Mortimer’s Christmas Manger

My sister introduced me to this book quite a few years ago and it is one of our Christmas favorites each year!

• Read “Mortimer's Christmas Manger” by Karma Wilson … this sweet little mouse is tired of living in a cold, cramped, creepy hole in the wall. So he ventures out at Christmastime and “what he finds is wonderful!”

 

• Make a candy cane mouse!
1. Use this simple pattern from Martha Stewart.
2. Trace & cut out on felt.
3. Assemble and add eyes and a felt or pom pom nose with craft glue.
4. Insert a candy cane for the tail!

 

• Nativity finger puppets … in the book, Mortimer makes room for himself in the nativity set displayed on the table.
1. Print out these free nativity finger puppets from Craftaholics Anonymouse!
2. Cut out, fold and tape each one.
3. Color!
4. Insert little fingers and have fun re-telling the story of Baby Jesus.

 

• Brown Paper Bag Gingerbread House … at the end of the story, Mortimer finds a sweet new house just his size.
1. Print out this cute gingerbread house from Making Friends (you can print in color or black & white!)
2. Use as a great coloring page.
3. Or color, cut out and glue to the front of a small brown paper bag.
4. Fill the bag with treats or a small gift.

Mouse Count

I’m determined to do more activities based on books. I love it when we can pair a children’s book with fun activities. They become some of my kids favorite books! I love the mouse books by Ellen Stoll Walsh. They are simple and teach the concepts in such a fun, playful way. Use for M = mouse, S = snake or N = numbers!

• Read “Mouse Count” by Ellen Stoll Walsh. Available here!

• Snake Sock Puppet & Marshmallow Mice … Use these to count as you re-tell the story!
  1. Make the “Easiest (I promise!) No-Sew Snake Sock Puppet” … see the tutorial below.
  2. Gather 10 large marshmallows (not the huge, ginormous campfire kind they have now, unless you want really large mice!)
     • NOTE: If you want real-looking mice, I found these small, felt ones here (a dozen). Cute!
  3. Draw a simple mouse face (ears, eyes, nose, whiskers) on each marshmallow.
     • NOTE! Use food-safe markers or be careful not to eat the mice afterwards!
     • ok, so this was actually kind of a pain and I didn’t do it. I just left the marshmallows blank
  4. Optional: Write numbers 1-10 on each mouse if you want your preschooler to practice number recognition too. Otherwise you can just practice counting.
  5. Also need a clear, glass jar.
  6. In the story, the snake catches the mice and puts them, one at a time, into his jar. He counts each one he puts in.
  7. To Play: Put on your snake sock puppet. As you read the story, have your snake also pick up the marshmallow mice, one at a time, and put them in the jar … counting each one as you go! If you numbered the mice, the snake will have to search for the right one before he puts it in the jar. In the end, they escape! And you can play the game again

	You’ll need: 1 long striped sock 2 small safety pins 2 googly eyes glue (I used super glue)
	1. Put the sock on your hand with the heel on your knuckles. Push the sock toe inside to form a mouth.
	2. Reach inside and pin the left side of the toe to the left side of the sock. *See?! You pin it all the way through… 3. Repeat with the right side. This keeps the snake’s mouth nice & secure.
	4. Glue on the googly eyes. I love how they instantly have some personality You’re ready! Easy, right?!

• Snake & Mouse Race … I wasn’t planning on this activity, but my kids thought it up and it was fun!
  1. Scatter the marshmallow mice at one end of the room.
  2. Place the empty jar at the other end of the room.
  3. Have the kids wear their snake sock puppet and start by the jar.
  4. Run to the mice and “gobble one up” then run back and put it in the jar.
  5. Take turns catching the mice until the jar is full!

• Narration and Art … I love these! They always end up so cute.
  1. Read “Mouse Count” (unless you just read it for the activities above)
  2. Ask your preschooler to tell you the story.
  3. Type the story they tell you & try to get it word for word.
  4. Print out their story and let them illustrate it. Or have them glue one of their ripped paper mice (below) on the page for their cut paper collage!
  5. NOTE: I’m going to keep these in a binder with the other “Narration & Art” stories we do.

 

• Ripped Paper Mice … recreate the mice from the story.
  1. Point out the illustrations in the book. They are created with paper … a cut paper collage.
  2. Let your preschooler tear paper into shapes. I tried to talk my 3-year-old into brown or grey, but he chose green, his favorite color
  3. While they tear, cut out 2 arms, 2 feet, 2 ears and a tail.
  4. Let your preschooler glue these on to make a mouse.
  5. Add googly eyes!

Snack Idea: 10 mini marshmallows + 10 cheese cubes (count them!)