IT'S KATIE KAZOO AND YOU!

Katie Kazoo is a popular series with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, and that is the core audience that you may get for this program. The titles lend themselves to a variety of craft ideas, much like the Magic Tree House series.

Here's the scoop on Kate: she's an ordinary third-grader, except for one very extraordinary problem...she wishes on a shooting star to be anyone but herself. What Katie wishes comes true with regularity, as she trades places with characters in each of her books!

First, check out the Katie Kazoo website at www.katiekazoo.com
Here, you can download (in PDF format) a number of Katie Kazoo Classroom Crew kits. They've got great ideas, activities, and things like word searches, puzzles, etc. that you could include as part of your program. I like to use the word searches and puzzles as handouts for the participants to take home.

I did a Powerpoint presentation on the series and characters, along with author information on Nancy Kruhlik that I can send to anyone interested.

Here are the craft ideas that I chose to use as part of my program and the books that I paired them with:

1. Snowman Paper Plate Craft--Use with the book It's Snow Joke! The base of this craft is a small white paper plate. The plate is doused with glue and then covered with cotton balls to simulate snow. On top of the cotton balls are glue the following items (cut from construction paper): carrot nose, two eyes, and derby hat.

2. Take a Hike Door Hanger--Use with the book Camp Rules! The base of this craft is the Ellison door hanger die cut. This was colored whatever color the participant desired. Then, a smaller paper with the slogan "Take a Hike! I'm Reading!" was glued to the front. These could be made fancier by the use of scrapbooking scissors, as we did. Once that was glued on, then participants could also affix to the front an evergreen tree and campfire (also Ellison dies).

3. Valentine Monkey Bookmark--Use with the book Love Stinks! These bookmarks were kits purchased from Oriental Trading Company. These come in packs of 12 bookmarks (and all the pieces with which to make them) for $4.95. These turned out really cute!

4. Heart-Shaped Dog Craft--Use with the book Doggone It! This adorable little doggie is made entirely of heart shapes. The pattern can be found on the www.dltk-kids.com site, one of my favorite sites to find patterns for my programs! I have the pattern in my file. You might want to provide an example for participants to follow in gluing the hearts together correctly!

5. Make Your Own Pizza Craft--Use with the book Any Way You Slice It! The base of this craft was a crust shape copied off on white constructon paper. Participants could color and then add toppings as they desired. I had a number of "toppings" (also done on white construction paper to color) available, such as pepperoni, sausage, cheese, onion, mushroom shapes. Once these were colored, they were placed on top of the colored crust. I had each of the "toppings" in separate baggies to make them easier for participants to find.

As usual, snacks were served. If your local Wal-mart carries the Katie Kazoo book in their magazine/book section, why not purchase several to give away as door prizes for your program?

As I stated before, the titles in this series open up lots of possibilities for crafts! Enjoy!