The Captain’s Corner – September, 2022
1 September, 2022
This month, we took an expedition to the Land Down Unda’, also known as Australia! Our little readers learned about sheep, emus, possums, and kangaroos, but the fun didn’t stop there! We drew pictures that brought these Australian critters to life, went on scavenger hunts around the Outback, and so much more!
To fully immerse yourself and your little one in this far-off land, check out the crafting activities and suggested reading below!
Boost Their Creativity
Bring this month’s activity guide to life with these craft activities for the WobbleCaptain and CuriousCaptain clubs.
Sheep Scavenger Hunt (WobbleCaptain)
Supplies: Post-it notes, markers
Steps:
- Draw a variety of colored sheep on several post-it notes and hide them around a room or the house.
- Have your child then search for the colors.
Tips for engagement: If it helps you can help create a visual checklist for your child. On a separate sheet of paper you can draw squares of each color sheep you made. Your child can match the sheep to the paper when they find them. For younger children you can just place them within reach. You could even match them to the book as you read.
Emu Fork Painting (CuriousCaptain)
Supplies: Paper, pencil, paint, fork, construction paper (white and orange)
Steps:
- Draw a circle for the head and a rectangle below it for the neck.
- Cut out two eyes and a beak from construction paper and set them aside.
- Use the fork (instead of a paint brush) to stamp paint the emu, which help to add texture to the image.
- When you are finished, add the eyes and beak to the head. If you do this while the paint is still wet, you won’t even need glue!
Parent/Child: Adult will draw the outline and the child can paint with the fork as well as add the eyes and beak.
Magic Possum (CuriousCaptain)
Supplies: White crayon, white paper, watercolor paint (if you don’t have paint, markers will work too)
Steps:
- With the white crayon draw a few possums on the sheet of paper.
- Child will use the paint (or marker) to cover the page. As they are painting (or coloring) the possums will appear!
Parent/Child: Adult will draw the possums and child will paint or color the paper.
Tips for engagement: Relate this activity to the story. You can talk about how grandma used her magic to make the possum invisible, but, just like in the story, we are going to make her visible again.
Expand Their Library
Can’t get enough Australia books? Check out these supplementary books that your little ones will love!
WobbleCaptain Club
The Snow Wombat? by Susannah Chambers – This is a soothingly repetitive book about a wombat playing in a snowstorm. And if you’re skeptical about there being snow in Australia, there are multiple places on the continent that gets meaningful snow, including the Australian Alps!
123 of Australian Animals by Bronwyn Bancroft – Bronwyn Bancroft is a famed Aboriginal children’s author who we love. This is a great counting book with beautiful, yet simple illustrations in the Aboriginal style.
CuriousCaptain Club
Mad Magpie by Gregg Dreise– This is another beautifully illustrated book by a native Australian author. The story is about a magpie that can help your little one learn how to deal with difficult social situations. In it, the magpie is teased by a group of other birds but he learns to overcome the bullies by staying positive rather than getting angry.
The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright – This is a very cute story about a koala who is very scared of coming down from his tree but, after an unexpected emergency, the koala learned that the world is not too scary after all. We love the book’s moral, the fun rhymes and all of the animal illustrations.
