I can’t believe that this year is nearly over and before I start a new year of blogging I decided to take a quick look back at the most popular blogposts on Story Snug in 2018. It was a busy year and Story Snug had several visitors – thank you to all those of you who answered our interview questions, gave us drawing lessons and invited us to be part of blog tours.
Several of the most popular posts this year appeared on last year’s list, the top two most viewed posts are ‘learning activities’ posts which include arts, crafts and science activities that I linked to picture books when I first started teaching. My daughter and I recreated the activities before she started school.
Several of the viewed books are classic stories that I read to Reception / Year One classes when I first started teaching. It seems that many old favourites are still being read and enjoyed by newer generations.
So here you go – 2018’s top ten most viewed blogposts in reverse order!
Number 10
Prince Cinders by Babette Cole: This is a hilarious retelling of the Cinderella story using male protagonists and a dirty fairy. This is the first time that Prince Cinders has made our top ten.
Number 9
Story Snug’s International Book Giving Day Giveaway: Thanks to some extremely generous authors and illustrators Story Snug’s 2018 International Book Giving Day giveaway was the biggest ever. We can’t wait until the next International Book Giving Day on February 14th 🙂
Number 8
The Colour Monster by Anna Lllenas: This is the most recently published book on our list. It’s a wonderful story about a little girl who helps a mixed up monster understand the emotions that different colours make him feel.
Number 7
Learning with Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: The witch’s ‘truly magnificent broom’ inspired a lot of dressing up and imaginative play in our house. We have flown all over the world on our broom and the story has also inspired several science activities including creating potions and making bread plaits.
Number 6
Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre: This amusing, action packed, first chapter book includes Rambling Isles, shipwrecks, sarcastic seaweed and nasty villains. It’s moved up to 6th place from 8th place last year.
Number 5
How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers: It was interesting reading How to Catch a Star with my daughter and her friend when they were younger. Both had very different interpretations of the ending! This fabulous story has moved up from 9th place last year.
Number 4
Funnybones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg: Funnybones has a very atmospheric, repetitive text and the humour in the illustrations makes us laugh, especially when the skeletons put their dog ‘back together’! It also inspired us to make our own skeleton puppets.
Number 3
The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake: We’ve recommended several of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s stories but this story about a team of window cleaners is the only one of theirs that appears on our list. It’s been the most viewed weekly blogpost several times during 2018. One of our favourite preschool crafts was making giraffes using our own footprints.
Number 2
Learning with Eric Carle and The Hungry Caterpillar: Eric Carle’s picture books can be used to stimulate and encourage learning in many areas of the curriculum. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has inspired lots of crafts and learning activities, both with my daughter and in the classroom.
*NUMBER 1*
Learning with Elmer by David McKee: The first Elmer book is still our favourite and we had lots of fun with these crafts and activities that were inspired by the story. It’s a great book for showing children that being different should be celebrated and that we don’t always need to follow the crowd.
Thank you to all of you who read and comment on our blogposts and enter our giveaways. I look forward to sharing favourites old and new with you next year.
Wishing you and your families a very happy and healthy 2019!
Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr 2019!
Leave a Reply