“(Not So) Blank Henry” by Juan Carlos Donado and Anna Leigh Donado
This little board book is a sweet little story that is simple in concept, but powerful in its message. It features a little wooden peg doll named Henry who wakes up blank every morning and gets to decide what he will look like and, essentially, who he will be.
Children will delight in the fact that not only does Henry get to pick out a shirt, but he gets to pick out his hair color of the day as well. Parents will delight in the fact that this book encourages creativity and individuality.
Click here to purchase “(Not So) Blank Henry”
(Not So) Blank Henry inspired Craft
It just makes sense that a great craft to pair with this book would be allowing kids to paint their very own “Henry”. It also just so happens that the creators of this book (Juan and Anna Donado) are also the owners of Goose Grease Shop which specializes in peg dolls. On their website you can not only purchase this book, but blank peg dolls and DIY peg doll kits.
For this project I used their DIY Family Kit which includes: 5 wooden peg dolls of various sizes, 2 paint brushes, an instruction card, sandpaper, finishing coat paint, and colored paint. We used the smallest peg doll in the kit (to see what I did with the other four peg dolls click here) and the other supplies in this set to make our “Henry”. My toddler was so in love with this book that he was ecstatic to paint his own doll. It was so much fun to see him so focused and carefully placing each stroke of color. He was so pleased with the results and has requested this book be read to him and “Henry” during story time since then.
Click here to purchase the DIY Family Kit
If you give this Beyond the Book activity a try I’d love to hear how it goes! Share it on Instagram using hashtag #beyondthebook (I’m on Instagram as @book.nerd.mommy) or even just comment here with your thoughts. It would make my day! Or to simply save for later pin the image below.
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