24 pages, softcover special edition Welcome to Kindergarten programme

Up!

Family Resources Activities Booklet

Rise up for Kindergarten:

Up! Explores how little ones are carried in many different ways. It is a wonderful story that presents the universal love that exists within all families around the world. This book provides a marvellous opportunity to explore how love is expressed in your family.

Talk:

·         Go through the pages. Explore the many different ways families carry their babies. Talk about why babies love to be carried.

·         Talk about how we show and express our love to others in our family.

·         Identify all of the different family members who carry the babies.

·         Talk about who carried you as a baby and the ways that you were carried.

·         “Upsy-daisey” is what families in the book say when they lift up the babies. What does your family say?

·         What other expressions are used in the book? (i.e. “peek-a-boo”, “rise on shine”) Do you know other expressions that your family uses?

Read:

·         Each two-page spread represents a different country. Find the 10 different countries on a globe or in an atlas.

·         While sitting side by side with your child, hold the book up and read each page. Now and then, stop reading to look at the pictures and discuss what the child sees.

                                                        I.            Look at the different types of clothing.

                                                      II.            Look at the different places where babies go with their families.

                                                    III.            What are the other people doing in the pictures?

·         Line up your lower case magnetic letters from your Welcome to Kindergarten bag:

                                I.            Match the letters with the title of the book Up.  Can you spell its opposite “Down”?

                              II.            Match the letters to the different family members identifies in the story: “sister”; “mother”; “father”.

                            III.            Find the letters that make your name. Find the letters that make the other names in your family.

Sing and Move:

·         Play One Big Family from the Welcome to Kindergarten songs list. Have fun learning how different languages say hello. Create your own dance steps to go with the rhythm of the song.

·         Play Jump Up Jump Down  and follow the actions of the song for a fun workout.

Create other actions (e.g. Touch your ears, stomp your feet, move around to the beat).

Play:

·         With the crayons from your Welcome to Kindergarten bag, draw a picture of you doing something you love to do with one of your family.

·         The pictures in Up! are collages made from coloured paper. Cut with the scissors or tear shapes from coloured construction paper to create your own pictures of family places and activities.