Family Book Day--Blueberries for Sal

Today's post was inspired by Andrea (my favorite blogger!) over at Momfessionals. For years she's done what she calls "Family Book Club" where she spends a whole day with her kids doing activities and crafts that go along with a particular book. Henry is still a little young, but I knew he would have fun doing this with some simple, age appropriate actives. I picked the book "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey because it's one of Henry's favorite books, and blueberries are one of his favorite fruits! 

I found a place to pick blueberries called Mullins Orchard, and we went on the morning of July 4th when Caleb was off work. We were the only people there, which was really nice. Henry had SO much fun, and poor Claire just laid in the strolling sweating like crazy. She had a dirty diaper while we were out there and we realized that there were no wipes in her bag, so that was fun. 😏 But we managed! 

The family that owns the orchard had goats and chicken, and we were there when the baby goats were being fed. The owners asked if Henry wanted to come help them, and of course he did! These little goats were about 8 weeks old and they are each fed one bottle a day, along with nursing from their mother. They were adorable! 

You fill a 1-gallon bucket with blueberries for $14, but we only got about 2/3 of the way when Claire started losing it. I took her to the car to nurse her and let her cool off, while Caleb and Henry went to see if they could find some blackberries. The blackberries came in several weeks before the blueberries, so there weren't a ton left, but they managed to pick a cup or so to fill our bucket a little more. We picked 8 cups of blueberries in all, and had a really memorable morning! I think this will definitely become a summer tradition!

After lunch, I set up a quick craft I had found online. I cut the bucket out of aluminum foil and then Henry used his finger to fill it with blueberries. I wrote "Blueberries for Henry" across the top of the page, but the spacing was off and I got OCD and had to cut it. But now I'm OCD about the paper being a weird size, so I can totally see myself doing this again just to get it right. I'm trying to resist, but I just don't know if I can forever. 😂 But it was a PERFECT craft for Henry because it was very simple and quick. 

Before nap time we tried to read "Blueberries for Sal" and this is what I got. They were both over it, and ready for naps. The rest of the day was spent celebrating the holiday (you can read about that HERE), so we postponed the rest of our family book day for the weekend...

...when we started our morning with blueberry pancakes! 

While Claire napped that afternoon, we baked blueberries muffins. Henry had the best time and was a really good baker! He loved measuring ingredients, dumping them into the bowl, and then mixing it all together!

Impatiently waiting on our muffins to cool!

Mmmm! Delicious!

The last thing I wanted to do was a craft I saw where you use a paper plate and blue tissue paper to make a blueberry pie. I thought Henry would love this because he loves using glue sticks, but he got bored VERY quickly. He got up shortly after I took this photo and told me to finish it. 😂 I left it sitting on the table for a few days and he did work on it one other time, but I finally asked if he wanted to finish it or throw it away, and he said throw it away. So there you have it! That basically sums up what it's like to do anything with a toddler. Haha! 

I had really low expectations going in to this just because of how young Henry is, so I wasn't disappointed when things weren't "Pinterest perfect". This is real life with young kids, and I don't do it for anyone but them. I had a great time planning things to go along with the book, and I can't wait to continue doing Family Book Days as Henry and Claire get older!