Inside: Book review of Skelly the Skeleton Girl and lots of related activities.
I have a very sweet book to share with you, plus some free follow-up activities
It seems a little early in the season to share skeleton books, but I have it on my mind because I’ve been making sugar skull clip art for the last week.
Title: Skelly the Skeleton Girl
Author/Illustrator: Jimmy Pickering
Publishing: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Children, 2007
Theme: Skeletons, Bones, Dogs, Fiction
Synopsis from book flap:
Skelly, a little skeleton girl, finds a bone. Whose is it? It doesn’t belong to her fish, or her pet bat, or her man-eating plants, or anyone else she asks. But when she finds out whose bone it is, she gets an especially big surprise.
My Thoughts:
I love the quirky, bright illustrations. They’re cartoonish, delightful and will appeal to kids of all ages. The story line is simple but is perfect for pre-school to Grade 1. All the creatures have big smiles on their faces so I don’t think it will be scary for anyone.
Pickering also has another Skelly book called Skelly & Femur. I haven’t read this one but the cover’s cute!
Ideas for Extending the Story:
ONE: This first idea comes from Craft Ideas for Kids. Her dancing skeletons remind me of the fabulous skeleton art display the teacher next to me always created with her class!
If you’re interested in this art project, be sure to check out the link above because Crafts Ideas for Kids also provides a free template for the skeleton head.
TWO: Colour With Leo has a fun skeleton puppet that looks easy to make. When you go to the site this colouring page is the third image from the left.
THREE: Here’s a sugar skull colouring page made by me. It’s part of my new clipart set, but you can have the sheet for free. Click the image to grab the sheet.
FOUR: One of the writing activities I used to love to do with my new Grade 1 classes were these little strip booklets (download below).
After reading the book to the class, print the names of the different story characters on the chalk or white board. You don’t have to confine yourself to the book, it’s fun to add other creatures to the list.
Photocopy and cut the paper into strips. The children will print their own name on the cover page (e.g., Lucy, the Skeleton Girl) and then draw a pic of themselves in the circle.
Then everyone starts with a “no” page. They print the creature name of their choice on the sheet and draw a matching picture.
This is repeated as many times as you like. In fact, this is a great activity for differentiating because some kiddies will only be able to do a couple of them, while others will happily make a 10-page book! The last page is the “yes” sheet.
The finished story might be something like this:
Lucy the Skeleton Girl
“Bat, is this your bone?” I asked. “No,” said Bat.
“Monster, is this your bone?” I asked. “No,” said Monster.
“Ghost, is this your bone” I asked. “No,” said Ghost.
“Spider, is this your bone?” I asked. “No,” said Spider.
“Dog, is this your bone?” I asked. “Yes,” said Dog.
DOWNLOAD: HALLOWEEN BOOKLET
I hope you enjoyed the book review and freebies.
If you’re looking for more Halloween activities I’ve got lots here!
Thanks for stopping by.