About Trying and experimenting: The bear planted seeds that blossomed into similar flowers, except for one plant that didn’t bloom. Nevertheless, he didn’t give up, he took care of it, and provided all the necessary conditions. We can ask our child: Have you ever tried something and didn’t get what you wanted? How did you feel? What did you learn? Did you change something during your attempt, as the bear did?
About Differences: Children enjoy planting seeds and observing their growth. This is an opportunity to talk to our child about the conditions for the growth of each type of plant (the amount of water and light it needs) and about what is common and different in the growth of each type.
About Different perspectives: We can follow the drawings in the story and compare the rabbits and the bear. We can ask our child what the bear might be thinking about the plant, and what the rabbits might be thinking. Why do they have different ways of thinking?
Caring for plants requires the ability to wait and to be patient, a skill which our child may still lack. We can support them in developing this skill by agreeing to perform specific daily tasks that suit their abilities, such as watering the plant or measuring its height with a small ruler and marking it. Imagine how happy your child will be when they share in making a healthy dish from vegetables they planted in a pot on the balcony or in a garden bed!
In the book, there are two stories happening at the same time. We can enhance our child’s narrative ability by thinking up stories. We can look at the drawings and creatively add alternative endings of our own.
You can go over the book with your children and enjoy looking at its illustrations.
Can you spot the apple on every page? Some of the objects and animals remain constant, while others change position. Which are constant? Which are in motion?
It is hard for some children to wait until parents finish their tasks, or to wait until play time comes. We can help the children to wait, by using an analog clock with hands. If the children know in advance when their “waiting time” will end, it will help them increase their ability to wait.
Have you noticed that the mouse is smiling almost throughout the book? How do you think it feels while waiting patiently?
We all lose our patience at times, waiting on line at the cashier, or getting stuck in traffic. You may like to share an experience with your child in which you finally made it after having waited for something for a long time. What ‘gift’ did you get at the end of the long wait?
You can choose a toy you have, that is from the story, and illustrate what happened to it in the story in front of family and friends.
Make a whole in the middle of the flour and place one beaten egg. Add sugar, yogurt, and melted margarine. Mix them all together until it becomes doughy and leave it in the fridge for half an hour.
Divide the dough in half. Flatten one-half into a disk, add the grated apple with cinnamon. Then flatten the other half on the top. Brush the surface of the dough with a beaten egg and bake it. Enjoy!
Why Don’t You Bloom? 
The Mouse and the Apple 
نتحاور
نثري لغتنا
فعاليات متنوّعة
