Tabby McTat, The Musical Cat - Julia Donaldson {March Virtual Book Club for Kids}

The featured author in March for the Virtual Book Club for kids is Julia Donaldson.  The boys and I picked out a few of her books from the library and quickly fell in love with Tabby McTat, the Musical Cat.  The story of Tabby McTat is one of friendship, music, and loyalty.  

To bring the book to life we made homemade guitars from shoe boxes and cat masks.  It took about twenty minutes to make a set for both JZ (5) and J-Bug (3).  I failed as a blogger in this post, because although I was wearing my camera around my neck the entire time I hardly took any photos of the process!  The boys were way too excited about their masks for me to take the time to snap shots of each step along the way.  

Supplies for the masks:

(amazon affliate links)

• construction paper
• stapler
• pipe cleaners
• hot glue gun
• glue stick

I cut paper long enough to wrap around each boys' head.  I folded the headband into thirds to make sure it was thick and wouldn't tear.  Then I stapled it into place.

We cut cat ears from blue construction paper and smaller pink pieces for the inside of the ears which we attached with a glue stick.  We also cut out a triangle nose from blue paper.  I wish I would have taken a photo of the nose piece.  I drew a triangle with a rectangle of paper about a half inch wide and an inch and a half long above the triangle to attach the nose to the headband.  I used a stapler to attach the ears and nose to the headband.

Then we wrapped a pink pipe cleaner  around the center of three black pipe cleaners for the whiskers.  We attached the pipe cleaners to the triangle nose using a hot glue gun.

Julia Donaldson books:

Supplies for the guitars:

• shoeboxes
• construction paper
• rubber bands

I cut an oval out of the top of the shoe boxes  then we wrapped the shoe boxes with construction paper like a gift.  After wrapping I cut an oval out of the paper, lining it up with the whole in the box.  JZ and J-Bug picked out the color their wanted for their guitars.

Then we wrapped five rubber bands around each guitar.  As I was helping J-Bug with his rubber bands JZ disappeared outside.  He returned with a long, thin branch and said we needed it for the guitars. He asked Daddy to cut the branch in half, and we laced it through the rubber bands like a guitar handle.  I used two pieces of packing tape on each stick to keep it from moving.

Then we danced around the backyard singing, 

"Me, you and the old guitar how perfectly happy we are.  MEEEE-EW and the old guitar how PURRRR-fectly happy we are."

For more musical fun follow my Making Music with Kids board on Pinterest.

More Virtual Book Club:

• February - {Dr. Seuss} The Lorax
• January - {David McPhail} Pig Pig Gets a Job
• November - {Tomie dePaola} The Art Lesson
• October - {Amy Krause Rosenthal} Little Pea
• September - {Lois Elhert} Eating the Alphabet Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z

To keep in touch all year long follow the Virtual Book Club for Kids Pinterest board, and like us on Facebook.

Here is a list of blogger participating in the Virtual Book Club for Kids:

Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators' Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little- Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Mommy and Me Book Club - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti -Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent- Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Smile Play Learn - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Coffee Cups and Crayons - Having Fun at Chelle's House- Love, Play, Learn - Juggling With Kids