For a fun, fast book club pick, it would be hard to beat Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman. Even our littlest members were able to finish this one, and there was plenty for the big kids to enjoy too. (Click here for the book spotlight with online resources and other ideas.
As usual, we started with a brief book discussion. It was so fun to watch the kids finish each other’s sentences and build on each other’s thoughts and giggle at the same silly things. Then we were on to our trivia challenge, which we paired with an obstacle course. (Click here for a printable list of discussion and trivia questions.)
We divided up into two teams and used empty milk jugs for our batons. The whole obstacle course had to be completed without dropping the milk!
- Get abducted by the spaceship (run to the upper level of the yard)
- Fly in the floaty-ball-person-carrier (run around the basketball court while holding a pillowcase above your head, but don’t drop the milk!)
- Escape from the wumpires (dodge the chairs set across the lawn)
- Return the eye of splod to the top of the volcano (climb up the ladder or climbing wall with a paper emerald we’d folded from this template, then slide down the slide)
- Return home with the milk, where hopefully your next teammate has already answered their question so they can take off as soon as you hand them the milk.
Next, it was time for a little science. We learned a little bit about the hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of milk and watched them in action with our colorful milk science activity.
Our last structured activity was art time! The kids each got their own milk carton to design their own brand of milk, then lots of Play-Doh, glitter, pom poms, and other supplies to make a tasty and fantastical treat to go with it. We had some really cool creations!
We wrapped up with a snack of cookies and milk (of course!) while we read The Secret Shortcut by Mark Teague. (Okay, most of the kids were drifting off to play on their own when the cookies were gone, but this book really is a cute tie-in about maybe-made-up journeys that make characters late. 🙂