The Educators' Spin On It

Learning Games and Activities

By

Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire Book and Activity!

 My kids were over the moon excited to see this huge box in the mail waiting for them to open!  As part of the “Love Books,” activity and book swap,  Critters and Crayons send a Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire Book and Activity package for my 2 kiddos! WHAT FUN!  

Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire Book and Activity!

This book and hands-on activity helped my kids get excited about reading.  It also was a fantastic way to extend and enrich language and allow for some creative exploration.

Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire Book Review:

Amazon Affiliate Links

 Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire!is about exploring the world around you and we love to do that.  Fancy Nancy and her best friend Bree create an explorer club with rules. They examine different things in the backyards like butterflies, trees, ants, and birds.  Their younger siblings want to join, but don’t seem to follow all the rules in the beginning.  At the end, they find the best discovery (you’ll have to read it to find out what it is) and are unanimously voted into the club.  We talked about how different people bring different skills and talents to a group and even though little brothers and sisters may have trouble following all the big kid rules, they still are important, valued, and must be included.

My 5 year old really enjoys reading Fancy Nancy books because she likes learning and using big words for things.  I liked this book because it combines illustrations and photographs, fiction and some non-fiction parts, making it a very well rounded book with an educational and entertainment component.  After reading the book we were ready to start our activity – The Little Explorers Discovery Jug!

Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire Activity:

Before opening the jug, I asked the kids to think about what our activity was.  My kids couldn’t quite figure out what exactly was in this “Little Explorers Discovery Jar.”  My daughter was being soooo silly and said,” I will use my 5 senses to figure this stuff out.”  She looked at it.  She shook it and listened to it. And YES she smelled it.  (That is her smelling the jug)

She actually sniffed around the entire outside and couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. <insert a ton of sniffing noises as you envision her doing this around the entire container.> “PLEASE can we just feel it?” she begged! Welll………….

I knew that this was cloud dough and remembered that it may be a tad on the messy side.  In fact, on her blog she post about could dough Tricia writes”Keep this in mind, folks.  Fun can be had all around with this stuff.  And I mean, All Around.  :)” I know my kiddos and took this as a warning to head outside.  Besides, everything about this book and activity screams “OUTSIDE!”

We unscrewed the cap and dumped it right into our empty sand and water table on the deck.  The kids started sifting their fingers in it and shouting, “I found a  ____” (insert the name of really cool little shells and rocks that Tricia’s kids filled the jug with) They were so into this activity, that I grabbed a book and snuggled up on the deck in the sunshine to read for pleasure!

Soon, my daughter said, “I know what this is! It is flour…” and from there, the fun was had, all around!  It was a full body sensory experience!  The kids played with it for hours and then we saved what we could for another day of play!

The only thing I wished I had were 2 large magnifying glasses for us to take an explorer walk with.  If anyone knows a good place to get sturdy, large, clear magnifying glasses – please let me know, I am on the search for some!

A special thanks to Tricia at Critters and Crayons for this awesome gift!  Stay tuned to see what books and activities Robyn and Whitney from Pen Pals and Picture Books and Ann at Little Sprout Books received in this book and activity swap!

Make Your OWN Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire Book and Activity


Make an explorer pack for your kids (this would make an AWESOME Valentine’s Day gift) While you are at it – make TWO explorer book and activity kits. One for you and one to share. You could make this for another parent in your life that would appreciate it, maybe a single parent? someone who is working long hours? or just a friend who would benefit from your kindness?

Materials Needed:

Directions

1. Put the cloud dough, treasures, and paint brushes into the jar.
2. Read the story with your children.
3. Empty the contents of the jar into a water table or large Tupperware container.
4. Explore!

Start your Fancy Nancy Book Collection with these stories:

 

Save

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

Comments

  1. Sorry to respond late to this. I am looking at your blog to see what kinds of activities your little ones love so I can get the summer box ready. We have large sturdy magnifying glasses we purchased from Kaplans. My children love them!

  2. This sounds like an awesome day/activity/book/memory. The perfect combination! I'll keep an eye out for magnifying glasses for you! Thanks for sharing this with us at Rub Some Dirt On It!

  6. That's one of the best ideas I've hear about! So cool that they enjoyed it as much as they did!

  7. Sorry about the cloud dough in the hair! haha! I'm glad they had fun!!!! I love this post- And this whole book/activity swap has been a ton of fun! Thank you!

You Might Also Like

Let’s Connect!