I love Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!
Children love Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (still after 50+ years) and how can parents and teachers not love her practical ways and advice! I am so very excited about this Timeless Thursday post because I hope if you haven’t shared Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (written by Betty MacDonald and illustrations by Hilary Knight) with your children or students yet, this post will remind you to go to the library and check her out or visit a bookstore and grab her up!
What can we learn today from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books? Besides being fun (since Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in a mostly upside-down house and she was once married to a pirate), children and parents can learn about manners, responsibilities, imagination, and good old-fashioned fun. For example, in the first one of the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, Mary Lou Robertson hated doing dishes. She couldn’t believe her mother had the nerve to make her do dishes. So, she is complaining and whining to Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle until Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle tells Mary Lou that she loves to do dishes. She always pretends she is a princess and a mean old witch is coming to inspect her work in the kitchen. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle gets Mary Lou caught up in the creative play; and all of a sudden, Mary Lou doesn’t mind doing dishes so much anymore. And this is only the beginning. As a matter of fact, someone on Wikipedia actually made a chart of the behaviors that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle tackles in her books. Check it out! Behaviors like talking back, not picking up toys, and bickering with siblings are no match for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!
Have fun with this book! (or any of the other Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books) Ask your students or your children what chore they hate doing. Imagine Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was here, and figure out how she would make it more fun. How can you and your child make the task more fun? Also, you can discuss with your children or your students why it is important to do chores, take a bath, and so on–why it is important to have responsibilities and fun in life–a balance. Why do we have rules? Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books can open up this discussion with your students and children!
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