Caroline
Have you read this story?? It’s called “Little Blue Truck” by Alice Schertle. I am often on the hunt for children’s books that illustrate values to children and this book was perfect to show the importance of being nice.
It is about a friendly old blue truck who always says hello to all the animals as he drives by every day (by honking) as opposed to speedily driving by thinking he is much too important like a big haul truck in the story. When the big haul truck gets stuck in the mud and none of the animals listen to his cry for help, the little blue truck steps in to save the day and the animals follow his lead when they hear him honking. By helping the little blue truck gets covered in mud from head to toe. It is a sweet story that opens up great discussion on the importance of being nice and friendly.
After reading the story we re-created a scene in the story and my preschooler retold me the story in his own words.
Materials you will need:
–Template found HERE or you can create your own
-white sheet of card stock paper
-crayons
-brown paint
-paint brush
-large wiggly eye
-white sheet of paper
-scissors
-glue stick
Directions:
1. I started by creating a simple truck pattern on the computer which I printed out on white card stock paper. If you are going to do this craft and want to use my template you can print it out HERE. (After all, this is a story about being nice haha!) Mine is obviously very plain looking so you are welcome to create your own with more bells and whistles. 🙂 PS-The template does have the tires finished, I went back and corrected it after taking this picture and realizing my mistake.
2. Color the blue truck.
3. Using the brown paint and paint brush, make mud splatters all over the truck and under the truck. Let the paint dry completely.
I stepped away while my son was painting his, and if I was gone any longer he very well may have covered the entire page in brown paint. LOL!
4. While the paint was drying, my son drew and colored some animals that he wanted to ride in the back of the truck like in the story. Then he cut them out.
5. When the paint is dry, glue a large wiggly eye on the truck to make the headlight eye.
6. Since my son’s animals all had legs, they weren’t going to fit in the back of the truck, so I decided to take a razor knife and make a slit in the back of the truck and under the window so we could slide the animal’s legs in the truck. See picture below.
7. Now just slide the animals through the slit so it looks like they are actually riding in the back of the truck and glue their heads to the paper with a glue stick. Now admire your child’s beautiful artwork and have him retell you the story.
My preschooler drew a frog to drive the car just like in the story. Here is a close up.
His other animals are a cow (with the black dots), chicken (in the front) and a lion (not in the story, he just wanted one in there).
Even if you don’t do the craft, I highly recommend the story. It was really cute!
Happy Reading & Crafting!!
