I was so excited that the Love Books Exchange has branched out as far as the UK. It’s such a great idea. And The Girls said as much today when a parcel arrived bearing a furry paw print. I cannot tell you how speechless I was when I unpacked a mass of fur and pom-poms and bits and pieces all addressed to my Girls. I can tell you that they screamed. A lot.
And of course they were far too excited to read the book Where’s My Teddy, and had already found the glue before I could slow them down! Without thinking, they took fur and googly eyes, felt and pom poms and created a veritable troop of bears from the tiniest stick puppet to the largest fur-covered notebook.
Soon after, there was a chance for us to read the book about bears- teddy bears, bears, and the teddy bears of bears. Where’s My Teddy is not a book that we have, but rest assured that it is always one of the first off the shelf at bedtime now. In fact beds featured in our play too: we made a special bed for our new bears. I made bear ears from pipe cleaners, pom poms and felt so that we could be mummy bears and we played hide and seek with the teddies.
There really was so much that we could have done with our huge craft parcel: I may well still be using some of the things in eleventy hundred years. So our heartfelt thanks go to Here Come The Girls for sending us to teddy heaven, and of course, to the brilliance that created the Love Books Exchange: The Educator’s Spin On It.
The week that our package bearing the words Caution: Bears, Bookstart, the Charity that encourages reading in preschoolers by providing free books, celebrated it’s 20th Anniversary. In that time they have given away 30 million books to the under-fives. And this year, to mark their transition from teenagedom to adulthood, they are asking you to take The Pledge. You can join Sir Andrew Motion, Joanna Trollope and Colleen Rooney and commit to sharing 20 books in 2012. Whether you read them aloud, recommend books to friends, or talk about them online, encourage reading and help keep an a brilliant institution going!
So glad you enjoyed the activities. I was a bit worried about what to put in as it was the first time we had done this. I think it’s such a brilliant scheme though, and the girls really enjoyed their package from you.
That teddy headband is so cute, what a lovely idea.
Fantastic post. I was absolutely shocked when we were given our first Bookstart bundle. Books? For free!? Bookstart do such an amazing job in kickstarting children’s libraries.
Your little one looks like she is having a ball. Will check out Educators Spin On It too – this book exchange sounds like a wonderful idea.
Also, bit of an odd one but aside from the post and the books, can I ask where you got your beautiful tablecloth from?
Thank you so much for participating in the LOVE BOOKS Summer Book Exchange! This is one of my favorite books and it looks like your daughters had so much fun with all the activities Rebecca created for you. We LOVED the activities and books you shared with her children as well. I love seeing so many children excited about READING and BOOKS and CREATIVITY!