We don’t do much pinkness in this home full of females. Indeed I taught myself to sew when my girls were really tiny because I was determined not to dress them in pink, and at the time it seemed that if you wanted skirts and dresses for female babies the only option in shops was pink, pink and PINK. That said, sometimes you just have to embrace the pinkness, and revel in it. So that’s what we’ve done for today’s post. Think cerise, coral, fuchsia, geranium, rose, salmon, pale pink, dusky pink, day-glow pink – we’ve got ’em all!
And why is today’s post brought to you by PINKVISION™? Well, it’s all down to Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle, a giggle inducing, wordless book about friendship and finding one’s feet, in which a graceful, elegant flamingo patiently teaches a slightly podgy young girl to dance with joy and confidence, but not without a tumble or two along the way.
The setting is a dreamy, cherry blossom bowered pool, and the young girl is dressed in a bathing suit and flippers. The flamingo shows her a pose and the child tries to copy. Although at first she is somewhat clumsy, all elbows and knees, by the end of their duet, she’s learned to pick herself up and dust herself down, her growing self belief has drawn out an elegance and beauty, and she and her flamingo friend have delighted in the sheer exuberance and joy that can from dancing.
Flaps bring added fun and interaction to this charming tale. And it reminded me of one suggestion that I’ve held on to from a child rearing guide I read about the same time I was teaching myself to sew. It was in a Steve Biddulph book, and he recommended trying to dance with your kids every way as an easy way to have fun and be physically close. It struck a chord with me, and 8 years on, it’s still something I try to do with the girls every day (which is partly why I always include music suggestions with our book reviews).
Given our propensity to boogie in the kitchen, it seemed very natural to turn it into a theatre to act out, I mean DANCE out Molly Idle’s beautiful, heartwarming, and VERY PINK story.
The stage was set with a large cloth (tip: we buy kingsized duvet covers from TK Maxx and then cut them open to use for tent building, or in this case an instance stage drop) and a garland of tissue paper flowers (made using this super easy and very satisfying technique).
We danced mostly to Coppélia by Delibes, but also to:
We had a LOT of fun…
.. and of course, when the swirling, pirouetting, leaping and bounding was over, the dancers received bouquets of flowers from an adoring audience!
Other activities which you might be inspired to try following a read of Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle include:
What are you going to dance to today? I’m off to put Lily the Pink back on, even though the girls are at school right now…
Disclosure: I received a a free review copy of this book from the publisher. I was under no obligation to review this book, nor did I receive any payment for this review. I have no personal connection to the author.