But No Elephants

Elephant Week

There is nothing better than reading your favorite book from when you were a child to your own children!  It makes me so happy that my three year old is loving one of my own favorite childhood books as much as I did!  I remember reading But No Elephants many, many times when I was little.  I loved the friendly animals and Grandma Tildy's quaint little house.  I remember wanting to jump into the pictures with animals canning food for the winter, dancing in the rain, and sleeping in their teeny beds!  I still have the copy I had when I was little.  It is now a little worn out, but I am lucky enough to have it at my house now so that I can share it with my boys!

But No Elephants by Jerry Smath is the hilarious story of Grandma Tildy.  She lives all alone in her house until a pet man comes to sell her a canary.  Grandma Tildy buys the canary and is sure to tell the pet man, "But no elephants!"  Grandma Tildy continues to buy a beaver, a turtle, and a woodpecker.  All of her new animals are very helpful!  When the pet man comes back to sell the elephant Grandma Tildy says no, but the elephant doesn't leave.  They finally decide to let the elephant in when the weather gets too cold and snowy.  Unfortunately, the elephant causes a LOT of problems in the tiny home.  Just in time, the elephant comes up with a plan to get everyone out of the snow, and carries the house to a much warmer place!

The pictures in this book are so much fun!  We love the repetition in this book too!  My son has wanted to read this book MANY times lately, and he loves the way the tiny yellow house looks as the elephant carries it to a warmer place.

I knew that with one of my favorite books, I needed to make this project a fun one, so we decided to make Grandma Tildy's house out of a tissue box, paper towel roll, and some cardboard.

Here are our materials.

We mixed white and black paint...

and found out that it makes gray.  He painted the 4 pieces of a paper towel roll to make elephant legs.

He added yellow siding to the house.

We added 3 windows and a door.

Once the elephant legs were dry we needed to add toes.

I cut the tops of the elephant legs so I could tape them to the bottom of the tissue box.  

At nap time, I put the elephant legs on, and made the roof out of a piece of cardboard folded in half.  My son was ready to play once he saw the completed house.  We also had a canary, turtle, beaver, and woodpecker printed out so we could add them to the house as we read.

Can you tell he loved it?

He had so much fun adding each pet to the house while we read the story.

After I read with both boys tonight, my kindergartner was playing with the house and repeating the story, "He walked, and walked, and walked."  I wish I could have gotten a picture!  Thanks for following along with our Elephant Week!  In case you missed the other posts, here they are!

Elephants

I Dream of an Elephant

If Elephants Wore Pants

I've Got an Elephant

Little Elephant

Elephants Can Paint Too