Mouse Paint

Dear Friends,

We hope you are having a good day. Sometimes, we find ourselves weary of daily schedules and routines. As helpful as they are for crossing things off a to-do list, they can sometimes result in little time for spur-of-the-moment fun. Do you ever feel the same way? So here's a friendly reminder to seize the moment and create a memory with your young reader...maybe by hopping and dancing in some paint? 

Mouse Paint

by Ellen Stoll Walsh

 Three clever little white mice are hiding from a gray cat in a very tricky place – on a sheet of white paper! Things get even trickier when the mice discover three jars of paint and begin to have so much fun dancing and jumping in the paint they forget all about the cat.

 

Mouse Paint is a fun, light-hearted introduction to primary colors and color mixing told through the antics of the little white mice. Filled with cut paper illustrations and vivid colors, each page pops with energy and inspiration. 

Enjoy Mouse Paint with your young reader and discover how the little mice continue to enjoy their new painting hobby and still hide from the gray cat.

 

In this Issue

• Mouse Paint Brushes
• Fruit and Yogurt Mice Squares

Mouse Paint Brushes

With a little assistance from grown up hands, help your young reader create their own mouse paint brushes to paint and color mix the day away. When one painting session ends, simply insert clean pipe cleaners for more painting fun!

Why We Like It

• This is a great opportunity to prompt color mixing exploration. 
• Encourages creativity
• Using a familiar object in a new way expands imagination

Mouse Paint Brushes

What You Will Need for Mice

• 3 plastic Easter eggs- make sure there is already a small hole in one end
• Pipe cleaners
• Black permanent marker
• Paint
• Paper

1. Cut pipe cleaners to desired length. 
2. Open one Easter egg and insert pipe cleaners through the small hole in one end. Twist or bend pipe cleaner to make a "knot" inside the egg and pull pipe cleaners out so that the knot is against the inside of the egg. Close egg. 
   
   
3. Draw mouse face and ears using permanent marker. Repeat with other two eggs. 
   
4. Repeat with other two eggs.
   
5. Paint the day away!
   
   
   

 

Fruit and Yogurt Mice Squares

Recreate the cute little mice from Mouse Paint using some basic kitchen staples, and you will have a healthy snack for when it is time for a break from painting. 

Young Readers in the Kitchen

This no-cook recipe offers many opportunities for young readers to help. From start to finish, they can do practically everything!

Fruit and Yogurt Mice Squares

Adapted from several sources: Sweet Strawberry Mice, A Berry Cute Snack, and Strawberry Mice.

Ingredients

• Whole strawberries, washed and tops removed
• Mini chocolate chips
• Slivered almonds
• String cheese
• Graham crackers
• Flavored yogurt, preferably blended, any flavors (we used cherry, blueberry, and tangerine to mimic the paint colors in the book)

1. For each mouse, insert two slivered almonds for ears and three mini chocolate chips for eyes and nose. Cut a short and thin piece of string cheese for the tail.
2. To serve, dollop some yogurt on a graham cracker square. Top with a strawberry mouse and add cheese tail.

 

One Year Ago: What's a girl to do when she wakes up one day with antlers? Find out in Imogene's Antlers by David Small.

Two Years Ago: January 18th is A.A. Milne's Birthday! Celebrate with A Collection of A.A. Milne Books: Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Young, and Now We are Six. Included is a recipe for Hunny Hot Chocolate!