The Runaway Bunny: Of Acrobats and Artists

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“‘If you go flying on a flying trapeze’, said his mother, ‘I will be a tightrope walker,
and I will cross the air to you.'” Little T works on her balance while pretending
to be a tight rope walker and a trapeze artist. Fun, fun, fun!

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown is about a little bunny who wanted to run away, and imagined himself to be different things so that his mama will not be able to find him. It is another book that we have already read and not quite enjoyed prior Before Five in a Row (BFIAR). But as I’ve been telling anyone interested to listen, BFIAR rocks! It opened my eyes to see the many topics we could explore and wonder about. We learned about art, the circus, spheres and disks, and practiced our critical thinking skills. Read on about the highlights of our week.

Art

The Runaway Bunny’s art is interesting. The pages are alternately presented as “black and white” and “colored” – my uneducated language! Thanks to BFIAR, I have been enlightened and Little T now knows two types of art: sketches and paintings. Before doing our own sketch and painting, Little T and I explored the house once again and looked at different paintings and the signature of the artists, a detail I thought would be fun to teach her.

Little T’s painting and sketch. Note the letter T,
her attempt at putting a signature on her work.

Memory, Critical Thinking

As suggested by BFIAR, Little T and I worked on memory skills by talking about the different animals and things that the little bunny and his mama imagined themselves to be. I took one step beyond that though and made a game of the If, then format of the book to test her memory, teach manners and to promote desired behaviors. Some of what we came up with while getting ready to sleep, eating, or riding the car:

Mama: If your feet are dirty…

Little T: Then I will wash my feet

Mama: If we are at a mall…

Little T: Then I will hold your hand and not let go

Mama: If Mama and Papa are talking and you want to say something…

Little T: I will say, excuse me, may I talk too?

Mama: If Baby Boy is sleeping…

Little T: I will be quiet

Mama: If you see a chicken crossing the road…

Little T: I don’t know what to do, Mama!

Pretend, Balance, Vocabulary

One of the things that the runaway bunny said was that he would join the circus and fly on a flying trapeze. Little T was interested in the flying trapeze and I thought that it would be cool to learn about it and the tight rope in the story in addition to the scarecrow that was recommended by BFIAR.

It was great that I just bought a wonderful Caldecott Medal book about tight rope walkers, Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully. I had Little T walk on the tile line and eventually our balance beam (with some help) to pretend to be a tight rope walker and to work on her balance. I also had her dad swing her upside down to let her feel like a flying trapeze artist. See the picture on top to see how much she loved it!

Field Trip

I thought Thursday was a fine day to go out and arranged an impromptu field trip with Little T’s grandmother and two cousins. We headed to the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife to look for the three animals found in the book: fish, bird, and rabbit. We should have headed to a pet shop instead since the zoo was closed and we only got to visit some fish in the dark Aquatic House and several birds in the stinky aviary. Good thing I brought my own little bunny who said she would never run away because she loves her Mama. *smile*

Field trip: Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife
Found: a cute bunny rabbit

Lapbook, Sequencing, Visual Perception

I usually reserve Fridays for doing the lapbook activities found in Homeschool Share. For The Runaway Bunny, I chose to print the shadow matching activity for visual perception, the bunny sequence, and the If Then matching cards.

THE LEARNING BASKET

The Runaway Bunny
Mirette on the High Wire
Guess How Much I Love You
Magical Circus play set
Toy Bunny
Bunny ears and tails from our Costume Box
Balderdash the Brilliant – a book about colors
Shadow matching, sequence cards, etc

Make magic!

Mariel Uyquiengco