A couple of months ago, Clayton decided to start a tradition of reading a book to the kids at night before bed. We've always read to them, but he wanted to start doing bigger books-- full-length classics and such. To ease into it, he picked an illustrated version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as the first book. The kids really liked it. Well, Luke did. Audrey is still a little young to have any idea of what's going on, but it was fun to see Luke beg to read another chapter every night. This gave Clay something special to do with the kids, since he isn't home as much as he would like. I usually sat in on the readings, too, being someone who never wants to be left out of anything.
After we finished the book, we thought it would be fun to celebrate with a Chocolate Party. It was SO much fun, especially the planning and build-up to the actual event. We picked out silly costumes, made treats, and rented the newer Johnny Depp movie version from the library. The kids really liked seeing the characters they were already familiar with come to life on the t.v. We ate square candies that "look round", edible wallpaper, chocolate bars that "shrank" after coming through the t.v., chewing gum, fizzy-lifting drinks, and a chocolate river (chocolate fondue).
Here we have Grandpa Joe, a little Oompa-Loompa, Charlie, and Violet Beauregarde. Don't mind Luke; he was having allergies or something.
Love the hair!
Hey! You're blocking my view of the t.v.!
A chocolate-covered face on a dancing oompa-loompa.
I don't know if our subsequent books will lend themselves to such a fun after-party, but we had a fabulous time. I think this is the beginning of something really great.
4 comments:
What a great idea! We love to have fun with our book reading (like making cherry dumplings like the boxcar children did), but we haven't done anything quite that elaborate. What fun for everyone! I'll have to steal your idea and read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next.
I love that! That is such a great idea and great tradition to start. We're into Junie B Jones. She's a lippy kindergartener and Gr.1er - don't know if we want to re-enact her behaviour but you have got me thinking...
WOW! You have inspired me. What a fabulous idea.
What a FANTASTIC idea!! I remember while reading the Narnia series with my family when I was a kid, we took a trip to the local 7-11 and got 'big turks' to taste the Turkish Delites. . . we read TONNES of books as a family my whole youth, but I remember that the most b/c it was fun and different. . . So cool that you're doing that!
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