Before my third child arrived, one of the projects I had my girls work on were books for the new baby. It was a way to get them excited about their future sibling, and get a bit of writing/spelling/drawing in as well.
Ever since I stumbled across this blog post at Angry Chicken (one of my favorite bloggers - I love the ideas she shares about homeschooling her girls), I've made these blank books SOOOO often. And now, with all the different colors and patterns of Duck Tape, you can really make them cool looking! These are the "go to" books not only for sketching in our house, but also when the girls want to write out a storybook.
Each girl got to pick their own theme for the baby's book. My eldest went with a more pedestrian ABCs and 123s book. My middle child, however, decided she wanted to draw pictures for a zoo book. But not any zoo book. Her book's title is "Monkeys at the Zoo", but it would be more aptly titled "The Most Fantastical Zoo"... and I'll share with you why...
First, an explanation - this book was only half completed prior to the birth of my third daughter. That daughter just recently discovered it in our bookshelf and has been bringing it to us to read to her. This inspired my middle child to finish the book, filling in the blank pages she had previous left at the end of the book.
You can see if starts very normal. If I recall correctly, in Phase I of the book, she wanted nothing to do with spelling the names of the animals, and wanted me to draw many of the pictures, which she then colored in herself. Can you tell which of the two above I drew?
You can also see that, in Phase I, she had the patience to include color in her drawings...
In case you can't tell what these two animals are, that is a flamingo on the left and a penguin on the right. The names are hidden under the baby's arm!
All animals you would see at a normal zoo, right? Well, wait and see what is around the next corner!
Oh, here is Phase II. Still normal zoo animals, and a bit of color - oh, and she's fine with spelling her own animal names now- but wait...
Here is your first hint that this is no normal zoo. Yes, we've trapped Tinkerbell here at this zoo, for your viewing pleasure! But there is more!
Yes, we have ZOMBIES! And centaurs! Don't worry, they're in their cages. You'll be safe. We just fed the zombies, that's why you see the blood dripping off of the vampire-looking fangs!
And Excalibur! Never mind that Excalibur isn't actually an animal. It's cool!
We have Bigfoot, too. And a pregnant Pegasus (the arrow is there to draw attention to the fetal Pegasus in the belly). I think the Bigfoot was included because my daughter knows how much my husband loves Bigfoot.
And what zoo would be complete without a mermaid, right?
I wonder what my youngest will think when we take her to an actual zoo. Once she has learned to talk, I can just imagine her asking where to mermaids are... and we have this wonderful book to thank for that!