Disneyland-Inspired Mouse Books Unit

With a Disneyland getaway coming next year, we are exploring Disneyland-inspired books and activities to get us excited, reading, and learning!

I've done similar units with Aidyn when he was 3, again when he was around 7. Now, with Jack and Natalie in tow, we're diving in to an enchanted, magical, and fun learning adventure.

Here's what we did this week. Since it all started with a mouse, we began with mouse books, tailored for preschool age and middle school age. Take a look at what we read!

*Note* The following unit is very light and gentle because 1) I believe in gentle learning at the preschool age, 2) It's officially summer time so Aidyn isn't required to do any in-depth schooling, and 3) I am in my third trimester and simply don't have the energy/mobility to do all the things I'd like to.

Preschool Books:

Jack and Natalie loved these mouse-centric books, especially Mouse Mess and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

Middle School Book:

Aidyn read through Redwall independently. After each chapter, he wrote a 1-2 sentence summary of the story. We discussed it together throughout and when he finished we critiqued it. Out of a scale of 1-10, he rated Redwall a 100!  


Inspired Activities:

Frederick by Leo Lionni led to a fun collage activity. Lionni is known for his collage-style illustrations, so I cute out some simple images of mice, rocks, sticks, and plant life for the littles to play with.
 

 
 They constructed trees and nature scenery, but soon Jack discovered that some of the leaves looked more like alligators, so he pretended his alligators were eating all the other shapes!

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Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni immediately inspired Jack to paint. Unfortunately, Natalie had already gone to bed, so Jack had a solo paint session.

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Mouse Mess inspired some fun discussion about Jack and Natalie's penchant for mess-making, especially with food! This became a book we read over and over (I think because they identified so much with the messy mouse!)

Music:

This week we filled the house with classic Disney songs, just to get into the mood. Jack and Natalie especially love The Three Little Pigs song and reenacting the whole story of the wolf attempting to blow down the pigs' homes.

  

In Other Happenings:

Jack and Natalie both love reading books, with or without me! They're both super active, playful, and curious. Best buds, they often take off together to jump in the trampoline, play with their water table, cook in their pretend kitchen, share their love for dinosaurs, and cuddle together.


Aidyn has grown into a sophisticated learner. He reads well and comprehends more difficult books, but his first love is gaming and creating YouTube videos. I am excited to see what is around the corner for him in junior high and high school.