To make a mandolin, take a large, empty tissue box with a plastic opening and remove all the plastic. Paint and decorate it if desired. Wrap four large rubber bands lengthwise around the tissue box, making sure that they cover the box opening. Space the rubber bands about 1/2 inch apart. Make a slit in the middle of the short side of the box about 1 1/2 inches long; insert a 12-inch ruler into the box about three inches deep. Secure the ruler with masking tape or book-binding tape; this is the instrument's handle.
Take a 8 1/2 x 11-inch sheet of white computer paper and fold it in fourths the short way. This will be the size of your bookmark. Find a coloring book picture of a cat with a mandolin or a similar instrument by searching online. Paste the picture in a word processing program on your computer. Adjust the size until it is about two inches. Set the document so that it has four columns. Adjust the size of the picture again to fit the column. Paste the picture in all four columns. Add the text, "Books Make Me Sing" or any other appropriate text that relates to the book. Insert white card stock into the printer. Print the bookmark. Cut the page into quarters. Supply the children with crayons and markers and let them color and design their own bookmarks. Bookmarks may also be laminated with store-bought laminating sheets.
Fold a 8 1/2 x 11-inch sheet of colored paper into fourths. Keep it folded and fold again into thirds, making 12 sections. Fold another paper the same way so you have two copies. Write a word from the story in each section, such as "cat," "thorn," "farm woman," "bread," "mandolin," "fox," "hen," "shepherd," "flock," "foot," "needle," "song" and "kindness." Write the same words on the second sheet of folded paper. Cut the the sections apart, creating 24 cards. Place each card face down on the table in rows. Let the child choose two cards. If the words match, those cards are removed from the table. If the cards do not match, turn the words face down again and have the child choose two more cards until all the cards are eliminated from the table.
Write words from the story (such as those mentioned in Section 3) on index cards. Place the cards on the floor with the words face up within hopping distance. Say a word and have the child hop on the word. Continue saying words until the child has hopped on each card.