Caught Another Baby -- Building Readers One Baby at a Time

Catching Babies -- Creating Readers 

A few weeks ago I was sewing a baby quilt.  My 2 1/2 year old grandson wanted to know what I was doing.  So I explained that I was making a baby blanket for a baby.  He wanted to know "Why?" So I told him that I liked to make baby things and to put a book with them so that the mommies and daddies would read to their babies.  So who was the "baby?"  I didn't have one yet but I told him I had to find one and when I did I would give the blanket and book to the baby.  Well three weeks or so later, I found a baby.  A new baby boy that arrived to join two young but older sisters.  So I packed up the blanket (featuring farm animals, added a soft plush pig, and a book - If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff) and got it ready to send.
 
I also prepared gift packets with a book and plush animal for each of the two sisters.  When the grandson arrived to eat breakfast and have me take him to his "school" he spotted the gift bags with the books and animals peeking out.  "GG," he shouted, "you caught three of them."  It took me a while to figure out that he meant I had caught THREE babies to give gifts too.  He was as excited as if the gifts were for him.  Some of the gifts are shown here -- http://greenfroggifts.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-readers-one-baby-at-time.html

My grandson knows the value of books.  During a recent trip with his mother to Chicago the presents he picked from the aquarium were little books about various sea creatures and a current favorite Good Night, Chicago by Adam Gamble and Joe Veno (Good Night Books, 2006).  He had visited several of the places featured and "We need to go there, Mommy" with several others.
 Clearly - reading aloud to this grandson has made him a young learner who loves books and chooses them over other things (but its a tough competition between books and balls).  In any case I just CAUGHT him as a reader and continue my quest to find or catch more babies to help their parents focus on reading aloud to their child.  Here's one of my latest gifts meant to entice readers.
One baby caught -- and now I found another one.  This new baby is a soon-to-be born little girl and I have been dying to use some Peter Rabbit fabric in pink that is so pretty.  I found bright pink minky (very soft) to back the quilt I pieced from the Running Peter Rabbit on pink fabric.  Bound it with a cream colored cotton with small miniature pink rose buds.  The same binding was used on the flannel blanket featuring Jemima Puddle-duck.  That blanket was backed with minky as well -- a large white polka dot on pink.

This quilt features Jemina Puddle-Duck with a soft flannel top and a large polka dot minky (super soft) backing.  The center is a nine piece panel with sashings of the flannel.

 This is the quilt -- you can see the polka dot back, serving as a back drop for the Wedgewood set of dishes (saucer, bowl, and cup).  A book with the complete collection of Beatrix Potter Stories, another quilt with the Running Peter Rabbit against a pink back ground - two burp cloths and one bib are included.

I made a lace trimmed bookmark to mark the Jemima Puddle Duck story, and added a custom made quilted gift card.

So hopefully these gifts will help catch another baby and create a reader.  Hope the parents take the hint and read to their child every day.








Check out other book packages for catching young readers at http://greenfroggifts.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-readers-one-baby-at-time.html -- Green Frog Gifts helps to build readers -- one baby/toddler at a time.

~~~

Do you have a book package that you'd like to order -- suggest something special just for you...  Visit Greenfroggifts on Etsy for the latest choices. 

Order cookie cutters, aprons, and baker's cloths from Green Frog Gifts -- unique gifts -- many $10.00 or under.