Sticks: Songs & Books
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A Stick is an Excellent Thing
by Marilyn Singer
We agree! A stick is indeed an excellent thing. This book shows readers the endless play possibilities a stick possesses all while exploring different poem styles. The illustrator, LeUyen Pham, fills the book with beautiful pictures of a diverse group of children finding the joy in nature.
After reading this book, go outside and have fun using their ideas for stick play!
Not a Stick
by Antoinette Portis
Jump-start your child’s imagination for stick play!
After reading this book, find all the different ways you can use a stick and make your own book!
Max Found Two Sticks
by Brian Pinkney
This is a rhythmic text with musical language and beautiful illustrations. The story takes place in the city and follows a young boy’s fascination turned to passion as he discovers what he can do with two sticks. Read this book aloud once and then read aloud a second time after each child has found their own two sticks to use along with the story. Be sure to have materials available for children to drum on after reading this story to help build musical minds and fine-motor skills!
MoonStick
by Eve Bunting
MoonStick uses colorful text and images to teach about the Sioux tribe, including the “moon counting stick” tradition.
The moon counting stick helps children to understand the moon cycle, the change of seasons, and the cyclicity of a year. Creating a moonstick with your children after reading the book can help reinforce these ideas in a hands-on way, as well as, help build counting skills.
After reading this book, make your own moonstick!
The Raft
by Jim LaMarche
Watch the main character develop as he becomes an adventurous, imaginative, outdoors-loving boy.
Fuel your child’s imagination with this book. This book leads to an interesting STEM challenge- Can your child create a raft big enough to sit on or a little one to float in the water?
Sticks
by Diane Alber
Sticks is a fictional story about a Popsicle stick trying to fit in, explained through energetic drawings and rhyming words.
This book will help build your child’s social-emotional skills with conversations about kindness and empathy.
After reading this book, find a way to make someone’s day using only Popsicle sticks!
This story is inspired by the life of Henry David Thoreau and explores ideas of economics, as he carefully buys his materials, engineering and design, as he makes his plans for his cabin, and the power of nature, as he explains his home to his friends.
After reading this book, children can make their own cabin out of sticks. Incorporate math and economics by creating a stick store and giving your children ‘money’ to buy materials from your store.
