My little ones aren’t at school yet so I don’t have to worry about the prospect of drawing on my pretty limited creative juices to come up with a World Book Day costume (I think thats one for Aunty Mumbler and her sewing machine when the time comes). Nonetheless, its pretty hard to escape the fact that World Book Day is approaching (7th March in fact!) – the Facebook posts asking for costume inspiration are popping up here and there, and I had a great time rifling though all the outfits in Sainsbury’s last week – they had everything from Harry Potter to Mary Poppins.
If you want to have a go at creating your own costume but are drawing a blank, Book Aid International have put together a load of outfit ideas complete with how-to guides and even videos!! Click here to take a look. The guides are free to use but the charity suggests making a donation of £1 or holding a fundraising event.
Images courtesy of Book Aid International
World Book Day is about more than just cool costumes though – its main purpose is to encourage children to enjoy reading by giving every child a book of their own. The World Book Day charity does that by sending millions of book tokens to young people – one for nearly every child under eighteen in fact!
Your little ones can take their token to a local bookshop and pick one of ten exclusive books to take away or, if your little one has their heart set on a specific story, they can use their token to get £1 off any book costing over £2.99 at participating bookshops! There are loads in East Cheshire – check out the full list here.
The benefits of reading with your mini ones can’t be underestimated – it’s been proven to improve vocabulary and language skills, help concentration and teach children about the world around them.
If you need inspiration for new books to try out, World Book Day have recently revealed the nation’s favourite books broken down into Picture Books, books for 5 – 8 year olds, books for 9 – 12 year olds and books for Teens. We’ve listed a few below to get you started but for the full lists see the World Book Day website.
Picture Books (not in any order)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Rupert the Bear
Owl babies
The Gruffalo
5 – 8 year olds (not in any order)
Charlotte’s Web
The Twits
The Wind in the Willows
The Worst Witch (my favourite!)
Winnie-the-Pooh
9 – 12 year olds (not in any order)
Guinness World Records
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Goodnight Mister Tom
Pippi Longstocking
War Horse
Teens (not in any order)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Catcher in the Rye
The Fault in Our Stars
Of Mice and Men
To Kill a Mockingbird
Local events
To celebrate World Book Day many National Trust places will be holding special events between 9 – 10 March. You’ll be able to exchange your £1 book token for an exciting new read, set off on an adventure with the Ten Little Bookworms Children’s Trail, or take part in one of the other exciting book themed events. Local National Trust Places taking part are Dunham Massey and Lyme Park.
Libraries are obviously getting involved – Macclesfield for example are inviting all adults and children to visit the library dressed as their favourite fictional character and try your luck in the Booky Dip or make a bookmark to take home. There’s also a special stories and rhymes session at 11.00am, and an after-school storytime at 4.00pm. Wilmslow is hosting an extended rhymetime (11-11.45) with fun stories, and participants are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character.
Check out your local library to see how they’re marking the day.
If you know of any other local events please do let me know and I’ll add them to the events calendar.