Tired and ready to jump into bed? You might have some competition. Can you toss the bear, chipmunk, groundhog, raccoon, porcupine, AND yourself safely into the bed?
We read William’s Winter Nap, written by Linda Ashman, and illustrated by Chuck Groenink (Disney Hyperion, 2017). It’s a cold winter night, and William is getting ready for bedtime. He’s constantly interrupted, however, by woodland creatures who all want to climb in bed for a snooze too! William is cheerfully accommodating – until an enormous bear arrives at the door. Is there room for one more? Of course!
You’ll need:
- 1 large box (ours was 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” box – a large tissue box works too)
- 6 toilet paper tubes
- 1 packing tape core
- Construction paper
- Scissors and tape for construction
- Markers for decorating
We’ll begin with the bed! We cut the lid off a brown craft box and used it to create the bed’s head board and foot board. The pillow is a toilet paper tube, and the blanket is a piece of white construction paper. Decorate everything with markers. We also added foil star stickers, and added 4 pom-pom feet to the bed, but these items are optional.
The bed’s occupants are toilet paper tubes (the chipmunk is a 2″ snippet of tube). The bear, however, is a packing tape core. We used construction paper and markers to decorate them, as well as eye stickers and dot stickers.
To play the game, simply set the bed up, move back a few paces, and let the tubes fly! The big bear is especially fun to toss, as he/she is prone to sending the other tubes bouncing out of the bed and into the air!
The baseball cap is a trimmed paper bowl with a card stock (or construction paper) brim. We recommend using hot glue to attach the hat and the feet to the oatmeal container.
The baseball hat is just one optional for headgear of course. We basically gave the kids a bowl, a strip of white construction paper “shirt” and the 
When everyone was done decorating, we played a game of Hot/Cold Hide-and-Seek. Kids hid their apes around our 
It was a huge hit! We ordered the balloons online from ACi Party ($4 each), and our balloon weights and ribbons from Oriental Trading Company ($8.50/dozen for the weights, $9 for a dozen, 60′ ribbon spools). The helium tank was donated by the good folks at Airgas, to whom we are very, very grateful.
The art area consisted of 3 tables piled with art supplies and a hot glue station. 6 smaller tables acted as work stations for the kids (exactly the same as 
Amid the chaos, art supplies, and bopping balloons, we were delighted to see families taking time to enjoy stories together. And triple bonus points that these two are reading Betsy Bird’s 