Acting Out A Book

At the parent-teacher conference I had at the end of last school year with Westley's preschool teacher, she asked me if we acted out the story line of books at home.
I looked at Kevin blankly, and had to answer no.
She didn't ask me  if I made up two personalized stories at naptime and bedtime each day, if I provided open ended art activities, If I involved him in cooking almost on a daily basis, if we performed science experiments and engaged in sensory experiments, or if we explored the outdoors and visited different places regularly.
She didn't ask about any of that... she only asked if we acted out books, pretending to be the characters and acting out the story.
So I left with guilt, that I had been depriving him of such experience.
I kinda forgot about it this summer, but school is starting in about 10 days, so when I remembered, I acted on it fast to make sure that this year, I can say, yes, we've done that!

Will was being grouchy so this was just Westley and I. We acted out the story The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

It is about a spider who begins to spin a web. Other animals come by and ask her if she wants to run in the meadow or play with them, but she doesn't answer... she is very busy spinning her web. At the end she catches a fly and then falls asleep- worn out by a day full of spinning the web.

First Westley was the spider, and I was the animals asking her to hang out.
Then we traded roles.

While playing, I found a real dead fly in our window seal, so when I was the spider that caught the fly I got to present a real fly. Westley was amazed by this, and couldn't believe it was a REAL fly.
Gross to be touching it, but I knew he'd get a kick out of that. We washed our hands when we were done