Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash by: Sarah Weeks

I recently ordered Ansley and Justus a few new books from Scholastic. One of the books is called: Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash. by: Sarah Weeks and pictures by: Nadine Bernhard Westcott. I believe this book is a great book to help welcome spring and to get a child's mine turning.. What is Spring? How do Plants Grow? How can I help grow a plant?
I for one love books that Rhyme. They seem to get my children's attention faster than anything.. Rhyming books just sound so fun, they almost have a musical beat to them.. Can you see where I am going with this? Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash is a Rhyming book!
The book starts off like this: "The first day of Spring. Mrs Nelly McNosh went out to her garden and planted a squash." Then the book goes on to tell how the squash immediately started growing and what it looked like.. before you know it the squash is so big it is causing some trouble.. at one point in the story it reads: "It crashed through the clothes line and smashed through the fence, scaring the pants off two elderly gents." This book is so cute and I do not want to spoil it for you, so I will let you read the story and see how Mrs. Nelly McNosh stops the Squash and what she decides to do with it.

Also here is a very simple craft you can do with your children:

I used the craft wiggly eyes and red foam paper to make a face, however I was trying to keep this one simple for toddlers. But you can use what ever you think of.. (I did start to use markers and/or paint but decided against it today!)
I also used Grass seed but you can even use beans.. It is just a good idea to use something that will be fast growing.

What I used:


I did add a rubber band to help hold the mouth in place until it could dry


Add Your Seed and Dirt



The Finished Product.. This is a very simple craft that both of my kids can help out with.


Here are some other Spring Crafts and activities:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/birdfeeders/pineconefeeder.shtml
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/spring/printables/word-search.html
http://familyfun.go.com/spring/spring-crafts/spring-bug-crafts/winged-wonders-670394/