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Family reading advice

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Books that describe familiar experiences in children’s lives are an opportunity for a glimpse into their world. While reading, you should pay attention to what the children notice most, the questions they ask, and the characters with which they identify. Sometimes, books make it easier to discuss things that happen in real life.

Discussion – Joining the game

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Discuss with and ask the children: how do you think Birt felt when Shu joined their game? Have you ever played with a friend and had another person ask to join in? Have you ever asked to join other children?

Arts & crafts with friends

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Good friends can make a simple box into a palace, boat, or spaceship. You can suggest inviting one or several friends over for some joint arts & crafts time. Perhaps they will discover what else a box can turn into – with a little imagination, a pair of scissors, some markers, but most importantly – lots of togetherness.

Now Birt, then Shu, then Etho

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Playacting is a great way of learning about the experience of others while expressing feelings and sensations. You can act this story out with the help of various family members or toys. Take turns playing each role, so that you can experience the story from the different characters’ perspectives. 

Pinterest

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More arts & crafts, songs and activities can be found on the Sifriyat Pijama Pinterest page.

Pesach trivia

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What are the three things you would have taken with you when leaving Egypt? And who can leap like a frog from the second plague? Scan the code and you will be able to print out an amusing card game that will enhance your Seder Night experience.

Hide and Seek

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You can hide the afikomen or any small item and ask family members to look for it. Is it in the kitchen? Under the couch? Perhaps in the closet? In the next round, the one who found the item will hide an item of his or her choice, while the others go looking for it… Good luck!

Pesach activities

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This book offers parents the opportunity to tell their children about their childhood Seder Night experiences: Did you hide the afikomen? And who found it? What did you like about Pesach as children? And what do you like about it now – parents and children?

Where is the frog?

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A small frog is visiting for Seder Night wearing an ancient Egyptian headdress. Can you look through the illustrations and find it? Why does it appear in the illustrations, in your opinion?

Pinterest

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For more ideas for activities, check out our Instagram page – and discover more surprises.

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Reading-assisting touch

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Toddlers need physical contact. That is why you should sit close to one another while reading, hug, touch, and look into each other’s eyes every once in a while. That way your toddlers will experience story time as a warm and relaxing activity that makes them feel loved and safe.

Tickles and games

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You can ask your toddlers – do you like tickling games? Which of the games that we play together do you enjoy? What would you have liked us to play? In relation to the mother’s telephone call in this book, you can also ask – how did Gan-Yah feel when her mother went to answer her phone? How do you feel when you have to wait?

There’s a hill in this house

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You can play the same game they play in the book: Your toddler or another family member can hide under a blanket and become a hill. You can tickle the hill, feel it and search – where’s the hill’s foot? Where is its head?
*Some children are hypersensitive to touch or tickles, and therefore, it is important to remind players before the game that one can say “stop” at any point, just like they do in the book.

Moving together

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There are many body movements in this book. You too can jump, dance, roll or lift your legs up in the air just like the hill does. You can look at the illustrations and copy Gan-Yah’s movements too.

Pinterest

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For more ideas for activities, check out our Instagram page and discover more surprises.

Family reading advice

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Children identify with the characters in the book, and acquire a better understanding of others who are different from them, thereby developing empathy and adaptability to new situations. While reading, you can focus on the characters’ facial expressions and ask: How do you think they feel? And why?

Discussion

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You can discuss and ask: With whom and what do you like to play? In your opinion, what should we do when we each want to play a different game? What solutions can we suggest?

Annoying but also fun

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Libby wants to join Pupik on his visit to the fire station, but he is annoyed – can a solution be found? Watch the video to find out!

Moving with the illustrations

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Sitting, jumping, or perhaps bending down? Take turns choosing a page in the book, and showing the others a movement or posture similar to that of the characters depicted in the book. The other players can then imitate the movement, and look for it in the right page in the book. Did you find it? Then it is now time for the next player to choose a page.

The game of games

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On separate notes, write down the games you like to play together: Hide-and-seek or maybe catch? Put all the notes in a box and choose one at random each day. What does it say? Would you like to play this game together? If not, you can always take another note out of the box or add a new note suggesting a new game.

Pinterest

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More arts & crafts, songs and activities can be found on the Sifriyat Pijama Pinterest page.

Playing Hide and Seek

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Let’s play hide and seek! We can hide our fingers in the palm of our hands, cover our nose and reveal it, hole up under a blanket, conceal ourselves behind the couch, or hide a toy behind our backs.

Who wants to go first?

Seek Out the Cat

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Meow! The grey kitten has joined our game of hide and seek. You can search for it every illustration, just be careful not to step on its tail…

Some Reading Advice: How to Turn Books into Friends?

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Reading from an early age plays a key role in toddler development; however, like anything new, the question is – how do we find the way? We suggest getting acquainted slowly and gradually; let the toddler connect to the book in their own way: Touching, opening and closing, and even “tasting” it with their mouths. Afterwards, you can read: A little each day, patiently and with pleasure. At first you could even read a single page, introducing it and getting accustomed to it, and hey presto – you have turned a book into a friend!

 Sifriyat Pijama an opportunity to read together, at any age

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 Sifriyat Pijama an opportunity to read together, at any age

Discussion – With someone and on my own

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What can we do on our own? What’s better done together? You may want to discuss the things we can do with others with your child, and then come up with the things that they can do themselves. Who do they enjoy sharing experiences with? Family members? Friends? Perhaps their pet?

A game – On one foot

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Can you also stand on one foot? Let’s check!
Throw a die, stand on one foot and count to the number shown on the die: One, two, and… Are you about to fall? Reach out and allow whoever is next to you to help you stay upright.

Cooperation

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You may enjoy putting a list together of all the activities that are best done together, in collaboration with someone: Tidying up your room, making dinner, or reading your favorite book. Then, take some cards, write each activity down on a separate one, and decorate it. You could keep all the cards in a special box, pick one out every day, and ask: How about cooperating today and sweeping the house? Why don’t we engage in a family game of catch? Or how about joining forces in some other activity?

Movement – On one foot or two

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You may want to assemble a movement course at home, and complete it on one foot, two feet, all fours, or perhaps even three… Design a track on the floor using skipping rope, and take turns completing it in a different way each time: Hopping on one leg, while keeping a cushion balanced on top of your head, crawling, in pairs, with your arms crossed, because it’s easier to jump on one foot in pairs.

Pinterest

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Pinterest

Pinterest – Movement games, collaborations, arts & crafts and songs are on the On One Foot page on the PJLibrary Pinterest.ּ

Proposed Family Activities:

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• You may want to look at the illustrations together, and suggest that your child describe what the chairs turn into throughout the book.

• While reading the story, you may want to pause before the children reach one of the stops, and ask your child to guess, based on the rhyming scheme – where the children will end up.

• Have you ever visited the cities mentioned in the book? Perhaps you could look at the illustrations, and use them to describe the special features in each of the locations. You could also look for more images of these sites online, and compare them with the illustrations in this book.

• Like the children in the story, you could also let your imagination run wild, and transform the chairs around your home into different things. A chair covered with a blanket could become a tent, or a secret cave.

• You could go on a trip nearby. Choose your destination with your child, pack some snacks, invite some friends, and go on an afternoon excursion. You could even have a picnic, so that “by the time you get off the cloud, lunch will be ready”.

• Where is Tel Aviv? And where is Jerusalem? Where are the mountains, the Sea of Galilee, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea? Perhaps you could open a map together, and mark the places where you and your extended family live, places you have visited, and places you would like to visit as a family.

האזינו לסיפור המדינה של ילדי הגן

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אנו מזמינים אתכם/ן להאזין לסיפור “המדינה של ילדי הגן”, מאת: אמונה אלון | איורים: מנחם הלברשטט | הוצאת: ידיעות ספרים (גנים)

יוצרים ומגישים – ירדן בר כוכבא – הלפרין ודידי שחר
מוזיקה ונגינה – טל בלכרוביץ’
פתיח – דידי שחר
מגישים – יובל סגל, אפרת אביב ותומר שרון.
אקורדיון וחלילים – סלעית להב

מוכנים/ות? מת – חי – לים!

Family Activities

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Menachem Halberstadt’s wonderful illustrations speak to the adults reading the story as well as the children, and hint at well-known historical personae and experiences.  Even the teddy bear is wearing a hat from the days of the Palmach! Look closely at the illustrations together with your child and share the country’s history with them. See if you can find pictures depicting Theodore Herzl, David Ben Gurion, and dancing the hora in the streets of Tel Aviv.

Adi points to some pictures of famous photographs depicting stories of immigrants.  Ask your child to show you these pictures and try to guess from which countries the different immigrants came.  You can take out an atlas or map of the world, and look for the places where your family lived throughout the generations and where you have relatives outside Israel today.

The children in the story act out an imaginary version of “building the country”, which initiated in the make-believe corner of the kindergarten. Your child can also dress up in costume and choose a task in building the country.

You too can “build a country”.  Let your imagination run wild: How will you call your country? Who will live in it? Which buildings are needed? Will it have a flag? You are invited to send us a photograph of the country you created, and we’ll post the picture on the Sifriyat Pijama website pj.crunchcart.com .

It is not always easy to join in to an existing group and find your role in it.  The story can provide an opportunity for you and your child to discuss the emotions of the characters in the book, and for you to share with them your own life experiences – in your personal life, and on the national level.

The building of the State of Israel is a process that has not come to an end, and more new immigrants are likely to join the country in the future.  David, the new oleh in the story, brings a toy plane with him to the game.  What would you propose new immigrants bring with them to continue building and improving the state?

A number of well-known songs greet new olim as they arrive in Israel.  You can organize a sing-along one evening in your home and sing such favorites as “Heveinu shalom aleichem”, “Am Yisrael Chai”, and “Hineh ma tov u ma na’im”.

Haya Shenhav

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Haya Shenhav is a poet and author born in 1936 in Kefar Yehoshua, in the Jezreel Valley. Her first children’s book, Mitz Petel (“Raspberry Juice”), was published in 1970, and is a huge favorite among children to this day. Among her well-known and much loved works are Aliza Habarvaza Vehahaverim (“Aliza the Duck and Friends”), and Hippo-Tam, as well as the songs Gveret Im Salim (“A Lady with Groceries”), and Mi Shavar Et Hatzalahat (“Who Broke the Plate?”). In 1985, Haya Shenhav was awarded the Zeev Prize for Children and Youth’s Literature, and in 2004 she was the Bialik Literature Prize laureate. Haya Shenhav lives in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem.

Family Activities

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Pit, Pet, Tu is a long and adventure-filled story. You may want to read one adventure at a time, and then ask your child to pick an illustration, and tell you what the dwarves are doing now in their own words.

You could read it together several times, helping your child remember the sequence of events, and join you for the refrain: “Dwarves can do such things…”

You may enjoy looking at the illustration depicting the dwarves turning the mountain into a home. Do you recognize the food? What is your favorite? You may want to prepare one of the dishes the dwarves ate, or plan a back-to-front meal, where you eat dessert first.

One of the dwarves’ favorite pastimes is chatting. They enjoy sitting with one another, and remembering shared experiences. What do you like doing with your friends?

Do you know the tune to the song Meahorey Hahar 1, 2, 3 (“Behind the mountain, 1, 2, 3”)? You could sing it together.

Each time the dwarves transform the mountain into something else – a home, a boat, and even a car. You may also want to engage in a game of “pretend”, and turn familiar objects into other things using your imagination. You could pick a different object each time, and tell each other what it has turned into.

Would you like to play with dwarves? You may enjoy drawing little dwarves on toilet paper rolls, popsicle sticks, old socks, or rolled-up paper… You could make three dwarf puppets, and use them to tell the story.

Pit, Pet, Tu is the last PJ Library book you will be getting this year. Enjoy reading it, and also reread your favorite PJ Library books from previous months. Perhaps this time you could let your child read it to you… See you next year!