Read and Create!
Activities Inspired by Soaring '20s Books
Pigs Dig a Road
Written by Carrie Finison
Illustrated by Brian Biggs
Putnam, 2024
A rhyming picture book featuring pig construction workers that’s perfect for fans of Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site.
Construction crew chief Rosie and her team are building a new road to the Hamshire County Fair. It’s time to put on hard hats, grab hammers, and bring out the big trucks: bulldozers, excavators, pavers, rollers, and more!
Unfortunately, work with Rosie’s crew doesn’t always go as planned. Rosie is there to save the day, but she can’t do such a big job all by herself. There’s only one way to get the road done on time . . . teamwork!
Craft ideas:
Have some big-truck fun by making your own bulldozer blade out of a cardboard box.
Check out these other construction-site craft ideas on Pinterest.
I See Color
Written by Valerie Bolling and Kailei Pew
Illustrated by Laylie Frazier
Harper Collins, 2024
I SEE COLOR is a powerful and direct response to those who use the phrase “I don’t see color” to dismiss race and racism.
This book celebrates revolutionaries from various backgrounds who have lived fearlessly, faced oppression, and fought for change.
Part ode to an array of beautiful skin tones and part introduction to change-makers in history, this book is a rallying call to future generations to march forward.
I SEE COLOR is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and has received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal.
Craft ideas:
Find the color crayon or paint that matches your skin color, or do some mixing to create the perfect match. Use that color to create a self-portrait. Give your color a special, creative name like the ones in I SEE COLOR.
Use your hands to create art. You may choose to make a butterfly, decorate a tote bag, or design your own project.
Since I SEE COLOR is about affirmation and celebration, write a poem that celebrates YOU. You can write your own free verse poem or use an I Am Poem or Autobiopoem format to inspire and guide you. Feel free to illustrate your poem.
Flamingos Are Pretty Funky: A [Not So] Serious Guide
By Abi Cushman
Greenwillow, 2024
Flamingos are tall, wading birds known for their bright pink color. Their nests look like tiny volcanoes, and they live in areas that are considered extreme—from nearly boiling bodies of water filled with corrosive chemicals to cold, mountainous regions where ice freezes around their feet. And if you ask their snake friend Joey, those aren’t the only things that are fabulous about flamingos!
Abi Cushman’s Flamingos Are Pretty Funky contains informative, expressive, and funny illustrations of flamingos in their natural habitats. This enlightening picture book offers an entertaining blend of narration, sidebars, speech balloons, and dialogue, and is a refreshing departure from traditional nonfiction.
Craft ideas:
Make your own funky flamingo with bendy legs! Choose from all six species of flamingo. Download the template and instructions here.
Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
by Patricia Newman
Millbrook Press/Lerner, 2024
Ages 10-14
Off the coast of Perú, gentle giants swim beneath the waves. Thanks to the work of Kerstin Forsberg, giant manta rays have become a symbol of hope for ocean conservation in the region. This inspirational story will empower tweens and teens to take on an environmental challenge in their own community!
Activity idea:
Sometimes fishers accidentally catch large marine creatures in their nets, like giant manta rays. Bycatch is a huge problem for fishers and mantas. Try this fun simulation that uses pasta to represent mantas and other fish, and kitchen tools to represent fishing nets. Then try to design a better fishing net that helps save our important marine life. This activity integrates science, design, math, and language arts skills.
The following video is a brief crash course for the Bycatch Simulation activity. For more complete instructions and classroom integrations, please download my Activity Guide.