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Bring books to life when pairing them with a craft. A House for Hermit Crab is one of our favorite activities, and can be done over and over again.
When I heard The Educators Spin On It was hosting a Summer Love Books Exchange, I could not resist. Come on, people, you know me! When it comes to books I have a hard time resisting anything. I joined in with the Picture Book Group and we were paired with Learning To Love Them.
Learning to Love Them, sent us one of our favorite books by a favorite author – A House for Hermit Crab By Eric Carle
, along with a bag full of seashells, some ribbon, and craft sticks.
, along with a bag full of seashells, some ribbon, and craft sticks. 
Doesn’t this look like so much fun?! I tell you what, it was! We reacquainted ourselves with Hermit Crab by reading the book, then reading Learning to Love Them’s craft Instructions. Which, I’m going to tell you is not what we ended up doing…so sorry! But really that’s one of the most fun things with crafting, you can change it up and let your imagination run.
We were supposed to turn the items into a windchime with the craft sticks glued in a star shape, with ribbons dangling down, and the seashells attached. You can find a whole bunch of these on Pinterest, a lot use an actual starfish instead of the craft sticks, but the craft sticks make a very nice substitute.
So let me tell you how we changed this up – and I promise it wasn’t intentional, it just sort of happened. We started out decorating the shells, just like Hermit Crab decorates his. I pulled out the craft glue, glitter, and a plethora of beads, then we headed outside to enjoy some sunshine. Hint: Outdoor crafts mean less clean up for Mom!
We reused the bubble mailer our book and craft came in for a decorating station. Unfortunately, the glue I have hates coming out of the tube, so we took the top off and I just let the girls have at it. If I had thought just a little more ahead, we would have used some paint brushes to paint the glue on the seashells.
As it was, we had to let our decorated shells dry overnight…for a couple of nights. By the time we were ready to turn the shells into wind chimes, we took a look at them and decided we really liked how pretty they looked on our table. We now are immensely enjoying the sparkling covered seashells as a table centerpiece.
A big thank you to The Educators Spin On It for putting this exchange together, and Learning to Love Them for such a fun craft.
What are you reading this summer?
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Those shells came out beautifully! My daughter's favorite book right now is "Too Much Glue", which incidentally is the one we got from the summer book exchange! lol!
Ok I've never heard of that one! Sounds like a perfect one for my kids though, lol.
My favorite children's book is Alice in Wonderland.
I like reading my daughter the "Going to Bed Book". It is a simple board book, but really cute.
Les Johnson
This is one of my favorites! We created a puppets and a movement game with this book on our site that you might enjoy too! Thank you so much for participating in the Love Books Summer Exchange!
I'm going to check it out right now!
I always loved the Sesame Street book The Monster at the End of this Book. 🙂