If you’re in Toronto, the cheeky terrapin is having a big birthday bash at his namesake garden on Centre Island. It promises to be complete with music, crafts, and readings of his stories – even one by author Paulette Bourgeois, while illustrator Brenda Clark draws along. This sounds like a great time – details can be found on Toronto Public Library‘s blog for parents, Growing a Reader, here. To reserve a spot, visit Toronto Parks & Rec’s Fun Guide registration.
If you’re not in the city or not prefer a quieter way to make an event of it, you are in luck! Turtles can be celebrated in lots of different ways, though of course, you will want to make sure you read a Franklin book or two to tie it all together.
Learn a turtle rhyme!
There was a little turtle (make a small circle with your hands)
He lived in a
box, (make a box with both hands)
He swam in a puddle, (wiggle hands)
He climbed
on the rocks. (climb fingers of one hand up over the other)
He snapped at a
mosquito, (clap hands)
He snapped at a flea, (clap hands)
He snapped at a
minnow, (clap hands)
He snapped at me. (point to yourself)
He caught the
mosquito, (mimic catching a bug)
He caught the flea (same action)
He caught the
minnow, (same action)
But he didn’t catch me! (point to yourself)
Feeling crafty?
There’s a very cute craft here at First Palette (great kids craft site!) to make from a paper bowl, some paint, and some construction paper. it’s simple enough for little kids, and the instructions are clear and well-illustrated. They even suggest attaching a string so your child can pull it along behind them. Love it!
If you don’t have paint and a paper bowl, but have some glue and some old CDs lying around, here’s another idea, from About.com, where they suggest a whole host of creatures that can be made from your scratched old media! It’s even simpler, but has less of that 3D flair. Still, a fun one for wee hands that want to be busy!
About.com even has a turtle colouring sheet for the simplest craft you can do – colouring or gluing on scraps of coloured paper.
Eat a turtle!
No, not a real turtle, silly!
You can mix a drop of green food colouring into cream cheese, spread it on a round cracker, and poke nuts, pretzel pieces, or sesame sticks into the cream cheese to make legs, head, and a tail!
If you have no nut allergies at home, pecan halves on top of pretzels also make for convincing shells, and can be glued down with cream cheese or melted rolos, as you prefer.
And, of course, there is always those other turtles that aren’t half bad, either…
I’m lucky enough to work for the company that publishes Franklin. Before Will was born I was given a full set of Franklin books and we read them over and over and over again and I never get sick of them! This Sunday we’ll be celebrating Franklin’s birthday by listening to Paulette read some stories! I’m more excited than my kid.
Franklin’s been a fixture in our house for more than a decade…I think we’d better celebrate his milestone! Thanks for sharing some cute ideas.