L is for Lizard From the Park: Library Notes

Lizard from the Park by Mark Pett  

                                                            Page by page first thoughts

Leonard was walking home alone.  The first picture is quite empty.  Where are Leonard's friends?  Do you think he felt lonely? Do you think he was enjoying the spring day as he walked?  What might he see while walking through the park?  A bird? A butterfly? A boy on the bench?  A leaf? A cloud? A ladybug on a lady's lap?

The deepest, darkest part of the park suggests a game with the lights out.  Maybe hide and seek?  Maybe hand puppet silhouettes? Maybe a game of reach inside a deep, dark bag and guessing what item is inside.

Leonard found an egg.  Can you draw an egg and make it unique?  What materials will you use?  

Can you take an egg (made of a safe material) home?  Can you pack it in your backpack (real or pretend) and march around the room and climb all the stairs of the tall apartment building with it safely beside you?  Maybe you could build a tall apartment building with lego and put the egg at the top.

Leonard played with the egg.  If you had a pet egg, what games would you play with it?  What things would you do to keep it from breaking?  What games would an egg like to play?

Science Experiment:  Get an egg that expands and cracks and hatches a lizard from the toy store and see what happens!  Talk about what you predict will occur and what is occurring.  Discuss what types of animals hatch from an egg:  A lizard, a chick, a dinosaur...what else?  Try a google search.

Leonard and Buster went to explore his favourite places in the city.  Where do you think that would be? Where would you take Buster if he was your baby lizard?  Plan a trip to one of your favourite places!

Talk about time.  24hours is one day. Seven days is one week.  Now several weeks have passed. Seasons changed from spring to summer.  Create a calendar or do artwork to show changing seasons. 

Talk about measurement.  Buster kept growing.  How big was he?  How big can a lizard become? Compare his size next to Leonard when he first hatched to his size now.  Will he grow more?

He tried to disguise Buster.  What can you use as a disguise?  Will you dress up like a man?   What props can you find for dress up?  Maybe you can try to disguise an egg or a toy lizard. How did it go?  Was Buster trying to camouflage like other lizards or is a disguise something different? If you put on sunglasses and a hat, will we still know it is you?

Playing in Leonard's room should be a fun thing, why does it say Buster wasn't happy?  Can it be fixed? Draw happy and sad faces. Use facial expression photos to discuss emotions and zones of regulation.

Balloons!  Red ones, shiny ones, balloons shaped like animals.....Blow up the balloons that you can find and have fun with them.  Can you name their colours? Their shapes?  Can you count the balloons?

There was a parade and music.  Create a marching band and parade through the room joyfully.  Decide who else will parade with you.  It may be an elephant, a princess or your soccer coach. Have fun!

What was Leonard's plan?  Did it work?  Are you surprised by who else was in the park?

Play a game with a family of dinosaurs, maybe play with them in the park!  Enjoy!

What other imaginative adventures can you think about?  Can you write a story about something you found in the park whether real or imaginative?  Can you present the item for show and tell?

When my son gets his pet lizard, it will not grow big like Buster. It will stay small.  I will post a photo of her later so you can see what a real lizard looks like in detail.  This book is a great companion book for those interested in lizards!