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It Looked Like Spilt Milk
Sometimes it looked like spilt milk, but it wasn't spilt milk... What was it?
Sometimes it looked like a rabbit and sometimes it looked like a birthday cake. Sometimes it looked like a tree. It was really most interesting. It looked like so many things. And such different things, too. As different as a mitten and a Great Horned Owl. Sometimes it looked like spilt milk, but it wasn't spilt milk... What was it?
This is the question that will keep small children engaged, guessing and curious, through the pages of It Looked Like Spilt Milk until the very end, when they learn that it wasn't spilt milk but... what it was.
The intriguing form of the book, and the ending itself, will present a delightful idea to children, one that will probably not end with the closing of the book. Mr. Shaw has done it in a simple pattern that children will catch on to easily. It is something they can take part in themselves, and that is what they like best of all.
Sometimes it looked like a rabbit and sometimes it looked like a birthday cake. Sometimes it looked like a tree. It was really most interesting. It looked like so many things. And such different things, too. As different as a mitten and a Great Horned Owl. Sometimes it looked like spilt milk, but it wasn't spilt milk... What was it?
This is the question that will keep small children engaged, guessing and curious, through the pages of It Looked Like Spilt Milk until the very end, when they learn that it wasn't spilt milk but... what it was.
The intriguing form of the book, and the ending itself, will present a delightful idea to children, one that will probably not end with the closing of the book. Mr. Shaw has done it in a simple pattern that children will catch on to easily. It is something they can take part in themselves, and that is what they like best of all.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
15 people are currently reading
2055 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 403 reviews
February 25, 2017
All the shapes that appeared in the book could be the obvious item whose outline is shown. Neo and I were both baffled that things were not as they appeared. However, in the end, we both saw the error of our ways. Cute book to begin a weekend together!
June 1, 2019
A nice easy read that encourage young and new readers alike to embrace their imaginations and see where they go. Trust me, by the end, you will see true awe in the eyes of your young reader.
August 29, 2016
This was a great book about imagination and perspective for young children. This book would be a great addition to any pre-k classroom. It can easily be combine with activities for the children to do where they can make there own 'spilt milk' creation. It teaches about seeing things in different ways and how something simple could seem like more.
March 7, 2017
I did like this book because it makes you think that the book is about what shapes the spilled milk can make. In the beginning it starts of with the milk and then it starts changing in each page and it turns into different objects. This book focuses on a child's imagination and it makes them think about what kind of figures their spilled milk can make or what it looks like. The ending of the book was a surprise because my mind was set that the shapes where coming from the milk, but in reality it was from a cloud.
This book is great for children because it focuses on true to life events. The clouds do change depending on the weather and if it will be sunny or cloudy. The book is enjoyable because we can ask the children questions like "Can you guess what the next picture will be?" and we will get to hear each child's opinion. We can also do a cloud activity with the children that involves clouds where they can make their own cloud shapes with cotton balls.
This book is great for children because it focuses on true to life events. The clouds do change depending on the weather and if it will be sunny or cloudy. The book is enjoyable because we can ask the children questions like "Can you guess what the next picture will be?" and we will get to hear each child's opinion. We can also do a cloud activity with the children that involves clouds where they can make their own cloud shapes with cotton balls.
July 5, 2017
Another definite and quite memorable book from the childhood. What truly made this so unique was the fact that the whole page was in fact blue with just a white picture and the white font standing in contrast.
Children are asked to open their minds to see what they can see and this can be a fun book to read before going on a cloud-watching trip. What will you see?
Children are asked to open their minds to see what they can see and this can be a fun book to read before going on a cloud-watching trip. What will you see?
July 26, 2017
!!!!!! - a Rorschach (milk) test ! ?
October 5, 2018
What is the white shape on the blue background? Is it different shapes in split milk?
Sometimes it looks like a Flower.
But it wasn't a Flower.
Sometimes it looked like a Birthday Cake.
But it wasn't a Birthday Cake.
This delightful, creative picture book will foster children's imagination as they try to guess each shape. The text follows a rhythm they will quickly pick up on. The nonrepresentational art on a blue page sparks creativity for art projects and cloud watching. An inspirational book.
Sometimes it looks like a Flower.
But it wasn't a Flower.
Sometimes it looked like a Birthday Cake.
But it wasn't a Birthday Cake.
This delightful, creative picture book will foster children's imagination as they try to guess each shape. The text follows a rhythm they will quickly pick up on. The nonrepresentational art on a blue page sparks creativity for art projects and cloud watching. An inspirational book.
April 27, 2017
Simple story of pictures in the sky!
February 27, 2017
I used this book in a preschool story time to introduce the concept of imagination. The kids absolutely loved guessing what each picture could be. I enjoyed their responses when I turned the book upside down and they reevaluated their previous ideas. A great way to encourage kids to use their imaginations.
June 5, 2008
Simple, but very cute. This is a great book for story time and easily adapted to felt board. Shaw uses a repetitve verse which kids will easily be able to follow and they'll enjoy trying to guess what each white shape is. Todder, PreK.
No reviews available.
No reviews available.
September 6, 2014
Children have an inherent ability to create something new and exciting out of everyday objects. In a child’s eyes a tree is a grand and elaborate castle with many tall extending towers and the dancing field of grass beneath is actually molten lava. Imagination comes naturally to a child, so as an adult reader when I first glanced at the contrasting blue and white pages of “It looked like spilled milk” I thought it was a story about teaching children to identify different objects through shape and in some ways I was correct. This book does exercise a child’s ability to identify objects but it also does so much more; Charles G. Shaw invites readers to experience imagination, wonder and creativity through something we see almost every day, the clouds in the sky.
Cloud gazing, a normal activity for children is something rarely exercised by adults who are far too “busy” for such simplicities. Yet, this does not mean an adult has lost their ability to be an imaginative human being but rather we see imagination as complex. Perhaps our view of imagination is swayed by what we classify as creativity or what we identify as good art, but to a child this ability is as simple as looking up at the sky. What Shaw attempts to render to us as the reader is that every single person on the planet has the ability to be creative; human beings are creative by nature but through the fog of life our perception of our ability to exercise such expression becomes more complicated.
Creativity, as suggested by Shaw, is far less complicated then we grow to believe and our ability to become inspired is more about our ability to let go of complexities. By seeking and enjoying some of the simplicities of life people of all ages can learn to be inspired by the world surrounding us. Shaw encourages young children to seek these imaginative simplicities and use them to enhance personal growth, find a new or interesting perspective and even to simply create something new. By looking up at the sky or observing life we can find meaning and creative stimulus if only we let go of our preconceived notions of what creativity is. Inspiration is everywhere, seek and you shall find it.
Cloud gazing, a normal activity for children is something rarely exercised by adults who are far too “busy” for such simplicities. Yet, this does not mean an adult has lost their ability to be an imaginative human being but rather we see imagination as complex. Perhaps our view of imagination is swayed by what we classify as creativity or what we identify as good art, but to a child this ability is as simple as looking up at the sky. What Shaw attempts to render to us as the reader is that every single person on the planet has the ability to be creative; human beings are creative by nature but through the fog of life our perception of our ability to exercise such expression becomes more complicated.
Creativity, as suggested by Shaw, is far less complicated then we grow to believe and our ability to become inspired is more about our ability to let go of complexities. By seeking and enjoying some of the simplicities of life people of all ages can learn to be inspired by the world surrounding us. Shaw encourages young children to seek these imaginative simplicities and use them to enhance personal growth, find a new or interesting perspective and even to simply create something new. By looking up at the sky or observing life we can find meaning and creative stimulus if only we let go of our preconceived notions of what creativity is. Inspiration is everywhere, seek and you shall find it.
September 26, 2009
It looked like a bird
but it's not a bird!!
It looked like a flower
but it's not a flower!!
It always takes all the shapes you dare to imagine, what would it be??!!
but it's not a bird!!
It looked like a flower
but it's not a flower!!
It always takes all the shapes you dare to imagine, what would it be??!!
June 16, 2021
I loved this book. Each page contains a different white shape. The author states this is not a.... ice cream cone,rabbit, bird etc. The book concludes that all of the shapes on the pages are clouds. What person has never looked at clouds and saw different animals or people? I believe this book challenges children to use their imaginations !
February 22, 2020
The target audience of this title is children ages 5-6. It is a concept book, following a simple rhythm pattern to help introductory readers. The whole story revolves around not knowing what a mysterious white object is. At different times, the mysterious object looks like a rabbit, bird, tree, ice cream cone, flower, pig, cake, sheep, owl, mitten, squirrel, angel, spilt milk. But what is it really? The suspense must be killing you. Read this fun little title to see. A strength of this book is undoubtably the repetitive fashion that it is presented that match the illustrations. Each page is illustrated with the white substance in a different shape to match the new object it is currently portraying. The illustrations are simple, but allow the reader to have fun identifying the different outlines of familiar shapes. I would recommend this book to any emerging reader who has an imagination.
November 7, 2020
2/10 did not understand what was going on
March 14, 2022
This one is a classic from 1947. When I use this one, I like to turn the pages around to see if the shapes look like anything else. The ice cream cone looked like a gnome, I was told at this most recent storytime. A great way for kids to use their imaginations!
November 11, 2022
Imagination, guessing game, high contrast illustrations - Emma
February 14, 2018
Thanks to a colleague for the recommendation to read this book, take kids outside to see things in clouds, and to make our own clouds with white paint and blue construction paper. Pre-K kids LOVED it all!
November 10, 2017
I loved this book when I was small, and now, the kids I work with love it too. we love to pretend the different shapes are other things. I love these kinds of kids' books.
November 23, 2013
It Looked Like Spilt Milk is an excellent book. Students become familiar with pictures of ice cream cones, rabbits, pigs, tree, squirrels, birds, sail boats, clouds, angels and the great hornet. The book exposes children to the different shapes of clouds! At the end of the book children learn the shape is not spilt milk; rather it is a cloud!
This book is a science and literacy resource. A perfect science lesson for children would be to take them outside and let them observe the shapes of the clouds. Next allow children to draw and describe what they see. This is a science lesson because it encourages children to question their world and to experience their world through trial and error. Literacy comes into play through the use of illustrations, imagery and word usage. Children could look at the pictures and describe them. They could also draw their own pictures and write, "It Looked Like..." Art and drama can be integrated with this book because children use their imaginations to create pictures of clouds. They could draw or sing and dance about what they see in the sky. I LOVE this book!!!
In terms of literacy students could write a narrative about a cloud in the sky. They could describe everything about it.
This book is a great read-aloud because it is short and engaging.
This book is great for the recognition and use of sight words.
This book is a science and literacy resource. A perfect science lesson for children would be to take them outside and let them observe the shapes of the clouds. Next allow children to draw and describe what they see. This is a science lesson because it encourages children to question their world and to experience their world through trial and error. Literacy comes into play through the use of illustrations, imagery and word usage. Children could look at the pictures and describe them. They could also draw their own pictures and write, "It Looked Like..." Art and drama can be integrated with this book because children use their imaginations to create pictures of clouds. They could draw or sing and dance about what they see in the sky. I LOVE this book!!!
In terms of literacy students could write a narrative about a cloud in the sky. They could describe everything about it.
This book is a great read-aloud because it is short and engaging.
This book is great for the recognition and use of sight words.
February 21, 2012
"It Looked Like Spilt Milk" is one of my personal favorites. Although the book is extremely repetitive, it's keeps children on their toes and even has a surprise ending. Every single page in this book, in its entirety, is a royal blue color. The plain white text is always on the left-hand side page, accompanied by a white "picture" on the right-hand side page. The images (of white shapes that resemble a bird, a birthday cake, a tree, an owl, a bunny, and many other things) are simple and unique. As previously stated, the text is quite repetitive and always says something like, "Sometimes, it looked like a bird. But it wasn't a bird", "Sometimes, it looked like a tree. But it wasn't a tree", "Sometimes, it looked like a birthday cake. But it wasn't a birthday cake", and so on. This leaves children anxiously wondering: What ARE all of the white images? The last page tells readers just that. Children can relate to this book and really have fun and use their imaginations and creativity with it.
October 24, 2012
This book is an illustration of a child's imagination. Each picture is very simple: a blue background with some sort of white shape that resembles a different object on each page. It goes through many different examples and in the end, you find out the author is talking about a cloud. Before children get to the last page and discover it is a cloud, the suspense of what this white space could be would keep a child interested in the book and probably impatient to find out what it is! This book would be very relatable to children because children have the biggest imaginations of all and i'm sure every child has looked up at a cloud and saw it as something else. As a teacher, you could have the student's guess what the shape actually is and see if any of the students guess correct! It would also be fun for a class of kindergardeners or first graders to go outside and look at the clouds after reading this book. They could draw pictures of what they think the clouds look like. Great classic book that will never become outdated!
March 21, 2017
This book keeps young readers from guessing and using their cognitive skills by using their imagination. The pages are blue and the illustration is white and the words as well. This book shows different animals such as a bird, rabbit, pig, and sheep. In the last page it said, "sometimes it looked like split milk but it was not split milk. It was just a cloud in the sky." It is kind of pretty cool how the author used blue as the background for the pages. In some of the pages, I will not read the sentence, but I will ask the children what they think the picture is which will make them guess and try to figure it out.
January 20, 2017
The picture-book version is fine, but so simple that I'm glad there's a board book version. Even though, as Michael points out, it's been abridged. I'm glad some of these older books are still (again?) being treasured.
Btw, on the edition I read the cover 'white' is more of a creamy color... I don't know if anyone here remembers, but milk used to be richer; people didn't drink 'skimmed' milk. The pictures inside are stark white and navy blue, though, which isn't as wonderful as it could be, imo.
Cute, but I have to honestly admit, a bit disappointing.
Btw, on the edition I read the cover 'white' is more of a creamy color... I don't know if anyone here remembers, but milk used to be richer; people didn't drink 'skimmed' milk. The pictures inside are stark white and navy blue, though, which isn't as wonderful as it could be, imo.
Cute, but I have to honestly admit, a bit disappointing.
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March 20, 2017Yolanda Mason's Review!
I Liked this book very much, the illustrations were very good and the content was good. this book spoke to the imagination of children,what does this spilled milk take on the shape of- what does this spilled milk look like? I believe the children would respond with encouragement to know this actually happens, it would open up their creativity. I would emphasize what great things we can do with our imagination.
I Liked this book very much, the illustrations were very good and the content was good. this book spoke to the imagination of children,what does this spilled milk take on the shape of- what does this spilled milk look like? I believe the children would respond with encouragement to know this actually happens, it would open up their creativity. I would emphasize what great things we can do with our imagination.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2017
I really liked this book, I think mainly because some of the picture were said to be a certain thing but in my opinion I saw something else and that made it so much more special to me. I think a lot of the younger children will enjoy the fact that they may all see something different compared to each other. It will for sure be in my future Pre-k classroom
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July 11, 2013What I liked about this book is that you think that your looking at pictures from a puddle of spilt milk but your really looking at clouds. A great activity will be to have the students go out side and look up at the clouds and draw what they see.
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July 12, 2015This is such a simple but quite unique book. The repetition in the book can help our younger readers with their prediction skills. As the teacher reads the book, she can read the repetitive lines and have the students guess if it is spilt milk and if not, what it could be.
September 24, 2016
Good book for preschool age to get their minds thinking outside the box. Very easy to read book for independent reading or read alongs. Pictures/colors are dull because it's supposed to look like spilt milk, but overall good book.
December 23, 2011
ماذا ترين في السماء ياهدى؟
رأيت نفسي في هذا الكتاب، طفلة في السادسة
مستلقية في المقعد الخلفي لسيارة تجوب الولايات الأمريكية
كم تبدو تلك الأيام قريبة رغم بعدها
الحمدلله على نعمة الذكريات
رأيت نفسي في هذا الكتاب، طفلة في السادسة
مستلقية في المقعد الخلفي لسيارة تجوب الولايات الأمريكية
كم تبدو تلك الأيام قريبة رغم بعدها
الحمدلله على نعمة الذكريات
Displaying 1 - 30 of 403 reviews