Beyond the Book – Extra Yarn

Welcome to the first edition of Beyond the Book where each month I will be highlighting a book (usually a picture book) as well as an activity or two to do after reading it.

In honor of winter this month’s book is Extra Yarn written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen (who, even though we share a last name, sadly, we are not related to).

 

 

In Extra Yarn, a girl who finds a magical box of yarn slowly transforms her dull winter town into a colorful and happy place.

The themes for this month are knitting & generosity.

The first step this month is to teach your kids to knit. The easiest way to learn to knit (in my opinion) is to finger knit. It is very simple and the only supplies required is yarn! (Well, and fingers but I’m going to assume you already have those.)

Here is a simple finger knitting tutorial:

 

 

Here is a tutorial on how to finger knit a scarf using a different finger knitting method:

 

 

If finger knitting isn’t your forte arm knitting is also quite easy and opens up more potential projects to make, like this amazing blanket:

 

 

In Extra Yarn the girl knits things to give away, with your kids brainstorm a project they can knit to give to someone (the blanket above would be a wonderful winter gift!).

 

 

Want to take the story a step further?

Just like the yarn in the story never ran out, neither did the widow’s oil or flour when Elijah stayed with her. You can read this story in 1 Kings 17:8-24.

Also, you can find more picture books about kindness here.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s edition of Beyond the Book – watch your inbox next month for the next one!