Monthly Crafting Book Club: Giraffes Can't Dance

            Hey folks! I'm excited to be participating in something new on the blog: the Monthly Crafting Book Club. I just recently came across this on Raising Fairies and Knights, who hosts it, but was immediately interested in the idea. Books and crafts are two of my personal favorite things, but, even more than that, I have been consciously trying to read more to my girls and I am all about anything that helps make learning more fun and books more memorable. Plus, Myka usually likes doing crafts too. ;)

            The premise behind the Monthly Crafting Book Club, if you're new to it as well, is that we read a specific book (or any book from a pre-determined series) and make up a craft that goes along with/pertains to that book. Fun, right? It is geared towards toddlers and preschoolers, so it's the perfect age range for us right now. But enough yammering. Let's get started!

I gave my husband the arduous task of taking a decent picture of us while we read the book again. No easy task as the little one likes to get up in my business, so they end up fighting over my lap!

            February's book is Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae. This is a fun and heart-warming story about a giraffe named Gerald who longs to participate at the annual Jungle Dance. The problem is, well, he just can't dance like all the other animals!

            After an embarrassing scene at the annual Jungle Dance, Gerald meets a friend who, amazingly, helps Gerald discover his only special rhythm that he dances incredibly too. All the jungle animals who made fun of him earlier even catch him dancing and all want to know how he became such an awesome dancer!

            I had never heard of this book before, but I think the three of us all liked it for the most part. I love just about any children's book with rhyming text. Having a baby who likes to mutilate books, I was happy this came in a board book version. ;) Myka loves dancing, so she enjoyed that aspect of the story. She's probably a little young to grasp the whole “dance to the beat of your own drum” moral of the story, but that's ok. Still a good lesson. One of Ripley's favorite things is looking at books and Giraffes Can't Dance seems to be one of her new favorites. It's so funny and cute watching her point to pictures and babble on. :)

            Now, on to the craft!

Suggested Age: 3+

What You'll Need:

-toilet paper tube

-5 craft sticks (aka popsicle sticks)

-brown marker or paint (or yellow or whatever color you want to make your giraffe!)

-brown yarn

-2 googly eyes

-brown foam or construction paper

-scissors or shark knife

-glue

*Decorate your tp tube with some giraffe spots.

*Color or paint your craft sticks brown and let dry while you finish the next steps.

*Poke a hole just big enough to squeeze your craft sticks in for the neck and legs. (I used scissors, but I highly recommend using a sharp knife instead!)

*Cut out a giraffe head shape from your foam or construction paper. Glue or stick on one googly eye on either side. (Did you know there are handy googly eyes that are stickers on the back?!)

*Glue your giraffe head to one of the craft sticks.

*Cut several small pieces of yarn. Tie one close to the end of the other. Snip off tails to make it close to the same length as the end of the first string you tied it too. Repeat with at least one more string, more if you like or are able.

*Glue your yarn tail to your tp tube.

*Once your “neck” and head are dry, place it in the neck hole. Repeat with all of the “leg” sticks. You can try to glue these in if you like, but again, we just made the holes big enough to squeeze the sticks in so we wouldn't have to worry about the glue. :)

Be sure to look below for even more craft ideas to go along with Giraffes Can't Dance!