Zoom! We’re on a summer road trip and we’ve been zipping along to some fun places. If you’re just now joining us, you can find our map here. Or check out our Summer Challenge page to find links to the previous Reading Road Trip posts and all the printable resources!
Yawn! Stretch! Boy, all this traveling and exploring can make a person tired. When we travel from one location to another, whether by car, plane, or train, we need to stop for bathroom breaks and to stretch our legs. Maybe we need to close our eyes.
Wherever you are this week, you can join us in taking a rest stop. Rest stops are needed because life can feel so busy!! What is one way we can slow down? We listen…
Read: Any book that you think of when you think about stopping for a rest. Maybe a quiet book, a book about mindfulness, one about resting or sleep, or one about an actual rest stop!
Featured Book: I Hear You, Forest By: Kallie George
Join a young girl as she walks through the forest and listens to leaves sharing secrets, a deer drinking, and a stream singing. Her observation of nature becomes a soft lullaby of sounds at the end.
Discuss:
Have you ever listened to a forest? Or nature sounds in a park?
What do you hear that’s different from what you hear at your house?
What do you think a stream singing sounds like?
Is it ever hard to listen? Why or why not?
Do you take a rest every day? Even if you don’t sleep, do you rest for a quiet time? How do you feel after?
Do: Try one or all of these ideas!
Find some nature sounds. These could be online, in an app, or even a CD!
Set a timer for 5 minutes.
Don’t speak or make noise.
Draw or write down what you hear in those 5 minutes.
Can you re-create your favorite noise?
Go on a scavenger hunt outside!
Is a scavenger hunt rest? Yes!
Resting can mean pausing your normal activities to do something different. An outdoor scavenger hunt can be a sensory rest period—meaning all that is impacting you are sounds outside.
Here’s a scavenger hunt printable. How many things on this sheet can you find?
Grab a Snack!
Wait a minute…how is a snack restful? Snacks high in fiber and/or protein support healthy blood sugar, which help maintain a calm feeling. Foods high in potassium, calcium, and magnesium are associated with improved sleep.
Banana Rama I Need My Pajamas Snack!
Slice a small banana.
Grab a spoon and some high protein yogurt, like Greek yogurt. (Lower sugar is best.)
Layer yogurt and banana in a clear cup like a parfait.
Yum!
ZZZZZ! Snore!
Also, download the Rest Stop Coloring Page (it’s more fun than it sounds).
Truck Stop by Anne Rockwell, Illustrated by Melissa Iwai. What happens daily at a truck stop? Join a child as he helps his parents open and host truckers and other people that stop by their truck stop. The endpapers are delightful and show different types of trucks.
The Napping House by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood. A step-and-repeat style book about a house full of people and critters that are napping. Really fun read-aloud!
While You Are Sleeping by Mariana Ruiz Johnson. An imaginative wordless book about an adventure a child takes while he sleeps.
Where’d My Jo Go? by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Scott Brundage. This is a sweet story about a dog who gets separated from his person (a truck driver) at a rest stop.
If Kids Could Drive by Marisa Kollmeier, Illustrated by Teepoo Riaz. This is a silly adventure story imagining what it would be like if kids could drive–including bubble gum roads and rest stops at Adventure Land!
The Pickwicks’ Picnic by Carol Brendler, Illustrated by Renee Kurilla. The Pickwick Family loads up their truck to escape the traffic of the city, but when they get stopped by road construction and other vehicles, the Pickwick family takes an unplanned picnic–will they make it to the beach? A counting, tongue-twister of a story!
Bearplane by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Sam Wedelich. Not every rest stop happens on a car ride…flying means time in an airport, looking at shops and stops before a flight or in-between flights and using a restroom on a moving airplane. Join Bear as he has a flying adventure to grandma’s house!
For older readers:
In keeping with the Rest Stop theme, here are some middle grade books that take place over summer vacation.
Moo by Sharon Creech. Reena’s family moves to Maine at the beginning of summer, and she’s expecting beaches and blueberries, but what she gets is a summer spent helping an eccentric old neighbor and her ornery cow. This book is told in a mix of poetry and prose.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall. Four sisters and their new friend Jefferey spend a summer of adventure on a beautiful estate.
Stand Up, Yumi Chung! By Jessica Kim. Shy girl Yumi Chung is supposed to be spending the summer studying so she'll get a scholarship to a private school in addition to helping at her family's Korean barbecue restaurant, but instead she finds an opportunity for comedy camp--and comedy is a secret passion. Everyone at the camp thinks she's someone else and her case of mistaken identity will force her to stand up and tell the truth or risk losing her camp spot--and her dreams.
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