Book Nook Buddies Week 1 - Pirate Parrot Book Marks

I've wanted to start a book club with the kiddos for quite a while, but we've had a hard time finding just the right staff to run it. Finally, I decided if I was the one who wanted to do it, I should actually do it - and the Book Nook Buddies came to be.

Our first book is Pirates Past Noon (in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day) and the kids (and I!) are loving it. We read a few chapters each day and do a project to go along with what we've read.

Our first day we read chapters 1-3 and made Polly Parrot book marks. The inspiration for these came from a project I did during a VBS I ran back in 1998 (isn't it funny how the file storage in our brains works?!?) but unfortunately I couldn't find the pattern anywhere (which I suppose makes sense because in 1998 we hadn't really moved into the computer age yet) so I improvised and created my own. If I remember correctly, we added a wiggly eye to the original bookmarks, but that seemed like it would make the bookmarks too thick so I opted to use card stock and ribbon but forgo the wiggle eyes.

If you want to make these bookmarks with your group, you can either print the patterns on colorful card stock (which is what I opted for) or you can simply print the first page of the patterns onto plain card stock (I wouldn't really recommend paper because the I think it needs the extra weight of the card) and have your kiddos color them.

First, we printed the patterns and gathered our supplies. For this project I used

• pirate parrot bookmark patterns (FREE from Teachers Pay Teachers)
• color card stock
• tacky glue
• glue stick
• 3/8 inch ribbon in a variety of colors and textures
• ruler
• scissors
• tape
• Sharpie

I copied the bookmark patterns onto color card stock. Since we have a smaller group participating, I bought a package that had lots of different colors so we'll be able to get multiple uses out of the package. I cut out the pieces and cut the ribbon into 5 inch lengths.

I played with lots of ways to keep the ribbons in place inside the bookmark layers, and the best process I found was to use regular tape and tape the ribbons down and then attach the chest piece with tacky glue to make it extra strong.

After you've got your tail feathers (the ribbons) in place, you can create the wing by layering the wing pieces together with the glue stick. I used tacky glue to attach the wings to the body since they were heavier and I wanted the bookmark to hold up through several little hands. The beak is attached with glue stick and seems to be holding up just fine.

The last step is to add the eye detail and the line of the beak (if you want) with sharpie. If you prefer, you can add these details before copying onto the card stock.

I hope you enjoy making your own parrot book marks with your kiddos. Next week we will be continuing Pirates Past Noon and we will make our own pirate maps!