Prompted by a project we ran in 2012 called The Little Book Adventure, this tea party will undoubtedly excite and engage the biggest of Charlie and Lola fans.
I love to provide meaningful and authentic learning experiences for my daughter, Cammy. Undertaking this particular project has honestly been one of the most wonderful experiences my daughter and I have shared together. I won’t lie though; the project required lots of time, effort, planning and patience. I think the following post will prove that the time and effort involved was well worth it though.
We set out to dine with a picture book character. Getting started and helping a pre-schooler understand the task was probably the most difficult part of the experience. I introduced the task to my avid little chef by asking Cammy if she’d like to create a special meal for a character from a book.
While reading a Charlie and Lola book that Cammy had personally chosen from the local library, Cammy announced that she’d like to invite Charlie and Lola to our house for an afternoon tea party. From that point the project just flowed and so did Cammy’s ideas for the afternoon tea.
The rich and real-life learning that took place during the week was absolutely phenomenal. Most importantly though, we had an amazing amount of fun in the process. I hope you find lots of inspiration from our week of wonderful experiences.
Writing and communicating:
We wrote a letter to Charlie and Lola inviting them to our house for an afternoon tea. [The use of images (sy
mbols) to replace words helped Cammy to read the letter back to her dad. After all, that’s what alphabet letters are: symbols. Understanding that we gain information from symbols is one precursor to learning to read.]
Communication and understanding the postal system:
We posted the letter in the mailbox. (Cam was quite upset and confused that she had to wait for Charlie and Lola to receive their letter. She wanted the afternoon tea NOW and wasn’t initially impressed about the time it would take to prepare, shop and bake for the afternoon tea.)
Reading, comprehending and evaluating:
We read through the book numerous times trying to find clues that would help us work out what Charlie and Lola would enjoy eating.
Reading and understanding different text types:
We looked through our collection of children’s cookbooks for suitable recipes.
Writing and planning:
Once we’d decided on the recipes, we wrote a shopping list. I created a shopping list with symbols for my Cammy to use when searching for the ingredients in the supermarket. [See notes about symbols above]
Reading and shopping:
We went shopping, keeping a record of our purchases.
Art, creativity and fine motor skills:
We made personalised placemats for Charlie, Lola and ourselves. Lauren Childs uses collage-style illustrations in her books, which made this activity perfect for our Charlie and Lola afternoon tea. I simply provided Cammy with a range of fabrics, patterned paper, photos and doilies.
Art, creativity and construction:
We created our own life-size Charlie and Lola paper dolls. So eager was Cammy for Charlie and Lola to come to our house, we needed to make them look as real as possible. I was thankful they worked. Cammy was smitten with her new friends and couldn’t stop giving them cuddles.
Reading, measuring and cooking:
We were busy in the kitchen, making Almond Crescent Biscuits (Little Kitchen –Around the World), Gingerbread Biscuits (Look and Cook) and Strawberry Smoothies (Women’s Weekly Healthy Babies)
Spatial awareness:
We set the table
Imagination:
We sat down at the table. I thought I had ‘fooled’ Cam with the paper dolls. But, she quickly declared, “We can’t start yet. We have to wait for the real Charlie and Lola to come. These ones are just pretending. ” We had a long talk about books, characters and pretending. Thankfully, she was satisfied in the end.
Dining etiquette, imagination, conversation and socialising and helping others:
We thoroughly enjoyed afternoon tea. Cam helped Lola to eat her gingerbread biscuit because “she can’t lift her own hand.”
