Over the past few weeks, our group has discovered a new favourite book and likes to request we read it each day at group story time. The book is called Knuffle Bunny written by: Mo Willems, and it features a little girl named Trixie who goes on an errand with her dad to the laundromat and accidentally leaves her stuffed bunny “Knuffle Bunny” behind in the laundry machine. To build on the toddlers’ love for this story, they were invited to re-enact it using laundry machines made from cardboard boxes, a basket full of dress-up clothes, and bunny stuffies to represent Knuffle Bunny. Everyone was quick to jump in and start helping to load the washing machines with clothes. Once the machines were full, a few children eagerly placed our Knuffle Bunnies inside the machines and closed the door. We even played some laundry machine sounds on our speaker and everyone listened curiously as the loud humming sound filled the air. This created an immersive experience where they could identify this familiar sound. Everyone seemed to enjoy loading and unloading the washing machines as they took turns moving the clothes from our laundry basket to the machine and back. “It’s all clean!”, someone declared when they decided that the load was done! Meanwhile, several children kept hiding Knuffle bunny inside the machine and then closing the door saying, “where’s Knuffle bunny??”. I wonder what other books the toddlers could re-enact through imaginative play.
