Hickory Dickory Clock

This easy craft is a great way to help your little mice tell time... especially if you, like us, have mostly digital clocks in your house.

What you'll need:
- various colors of scrapbook or construction paper
- glue
- a marker
- a brad (or the MacGyver backup - a pushpin and an eraser tip)


1. Cut out one large rectangle for the clock, two circles for the face, a long rectangle and small circle for the pendulum, two pointed rectangles for the clock hands, and a triangle for the mouse.

2. Let your child glue the pieces to a piece of paper to create the clock and add the climbing mouse. Embellish the mouse's features with a black marker.

3. Add the numbers on the clock face with a marker or paint pen and attach the hands with a brad. (Katie, I told you I never have the right supplies! We made do with a pushpin capped with an eraser tip.)

4. Let the rhyming (and learning) begin!

There are several really adorable Hickory Dickory Dock books available, some with manipulable clocks. If you're looking for a general nursery rhyme book, however, may I suggest...

Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever by Richard Scarry

This is one of those books I don't know if I love because it's so good or because it reminds me of my childhood. I adored this book as a kid and it's one of the first I bought for our own library. I remember spending hours flipping through its large, colorful pages of cats in mittens and pigs in trousers, reading the different nursery rhymes. I loved the way the words sounded, even if I had no clue what words like "dame," "contrary," and "soiled" meant. It's been a joy now to share these classic nursery rhymes with my little girls, who also love to flip through Richard Scarry's timeless illustrations.