I’ve made these little mice ornaments for a couple different occasions this month, the most recent of which was in my daughter’s 3rd grade classroom. Before making the mice I read them this book: Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse.
A sweet story about a real mouse that becomes friends with a toy mouse,
who later becomes real after an incident involving a purple pebble and a psychedelic lizard.
Happy dance!
I used some visual aids as I was telling the story, beginning with one of our zhu zhu pets. I had the kids imagine it was a mouse, with big pink ears and a long tail. When the toy mouse was introduced in the story, I brought out the Kiss mouse, which had a “key” attached.
After the purple pebble was found and the toy mouse turned into a real mouse I brought out another zhu zhu and let them do their happy dance in the middle of the reading circle.
After the story we all made Hershey Kiss mouse ornaments. The kids had a great time and loved the unique introduction of the characters in the story. If you’d like, you can download the mouse ornament instructions. They come in handy when making with a large group.