Moon Stories
Hello, my name is Katherine Youngman. I’m a children’s author and Reception teacher from London. I’m very excited to introduce one of the stories I have written called ‘Dancing Dunes’. It’s a magical tale of what happens when the Blue Moon rises in the sky. We’ll be doing some different activities today including art and writing and singing one of my favourite songs.
Create Your Own Dancing Dune
I hope you enjoyed listening to my story. For our first activity you are going to get a chance to create your own Dancing Dune. You can use any kind of art resources such as pencil, pens, feathers and any other collage materials you might have in your house. You could also look outside for leaves or twigs to make your own Dancing Dune. I had a go at making my own using different colours and feathers.
Help your child to find some natural materials in your garden or local area. Help them to think about what their dune will look like and how to draw it.
Write a Seaside Poem
I hope you had fun making your own Dancing Dune. I sure did. My story was inspired by a trip to the seaside where I saw the sand mountains that we call dunes. Have you ever been to the seaside? What did it feel like to be there? For the second activity of today I’d like you to use all your 5 senses to write some words that make you think of the seaside. Maybe you could write a poem or story using these words? If you haven’t been to the seaside before then you could look on the internet to find some pictures or a video of seaside sounds.
Help your child to find some natural materials in your garden or local area. Help them to think about what their dune will look like and how to draw it.
Space Adventure Song
Do you like singing? Well for our third activity today I’m going to teach you one of my favourite songs. Are you ready to go on a space adventure? If you have heard this song before then join in with me.
Make Up Your Own Dance
The dunes in my story wake up to the music of the Moon and they are so excited that they just can’t help dancing. Do you like to dance? It’s a great way to get your muscles moving in rhythm to a song. Can you come up with some of your own dance moves? Make sure you get your grown up to join in with you.
Extension
In both the stories I have written the magic happens when a special moon is in the sky. You can find out more information about different names for the moon on the NASA Science website. Perhaps you could find the moon in the sky and draw a picture of what it looks like? Can you see the dark ‘seas’ and craters? What do you think made them?
The Festival of the Snow Moon I hope you have had a great day today learning lots about the seaside and the moon. I’m going to finish by reading my other story. It’s called “The Festival of the Snow Moon’. I hope you enjoy it.