Who Wants a Hug?

 

Who Wants a Hug? written and illustrated by Jeff Mack (2015)

 Everyone loves Bear… except Skunk. Bear gives away free hugs. Skunk can’t understand why everyone wants a hug. He certainly doesn’t! So he sets about foiling Bear’s hugs. But his super stinky tricks keep backfiring on him. The thousand year old mackerel, the smelly garbage bag, even the stink balloon all fail. Finally the super smelly Skunk gives up. Skunk is ready to accept his hug. But how can Bear stand to hug such a vile and smelly creature? Clothespins!

Jeff Mack’s characters are funny and lovable, yes even Skunk. His attempts are thwarting Bear’s popularity are clever and fiendishly funny. It’s even funnier when the tricks backfire and make him the smelly one. Yet, in the end Bear is the one who has to resort to a trick to be able to hug Skunk without subjecting his nose to the awful aroma. Everybody wins!

Smells and Hugs!

Children love matching games. These two challenge kids to match scents and textures. Collect the supplies ahead of time and mix up a few for your game.

When matching scents, I recommend using very distinct smells vanilla, coffee, ginger, perfume, and lemon are all good choices. Soak two cotton balls per scent then separate into different containers (baggies, envelopes, balloons, small plastic containers). Try to match the same scents by smell alone.  Montessori has specific sensory bottles HERE,  but you can make up your own like THESE.

You can make a similar matching game using dry items in balloons for a texture challenge. There are lots of dry items in your kitchen that you can use to fill balloons. Use a funnel to fill two balloons with each of the things you collected. Popcorn kernels, dry beans, rice, sugar, and flour all make great fillings. Tie up each balloon and put in on a tray or in a bowl or box. Squeeze the balloons and try to match the ingredients by touch alone.  Find more information HERE or HERE.

Clothespin Match-Up

Want to expand on Bear’s clever solution? Have your child match up the correct number of clothespins to each numeral. You can make this as fancy or as simple as you want.

Find the directions HERE.