The Umbrella by Jan Brett {Virtual Book Club for Kids}

The Virtual Book Club for Kids has chosen Jan Brett as our author for December. We’ve been checking out books by Jan Brett for the last few months. She has such a great selection. I mentioned many of them here in the intro post on Jan Brett. She has a lot of winter and Christmas themed books, which would be perfect for this time of year. My son (age 3) and I, however, were most drawn to The Umbrella.

The Umbrella by Jan Brett

Two teachers wrote to Jan Brett and asked her to write a rainforest version of The Mitten. {In the The Mitten, a boy named Nicki loses his mitten in the woods. Different animals crawl into the the mitten – each animals larger than the last. Then, a bear sneezes and the mitten goes flying through the air.} Jan headed off to explore the Monteverde cloud forest in Costa Rica. You can read more about Jan’s trip and the animals she saw.

The Umbrella is about a boy named Carlos who sets off looking for different animals in the cloud forest. He brings along his umbrella in case it rains. He doesn’t see any animals right away so he climbs a tree for a better look. The umbrella is left at the base of the tree. A tree frog spots the puddle of water collecting in the umbrella, so he jumps in. Much to his displeasure, other animals join him. In the border of the book, you see Carlos climbing the tree and a preview of the next animal to join the umbrella.

This book is beautifully illustrated. It brought me back to our trip to the cloud forest in Mexico. So green, so serene, so lovely. My son loves seeing all of the animals. For added fun, Jan Brett has the tree frog speak Spanish as well as English. For example, he tells the baby tapir who is looking for his mama, “No está aquí. She’s not here.” The funny little tapir only ever says, “Blaaaht” or “Mama.”

The end of the story is just as amusing. This is a book we enjoy reading over and over again.

Umbrella Craft

How could we not make an umbrella to go along with this story? Aiden wanted to make the umbrella out of real leaves. If I had banana leaves or any large rainforest leaves, we would have. {Here’s where working at a rainforest in Texas would come in handy again. Or for that matter, living in Florida still. Meanwhile, we’re enjoying the last few days of fall in Missouri. Maybe we’ll see snow soon!…}

Here’s what you need to make our umbrella:

• 4 green foam sheets
• Green thread
• 3 brown pipe cleaners
• Scissors
• A needle

I chose to use foam for our umbrella leaves. Then, we could make a puddle in it or play in the rain with it. From each foam sheet, I cut 3 leaves. {One of the foam sheets I only got two leaves somehow.} I cut the first leaf out freehand. Then, I placed that leaf on top of the foam and used it as a template for the other leaves.

Next I sewed the leaves together.

My intentions were for Aiden to help me with this part. I pushed the needle through the foam and had him pull the needle out. He did this twice and then decided he didn’t want to help any more. He was more interested in practicing his scissor skills. He took a few pieces of foam himself and did this:

I made the handle of the umbrella by twisting 3 pipecleaners together. I tucked the end under one of the foam leaves. I might eventually glue it there.

After sewing the leaves together side by side, I formed them into an umbrella shape. Then, I sewed the leaves in place. Here’s the top of the umbrella.

Here’s the inside of the umbrella.

And more scissors practice from Aiden:

After I made the umbrella, Aiden requested that I make Carlos out from a pink pipecleaner.

More Fun from Jan Brett’s Website

Jan Brett’s website has activities and coloring pages to accompany her books. Here are a few links to activities for The Umbrella.

The Umbrella color mural – Print out all the pieces of the rainforest and create your own mural.

The Umbrella animals coloring page – Color a picture of the animals in the book.

The Umbrella animal masks – Print these colorful masks and pretend to be the rainforest animals in the story.

The Umbrella maze game – Follow Carlos to meet some rainforest animals.

Virtual Book Club for Kids Co-Hosts

Here are the blogs co-hosting the Virtual Book Club for Kids. Be sure to see what Jan Brett books and activities they chose. You can also check out the group’s Facebook page.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/VirtualBookClubForKids" title="Virtual Book Club for Kids" target="_blank"><img src="https://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae323/toddlerapproved/virtualbookclub-2012.jpg" alt="Virtual Book Club for Kids" width="125" height="125" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now it’s your turn! Link up your posts about a Jan Brett book you read and your related activity {project, craft, recipe, etc.}. Grab a button and spread the word.

Linking up here.

Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links. See disclosure policy for more info.