How To Throw A Great Book Themed Play Date with The Pigeon Needs A Bath

I get asked often to host little events for brands or book releases but it’s rare that I find one that I think is a good fit for No Time For Flash Cards. This time when the offer to share Mo Willem’s new book came into my inbox I jumped at it. We love Mo Willems and getting to share his brand new book The Pigeon Needs a Bath!

with our friends online and in real life was a perfect fit. I decided to turn it into a fun little after preschool play date to promote not only friendship but a love of reading too. For once I am in some pictures thanks to my friend Catie from Catie’s Photography offering to help shoot the play date for me. This post and party were sponsored by Disney-Hyperion and contain affiliate links.

1. Get Their Attention

When you are trying to gather kids attention late in the day a great way to do that is to combine snack time with listening. We handed out fruit, cheese and drinks and then mini cupcakes at the table.

2. Share The Book In A Fun Way

We had a little friendly competition between two favorite Pigeon books. As soon as we got settled with the food I explained we were going to see if this brand new book was as good or even better than the other Pigeon books. I made a little voting booth and got settled in to read.

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!

was funny. There were some giggles for sure.

But it was not as funny as The Pigeon Needs A Bath. The kids were laughing out loud as I read.

What I love about play dates like this is that reading becomes special.

3. Make Something Inspired By The Book.

We made bookmarks. How appropriate! These Pigeon bookmarks were a cinch to make and the kids had fun gluing them together. I loved seeing all the slight variations. I chose a bookmark because my whole goal was to make reading special. This bookmark can be used for reading or for children this young used to tag a book they want to read that night. My daughter chooses her bedtime books every night and now she can tag which one she wants to read by popping the bookmark in it and setting it on her room.

Here is the step by step- clearly photographed by me

Gather your materials. You will need some blue , brown, yellow and white paper. You will also need googly eyes, scissors, a hole punch, some raffia ribbon, glue stick and crayons.

Start by cutting out a blue rectangle and a smaller brown one. Glue them together.
Next cut out a small yellow beak . Then cut out a circle, long skinny rectangle and semi circle from the blue paper. Glue them together on the brown rectangle.

Add an eye and a white strip of paper on his neck.
Add legs and a wing with crayon or markers.
Punch a hole in the top for the raffia.

Add the raffia and get that pigeon dirty by coloring all over!

4. Send Them On Their Way With More To Read!

I was fortunate enough to have the publisher provide books for all my guests, I don’t think I could have afforded to do that. There are inexpensive ways to send each child home with a book like hitting up Goodwill, the dollar store or asking each guest to bring a book to exchange. I do think that this step is important and such a great way to focus on what a gift reading and books are.

This was our first book play date but I know there will be more in the future. You can learn more about all the Pigeon Series here , check out Mo Willems’s blog here, and yes The Pigeon is even on Twitter!

As mentioned above this post and party were sponsored by Disney-Hyperion

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