After rowing in August about bears, it was good to switch gears in September with a simpler row of The Red Carpet by Rex Parkin.  Well that is, I kept it less complicated and cut out a few ideas.

This is sometimes good to do, I must remember!

With rhyming text and vintage illustrations, The Red Carpet was delightful and enjoyed many times over {the point of Five in a Row, true?}

The book tells of how a simple red carpet leaves a hotel, takes a life of its own – rushing through the town and country, finally ending to welcome the honored guest, the Duke of Sultana.

The boys borrowed from their train set and built their own Hotel Bellevue, trailing red ribbon around their town set-up to imitate the story.

The carpet takes several twist and turns, entering and exiting streets and roads in the story.  So we did several activities with mazes and maps.  Our boys are 37 months and almost 7 years old (two more months!), so I geared the work to their level.

A few worksheets I had in my stash, but here’s the neighborhood map activity I used for my 1st grader.  Homeschool Creations also offers one in her Red Carpet printables.  He enjoyed both of these.

We also talked of directions for the preschooler – left and right primarily.  For 1st grade, we reviewed north, south, east and west and how to use a compass since we had done this over the summer.

Aren’t they cute?  The Red Carpet offers great opportunity for a police theme or unit, since these officials tried to chase down the carpet and stop the ruckus it caused — and this is where I decided to cut corners.

We simply dressed up, reviewed about when to call 911 (for 1st grade) and shared around how the police are helpers in our community.  We also read Officer Buckle and Gloria as a go-along story.

But, you could take it further!  Visit a police station, or choose from a number of printables and ideas — I offer several on my Five in a Row Pinterest board.

Naturally, our favorite activity was cooking – we made pretzels.  The carpet upsets a pretzel cart in the story and we thought this would be a great lunch if hot dogs were added in.  So that’s what took place!

{Yes.  The 3 yr. old is again in his pajamas mid-afternoon, this time complete with a tie.  And yes, he’s up on the island.  We choose our battles. :)}

We used a fairly simple pretzel recipe and Hebrew National hot dogs – a delicious and filling lunch!  The girls couldn’t stay away and also helped in the pretzel making.  Fun-filled memory making…

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In September we also rowed Caps for Sale, which I’ll share about next week.  So far, we’re on track with our literature plan for the year — take a peek to see what books we’re rowing this month.  Come along for the journey, and don’t miss a FIAR post through the year.

Planning your own FIAR journey?  I offer several resources and helps!

This post linked up with Preschool Corner, Big Family Friday, Collage Friday and Weekly Wrap-Up