Last week we went a little nuts with squirrels….
This week we got a little batty!
Remember our visit with the fruit bats? After that post I received a wonderful comment suggesting we read the book Stellaluna. (Thanks Mary from Fit and Fed!)
A couple days later we actually stumbled upon the book at a nature center, and immediately fell in love! And soon I was coming up with some fun Stellaluna book activities to do together.
If you haven’t read the book, you owe it to yourself, and your kids, to find a copy. Besides beautiful illustrations, the book also has a wonderful story about a little baby fruit bat, separated from her mother and adopted by a bird family. She learns to be like a bird… (Don’t worry, she is reunited with mommy bat!) There are so many great lessons in the book along the way as well.
So what did we do with the book?
In the book Stellaluna has to eat bugs, even though they taste awful! So I had the kids pull numbers out of a bowl (written on little bats, of course) to determine how many bugs they had to dish up on their plates. (The bugs were left over from our I Love Bugs book activity.) 
Of course, we had to see what the world looked like upside down…. After all, that’s how bats sleep. So I hung them each upside down by their knees from my arm (couldn’t quite take a picture of that, but they had fun!)
When Stellaluna’s mom finally finds her she shows her where the most delicious mango tree is… So we had a nice, ripe mango for a snack.
For our final Stellaluna book activity we made hand print bats to hang on the ceiling.
I traced their hands on a piece of folded paper (brown, since fruit bats are brown), with their thumbs along the folded edge. 
Then my 5 year-old cut her hand print out, while I cut out her brother’s “bat.” We have a little family of bats on our ceiling now. 
And when we went to the zoo this week… Little guy couldn’t wait to find the fruit bats!
Yes, he’s a little batty about them now.
Shared on some of these awesome link up parties!
Ginny Marie says
What cute activities! On our last trip to the zoo, we had to go see the bats, too. Stellaluna is a favorite at our house!
OneMommy says
🙂 I’m glad you’ve gotten to read Stellaluna with your girls.
kelli-AdventurezInChildRearing says
great ideas! thank you for sharing – new follower from Jdaniels4mom
Laurie says
Although it’s been years since I had little ones I remember Stellauna. I love the crafts you made…especially the hand bats. Visiting from SITS and following.
OneMommy says
It is definitely a book I will remember, too!
JDaniel4's Mom says
I love the bat! This is one of my favorite books! Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn. I will be featuring this post this morning on the Read.Explore.Learn Facebook page.
OneMommy says
I have to say the bats look pretty cute on our ceiling….
Thanks for featuring it!
Donna DM Yates says
Cute, cute! I especially love the hand print bats.
OneMommy says
They were a favorite of mine last year, too. I love how they look on the ceiling.
Sue in Texas says
Great book and activities! As an extension you would like the Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, and Bats at the Ballgame. Wonderful rhyming stories and illustrations.
Reshama says
The hand print bats are so cool! Stellaluna sounds like a wonderful read aloud!
-Reshama @StackingBooks.com
OneMommy says
It is a great read aloud! 🙂
Barbara Mojica says
Love this book, but I like the craft bats a lot better than the real ones!
OneMommy says
Have to say I like the craft bats a bit better, too! 🙂
Tina says
When I was student teaching, I randomly caught a bat on my college campus. We immediately began a bat unit in our class featuring Stellaluna, of course! Love the activities you did here! Thanks for sharing at Booknificent Thursday!
Tina
OneMommy says
Catching a bat takes some talent! Love how it inspired a unit in your classroom!
Thanks for hosting!
Sandi says
Stellaluna is such a good book. Loved your handprint bats.
Crystal @ Crystal's Tiny Treasures says
This sounds like a touching and fun story, and I love that you gave your children the chance to see the world upside-down! I’ll be featuring you this week on Mom’s Library at Crystal’s Tiny Treasures. Have a great week!
OneMommy says
Thank you for featuring it!
Lindsey@Kindred Spirit Mommy says
These are great activities! 🙂 I’m going to add a few to our unit study this summer. Thanks for sharing!