Kidz International Pre-school

This week, we have selected a book that is so on point, as the World Kindness Day is approaching... Today we are celebrating the World Kindness Day in KIPS, which actually is on 13 November 2020, Saturday. So we have selected the book "Kind" for you, a book that tells our children that a world full of kindness and good manners is possible, and it makes everyone happy.

This book is written by the author Alison Green and illustrated by 38 illustrators from all over the world, in the leadership of Alex Scheffler. It also has a foreword by Alex Scheffler. This book's each page is illustrated by different illustrators, each of them has been introduced with their own pictures in the first pages of the book.

This book has another beautiful meaning, that it's £1 from the sale of each printed copy will go to the Three Peas charity, which gives vital help to refugees from war-torn countries.

You will enjoy reading this book to your loved one, and talk about a world where everyone is kind to each other.

#worldkindnessday

This week's library choice is Owl Babies. A heartwarming story of three owls, waiting for their mommy.

Owl Babies is a 1992 book by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson. It is about three owlets that wake up one night to find their mother gone, worry about her absence, but are then elated when she inevitably returns from her night flight.

This book is teaching our kids that no matter what, our mommy is always there for us and we do not have to worry... Three siblings are discussing where their mother might be. They are trying to soothe each other about their mother, while they are all worried. But their mother comes back flying and they all understand that there is no need to worry, that their mommy is always there for them, and will always come back.

Here is the story with the original illustration from the book, animated so nicely.

Reading books to children brings an enormous amount of benefits, from emotional bonds between adults and children, to language learning, to expanding children’s imagination and to fostering the love of books.

You do not have to wait the bedtime to read a book to your child. You can have some reading time during the day, and enjoy being with your child, spending some quality time, and get lost in the imaginary worlds that the books provide. Your child needs to listen to your voice, see your mimics and reactions to the stories taking place in the books... The more he enjoys reading the books with you, it will soon become a good habit and you will see your child blossoming into this bookworm that loves to discover new worlds...

But how do we choose a good children’s book?

A good book should have nice and eye catching, peaceful illustrations to start with. Checking the book's pictures, one thing you can see is how the illustrations look. Do they look peaceful? Do they look spooky? Observe the pictures and you will should a clue what the story is all about. Make sure to choose books with bigger artworks that catch children’s attention and memory. You do not have to stick with the text of the book, you can always look at the pictures and talk about the images in the background, and relate them with the story.

A good book contains characters who leave a good imprint in our children’s minds. What traits or characteristics do we like our children to acquire from the characters of the books we are reading to them? This is an important point that parents must consider.

Imagination Enhancement

The more you reward your child with new stories, they will have the idea of the real world and imagination. This will enable your child to be able to make imaginary games and boost their imagination. Seeing unicorns, dinosaurs, princesses and many more story characters that are not realistic will expand their imagination more and more as you read...

Vocabulary Enrichment

Books with rhyming words, repetitive sounds, and sound patterns make it easy for children to remember words. You can make up some funny games with the rhymes, you can even create your own song to the book. Your child may not be able to understand every word you have said during the first readings, but children love to repeat what they enjoy with their parents. The more you read, the more your child will understand the wording and the expressions.

Lesson of the Story

What lesson do we like our children to learn? Good manners, love, embracing diversity, helping others, respecting elders, friendship, name it. If you do not have time to pre-read the book to understand the moral of the story, you can always make a quick research in Google and find out what the book is all about.

Trouble choosing the right book?

If you have to choose your books online, we advise you to check out the story from internet first. You can find a good publisher or a writer & illustrator duo that you trust and get their books if you feel like you are stuck.

Making sure the books are fine...

Please make sure that you point out the importance of treating our books nicely to your children, to be able to read them in the future... You can kindly say "No, ripping the pages and painting the books is not good", and later when everything is settled you can tell about how important books are for our lives. You can always repair the books with your child if they are damaged.

This week's book is called The Snail and the Whale. Story by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Alex Schaffler. This book is a much classic that shows us a restless young snail who has ambitions to travel the world. The other snails think that she should not go anywhere and stay safe on their rock, but the snail calls out for a lift to travel around the world. Eventually, her call is answered by a great big blue humpback whale!

The snail is delighted by the wonderful world around her, until she realizes how small this trip makes her feel. Then when the whale gets confused by the motorboats zooming on the surface, he loses his way in the shallows and ends up beached in an isolated bay. Suddenly, it's down to the tiny snail to rescue the powerless whale. They call the fire brigade and everyone works together to help the stranded whale. Free once more, the whale takes the snail back home, only to discover the other snails are inspired by the tale of the tiny Snail. So they set off all together, on the tail of the whale for a new epic journey.

It is a little long story for the newborns, but this story will suit the preschoolers and older children. You can try to practise the below with your child.

The snail and the whale travel through many different regions of amazing scenery from Antarctic seas with icebergs to tropical islands with volcanos, through big waves to underwater caves. It is interesting to discuss with your child how the snail could have stayed on his rock and not seen any of these wonders.

You can discuss with your child the plight of the humpback whale. Talk about how it is one of the biggest animals in the world but was almost hunted to the point of extinction. Also that if people are not careful we might lose this magnificent creature.

There is a page in the book that features people on speedboats that create so much ‘earsplitting roar’ that the whale swims ‘too close to the shore’. This is another interesting topic to cover with your child – the impact people have on wild animals.

The tiny snail manages to save his friend the humpback whale by writing a message to ‘save the whale’. A valuable, moral lesson to discuss with your child – no matter how small you are, you can make a big difference to what happens.

Discuss the beautiful images with your child. Each double page spread is illustrated with great detail and has lots of points you can discuss. Try to find time to stop and point out the details to your child.

Here is the marvellous story on youtube:

Hello #kidzofkips!

This week we will continue one of Julia Donaldson classics, the legendary Gruffalo!

Last week, we got to know the writer of the books, but how about the illustrator? Shall we have a look at his profile?https://axelscheffler.com/who-is-he" target="_blank"> Let's check it out! 

We are sure you will enjoy Gruffalo's adventure with the little mouse, who is apparently very very clever that makes everyone believe what they should believe.

You can have a look in Gruffalo's world from the link below. Just click Gruffalo's picture.

We are so amazed with this story. Its a great way to show our kids that it is possible to be brave and we do not have to be scared of any animal or anything that actually looks scary to us. What is important is actually what we believe.

• Draw or paint your favourite character from the story. Think about what colours and shapes you should use.
• Using lego or cardboard boxes have a go at making a house for the Gruffalo to live in. Can you explain to a grown up how you made it?
• Using toilet roll tubes, have a go at making a log pile house for the snake, how many logs did you use?
• The gruffalo was going to eat scrambled snake, could you make scrambled egg for lunch or make your own gruffalo crumble. Don’t forget to count and measure the ingredients.
• Have a discussion about woodland animals, can you think of any other animals the mouse might meet in the deep dark wood.