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MaiStoryBook: The Couch Potato + *How to Be a Healthy Potato* Craft

by MaiStoryBook

Introducing the newest edition to the food-pun gang~ featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection: 

“The Couch Potato” by Jory John and Pete Oswald

*~Click here to purchase your own copy of “The Couch Potato” to start on your own reading adventure! (This is an affiliate link~ 5% of your purchase will go to MaiStoryBook to help create Reading Resources for your littles)

Book Synopsis and Review

Meet our new potato friend. He’s not just any ordinary potato, not a regular sweet potato, not even a mashed potato~ he’s a Couch Potato! Couch Potato has *everything* he needs right from the comfort of the *exact same spot* on his couch. He has all his remotes, fuzzy, slipper, games, gadgets that bring him snacks, and most important of all~ he has all his *Screens!* But what happens when one day, after plugging in one too many electrical cords, there’s a power outage?! With nothing else to do but go outside… Couch Potato may just realize that the outdoors is even more entertaining, and beautiful, than high-def screens and high resolution screensavers. Join Couch Potato as he learns to balance tech time with outside time, and comes to realize, that he actually really is much more than just a *Couch Potato!*

Author and Illustrator duo Jory John and Pete Oswald create literary humor and reading joy again with the newest addition to the *foodie* gang. Complete with all the potato-puns you could possibly imagine popping up in both the text and animated illustrations ~ best spuddy, my pal-tato, Tater the pup, MadYam the TV show ~ this is a laugh-out-loud read guaranteed to entertain readers of all ages, while also highlighting the importance of balancing screen time with outdoor time. With plenty of details, and feelings and examples that littles can relate to, Couch Potato encourages children to set their tech aside, find joy from the world outside, and share their multiple facets with friends and family around them.

Vocabulary

  • gadget (p. 6) an electronic tool or machine that helps you do something
  • shimmering (p. 9) shiny or glowing light
  • bliss (p. 9) very happy and joyful
  • vivid (p. 19) very bright colors that are clear and easy to see
  • massive (p. 20) big and huge!

Themes/ Main Idea

  • Finding a balance between screen time and outside time helps you feel happier!
  • Keep your body healthy by spending time outdoors, getting fresh air, and moving your body. What other ways can you keep your body healthy?

YouTube Video: Guided Shared-Reading Read Aloud Example

Example of a shared-reading, interactive Read Aloud of “The Couch Potato” – how to subtly introduce the vocabulary list words within the text, ask guided questions, and spark conversation!

*~Check it Out~*

Subscribe: MaiStoryBook Youtube Channel for additional read aloud videos!

*How to be a Healthy Potato* Pop-Up Craft

With Covid-19 limiting some of our outdoor social activities, it’s easy to end up spending the whole day comfy on the couch. Work-from-home and virtual schooling entail sitting in front of a screen for the majority of the day, and work + extended screen time can be energy-zapping. Plus, sitting all day can make your body ache! One way to help keep your body healthy is to *peel* yourself off the couch and head outdoors. There are plenty of socially distanced outdoor activities to embark on as a family~ take a hike through nature, ride your bikes around the neighborhood, have a family picnic on your own picnic blanket~ These are all fun ways to get your body moving and to get some fresh air to rejuvenate your spirits! For little ones, screen time games and shows can be addicting *I’ve binge-watched my fair share of shows*~ so help encourage them to balance their screen time with outdoor time. To help them generate ideas of favorite outdoor activities and ways to keep their bodies healthy, check out this *How to Be a Healthy Potato/ My Favorite Outdoor Activities* Potato Pop-Up Crafts inspired by the story!

Materials

Directions

  • Choose a ”Couch Potato” Potato template. There are colored and black and white versions. The different headings include: “How to Keep My Body Healthy,…”I Keep My Body Healthy By…”, “My Favorite Outdoor Activities…”
  • If you chose the black and white version, color it in.
  • Cut the Potato template in half on the dotted line so that you have two pieces. The “Inside Potato” will go in between the two pieces and attach them together. 
  • Next, choose an “Inside Potato.” There are tan-colored versions, or black and white versions. One version you can write in your own outdoor activities/healthy body ideas on the blank spaces, the other versions are blank and you can cut and paste the idea examples included in the resource onto the blank “inside potato.”
  • If you choose to use the resource examples, cut out the different idea-potatoes that connect with you, and glue them onto the “inside potato”. 
  • Cut out the inside-potato. **Keep the top and bottom tabs on! DO NOT CUT OFF THE TABS*
  • To connect the inside-potato and Potato Template, fold back the two tabs. Tape or glue the front side of the bottom tab to the top-back of the bottom half of the Potato Template. Then, tape/glue the front side of the top tab to the bottom-back of the top half of the Potato Template.
  • Next, fold the inside-potato in on itself so that when it is folded, the top and bottom half of the Potato Template line up. The inside-potato should fold in on itself as you close the Potato Template to make it whole, and then when you open the Potato Template , your outdoor activities and healthy body ideas will be revealed! Surprise!

Enjoy Your “Healthy Potato” Pop-Up Surprise Craft

  • Share your Potato pop-up craft with a family member or friend and tell them how you stay healthy and what your favorite outdoor activities are
  • Share your Potato pop-up ghost craft with a family member or friend and ask them how they stay healthy and what they like to do outside
  • Use your Potato pop-up Craft to choose an outside activity to do for the day
  • Use your Potato pop-up craft to remind you of the healthy choices to make for the day
  • Re-read the story and use your craft to share your own ideas of what you can do outside when Couch Potato heads outside with his pal-tatoes.

*~Overall, as always, I hope you all are staying safe and healthy, and are ready to move your body and enjoy some outdoor fun! Tag me on Instagram @MaiStoryBookLibrary, Twitter @MaiStoryBook  – post on FaceBook – or contact me via email to share your own *Potato-Pop-Up * Crafts and your own reading adventures! I’d love to hear from you and learn more about you!~*

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~