Fast and Easy Extension Activities for Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
Let’s just dive in, shall we?
Intro:
Interview with Beverly Cleary (15 minutes) She talks about many of her other books and reads out of one of her books as well.
Chapter 1:
- There is a Henry Huggins Lapbook ($5.00)
- Go swimming
- Practice counting change
- Have ice cream
- Visit a pound or a family member or friend with a dog (if you don’t have one at home)
- Take a bus ride
- Boy and Dog activity page
Chapter 2:
- Visit the pet store
- Consider getting a fish for your family
- Have a fish dinner
- Get a book about fish (or any other pet) from the library
- Reminisce with your children about how they used to pronounce words when they were little
- Look around your house to see what you could keep fish in if you suddenly had to
- Have/Make Huckleberry (or any other kind) pie
- If you have any food to can, that can tie in as well
- Assorted fishbowl coloring pages
Chapter 3:
- Play football. Or catch.
- Make gingerbread
- Talk about ways your child could start a small business from your house.
- Visit a bait shop
- Go worm hunting
- Work together as a family to get a task done
- Read the funny pages together
- Assorted worm coloring pages
Chapter 4:
- See if there are any plays or operettas in your area. Or watch a movie about a play. If you can’t find a good one, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is always good, albeit old. (Although the book is currently in HBL H, it’s worth seeing/hearing more than once)
- Act out the mini-scene from the play that’s included in the book with your child.
- Try Henry’s snack of peanut butter, jam, and pickle relish on graham crackers
- If you have a typewriter, try having your child experiment with how to write a letter on it. Or open up a document on your laptop (google docs is a free online word processing program).
- Have your child try to learn a fun poem or a part from a play they can perform.
- Practice being tin soldiers and falling down with one leg up in the air onto cushions
- Various elf coloring pages
Chapter 5:
- Check your areas for pet shows, or ask in your homeschooling group
- You might want to watch a dog show. There are so many to choose from; I just picked one at random
- If you have a washable pet, try giving them a bath in the bathtub
- Weigh your pet (or your child, or just have fun weighing random household items)
- Watch a trained mule (5.5 minutes)
- Show dog coloring page
Chapter 6:
I don’t really have anything for this, so I guess I’ll just move into the extras.
Extras:
(affiliate links)
Henry Huggins does not yet have his own movie, but he does appear in the movie Ramona and Beezus, based off another book by the same author. It’s $3.99 at most places to rent.
There are some great audiobook options.
There are five sequels to this book, plus many other books that are similar by the same author, some of which are Sonlight readers (although this is the only Henry book at the moment).
