Making a Bed for Stuart Little

It's been less than normal around here since the end of January. So, after our wonderful visit with my parents I was expecting to get back to a somewhat normal routine where we were a little more focused on "school" than we were when my parents were here. Well, the FLU bug that bit us stifled my plan. So, I've been itching to teach my little ones, but knew that Ben needed something that would be easy to chew until he regained his strength. So, yesterday at lunch he began showing signs of great improvement and I was reminded that I had recently purchased a copy of E.B. White's Stuart Little. So, I read the first three chapters to them yesterday.

I was determined to have a more normal school day today so soon after breakfast we did math. I remembered a passage from Stuart Little and thought of a fun craft. So, I read two more chapters of Stuart Little and then I reread part of chapter 1 and the kids and I set to work on measuring how tall Stuart was and making his bed.

"When Mrs. Frederick C. Little's second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse. The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way. He was only about two inches high; and he had a mouse's sharp nose, a mouse's tail, a mouse's whiskers, and the pleasant, shy manner of a mouse. Before he was many days old he was not only looking like a mouse but acting like one, too-wearing a gray hat and carrying a small cane. Mr. and Mrs. Little named him Stuart, and Mr. Little made him a tiny bed out of four clothespins and a cigarette box." -excerpt from Chapter 1 of Stuart Little

I just so happened to have the round clothespins pictured in the book's illustration. I wish I would have known I needed a couple of cigarette boxes last week. I would have asked my father for them. At first we tried to make Stuart's bed out of a thin piece of cardboard, but realized that wasn't such a great idea, so instead we used the top and bottom of a checkbook box.



The kids really enjoyed making the bed for Stuart. They are the ones that thought of making him a pillow and blanket.



I found them making a home for Stuart later. Actually, Annie ended up renaming her mouse Stephanie and found a baby doll and bed for it. She named the baby Stella. :)





















Later I found both mice in Annie's Little People dollhouse. Needless to say it proved a worthwhile craft. They really seem to be enjoying the book too. Actually, I am really enjoying reading Stuart Little to them.