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Visual perceptual skills in kids are necessary for so many things…from self-care to fine motor skills, to gross motor skills…all parts of a child’s development require visual perception. There are many pieces to the giant term of “visual perception”. This Elmer building activity works on quite a few of these areas: This is a beautiful children’s book, that will really brighten up your (and if you have children, also their) day. It is hard to feel down when you have such a wonderfully brightly coloured, happy elephant to look at. An old elephant says to Elmer “It didn’t take you long to show your true colours.” Discuss what this expression means.
Elmer teaches us that everyone has something unique to bring the table and there's no point trying to disguise your true self. Always be yourself, especially if you are a multicoloured elephant.See what your pupils think of the story with this Book Review Writing Frame. It features lovely illustrations from the story and asks children questions about the story, such as whom the main character is and where it's set. With this resource, you can observe children's understanding of the story so far. Decorate an elephant for Elmer Day using unusual shapes, patterns and colours (see Resources below).
If you had a friend who was really funny but wanted to be more serious, would you still be friends with them? I have read it with my 7 year old girl( i used to have this book for my older kids in the past and read it from the age of 4) , I put 3 stars, too much for me buy my daughter insisted for 3! The drawings are very cute but the story is meaningless and without respect for children, perhaps offering them stories with a little more depth would not hurt... being small (4-7 years old) do not mean not being able to reason and distinguish the emotions and circumstances of the events of life... to make them become nearly retarded will do their job cell phones, videogames, tablet and so on... This particular book is a great educational tool for children who are enjoying learning their colors. There are lots of adverbs in the story, e.g. absolutely, quietly, usually. Can you find any more? Can you describe what adverbs are? Can you make some sentences which include adverbs? Things you might talk about include: What your child likes about the book and anything they wonder about All the colours they can see on Elmer Why Elmer wants to change colour Why the other elephants are so serious without him. You could also talk about what your child knows about elephants – name parts of their body including trunk and tusk. What would they like to find out? Tell the story
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Use the ‘Elephant Expressions’ sheet (see Resources below) to investigate different emotions and how these are expressed. From the start of this first story, the message is clear. Elmer is different, but he is accepted and valued just the way he is. He is unique and has a special talent to make everyone happy. When he alters his appearance and no longer looks like himself, he is ignored by his friends. He experiences what it feels like to be treated like an outcast, and to be ostracised by his old friends. In this book children may begin to think of the value of friendship and family, identity and diversity, as well as being true to oneself. When Elmer’s true colours are revealed, his friends are surprised and delighted. They much prefer his multicoloured and fun loving persona, and reassure Elmer that they love him because of his differences, and not in spite of them. In Elmer, Elmer, the patchwork elephant, enjoys the role of being the clown of the elephant herd. All the other elephants laugh at his jokes and enjoy the games that he comes up with. But one day, Elmer stops having fun playing with the other elephants and decides to leave. Elmer raises questions about the value of diversity between friends and in communities, as well as the nature of social roles and whether or not you can decide to accept or abandon them. Differences and Friendship This fine motor craft is a powerful one because it not only builds essential visual perceptual, visual motor, and fine motor skills, but it teaches as well. This Elmer the elephant activity can be used to illustrate differences, empathy, and friendship. Here are more books that teach empathy and friendship that can be used in therapy sessions or in the classroom or home. This is the first Elmer book, and there are many others. Unfortunately, my library has only a very few of the books, perhaps because they’re British books.
Furthermore, the book has vibrant and exuberant colours which also add to the unique aspect of the book. The language is also easy to read and understand. The stories are suitable for early exploration of the themes and issues relating to the concept of Diversity. 28 May 2016 was declared Elmer's Day by publisher Andersen Press. [2] Libraries and bookshops across Britain held Elmer themed events. [3] External links [ edit ] Elmer is a wonderful children's story with the underlying message that it is alright for everyone to be different and that we all possess unique qualities. I shared this book with Nursery children who were deeply engrossed by Elmer and his great patch work. There were fingers everywhere, adding patchwork squares! Little Guy and I quizzed Baby Girl on her colors as we worked. It was a fun puzzle to get the squares fitting into the outline. What a great way to work on visual perceptual skills, fine motor precision, dexterity, and line awareness! Visual Spatial Relations is organizing the body in relation to objects or spatial awareness. This is an important part of handwriting. Spacing those pieces amongst the others and in relation to the lines is one way to work on this skill.
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Elmer is the story of an elephant that is noticeably different to the others; he is a brightly coloured patchwork elephant. However Elmer did not want to be different to the other elephants as they laughed at him, so he tried to make himself ‘elephant colour’ like the others. After hatching a plan and rolling around in berry juice to make himself ‘elephant colour’ Elmer decides that being part of the crowd is too boring and realises that being different isn’t so bad after all. At the end of the story Elmer makes the other elephants laugh like they have never laughed before which makes them decide to have a parade in honour of Elmer and they decorate themselves to become just like him.
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