crafty Moms Share – No Twiddle Twaddle – The Good Long Road – Ready. Set. Read 2 Me – Reading Confetti – Mama Smiles – Juggling with Kids– Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas – Creekside Learning – Creative Family Fun – The Usual Mayhem – Teach Preschool – PlayDrMom – CraftoArt –Being a Conscious Parent – Smiling like Sunshine – Crayon Freckles – Train Up a Child – Smile Play Learn – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Coffee Cups and Crayons – Having Fun at Chelle’s House– Love, Play, Learn – Juggling With Kids – Motherhood on a Dime– Growing Book By Book – This Reading Mama