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Friday 30 May 2014

Storytime: Big! by Tim Hopgood

We have been BIG fans of Tim Hopgood ever since we came across a copy of 'WOW, Said the Owl', a colourful insight into the world of an owl who decides to stay up all day. I love the simplicity of Hopgood's books, taking themes that young children will engage with and bringing them to life with bold illustrations. Big! has been on our 'to read' pile for a while now, so on a rainy day when we were both feeling a bit poorly, me and Sofia decided that this was the book to brighten us up.



Big! is a refreshingly simple book that celebrates growing up. The stylish art work give life to an endearing little boy to life as he contrasts himself with an ant, a bear and an elephant...The boy grows throughout the story, and by the end he's bigger than his best friend. This book confronts a preoccupation of every child, and every child will recognise and empathise with this little boy's wish to be BIG!

Sofia is forever telling me off when I refer to her as a little girl, always insisting that she is in fact big! We had lots of fun reading the book and exploring the items around us that were bigger than her or vice versa. The book may come in handy for exploring feelings about other children at nursery being bigger or not being able to do everything they would like to do right now. 

To bring our own story time to life, we thought it would be fun to make a life size Sofia drawing.  Using a large roll of poster paper and a felt pen, we set to work. 



Once all the giggling was out of the way, we were ready to set to work in getting messy and decorating our figure. If you plan on having a go at this activity, it's a great way to incorporate a little messy play in to your day. We used a mixture of colouring pens, paint and glued various bits and bobs that we had in our craft box. Let you imagination run wild!


We stuck to a straightforward self-portrait, that allowed Sofia to express how she sees herself in the here and now but you could always ask your little one to draw themselves how they see themselves in the future. A ' want do you want to  be when you grow up ' painting would be fun to keep. Whatever you do, I am sure it will have a fun filled afternoon, like us. We just need to find a place to put our masterpiece.


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