There were nine kids at Charlie Club on August 6. And, for the first time, Tara did not read the chapter or lead the activities. I fear I am more of the sidekick than superhero but we got through! Thanks to Leah and Irene, my mother in law, for sticking it out and helping. We gathered at School Street to read Chapter 8: Two More Golden Tickets Found.
Before lining up, the kids decorated the driveway with some homemade driveway paint.
Painting the driveway
It was pretty thick and gloopy. I got the recipe here: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/5509/fizzing-sidewalk-paint. I will write it down because Layla said for sure people would want to know it and her mom would be asking me.
1 box of baking soda, 1/2 cup cornstarch (which I didn’t have and used cornmeal instead) and some hot water. Mix the dry ingredients, then add water and mix. Add enough water to make it a paint-like consistency. Throw in some food coloring. It got very gloopy very quickly, it might need a bit more water than you think at first (or maybe it needs actual cornstarch). I think next time I will try it with more water and turkey basters.
Then we lined (?) up and went inside to read the story.
ready to go in
Once inside we sat down and remembered everyone’s name, and took a little time to recall what had happened in the previous seven chapters. We read Chapter 8 and met Violet Beauregarde, who chews gum all the time, and Mike Teavee, who loves television.
After we finished the chapter I tried to teach the kids a couple new songs. It was not “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor” a fabulous and fantastically appropriate song Ellen knows. I did sing Sticky Sticky Sticky Sticky BubbleGum. The kids from the Argenziano may or may not know another version of that one. The whole crowd of kids stared blankly after I started, but someone said it starts differently when they sing it at school. Only Cerys felt inspired to finally sing along with me.
I also sang a song that goes like this: My mother gave me a nickel to buy a pickle. I did not buy a pickle. I bought some bubblegum. (or chewing gum in another version) Other verses rhyme money with other things the mother requests.
I gave each kid some pretend money and asked them if they bought their pickle, or collar, or if they tipped the porter. Everyone got bubblegum! Except Jonah, who decided not to take pretend money.
Then we actually tried bubblegum. Delia was able to blow a real bubble!
As the kids chewed, and tried to blow bubbles. I pointed out that we had now met many different characters in the book. We reviewed the characters. I told them I had hidden characters and something that reminds me of each character in the garden, so we talked a little about what we knew about the characters. Here is what the kids told me:
Augustus Gloop eats lots of candy; Veruca Salt is rich and whiny; Violet Beauregarde, the gum chewer; and Mike Teavee watches television and has guns. There is Charlie’s family: Grandpa Joe, who lives in a bed and tells lots of stories. All of Charlie’s grandparents who don’t go out of bed and tell lots of stories; Mr Bucket who works at a toothpaste factory and reads the newspaper; Mrs Bucket who washes a lot and makes soup.
I said I didn’t hide Charlie, I have him right here, because I couldn’t think of anything to hide that would represent him. He doesn’t really have anything that is his. I was told the figure’s hair was too long to be a boy. But I assured them it was Charlie, he just doesn’t have the money for a haircut right now. Ideas the kids gave me of things that could represent Charlie were: his annual chocolate bar (but candies remind me more of Augustus Gloop, who does have them all the time), the bed his grandparents sleep in, a newspaper, a calendar.
Then we went outside to look for the figures and things that might be their match. Tara hid everything for me before she left, pretty much in plain site, which made it completely impossible to actually find. We did find plastic Easter eggs from 2 years ago buried deep in the leaves. We called Tara three times to give us clues and help us, and eventually all the characters and their parts were located and matched up.
The end of the scavenger hunt. Everything is found and matched.
After that I put out some bubble stuff, and suggested they have a bubble blowing contest.
But given a little time, they came up with a much better concoction and mixed dirt and the sidewalk paint with the bubbles.
Better than bubble juice!
And a couple kids noticed some squirt guns. I asked them to only spray the sidewalk chalk, and guess what? The guns were full of vinegar and the sidewalk chalk bubbled up! Cerys discovered it is much better to just pour vinegar straight onto the drawings, rather than bother with trying to spray from a not very effective gun. Ruby discovered it is really best to pour vinegar straight into the cups with the remaining chalk paint. I discovered that a pack of 4 guns from the Dollar Tree is really not a bargain after all.
We turned on the bubble machine and waited for our families.
Fin told me even though it wasn’t as good as when Tara does it, he still had fun.
See you at the next Charlie Club!
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