Book Inspired Activities - You Can't Eat a Princess

There are quite a few blogs around that are either wholly or partially dedicated to wonderful book-inspired activities for children (Playingby the book is probably the best. Zoe’s creativity and dedication are very inspirational). Bookaholic Mum is most definitely NOT one of those blogs

I have neither the talent, nor admittedly the inclination, for doing craft-type activities either with or without my children.  I am a bookworm full stop. When I finish one book I like to get started on the next one in the pile or a newspaper or a magazine, or increasingly, another blog. I simply love reading. Frankly I can’t be arsed to do much else (although I’m quite partial to a bit of cooking/baking so may do something inspired by Playing by the Book’s recent Edible Book Festival in the future).

 

In the meantime however, I’ve been wondering if my children are slightly deprived by my lack of book-inspired craftiness, what with it being all the rage. In my saner/more defensive moments I remember that I work full time and the girls get to do lots of arty/crafty things at pre-school and with their fantastic childminder. In my guiltier moments I try to be arsed.

Last weekend I had one of those moments. Thankfully help was on hand from the illustrator of one of S’s favourite books - You Can’t Eat a Princess – Sarah McIntyre. The book is about a feisty spaghetti-haired princess who rescues her father, King Cupcake, from a gang of aliens on another planet and invites them to her birthday party to eat chocolate instead of people. S loves the story and I love reading it aloud – voicing the precocious Princess Spaghetti is a personal favourite!

Anyway, I recently discovered Sarah’s website and it has a ton of resources related to the book. You can design your own alien, draw your own spaceship and make a Princess Spaghetti tiara. There are even party invites and a party ideas pack!

It was a rainy afternoon and I was looking for something simple to do. So after reading the book again together I sat the girls down at the table and printed out some of the materials for them to colour in. As they’re only 3 and 18 months, colouring in is still lots of fun thankfully! And S in particular loved doing something related to a favourite book which wasn’t Gruffalo or a Charlie & Lola! When I have more time I think the design your own alien would be lots of fun – just need to take the time to cut out the bits and pieces on the downloadable template and perhaps glue them on some card.  

I think it’s great that Sarah has taken the time to create this resource on her website so thank you if you’re reading this! The girls' efforts are proudly displayed below!