Before Five in a Row on Goodnight Moon

I suppose my homeschooling style is not turning out to be "unschooler," since I keep buying curricula and my daughter is only eighteen months old. I just adore books, and anything that gives me more ideas for how to introduce and discuss good books is too hard for me to pass up.

My latest curriculum purchase is Before Five in a Row, which suggests activities to accompany twenty-four different children's books. It is geared towards ages two through four, or "two thru four" as the cover reads. I will shrug off the insipid cover art and street sign spelling and move on to the content. The book-related activities comprise the first half of Before Five in a Row. The second half of the book is devoted to more general ideas for educational play.

Goodnight Moon is not the first book listed, but I'm planning to begin there since it is the one we are probably most familiar with. I really am surprised by the ideas I am taking from Before Five in a Row. Why didn't I think of that? Because I am reading this story for the thousandth time from memory while planning a blog post and praying today will be the day Ladybug takes a nap? Yeah, that's why. So a book to help me out a little is welcome.

Ideas from Before Five in A Row that I will be using for Goodnight Moon:

• Point out the colors red, blue, yellow, and green in the illustrations. Ladybug is excited by all things color these days. I don't think I could offer her a piece of candy without a discussion of its color.
• Point out that a painting from The Runaway Bunny can be seen in Goodnight Moon. We have both books; it will be fun if she can see the connection. We can talk about how the same person drew the pictures for both books. Correction, I can talk about that. Maybe she'll understand it.
• Point out all the different animals in the book: Rabbits, kittens, bears, etc.
• Talk about the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" and the illustration of the cow jumping over the moon. Bug has heard this rhyme. Here's a good chance for me to recite it a few times and connect it to a different book. 
• Point out that the three bears sitting on chairs are the same three bears she knows from the Goldilocks story. 
• Talk about all the different shapes in the illustrations. See if she will point out circles, squares, or triangles. 

Okay, that's a pretty good haul of ideas from three pages of a book I wasn't sure I should buy. However, here are some things Bug is too young for or that I have my doubts about:

• The Bible activities. We are not practicing Christians, and while I want Ladybug to learn biblical stories for cultural literacy, I don't need to connect them to every storybook.
• The discussion of the room appearing darker relative to the sky outside. We can talk about light and dark, but this is a little subtle for her age. Not a fault of the book, we're just not there yet.
•  A memory game where you try to remember the items in the great green room. Again, good activity; Bug is too young.
• Have the child tell a story using the pattern of  Goodnight Moon. For example, say "Hello" to everything in her room.
• Vocabulary lesson explaining the use of the word "great" to mean big. At eighteen months, every spoken word is a vocabulary lesson. Does she need me to explain a specific word? Maybe I need more education on this point.

Based on the Goodnight Moon recommendations, I'm happy I bought Before Five in a Row. There's enough here to keep us busy for a while.