Invitations
WHAT YOU NEED
- Invitation templates (cover template and inside template)
- Safety scissors
- White copy paper
- Glue stick
- Crayons or colored markers
HOW TO DO IT
- Each invitation consists of an outside and an inside. Print one set for each invited guest. Choose from two different templates. Template1. Template2.
- Cut out each invitation set and glue each outside and inside together with a glue stick.
- Give your child crayons or colored markers and let them color each invitation.
- Then, deliver an invitation to each "bookworm" on your party list.
Decorating Ideas
WHAT YOU NEED
- Sign Template
- Crayons or colored markers
- Safety scissors
- Poster board
- 1-hole punch
- Colored twine or yarn.
HOW TO DO IT
- Print out the Book Exchange sign template.
- Take the template to a copy store and have them enlarge it so that it is large enough to hang on the front door or on an interior wall near the wrapped books and cake (600%).
- Your child will have lots of fun coloring this oversized book and bookworm!
- Now, help your child make a list of favorite books.
- Cut one 6 inch by 12 inch strip of poster board for each book on your list.
- Punch a hole in the upper middle of each strip.
- Use colored markers to write a book title onto each strip.
- Cut pieces of twine in varying lengths. Thread and tie it through each punched hole.
- Hang the finished book titles around the party room.
ICE BREAKERS
Guess the Character
WHAT YOU NEED
- Tape
- "Guess the Character" Game Tag Template
- Several sheets of colored laser paper
- Pen or pencil
HOW TO DO IT
- Print the "Guess the Character" badges onto colored laser paper. Make sure you have one Badge for each guest.
- Help your child think of famous book characters and write one on each badge
- Tape a "Guess the Character" badge to the back of each child as they arrive. Invite the children to ask questions about who their character is, and then guess from the clues given.
- If all of the children are in costume, have everyone guess the characters the guests are dressed up as.
- When the child’s character has been guessed, fill in the "Guess the Character" badge and tape it on the front of the child’s costume so that everyone will know who they are dressed up as.
PARTY FUN
Wonderful Book Exchange
What a fun way to enjoy the party—two surprises in one! Everyone wonders what book they will get and what surprise they will find when they open their wrapped gift!
WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 small wrapped gift for each guest (bookmarks make a great gift)
- Gift-wrapped books (1 brought by each guest)
- Colored markers
- Music
HOW TO DO IT
- Use a colored marker to write a number on each gift-wrapped book.
- Write a number on an equal number of small wrapped gifts.
- Have the children sit in a circle and play music.
- Give one child a wrapped gift to pass along from child to child while the music plays. When the music stops, the child holding the gift keeps it, and picks the wrapped book with the same number.
- Continue until everyone gets a gift and a wrapped book.
- Then let everyone open their surprise treats—a new book and a gift!
FUN FOOD IDEASBrain FoodHave children munch on tasty "smart" snacks as they enjoy a little reading time!
Bookworm Cake
Continue your bookworm theme by creating this cute Bookworm Cake.
WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 unfrosted chocolate sheet cake
- Kitchen knife (Parents Only)
- Pre-packaged vanilla (white) frosting
- Spreading Knife
- Icing tubes (pick a bright color) (available at grocery stores)
HOW TO DO IT
- (Parents Only) CUT a shallow "V" shaped wedge out of the center of the sheet cake so that it resembles an open book.
- FROST the top of the cake with the vanilla frosting.
- WRITE "Calling All Bookworms" across the cake with icing tubes and add several gummy worms at the corners.
TIPS
Here are recommendations for age appropriate books:
Ages 3-5:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
In the Tall Tall Grass by Denise Fleming
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numerkoff
David Goes to School by David Shannon
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. And John Archambault
Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig
Ages 6-8
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
George and Martha by James Marshall
What Pete Ate from A-Z by Maira Kalman
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Chrysanthemum by Keven Henkes
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Ages 9-10
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Holes by Louis Sachar
Love That Dog or The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath
The Hobbit by J. R. Tolkien
FOLLOW UP FUN
- A Book Exchange Party is a great way to instill the love of reading in your child. Continue to foster this with at-home reading program. Make a Reading Bug from a plastic canister lid and add to the "bug" each time your child finishes a book (see Catch the Reading Bug).
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