I know this post has a ridiculously long name, and I apologize. But before I begin this week’s Book Experience with Stinky and Bubs, I wanted to announce that beginning next Friday, on July 25, you, my wonderful readers, will be invited to participate in the Book Experience. All you have to do to participate is find a book your kids enjoy, read it with them, and then do some kind of project that ties in with the book– the blog about it. It doesn’t matter how old or young your kids are, or what their interests are, or how long the book is, just get in there and do something fun. If you need ideas for activities, I highly recommend google. Anyway, each week I will put a Mr. Linky in the bottom of my post so you can link your blog to mine. Some of you have already suggested some books to me, and this will be a great way to find new books (and related activities) to experience with your children. I would love to have you participate with us!

So, with no further ado, I now present The Book Experience with Stinky and Bubs, Part 2.

This week’s installment is a chapter book. My husband enjoys reading chapter books with the boys, and Ryan in particular enjoys them. They have just finished reading a classic, Little House in the Big Woods.

This book was right on the level where Expert Book Experiencer Ryan (age 5 1/2) is as far as understanding. It was a little much for Expert Book Experiencer Sam (age 3 1/2), who usually listened for awhile and then wandered off to play in Happy Stinky Land.

Now that they have finished the book, we decided to do a couple projects to celebrate this classic of children’s literature. First we made log cabins from popsicle sticks.

Expert Book Experiencer Sam chose to only include Laura (in red) on his picture. Expert Book Experiencer Ryan included the whole family, except Baby Carrie, for reasons that have yet to be discovered. Then they added some trees to make the “Big Woods.” This was possibly the hardest part for my sons, being that living in Iowa does not offer many opportunities to see Big Woods. Oh well.

Then Mommy got very brave and we decided to do a food project. We decided to make our own butter. I found these easy instructions and after purchasing heavy whipping cream and cleaning out a jar of pickle relish, we were ready to begin. Basically you just pour the cream into the jar, seal it tightly, and then shake it.

We passed it around the family and everyone got a turn to shake it. Actually, everyone got several turns. We probably shook it for about seven minutes total, and then miracle of miracles it separated just like it was supposed to.

Here are the boys with their finished bowl of butter.

And enjoying homemade bread with their homemade butter (life doesn’t get much better than this).

And there you have it! Our Book Experience of Little House in the Big Woods was a good one. Not sure what’s coming next– I think Art’s going to read an adaptation of Tom Sawyer but it will probably be awhile before we get there. I guess you’ll just have tune in next week for The Book Experience with Stinky and Bubs– and bring a book to share, okay?

Expert Book Experiencers Stinky and Bubs give Little House in the Big Woods Four Thumbs Up!