The newest book to arrive was TINY MAMA. It couldn't have been more timely. TINY MAMA is the story of a little girl who carries a doll with her everywhere she goes named Tiny Mama. Not only is Tiny Mama a loyal companion but she also whispers advice to the little girl. When the little girl is faced with the behavior of a unkind boy, Tiny Mama reminds the girl of the Golden Rule. One day, however, the behavior of the boy pushes Tiny Mama to tell the girl to go head and hit the boy. The little girl must then learn about the consequences of that action and figure out how to make things right.
My 7-yr-old has been struggling lately to deal with emotions. He recently hit a friend in the face and had to face some pretty stiff consequences. I appreciated the timely nature of this book and how it talks about how everyone makes mistakes but that the important thing is to learn from them and figure out a way to make it right.
I told my son he could make his own Tiny Mama for his pocket to help him remember this lesson. When I was cleaning out the garage recently, I found some packages of Shrinky Dinks. I thought this would be the perfect way to make our first Tiny Mama. There was some trial and error as Noodle found it difficult to draw his picture large enough.
We didn't stop with Tiny Mama. I made a tiny version of my son that I could carry in my pocket or handbag. We also made a tiny version of our cat. Noodle was very impressed with how quickly the images shrunk in the oven. It only takes about 2-4 minutes. Our final tiny masterpieces were too small to make anything with but we already have ideas for keychains and necklaces and all kinds of other projects! This is a great activity for a rainy day.
