Written By: Makinsey Ekman
The Book We Love
We actually have two copies of this book because our kids have destroyed the original with love. They have even taking to talking as if they are the characters in the book (example from this morning: "If I want some milk, then I should ask mom"). Mouse is an adorably funny character who gets into all sorts of mischief, which my kids can relate to.
I like this book because it is great for 3-5-year-olds and is easy to recite. After the first dozen times of reading it, my kids have the book memorized. The memorization from this particular book teaches children about cause and effect. I like to find themes or ideas in books that I can tie into my kids' everyday lives. They can cause a lot of trouble and definitely need to understand the effects of their actions.
Get It Here: Barnes and Noble, Amazon
The Activity We Did
"If you give a mouse a cookie, then..."
"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff
Cookie Matching
You will need:
- 10 large circular brown pieces of construction paper
- Sharpie
How to Play
Before starting the activity cut out your "cookies" from brown pieces of construction paper. Next, take your sharpie and give two of the "cookies" three chocolate chips each with your sharpie. Select two more brown circles and draw four chocolate chips on each. Continue doing this until all of your "cookies" have chocolate chips.
Once your cookies are complete mix them up and place them facedown on a table. Have your child flip one of the cookies over, and, after identifying how many chips are on the cookie, have them try to find where the other cookie is that has the same number of chocolate chips. If their guess is incorrect have them put both cookies they've selected facedown once more and start again.
(Adaptations): If you have multiple children you can always make more cookies than just the 10 suggested. If your children are younger only make six cookies (three sets) using one, two, and three chocolate chips per set. If your children are older you can have one cookie have a math problem on it (i.e. 2+2) and then they need to find the other cookie in the set that has the correct number of chocolate chips for the problem's answer.
The Food We Ate
"If you give a mouse a glass of milk, then...."
"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff
Grandma's Chocolate Cookies
You Will Need:
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 oz (or 3 squares) of semi-sweet chocolate
- 3 cups of flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
How to Make:
Cream together butter and sugar before adding 2 eggs and the semi-sweet chocolate. Make sure to melt the chocolate before adding it to the mixture. Typically I put it in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds. Then I stir and if all the chocolate chunks don't melt I will put it in for another 30 seconds, and so on until it is fully melted.
Next, add the milk and vanilla and lightly stir until combined. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
Roll about a tablespoon's worth of dough into a circle and place on a greased cookie sheet. This recipe makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies. Bake the chocolate cookies at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
(Adaptations): Before rolling into balls feel free to add peanut butter chips to make chocolate peanut butter cookies. If you want the cookies to be fudgy in the middle ad semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips to the dough before forming the balls.
Other Fun Ideas
Let's Find Mice
You Will Need:
How to Play:
Print out the below file and cut out the mice. On the back of each mouse paste one of the clues. Place each of the mice, except the first one that has the line "If you give a mouse a cookie" on it, in each of the places described by the previous hint. For example, I'd place the mouse with "Hint #2: Then he'll ask for a glass of milk" in the refrigerator, or even taped on the milk carton.
At the very last hint is a prize. My girls won a chance to wear a pair of mouse ears.
(Adaptations): If you have multiple children you can always make more mice and hints or have them take turns finding the mice. If your children are younger you can simply not use the hints, and hide the mice anywhere in your home for a game of hide and seek.
Other Activities
Some other fun resources for the book, and other crafty ideas that we didn't do... yet.
- "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" : On Amazon Prime, there is a TV show based on the book.
- Chore Racing: If you need your kids to do some chores around the house, you can have them see if they can do everything like Mouse did in the story and make it like a race
- Coloring: In the book, mouse draws a picture of his family. You can have your kids draw a picture of their family.
- Audiobook: YouTube has a video of a teacher reading the book. You can have your kids listen to the book while they turn the pages in their own copy.
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