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Jan Brett is required reading for the holidays.  Her writing tells a story, and so do her illustrations – especially the borders.  Brett’s website includes a ton of activities and coloring pages.

Read these favorites–then try the fun activities!  Happy holidays!

Gingerbread Baby

• Make gingerbread cookies into different figures – girl, boy, cat, dog and so on.
• Retell the gingerbread story using your cookie as the main character.  Invent new scenarios.
• Print out Brett’s own animal masks to reenact the story.

Wild Christmas Reindeer

• Make reindeer bags with reindeer food.
• The names of the reindeer in this story are different than the more familiar names.  Which ones do you like?  What would you name your reindeers?
• Reindeer crafts here.

The Mitten

• Notice the illustrations on the borders.
• Count up the animals in the story.
• Print out these mittens.  Talk about symmetry and matching.  Decorate one mitten to match the other.  Punch a hole in the bottom of both and join with a string.

Other winter books I highly recommend are The Christmas Trolls, The Night Before Christmas, The Snow Bears and The Hat.

Any other favorites?  What activities will you do with these books?