Are You My Mother?, by P.D. Eastman {1960}

I can still remember my mother reading Are You My Mother? to me as a little girl. My own daughter loves to read it with me now, and pretty much every construction/utility vehicle we see, from crane to tow truck, is a "snort". We'll see if my son can identify these vehicles more specifically at age three... but my little girl couldn't care less. "Snort" is a technical enough name for her ;).

Plot. When her egg begins to hatch, Mama Bird decides she better quickly run off and get some food for her new baby. While she is gone, Baby Bird is born, and decides to go looking for his mom. On the hunt he meets many different animals... none of which is his mother. Finally he gets scooped up by a digger, and dropped precisely where he belongs: back in his nest. Just in time for his Mother to return!

Author. Philip Dey Eastman was a protege and colleague of Dr. Seuss himself.

Educational Opportunities. Look at pictures of moms and babies. Have your child identify which baby animal goes with a cow, a dog, a bird, etc. Talk about baby birds- how they come in eggs, hatch,  where they live, and what they eat {science}.

Activities. 

• Create your own Are You My Mother? tot bag to keep your child occupied in quiet, independent play time. 
• Print and have your child order these story sequencing cards. 
• Make a book inspired sensory tub.
• Print out this free matching game.
• Activity Mom has an awesome round-up of games/crafts/snacks, including making a nest and baby bird from paper plates, a nest counting game, and a handprint bird. 
• Serve a spaghetti nest with a meatball baby bird for dinner :)!

Other Resources. You can watch the Random House video of the book here.

Be sure to also check out... P.D. Eastman wrote and illustrated a number of books, Go Dog, Go probably being the second most popular. Look him up in your local library system!

Looking for more great books to read with your preschooler? Check out the rest of this 31 Days series here!

Some of the links above are affiliate links- which means that if you make a purchase through them, I receive a small profit at no extra charge to you. But you should know that I am an avid believer in reading for free through both local and church libraries ;). Thanks for supporting The Purposeful Wife!