The Pigeon Needs a Bath

By Brianna

In which Brianna presents Mo Willems' beloved Pigeon, at it again.  If you use our links to purchase this fun bathtime saga for your little, a portion of the sale will come back to us, and help keep Busy Nest News going.  Thank you.

The Pigeon Needs a Bath, by Mo Willems

The stubborn pigeon from Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus! is back.  This time, you need to convince the pigeon to take a bath.  The pigeon is clearly depicted as being dirty and smelly.  Your little reader can help you defuse every argument known to children for getting out of taking a bath. From the temperature of the water, to the meaning of the words “clean” and “dirty,” everything is fair game, if it means getting out of getting clean. Each of the pigeon’s excuses is accompanied by Willems’ simple but charming illustrations of the willful pigeon.  It’s very fun to tell the pigeon “Take a bath!” after every excuse.  If your little doesn’t like baths, or if they just like being the boss, The Pigeon Needs a Bath is sure to be fun.

In one of my libraries, we did a story time based on this book.  We accompanied it with a fun paper plate craft.  We precut the plates and pigeon shapes.  The pigeons were double-headed pigeons that met in the middle.  The kids were encouraged to color one pigeon to be dirty, and the other to look clean.  We attached the middle of the pigeon shape to the edge of the half plate with a brad.  This allowed the kids to spin the pigeon through the bath, so that he would go from dirty to clean.  The kids were very impressed with the transformation.  If you're interested in doing this craft, here's the original post that inspired us.  Pinterest, of course, is full of charming Pigeon crafts, so there's definitely more where that came from.

Does anyone else remember brads? We had a heck of a time finding enough for this craft!

​The Pigeon Needs a Bath is a favorite, but it is very repetitive.  Of course it is!  That’s kind of the point.  But that also makes it a little annoying to read time after time.  I give it four out of five eggs.  It is clever and endearing, but also a bit aggravating (just like our kids!). 

Does your family have any bath time favorites?  Do you need to coax your children into the tub, or would they live there if given the option?  Monkey used to hate baths, but now she loves them (except getting her hair washed.  She still thinks that's actual torture.).

If you're enjoying this read, be sure to follow us on social media.  Dedicated Newsletter subscribers will get special, exclusive content throughout this year, too, so be sure to get in on that.  Just pop your email into the form below.