Book Club in a Bag: Yasmin Kit

Take-and-make kits; craft kits; programs to go: whatever your library calls these programs in a bag that have become a staple of no-contact offerings, one thing is fairly standard: these kits are well loved, but they take time to make. I love creating materials for kits and thinking about how a family might interact with program materials at home. I’ve introduced a new pair of kits for ages 6-11 in January 2021: Book Club in a Bag. This week’s feature: Yasmin Kit featuring the amazing Yasmin by Saadia Faruqi.

The Book Club in a Bag kits look a bit different from some of my previous kits. Instead of focusing on just one book universe, these kits each feature four characters, hopefully some old favorites as well as some new, diverse characters.

In January, these featured characters included (links provided as the bag contents are shared on Book Cart Queens):

• Ages 6-8:
  • Elephant and Piggie (Mo Willems)
  • Mindy Kim (Lyla Lee)
  • Yasmin (Saadia Faruqi)
  • Azaleah Lane (Nikki Shannon Smith)
    
• Ages 8-11
  • Wings of Fire (Tui T. Sutherland)
  • New Kid (Jerry Craft)
  • Phoebe and Her Unicorn (Dana Simpson)
  • Shuri (Nic Stone)

Each bag contains some repeated resources:

• List of kit contents
• List of books in the featured series
• List of readalike books
• Discussion questions
• Swag item (button, sticker, bookmarks)
• 1-3 crafts, games, activities

Yasmin Kit

The Yasmin Kit can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Most of this kit can be re-created simply using a printer, with the addition of extra items (like cardboard binoculars) depending on your budget.

Want to use make a Yasmin Kit at your library? Download the PDFs at the links below, or write a comment or send an email (bookcartqueens@gmail.com) for editable files.

Yasmin General Materials

Each bag contains some of the same basic materials, and the Yasmin kit is no different.

Yasmin Bookmark – All Books

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF listing all book titles here.

Yasmin Bookmark – Readalikes

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the Readalike titles here.

The Yasmin readalike bookmark features these titles:

• Camila the Baking Star by Alicia Salazar
• Charlie & Mouse by Laurel Snyder
• Don’t Throw It to Mo! by David A. Adler
• I Want to Be a Doctor by Laura Driscoll
• King and Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats by Dori Hillestad Butler
• The Lost Kitten by Katherine Cox
• My Family Adventure by Jacqueline Jules
• Nick and Nack Build a Birdhouse by Brandon Budzi
• Open Wide, Katie! by Fran Manushkin
• Party Problems by C.L. Reid
• The Perfect Gift by Paula Yoo
• Ty’s Travels: Zip, Zoom! by Kelly Starling Lyons

Yasmin Discussion Questions

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the discussion questions here.

The Yasmin Discussion Questions included:

• General Questions:
  • Look at the front cover. What do you think will happen in this story? Why do you think that?
  • What emotions did Yasmin feel in this story? Does it have a happy ending for her?
  • What happened first? Next? Then what happened?
  • What does Yasmin do when she is interested in something?
  • What have you learned about Yasmin’s culture? How is this similar or different to what your family does?
    
• Sample Story Questions: Yasmin the Explorer
  • What do you know about explorers? Do you think you would like to be an explorer?
  • How did your family travel to where you live now? Did your relatives come from another country?
  • Why is Yasmin excited to go to the market with her mom?
  • What symbols does Yasmin include on her map?

Yasmin Swag – 1″ Buttons

This bag also included a few pieces of Yasmin swag: five 1″ buttons. Download a printable PDF to make them yourself here.

Yasmin Crafts, Games, and More

Yasmin loves to explore her community, so my crafts and activities connect to exploration too! First, I included a set of play binoculars and materials to decorate them (stickers in this bag plus crayons in the overall larger envelope, to be used for all included kits).

I purchased white cardboard tubes online. I put two tubes next to each other, wrapped a rubber band around them, and added a strip of hot glue near the seam. I rotated the tubes until the hot glue was in between the two tubes, and left the rubber band on for a few minutes to make sure it dried. Then, I cut strips of yarn and hot glued the ends into the insides of the tubes. These are obviously not fully functioning binoculars, but they do help kids focus their eyes on just one item at a time.

I also included a half sheet with a Nature Scavenger Hunt on one side and recommended nature books on the other.

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the Nature Scavenger Hunt here.

Yasmin Map Kit

In the book Yasmin the Explorer, Yasmin draws her own map of her community. I like the idea of participants exploring their neighborhoods too, so I included two activities around this theme.

One was simply a blank piece of paper to use to draw your map (I had to keep something simple!):

Yasmin Draw a Map from Annamarie Carlson

Slideshare not working? Download the PDF of the Draw a Map sheet here.

The other item was this cool make-a-town printable, filled with printed roads and buildings.

Access those at the Teach Beside Me blog.