Story Time with V & Me - The Giant Jumperee

Isn't that such a sweet story!

When I found it at the library, I knew immediately I wanted to read it to you all :)

Okay lovely mums. How do we extend this cute story?

Before we start I just want to make sure you all realise that its okay just to read the story for the story's sake. Not all stories need to be extended, disected and analysed. The joy of listening to the story is enough. They are still learning - listening skills, imagination and a love for reading - which are all invaluable skills to have.

So if you just want to read or listen to The Giant Jumperee, please do :)

So, the most obvious extension that comes to mind, is to teach the children the lifecycle of a frog. Depending on when you read this (and where you live!) see if it's a good time for frog spawn. Always remember not to take too much frog spawn, to keep the tank fresh with water from the same pond, feed them, place a large rock in the tank for the froglets and to return the frog back to the pond you took them from.

No matter the time of year you can still teach them about the lifecycle. There are lots of pictures on the internet that you can use as a visual aid, if you think they will not just listen to your voice.

Don't be afraid to teach your little ones all the correct terminology, eg metamorphisis, frog spawn, tadpole, froglet, frog, tank, etc. Even if they cannot remember the words, or what they actually mean, the seeds have been planted for future learning.

You may well be surprised by how much they will learn.

Another extension that they will all definitely enjoy is to get them to be the various animals. They can move like them, make the animal noises, act out the whole story or act out their favourite part. This naturally leads into you teaching them some basic facts about the various animals. You could also test the extent of your child's knowledge and then teach them something new. So, for example you could ask them what elephants eat, what are their noses called, what noise do they make, etc and then you could teach them one new fact, eg there are 2 types of elephants - African and Asian elephants and you can tell them apart by the size of their ears!

(FYI African elephants have bigger ears than Asian elephants).

For the slightly older children you could see if they can hear and find the rhyming words in the story -jumperee, be, flea, bee, tree, me, see, three and tea. You might need to explain what a rhyming word is so that they know what you are asking of them. Then you could ask them if they can think of any others, eg knee, we, jamboree, key, etc. After that you can start trying to find rhyming words with everything, eg their name, your name, the animals, food, etc. Don't be afraid to make up nonsense words too. This can be a lot of fun and gets a different part of the brain working.

A lovely simple extension is to give them paper and wax crayons/coloured pencils and ask them to draw the animals. Please do not give them felt tip pens/coloured markers as they do not need to apply any pressure to make a mark on the paper which means they are not strengthening their hands in preparation for writing.

Please remember that the outcome is not important.

It doesn't matter if their elephant looks more like a dog!

They learn by doing.

Another easy extension is to print out colouring in pictures of the animals and let them colour the pictures, encouraging them to stay in the lines. This is excellent for hand eye co0ordination.

To make life a little easier for you (we all want an easy life, right?), I've found a few pictures of the main characters in the story. You don't have to use them. There are tons of pictures to choose from and a simple Google search will reveal loads.