Lentil

For the past couple of weeks we have been reading a book called, Lentil, by Robert McCloskey. It tells the story of a boy named Lentil who ends up saving the day in his little town of Alto, Ohio by learning to play the harmonica.

At first I thought it would be boring, but it's actually been really fun. Here are a few things we did that were pretty simple to prepare and could be adapted to other kids books.




In the story there is a character named "Colonel Carter," who is the town's "most important citizen." He is a war hero who also provides the town with things like a library, hospital, park, etc. In the closing scenes of the book, the town decides to welcome Colonel Carter home with music and a big celebration.

For our Bible story we learned about Jesus being welcomed to Jerusalem as the people sang and shouted to Him as their king. I tried to explain to the kids that it is good to celebrate people we love by singing, and that singing to Jesus is best of all.

Our verse this week was Psalm 104:33, "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live." We did a few of the usual activities, including a new one. I downloaded a "trace font" on my computer so that I could make a traceable verse for the kids.

I asked the kids to trace the verse and draw a picture. Mac traced the verse and drew "Hosanna going up and down." What sweet glimpse into his little mind! He was so proud that the "c" in is name "was a good one." (It's usually upside down or sideways).

He looked so grown up tracing his verse. I had to take a picture. 

Corrie was pretty sweet too.

I found some soup mix in our cupboard that had lentils in it, so we spent a few minutes one morning sorting the soup ingredients. Corrie sorted out all of the letters and then later we made her own little cup of "letter soup." Mac just wanted to hoard all of the letters he could and store them in little tubs.

In the book there is a very sour character named "Old Sneep," and he tries to sabotage the town's big celebration for Colonel Carter by using lemons. The kids and I talked about "sour" and "sweet." We found a really easy recipe for fresh lemonade, and we followed the instructions to make enough for some drinks and popsicles! I guess the popsicles were a little sour.

I got a cheap shower curtain from the Family Dollar and taped it to the floor of our carport. I saw the idea on pinterest to make the town of Alto, Ohio on it using markers and crayons. We used a "marker machine" (two markers taped to the sides of a bottle) to make the roads, and then I asked the kids to tell me the buildings and places in Alto and drew what they remembered from the book. 

I thought this would just be a "fun" activity, but I realized as we did it that it was teaching Mac and Corrie about maps and helping them to connect parts of the story to something tangible. 

The kids were most interested making their own "marker machines." Mac used his to make "fireworks" next to the schoolhouse. 

Corrie used her "machine" to make "grass and hay"

Davey liked driving his cars along the roads :)

Another fun activity was making a little book about the town, state, country and world that Mac and Corrie live in. We talked about Lentil living in Alto, Ohio, USA, Planet Earth, and then talked about Mac and Corrie living in Front Royal, Virginia, USA, Planet Earth. 

The kids picked out the colors for the their books and then I helped them put them together. Mac seemed completely uninterested while we made the books, but afterwards he read it to himself again and again. 

My favorite activity of all was the one we did this morning. In the book Lentil practices his harmonica everywhere, but his favorite place is in the bathtub because, "there the tone was improved one hundred percent." I thought it would be so fun to surprise the kids with their own harmonicas on the last day of our activities and let them practice in the bathtub like Lentil. 

I found some cheap harmonicas on amazon and ordered them with great excitement! I was just going to give the harmonicas to them, but then yesterday when read the book, I got an idea. Lentil saves up his pennies and takes them to the store to buy his harmonica. 

This morning I showed the kids a sign that read, "Harmonicas for sale, 100 cents." It was really fun counting up their pennies to see if they had enough for their very own harmonicas. Mac finished way before Corrie and helped her finish counting her pennies. 

They were so excited to discover that they had just enough to buy a harmonica. I took them to the "harmonica store," (our kitchen cupboard). They made their purchases and started practicing right away. :)

I was pleasantly surprised by how good the harmonicas sounded. Corrie loved hers and made up several "songs." Her favorite thing to do is play a song and have me sing along. The two of us together is quite a thing to behold. Poor Mac can hardly stand it.

Looks like Corrie may have quite a bright future ahead! As it says at the end of the book, "you never can tell what will happen when you learn to play the harmonica." :)

Some harmonica humor