Preschool Picasso: Reading Takes You Everywhere

This was a great turn-out and I'm glad I've decided to not take any monthly breaks with this program. Because of our summer reading club theme, Reading Takes You Everywhere, we read a cultural story and did crafts based on that story. 

Drum Dream Girl is about a young girl in Cuba who loves to play the drums but isn't allowed because she's a girl. At the end of the story, her talent convinces her community that it's more than okay for a girl to play the drums. There are Cuban, Mexican, and Asian cultural elements in this story so I thought it would be perfect for the program theme and for the slightly older group.

We made drums out of Styrofoam cups, construction paper, and rubber bands. I opted for rubber bands since the ribbon was not too cooperative for me so I knew it would be very difficult for the kids. The group was able to paint their drums using the red and blue colors of Cuba's flag.

Our last craft was making maracas out of plastic Easter eggs, plastic spoons, beans, and masking tape.

Both crafts were just the right amount of difficulty for the group and luckily, we had Easter eggs lying around.

This was my first time incorporating a cultural element to a program and I really enjoyed it and it worked wonderfully.

Dream, drum girl, dream!