Family Book Club :: Ideas for Bringing Books to Life

Maybe you’ve been in a book club with the girls. You know…snacks, wine, sitting around talking about the book you guys all read. It’s fun, right? And it’s not just about the wine – reading is awesome. If we love gabbing about books with our gal pals, I’m sure our own kids and even husband would love doing the same over a fun snack or project!  Why not start a family book club?!

March 2nd is Read Across America Day, sponsored by the National Education Association in hopes to raise awareness for reading and encourage literacy in all communities. The NEA chose March 2nd as the official day because it’s the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. I love the idea of fostering reading as a family activity. What better way to do that than to do activities that go along with books? We want to help you get started with five of our favorites.

Recipes & Crafts for Family Book Club

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is part of a series, and we love it! And if your family is anything like mine, there aren’t many ways to better engage your family than with yummy treats.  It would be so fun to make cookies to enjoy with the book’s busy mouse, and today I’ve got one of my favorite cookie recipes. There is a reason this Vanishing Oatmeal Cookie recipe has been on the inside of the Quaker Oats container for at least the past 20 years. It’s good! I have been making these cookies for my dad for years, and this adaption is something simple the kids love doing too.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients ::

– 1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons of butter, softened
– 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
– 1/2 cup granulated sugar
– 2 eggs
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– 1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 3 cups old fashioned oats
– 1/2 cup of chocolate chips {to match If You Give a Mouse a Cookie}

Directions ::

1} Heat oven to 350°F.
2} Beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat some more.
3} In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Then combine dry mixture into wet and mix well.
4} Gently stir in oats and chocolate chips.
5} Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 8 – 10 minutes.
6} Try not to eat the whole batch at once.

Family Book Club | Houston Moms Blog

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown

Have you read Creepy Carrots yet? It can actually be a little “scary” for kids, but it gets a lot of laughs in our house. It might also be a fun one for the Easter season, maybe for the Easter basket? You could read about a protagonist that loves carrots at snack time and pair it with some…you guessed it, carrots! We often count them and act out the book with the carrots. Silly, but hey… Kids love silly.

Family Book Club | Houston Moms Blog

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

Whether you grew up in Texas or have moved in, you have hopefully come to love Tex-Mex food. Spice up taco night at home by pairing it with Dragons Love Tacos. With dragons, tacos, and instructions to host a taco party for dragons, this book will draw lots of laughs from your kids and you as you read aloud. Add a twist to this special family book club taco night with a fun trick we use at my house: taco boat tortillas!

DIY Tortilla Taco Bowl

Ingredients ::

– tortillas
– muffin pan
– non-stick spray
– taco ingredients

Directions ::

1} Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2} Spray the bottom of a muffin page with non-stick spray.
3} Mold the tortilla to the bottom of a muffin pan and bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.
4} Fill your crisp taco bowl with delicious taco goodness!

Family Book Club | Houston Moms Blog

Curious George Goes Camping by Margaret and H.A. Ray

My girls love Curious George, and we love camping too.  So Curious George Goes Camping is a no-brainer in our house. When camping, we must have snacks, and we alway make up a big batch of trail mix for our trips! Sit down with a handful, and join one of the kids’ favorite monkeys as he finds his way through camping adventures.

Layered Trail Mix

Layer the following items in a mason jar, shake up after and enjoy!

– pecans
– dried cranberries
– shaved coconut
– Chocolate chip pieces
– almonds

Family Book Club | Houston Moms Blog

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

The Day The Crayons Quit has been a fun one for our family for several years now. {We also love the sequel The Day the Crayons Came Home.} We laugh and laugh, especially when Brown crayon gets mad about being used to color poop. I mean, really? It’s just funny.

If your house is anything like mine, you have crayons everywhere. So we take our old crayons and melt them in molds to make new crayons! It’s super fun and simple. We bought fun lego shaped silicone molds that work great for this project, but any mold will work. As you are peeling off crayon papers and breaking them to fit into the molds, engage kids in conversation! Retell the story through the colors you are peeling, or create new stories about the crayons you come across.

DIY Crayons

Directions ::

1} Break apart old crayons and place pieces into silicone molds.
2} Heat the oven to 200 degrees and heat for about 10 minutes or until the crayons are melted.
3} Allow them to cool for at least an hour. Pop out and use!

Family Book Club | Houston Moms Blog

Do you have any favorite family book club ideas and activities to share? We would love to hear! Join the movement, and take the Read Across America pledge too.

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