A few years ago, I had a “book club” during the summer for my son and his friends. I asked the children who participated to read a book, then they would come to the house to make some crafts, play some games and have some fun. I think it would be a good thing to do for my youngest daughter and some of her friends. One of the books that would be great fun to use is Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slbodkina. It is a cute, easy to follow story about a peddler, monkeys and some fun they with the man and his caps.

The book is about a man who sells caps. One day, while taking a nap, his caps are taken by some monkeys who are in a tree. He does something surprisingly simple and gets back all of his caps. Once he makes sure they are all there, he goes on his way. Sometimes it is the simplest of stories that gives us a chance to be creative. It would be fun to make some of the crafts and then use the book to put on a puppet show or play.

One of the crafts you could do for this book is obvious. Each child could make a cap. The caps in the story are different colors and patterns, so the children could be very creative with their individual caps. You could purchase these caps at any craft store or through mail order. Once the caps are made, have some fun carrying them just like the peddler-he balanced his caps on his head. Use your imagination to come up with some relay games or other types of games using the caps.

The monkeys also play an important role in this story. It would be so much fun creating some monkey puppets. They could be as simple as paper bag puppets to marionette-type puppets to sock puppets, depending on the age of your group. Once made, have some fun acting out the story of the monkeys stealing, and then returning the caps.

The only other major item in the story is the tree the peddler slept under. You could make a tree from construction paper. If you are really daring, let the children paint a tree onto one of your windows. There are paints that are available made especially for this. I’ve never used any, but if you have, please post in the forum and let us know if you liked them.

I hope you enjoyed reading the story as well as coming up with some new ideas on crafts that are related to this story. I would really like to hear of any other books you may have used in similar situations. I will be reading this story, as well as “Little Polar Bear” and “The Great Kapok Tree” to my daughter’s second grade class. Depending on how well they are received, I may use one or both of those books for my developing “book club”.