A Shih Tzu says it like it is
My name is Charley. I am an author and illustrator and this is my first published book ‘A Shih Tzu says it like it is!’ I hope you enjoy the day I have planned. As this book is about a little dog, I thought we could have a doggy themed day, filled with some arts and crafts, outdoors fun and dog safety tips. On the next video you can see a recording I made previously for a bedtime story. So please don’t worry if you hear me say goodnight, the day isn’t over yet!
Storytime
Enjoy listening to Charley’s Story.
Talk with your child about what happened in the story and why the other dogs were so upset with Sandra. Why is it important to think about what we say to others? Even if we don’t like something, is there a kinder way to tell someone?
This supports children’s language and communication and PSED.
How to Draw Dogs
Watch Charley show you how to draw any kind of dog in a few simple steps!
You will need
A photo of any dog.
A light pencil or a coloured pencil
A dark pencil or pen to clean up your lines
Some paper
An Eraser or rubber
Or if you are working on a tablet and you have drawing software
A photo of a dog.
Use a light colour on one layer
Then add a new layer and use a darker colour to clean it up.
Delete your rough lines when you are done!
Download and print the worksheet ‘How to draw dogs’ for a more detailed guide and some traceables.
Talk with your child about what happened in the story and why the other dogs were so upset with Sandra. Why is it important to think about what we say to others? Even if we don’t like something, is there a kinder way to tell someone?
This supports children’s language and communication and PSED.
Dog Safety
One of today’s exercises involves watching for different types of dogs while out on our walk. You may already have a dog in your family and know the importance of being safe with our canine companions. It is also very important to be dog aware with dogs that you don’t know.
This is a very important life skill. We encounter dogs throughout our daily lives. This exercise helps create better dog awareness. Please go through this exercise together.
Doggy Bingo
For this exercise you will need to download and print off the PDF file ‘Doggy Bingo.’
Do you remember all of the dogs we met in today’s story? There were big dogs, little dogs, fluffy dogs, scruffy dogs and all sorts. If you look at the worksheet, I have put a picture of each of the characters on it. Today we are going DOG SPOTTING!
When you go for a walk today can you spot any dogs that look like the ones from the book?
Encourage children to get outside and observe their environment. Over lockdown our walks have become so familiar lets take this opportunity to look around and find some more variety.
This exercise asks the children to look out for dogs similar to the characters in the book rather than focusing on the names of dog breeds. So don't worry if you don't see any Shih Tzus or Labradors. Try discussing with your children about how the dogs look. When you spot a dog, talk about which character the dog looks like the most. Encourage a friendly debate of which character to tick off. It is surprising what we can see when we purposefully go out looking for something. Think about how many random things we end up finding when trying to find lost keys. So take this opportunity to talk about your surroundings as well.
The purpose of the exercise is to encourage a discussion with your child.
Extension
I hope you enjoyed this delightful doggy day. Now to finish off I have a couple of colouring sheets that you can print out and colour in. Thank you for joining in today and I hope you had lots of fun.
Download the worksheet ‘Colouring in.’
Grown Ups- this is a lovely mindfulness activity and a good opportunity to reflect on what you have learned today
Arlo and the Snowman
This is a short storyboard put together into what they call in the animation, world an animatic. Watch the video along with the relaxing background music. What do you think is happening in the story? Talk with your family about what is going on. How are the characters feeling? What do you think Arlo learns in the story?