Back to School Means Fall is Coming!

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Today was Hazel's first day of second grade! Have your children started yet? As with all first days she was a mix between nervous and excited. The day went well and I remember to post a picture of her. My Facebook account was full of first day pictures today. Was yours? Well now that school has started I am ready to move past summer and start thinking about fall. And I am really excited to share with you Gymboree's latest line which we LOVE!! In fact Hazel used her own money to buy the headband she is wearing. The bonus of this post is that they are having a great Labor Day sale!!

Bringing God and the Bible into Your Life for All Ages

 Disclosure: Kregel Publications sent me copies of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Do you want to bring God and the Bible into your life more or perhaps into your child's life? Today I am sharing some books and a printable game for kids to do just this. Going by age we will start with the book for the younger child, The Bible and Me: Stories with a Message to Live By retold by Lois Rock and illustrated by Alida Massari.  

Exploring Modern Day Iraq -- Global Learning for Kids

As August finishes so does our exploration of Iraq. My first two posts on Iraq have been about ancient Iraq (Golden Age of Baghdad and Exploring Mesopotamia). I will admit when we started reading books about Iraq we had many discussions about war and what was happening. It was not an easy topic for us. (I do not let Hazel watch the news to shelter from some of the horrible things that happen in our world.) We took several reference books out of the library and found most of them talked about the war.

Paper Airplane Fun -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Today I am sharing two books about paper airplanes. I have been meaning to share these as part of my Summertime Fun Series, but have not gotten around to it. So I decided to share it here before our summer actually ends. I mean paper airplanes are definitely a great summertime fun activity and these two books help make even more fun!! The first book is Michael LaFosse's Origami Airplanes. It comes with a DVD to follow the steps as well. 

Sharing Saturday 16-34

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (a new one starts on Sunday). 

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groupings of features: Lessons, Multicultural and Unicorns and Bugs. Be sure to check them out and the ones I didn't pick!!

Animal Fun -- Summer Fun!

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Hazel counted the days and realized she has eleven days of summer vacation left. We are trying to enjoy all of them!! So today we are going to share some animal fun with great activity books and kits!! Let's start with Disney Zootopia Collector's Tin.

Exploring Mesopotamia -- Global Learning for Kids

This month we are exploring Iraq with Global Learning for Kids. Last week we shared our look at the Golden Age of Baghdad with books. As we were reading the stories the Bible story of Abraham popped into my head. Perhaps it is because I have told the Godly Play story: The Great Family. And of course looking at the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the land inbetween like the story. Then there is the mention of the city of Ur in the books we read as well as in the story. All of these connections made me want to study Mesopotamia a bit more. After all the three major religions trace back their lineage to Abraham.

This is what is left of the house that is thought to have been Abraham's in Ur
By Aziz1005 (Own work) [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Learn to Draw Calligraphy Nature -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I am sharing a book that shows how to use a calligraphy pen to make nature pictures. The book is Learn to Draw Calligraphy Nature by Andrew Fox. 

Sharing Saturdday 16-33

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (a new one starts on Sunday). 

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groupings of features: Back to School, Parenting & Activities, and Crafts. Be sure to check them out and the ones I didn't pick!!

Rice & Rocks -- A Multicultural Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of a digital book free of charge to review as part of Multicultural Kid Blogs Product Promotion Services. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am sharing with you a new multicultural picture book that shares the messages that we are all different but very much the same. It is Rice and Rocks by Sandra L. Richards and illustrated by Megan Kayleigh Sullivan. It is being released next week!!

Back to School Books

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Since we started our back to school posts yesterday with some new clothes and accessories from Gymboree, I thought I would share some books that are also perfect for back to school. Our first book is Milk Goes to School by Terry Border. Terry Border also wrote Peanut Butter and Cupcake and Happy Birthday, Cupcake. 

Back to School Clothes

* Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. I was compensated for this post.

Are you getting ready for back to school? It is hard to believe that it is that time already. I have to admit we have a couple more weeks of summer and are enjoying all of it to the last day!! However we did our back to school shopping ages ago. With Hazel at a private school we get to buy uniforms, however we love looking at the new fashions for the school year. We visit our local Gymboree almost every day. Today I am going to share a few favorite outfits that are perfect for back to school!! I will admit we have bought some of these fun outfits since Hazel fell in love with them!! For those with boys:
Check Out The Boys Back to School Bundles Created by Stitch Fix at Gymboree

The Golden Age of Islam/Baghdad -- Global Learning for Kids -- Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month

August Multicultural Kid Blogs celebrates Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month. This post is part of this series as well as the first of our Global Learning for Kids for August. Global Learning for Kids is exploring Iraq this month. This summer Hazel has really gotten into the Magic Tree House series and I was very excited to find one that takes Jack and Annie to Iraq. It was the perfect way to introduce this country to Hazel.

Patchwork Quiled Bags -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

I have to admit I have a bit of a bag fetish. I love them. Although I am not someone who changes my purse all the time. I still love looking at different bags and have a bit of a collection of them. Today I am sharing with you Patchwork Quilted Bags: Totes, Purses & Accessories by Reiko Washizawa which is being released on August 30th. 

Sharing Saturday 16-32

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. 

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groupings of features: Parenting, Party & Food and Lessons. Be sure to check them out and the ones I didn't pick!!

Magical Jungle -- a Relaxing Friday Review

Penguin Random House gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

It has been a relaxing Friday for me and thus this post is so late. I have been enjoying some vacation time with my parents on Cape Cod. Today however I am sharing with you the latest coloring book from Johanna Basford, Magical Jungle. 

Summer Animal Fun -- Summertime Fun Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

 Summertime brings thoughts of many things--beach, heat, sunshine and animals. For me there are always new and fun things to see in nature and I like to share that with Hazel. What animals do you think about in the summer? We have so many different birds, bugs and frogs that come into our lives, so today's products are going to share those things with you. This year the town cleaned out some of the creek in our back yard and we discovered frogs around. So we will begin with Fabulous Frogs by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Tim Hopgood. 

Diversity Calendar

Disclosure: I was sent a free digital copy of this product for this review. All opinions are my own and I received no other compensation. I am providing links for your ease.

Do you try to teach your child(ren) about different cultures? I find it so hard to keep up with all the various holidays and celebrations that there are around the world, but also find it important to teach Hazel about it all. I like to supplement what she learns at school and add more about other cultures and religions so that she will have a better understanding of the world. After all if we all had a better understanding of each other perhaps we could live in peace. Well Becky Morales of Kid World Citizen has made it easy for everyone with her new Diversity Calendar of Multicultural Holidays for Academic School Year 2016-2017. It is available at Teachers Pay Teachers for $3.50 for a digital download.

Crafty Weekends

This week I am not ready to write a review of one of the craft books. Most of my crafting this week happened at work, and I did not get a chance to get a picture. So this week we are going straight to the party!!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at last party!! It was full of creations and inspiring ideas!! Below are some features from the party, but this is just a small sample of great ideas shared! This week the features are in three groups: Decorative & Useful, Fabric Crafts and Paper Crafts. 

Also remember for your child-oriented crafts, activities, lessons, etc. Sharing Saturday is going on!! For any cultural related posts (diversity and/or multicultural as well) be sure to share at the month long Creative Kids Creative Blog Hop. 

Sharing Saturday 16-31

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. 

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groupings of features: Summer, Party, Food & Activities, and Crafts. Be sure to check them out and the ones I didn't pick!!

Floating World & Paper Mate Ink Joy Gel Pens -- a Relaxing Friday Review

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

This week has been anything besides relaxing and I have not had much time to color. Perhaps it was working nights due to Hazel's camp schedule. Anyway, I have a beautiful coloring book and some new gel pens to share with you today. The coloring book is Floating World: Japanese Prints Coloring Book by Andrew Vigar. 

Get Mapmaking -- Map Fun for Summertime Fun!

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Do your kids know how to read a map? Perhaps you have gone on a treasure hunt with a map? A great way to inspire creativity and to learn about maps is to create their own and today's book let's them do just that. The book is Get Mapmaking: How to Get Creative with Maps by Rian Hughes.