Super Bowl Sunday is three days away. What does Super Bowl Sunday mean to you? Are you having a Super Bowl Sunday party at your home? Does your family cluster around the TV, watching all of the action?
If you have young children, you can include them in the festivities. Read this wonderful picture book. Invite them into the kitchen to help prepare some yummy and healthful Super Bowl Sunday snacks.
Dino-Football
Written by Lisa Wheeler
Illustrated by Barry Gott
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (August 2012)
Ages: 3 and up
Themes:
Football, good sportsmanship
Synopsis:
From School Library Journal: “It’s Mega Bowl Sunday in the Lava Dome, and a crowd of excited dinosaurs are watching the Greenblade Snackers play against the Redscales. The rhyming running commentary contains the terminology and all the play-by-play excitement of a televised game. “Kentro gets the takeaway!/This Snacker rookie saved the day.” After the “Dino Halftime Show,” the score is close, but the last play allows small, young Mussaurus to score the winning touchdown. Gott’s illustrations of the tackles are more humorous than brutal, and he draws examples of good sportsmanship on and off the field. A detailed scoreboard and color-coded naming system in the text (the dinos’ names are in green or red depending on their team) make this game easy to follow”
Why do I like this book:
It’s important for parents to share their passions with their children. If you love football, invite your children to watch for awhile. But please don’t expect them to be able to sit through the entire game. Watching Super Bowl Sunday on TV might make more sense to a kid if he or she had heard this story. The book highlights good sportsmanship…a crucial life skill that extends to every area of our lives. Reading this story might also serve as a launching pad for outdoor family activity. Grab that pigskin and head outside with your kids for a football toss.
There are several other Super Bowl Sunday-related picture books out there:
From England, where football is soccer: http://www.ivillage.co.uk/top-10-football-books-kids/81455
http://www.squidoo.com/picture-books-about-football
Related Activities:
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY SNACKS
Why not serve an assortment of fresh veggies with a homemade dip or hummus?
Fresh-cut fruits are sweet and nutritious!
A selection of flat breads or crackers teamed up with chunks of cheese make tasty and healthful munchies.
Each of these takes only minutes to prepare…and are so easy, even a child can do it…inviting a child to help in the kitchen is important:
- Builds self-confidence and self-worth…helps a child feel useful
- Develops an understanding of good nutrition…start when they are young
- Encourages ‘picky’ eaters to try new things…kids will often eat what they have helped prepare
Here are a couple of links to posts I’ve done that have perfect foods for Super Bowl Sunday:
Yummy Vegetarian Chili: https://viviankirkfield.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/new-years-resolution-1-face-your-fears/
Delicious Cock-a-Leekie Soup: https://viviankirkfield.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/sunday-post-recipe-for-self-esteem/
Some lovely healthful Super Bowl snacks here: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20338949,00.html
On the other side of the world, the conference directors for the 2013 Asian Festival of Children’s Content are putting the finishing touches to their website: http://afcc.com.sg/
Stop by and find out how their National Book Council is working to increase international awareness of quality Asian Content for children around the world and has partnered this year with the National Library Board of Singapore. The event will include authors, illustrators, educators, publishers, literary agents, producers, parents, librarians and anyone who cares about content for kids.
For great content for kids that will give you 100’s of picture book summaries, easy matching crafts and healthful child-friendly cooking activities, purchase a copy on Amazon (or my website) of Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking. A PERFECT gift for any parent or teacher of children ages 2-8…as well as for daycare providers and grandparents. No batteries required…powered by a child’s imagination! Buy your copy today!
For more Perfect Picture Book Friday reviews…come and join Susanna Leonard Hill’s fantastic group of picture book writers, illustrators, librarians and others.
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VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 
I love that there’s a picture book about the Super Bowl! 🙂 At our house, the menfolk love the Super Bowl, the womenfolk not so much – no party, but we all hang out together. This year it just happens the Super Bowl is on my husband’s birthday, so we’ll have cake 🙂
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CAKE? A DESSERT? And you know how I feel about desserts…I’ll be right over.:) 🙂
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Hannah cooked her own macaroni cheese tonight. She loves helping these days. Our neighbours have a party every year for Super Bowl 🙂
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That’s awesome, Catherine! I’ll bet it was delicious.:)
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Having never been a football fan, I’m glad there are books that help explain it if I had to !
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Hahaha! Football was never my favorite either…didn’t like that the action stopped so often with everyone piling on top of one another.:)
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Okay, being married to a 3rd generation Colorado native, of course we were hoping for the Broncos to qualify. But being a h.s. English teacher–and literature teacher–my #2 team is the Ravens…as in Poe’s “quoth the raven, never more.” So if this counts, I did read the entire poem to my grandchildren and explained the connection to Baltimore.
We do what we can, right?
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You are so funny,Marylin! Have a ‘super’ weekend.:)
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We usually get veggies, lay on the floor, and play Parcheesi (don’t remember how it’s spelled…), paying more attention to our game then the Super Bowl. OK, we stop for the commercials and the Halftime Show. 😉
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What fun, Erik! Thanks for sharing how your family spends Super Bowl Sunday. Parcheesi was one of our favorite games when I was a kid…my sister and I played it all the time (and you did spell it correctly!!!)…I’ll have to go and see if I can find the box…maybe my sister kept it.:) And I agree…the commercials and half-time entertainment are often worth watching.
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This looks like a wonderful Super Bowl book. Your snack ideas are wonderful too.
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Thank you so much for stopping by! Glad you liked the book and snacks…kids appreciate being involved in what’s happening at home.:)
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Oh, that bread image made me salivate… We’ve read the Lisa Wheeler books on football, basketball, baseball, etc, they’re pretty funny.
I don’t watch the Superbowl and I realized this year my kids don’t even know what it is! It definitely doesn’t interfere with our activities. 🙂
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We were never big spectator sports’ fans…but I know that many are and I thought the book might help involve the kids in those families.:)
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We don’t watch much TV…and what we do watch is not sports-related.:) But I thought the book and activity suggestions might help those families that are clustered around the TV this weekend.:)
The bread choices do look pretty yummy.:)
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Wonderful snacks, Viv!
Congratulations . . . you made the finals in The Writer’s Desk Contest! If you want to invite your friends, fans, and followers to come vote for you, here’s the link:
Cheers!
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Thanks, Nancy! And thank you so much for the finalist nod…I’m honored to be in the list.:)
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My grandchildren would enjoy this book. Surprised someone hasn’t written a book earlier. Sounds like a good family book. I tried to vote for you in the finals, but couldn’t fiure out which story your wrote. Let me know.
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Thanks, Pat…glad you liked the book. My poem was: I Write, Therefore I Am…if you have the time and want to go back and vote.:)
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