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Books and activity ideas

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With self drawn pics

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Theatre sampler

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Sampler of Patch Theatre Company's award winning production, Mr McGee and the Biting Flea for 4-8 year olds and families.

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Interactive, stops to ask questions. Do with clipboards.

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This video is for educational purposes only, within a flipped class Early Stage 1 / Foundation Year / Kindergarten context. All credit for the story to the author, Pamela Allen, no profit to be made from this video.

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Read2uChannel - Mr McGee by Pamela Allen

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This Jan Brett Author Study unit contains everything you need (besides the books!) for some great winter activities! All of the activities are aligned to Kindergarten and 1st grade Common Core Standards, but could well be used in Pre-K or 2nd grade as well.

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Mr Archimedes Bath

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Free weblog publishing tool from Google, for sharing text, photos and video.

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Have you ever read a Pamela Allen book? They are LOTS of fun to read, with plenty of hilarious noises and opportunities for theatre. I have loved them since I was a child - I was nine when her first book was published. Pebble and I enjoy reading lots of Pamela Allen books, and one of our favourites is The Potato People. This is a quieter book, with a few tugs at the old heart strings. Pebble doesn't necessarily understand the sentiment behind it just yet, but she certainly loves to read about how Jack and his Grandma create their very own Potato People. Which led us to: "Mummy, can we make those too?". Yes, we can.

How to make your own potato people
You will need:

Potatoes - we used baby potatoes

Glue or sticky tape - we used a low melt glue gun

Bits and pieces for making your potato people, eg:

Bottle tops

Fabric (one of my favourite dresses that I tore a hole in and am not clever enough to fix *cry*)

Dried beans

Toothpicks

Wool

Permanent marker

Your imagination!

Use toothpicks to secure one potato on top of the other, creating a head and a body.

Use more toothpicks to create arms and legs. We used a third 'leg' to stabilise our potato people so that they could stand up on their own.

Use the bits and pieces to decorate your potato people. We used dried beans for eyes, wool and play dough for hair, bottle tops for hats, and fabric for clothes.

What's the most interesting thing you've ever made with a potato?
You can find more Octavia and Vicky goodness on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. Come and play :)
You can be as simple or as detailed as you like with your designs. Pebble was quite happy to leave some of her potato people nude, while one wore a dress and another wore just marker (body paint?!). Pebble (almost three) needed quite a lot of help with rolling and cutting the hair, and pushing the toothpicks in, but was happy in her role as craft dictator while I did the fiddly bits. Older children could easily make these on their own. I think this activity would be great fun to try with a loaded craft trolley, a bag of old potatoes and a class of six year olds!

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Make Your Own Potato People - Octavia & Vicky

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Have you ever read a Pamela Allen book? They are LOTS of fun to read, with plenty of hilarious noises and opportunities for theatre. I have loved them since I was a child - I was nine when her first book was published. Pebble and I enjoy reading lots of Pamela Allen books, and one ...

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Writers in the park: the journey to become an author

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The Writers in the Park event took place on 27th September, in Sydney's beautiful Centennial Park to celebrate books and ideas. With around 50 authors and guest speakers included author and presenter Jessica Rowe and Gold Walkley journalist, Joanne McCarthy, award winning poet and author Libby Hathorn, author and illustrator Pamela Allen and illustrator Sarah Davis. They talked about cyber-bullying, ethics and memoirs and have been entertained by cartoonists and illustrators. Kids met much-loved authors and illustrators who told stories and gave tips on how to write and draw.

We have a selection of recordings taken from the day, including interviews with illustrators, fascinating talks on a variety of topics and poetry performances by the famous Word Travels group, that we will be sharing with you through podcasts.

Today's episode is an interview from Pamela Allen, made by Chelsea Deeley. Pamela Allen is a phenomenon in the world of children's literature. For almost thirty years her picture books have enchanted generations of children in Australia and overseas and many of her titles have won prestigious awards.

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Writers in the park : Episode 4 - 89.7 Eastside FM

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The Writers in the Park event took place on 27th September, in Sydney's beautiful Centennial Park to celebrate books and ideas. With around 50 authors and guest speakers included author and presenter Jessica Rowe and Gold Walkley journalist, Joanne McCarthy, award winning poet and author Libby Hathorn, author and illustrator Pamela Allen and illustrator Sarah Davis.

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Pamela Allen is one of Australia's finest author/illustrators for young readers. I say Australian but she is actually a Kiwi who has lived in Australia for over 30 years. She has published over forty picture books since her first, Mr Archimedes' Bath, was published in 1980.

Her recipe is a combination of strong characters caught in humorous life situations, with simple illustrations that young children find captivating.

One of the great advantages of the author/illustrator is that they can apply both the craft of writing and illustrating in harmony. The good picture book has unity of word and illustration. The illustrations should contribute to the emerging story, not simply mirror it. Pamela Allen is a master at this and uses every device at her disposal to execute it with rare distinction.

Meg Sorenson (Australian Book Review) writes: "The characters in these books exude life, caught at the highest point of action, and animated forever on the page. Every curve, stretch and twist communicates exactly the way they feel, the sentiment or momentum each embodies."

Titles by Pamela Allen include: Mr Archimedes' Bath (1980), Who Sank the Boat (1982) Bertie and the Bear (1983), A Lion in the Night (1985), Simon Said (1985), Watch Me (1985), Herbert and Harry (1986), Fancy That (1987), Simon Did (1988), Watch Me Now (1989), I Wish I Had a Pirate Suit (1989), My Cat Maisie (1990), Black Dog (1991), Mr McGee Goes to Sea (1992), Belinda (1992), Mr McGee and the Blackberry Jam (1993), Alexander's Outing (1993), Clippity Clop (1994), Waddle Giggle Gargle (1996), The Bear's Lunch (1997), Ordinary Albert (1997, text by Nancy Antle), Mr McGee and the Biting Flea (1998), The Pear in the Pear Tree (1999), Mr McGee and the Perfect Nest (1999), Inside Mary Elizabeth's House (2000), Can you keep a secret? (2000), Brown Bread and Honey (2001), Who Sank the Boat (2001), The Potato People (2002), Cuthbert's Babies (2003), Grandpa and Thomas (2003), Mr McGee and the Big Bag of Bread (2006), Fancy That (2005), Waddle, Giggle, Gargle (2005), Where's the Gold (2005), Inside Mary Elizabeth's House (2005), Where's the Gold? (2005), Daisy All-sorts (2005), Doodledum Dancing (2006), Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella (2006), I Wish I had a Pirate Suit (2007), Is Your Grandma a Goanna? (2007). Share said the Rooster (2007)

The sheer variety of ways she is able to tell an amusing story is remarkable. And each book teaches children about language and their world. In Mr Archimedes' Bath (1980) she introduces children to the scientific principle that a body or object will displace water in the bath. In Grandpa and Thomas (2003) children learn about the movement of tides and the consequence for sand castles. But she also delves into life's substantial human challenges like learning to share (Herbert & Harry, 1986) and the difference between reality and fantasy in Inside Mary Elizabeth's House (2000). All the while she is examining the richness of human emotions and relationships.

Allen has won many awards as both an author and illustrator. She is the only person to win the Australian CBC Picture Book of the Year award in two consecutive years (1983 & 1984), for Who Sank the Boat (1982) and Bertie and the Bear (1983). She has been shortlisted for the prize in five other years. She was also the 2004 winner of New Zealand's most prestigious award for children's literature, the Margaret Mahy Medal. In 2007 her book "Doodledum Dancing" (written by Meredith Costain) was an Honour Book in the Picture Book category. She is short listed yet again in 2008 for one of her latest books "SHHH! Little Mouse".

For more information about Pamela Allen's books you might like to look at the Penguin website which has good sections for teachers and children.

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Pamela Allen is one of Australia's finest author/illustrators for young readers. I say Australian but she is actually a Kiwi who has lived in Australia for over 30 years. She has published over forty picture books since her first, Mr Archimedes' Bath, was published in 1980.

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What do you like to do with your grandparents?

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What do you like to do with your grandparents?

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Potato People Extension: conversation starter

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EDX2170 Multimodal Presentation - The Potato People

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Read2uChannel - Who Sank The Boat by P. Allen

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Animals love to go rowing in a boat.. But do you know who caused it to sink???

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Read2uChannel - Mr McGee by Pamela Allen

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Read2uChannel - Mr Archimedes' Bath by Pamela Allen

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Mr Archimedes, Kangaroo, Goat and Wombat love their baths, but each time they got in they made the bath overflow! Can you work out who caused it?

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A reading of Pamela Allen's picture book 'Waddle Giggle Gargle'. For Jet & Lewis. xx

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The Wodonga Library is making Story Time with Mrs Mac available online. A new title will be uploaded each Tuesday, with Mrs Mac reading wonderful children's books and singing songs and rhymes with the help of her new assistant Bluey, who is now a regular feature at Story Time.

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Author info from Puffin

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The home of Penguin Random House. Your guide to bestselling fiction, non-fiction, children's books and Penguin Classics. Find out more about authors and events.