The Trumpet of the Swan

The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White

Book Review: I told someone that I was reading the The Trumpet of the Swan to my boys, and she responded, "Isn't that a girl book?" Nope. It's a kid book. And my boys were totally into it. it has the same charm as EB White's Charlotte's web, but not quite as classic. It's a story of a swan, Louis who was born without of voice. And for a trumpeter swan, that's bad news. But with the help of his caring parents and his pure will and determination, he defeats all obstacles by learning how to read and write and how to play a real trumpet. There's a cute little swan love story, but it's mostly about overcoming your obstacles. I loved the theme, I loved the description and imagery, and my kids liked it too. It was more slow moving than some of the other books we've read, so if your kids have a small attention span, you might want to try this one a little later on.  And I haven't included it in my party, but why not take your kids to your local park and feed the ducks/swans after you read this?


Book Party 

Supplies from your craft kit

Ribbon
Scotch Tape
Forrest Animal coloring pages
Crayons
blue sheet of foam


Supplies from the party store
Blue butcher paper
Plastic toy trumpet
Blue ribbon stickers
Small chalkboards and chalk
Chocolate gold coins
Small party favor bags

Food Supplies
Hardboiled eggs
watercress and/or cucumber sandwich recipe (see below)
chow mein noodles
bag of mini marshmallows
butter
jelly beans or robin eggs
Lime Margarita flavored Crystal Light

Living Room Swan Lake

 I wanted a lake in my living room. Why? While doing these parties, I found that the more I can turn on my kids imaginations, the better. So why not create the Canada lake on which this whole story started? It was easy. I bought some blue butcher paper from a school/teacher supply store. I let my kids draw and color fish and lilly pads on it. Then I rolled it out, cut it and taped it to the floor. That was the easy part. I don't have trees, flowers and moss laying around. I borrowed them all. The moss "rocks" can be bought at the dollar store. A whole bag of them for... $1! If you can't find trees or other plants (short of dragging out your giant Christmas tree!), you can cut some trees out of butcher paper and hang them up. You can also go to a real lake! All of the games can be brought outdoors, so if you have that option, go for it!  I also printed off some forest animal coloring pages from the internet and had my kids color them. I put them around the room, and also put birds hanging from my ceiling fan.

I started the party with the kids sitting on the lake like little swans. We talked about what our favorite parts of the book were, and we also talked about the different things that Louis received during his travels and hung around his neck. Those four things were the slate and chalk, the trumpet, the life saving medal, and the money bag.



The Slate, the Trumpet, the Medal and the Money Bag
For this party I created games to go along with the four items that Louis carries around his neck throughout the book. I first ordered the little slate and the plastic trumpets online. The little chalkboard was about a dollar each, and the trumpet was under a dollar each. I got the chalk, the gold coins and the favor bag at a party store. The ribbon sticker I found at the school/teacher supply store. To make them more substantial, I stuck them on a blue foam sheet and cut it out. Then I just attached some inexpensive ribbon to them so they can hang around their necks.

Games
The Slate
In order to earn all of the possessions that Louis had, they had to complete some challenges. The first item that Louis received was a slate. He went to school and learned how to read and write and then was given the slate. But swans, of course, don't have hands to write with. So Louis writes with the chalk in his beak. For this game, the kids have to try to write with only their mouths! For the older kids, they had to write their names, for the younger kids, they just had to draw a circle. So funny!



The Trumpet
The trumpets we got were inexpensive. So when you blew hard through them, they made a loud (kind of bird sounding!) noise. The kids had fun blowing them. It was loud chaos. But, for the game, I wanted to teach them Taps by "playing" the trumpet. So I told them instead of blowing, we were going to "play" the trumpet by "doo-dooooing". I lined them up, "played" taps with my trumpet to demonstrate, then had them do it.  Why didn't I video it?! It was so cute because they were all so serious about playing Taps like Louis did. I wish I would have recorded it to post here!

The Life Saving Medal
In the book, Louis is awarded a medal after he saves a camper at Camp Kookooskoos. Instead of saving a camper, I had the kids save "swan" eggs! I hardboiled some brown eggs, and set up a course in our unfinished basement. The kids had to balance the egg on a spoon and bring the egg to a "nest" sitting on another table. We had younger kids, so we made it pretty easy. But for older kids, an obstacle course could be really fun.





The Money Bag

All I can say is thank GOODNESS for little girls and we're so happy to have old friends join us for our party! For this last game, the kids had to learn actions to "The Chicken Dance", only Swan Style. I downloaded the song from YouTube. Then I made up some quick swan moves that went with the song (a total of 3). I taught them the dance then the kids had to do it to music. I'll tell you what, those little girls totally carried my little boys through that dance. Let's just say that my boys get their coordination from their dad! So fun, though. My kids kept playing the chicken dance song after the party was over and tried to do the dance. Even my littlest. Adorable!

Food

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For the food, we did "Watercress" sandwiches, which were actually cucumber because I couldn't find any watercress! If you find watercress, my plan was just to put some on top of the cucumber. We also have some Swan Nests, made by my friend Sharlynn, some Bugle chips and some "lake water" to drink. See below for the sandwich recipe. The lake water is just some lime margarita flavored Crystal Light mix. The kids were afraid to drink it! The nests Sharlynn had a hard time with. I've made them before by mixing melted butterscotch chips and chow mein noodles, but it can sometimes be hard to get them to stick together without falling apart. So I'm thinking, why not make them like rice crispie treats!? Use butter and marshmallows and instead of rice crispies, use the noodles. They'll stick together and shape nicely. Then top with chocolate eggs or jelly beans. Easy!

"Watercress" Sandwiches
1 pkg dry italian salad dressing mix
1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 C mayonnaise
2 cucumbers
watercress
2 loaves french bread
dry dill weed

In medium bowl, mix together italian dressing mix, cream cheese and mayonnaise. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. Cut loaves of bread into slices. Cut cucumbers into slices. Spread cream cheese mixture on bread. Top with cucumber, watercress (if available) and a sprinkle of dill.