Ask Amelia Bedelia to "draw the drapes," and she grabs a sketch pad. The housekeeper's literal interpretations of the tasks on her list are the basis of the jokes that keep readers laughing. Teach children to create their own jokes with an exercise that has them writing sentence pairs using other commonsense phrases that could turn out wacky if taken literally. The first sentence should give the commonsense request, and the second should spell out Amelia's literal response to the request. For example, a child might write: "I asked Amelia Bedelia to make my bed. Instead, Amelia built me a bed out of wood!"
Aside from looking at the literal language, "Amelia Bedelia" also contains some words and phrases that are no longer commonly used. For example, there's an "icebox" in the kitchen instead of a refrigerator. The book also mentions items such as "dusting powder" and actions such as "airing" pillows and babies. Without explanation, children may think an icebox is actually a box made of ice. Use the antiquated language in the book to spark a discussion on what the phrases actually refer to and how they might be interpreted literally. Parents and teachers can also use this activity to introduce a history lesson on how technology and terminology change over time.
Amelia Bedelia may instinctively know how to bake a great lemon meringue pie by adding "a little of this and a pinch of that," but she certainly doesn't know her way around a kitchen. Throughout the book, Amelia persistently misunderstands the cooking instructions left her by Mrs. Rogers, and winds up measuring rice with a tape measure and dressing a chicken in shorts and suspenders. Amelia's mistakes present the perfect opportunity to get kids interested in how the cooking process actually works. Start by correcting Amelia's kooky cooking concepts with a lesson in measuring, trimming and dressing. Then bake a pie together -- following a recipe correctly, of course.
Perhaps Amelia Bedelia missed her calling. Cutting up towels, sketching the drapes, sewing clothes for a chicken, decorating steak with lace -- Amelia seemed more artist than housekeeper. Follow in Amelia's footsteps by letting your child decorate unexpected objects in his bedroom with an assortment of decorative paints, ribbons and sparkles. For example, trim the edges of the desk and shelves in laces and ribbons with the help of a little wood glue. You might also attach pearl strands or rhinestones to drapery or bed skirts with fabric glue.