Today I am going to share another 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It is a beautiful photograph from Japan. It is the Samurai Castle and Cherry Blossoms 1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle.
Showing posts with label Asia and Pacific Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asia and Pacific Islands. Show all posts
Interesting Facts about Samurai and Himeji Castle Jigsaw Puzzle Review
Mongolian Gers -- Tent Houses
So I had big plans to start reviewing books on Japan. I have quite a pile. However they are going to wait until next week and into June because I found one other Asian country to cover on my bookshelf. Today I am going to share with you Story of the Mongolian Tent House by Dashdondog Jamba, retold by Anne Pellowski and illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. Before I begin my review, I would like to add that there are not a whole lot of books about or from Mongolia or many crafts or resources for kids. When I did a search for craft ideas most of them were adult crafts and for sale. I think this is a topic that needs a bit more exploring and I am going to share what I did find.
Learning about China through Books
May is Asian American Heritage Month. Last week we focused on Vietnam and this week we will focus on China. I have two books to share with you today. One of them I reviewed an older edition several years ago. The other is a book of children's stories from both China and Tibet. I began to wonder about Tibet. Tibet was taken over by the Communist Chinese Government in 1949. The leader of Tibet prior to that was the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama escaped to India and lives there in exile with over 100,000 Tibetan refugees. (Source) We will start with Favorite Children's Stories from China and Tibet by Lotta Carswell Hume and illustrated by Lo Koon-chiu.
Jigsaw Puzzle of and Fun Facts about the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia
I have been very lucky to be able to get products to review from Tuttle Publishing. Since their company focuses on Eastern countries I always find their products perfect for sharing in May (though I share them all year long). Besides books they have other products including jigsaw puzzles. I thought it would be fun to share some of the puzzles I have from Tuttle this month. I have shared others previously. Plus since the puzzle is of the Borobudur Temple, I thought I would share some fun facts about the temple.
Exploring Vietnam
May is Asian/Pacific Islander-American Heritage Month. Last May I focused on Japan and I thought this year I might try to do that with Vietnam, but as I looked at my resources this year I decided I would do one post on Vietnam and posts about other Asian and Pacific Island countries. Today we will focus on Vietnam and I will share two books--a cookbook and a picture dictionary. At the end I will share a round-up of some activities and books on the topic of Vietnam and the culture.
Women in World War II
Today we are going to look at some of the American women who made a difference during World War II. Women's rights had progressed between the two world wars as well as progress in technology. By World War II women were pilots. Computers were introduced to the mix. And of course there were the nurses and spies. Once again my go to book is Heroism Begins with Her by Winifred Conkling. I will be sharing additional sources as well as books (mostly children's) about each of the amazing women I will share.
Women in Wars -- Introduction-- Women's History Month
As I thought about Women's History Month I knew I wanted to really touch on women in history that may be forgotten. Today women are members of the Armed Forces, but not that long ago they were not allowed. I decided I would focus on women who played important roles in wars. This month I will share about women in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and the two World Wars. Today I thought I would start with some women who fought wars before America was a country. I have focused on the legend of Mulan in the past. She is one of the women who reportedly disguised herself as a man to fight in a war. Then there was the Greek goddess, Athena, who was the goddess of war, as well as the Amazons, the race of women warriors in Greek mythology. Even the Aztecs had a warrior goddess, Itzpapalotl. Then we know of Joan of Arc and how she led the French army through battles. And we shared about Artemisia in the past. Today let's talk about some of the other women you may not have heard about that fought in real wars and battles. As I started researching women in wars I found The Book of Heroines: Tales of History's Gutsiest Gals by Stephanie Warren Drimmer. All of the women, goddesses and legends mentioned in this post are featured in this book. This book is one of the sources for my entire post. I will list others that I used to find out more about the women and share books for kids when possible. (Note: I have not checked out these books but found them searching my local library website and Amazon.)
Review of American History: Asians in America #readyourworld
Today I am sharing the first of my reviews for Multicultural Children's Book Day. Today's book shares about fourteen Asian Americans and what they achieved with their lives. The book is part of the Casey S. Bell's American History series.
Review of Indonesian Children's Favorite Stories -- Multicultural Monday
January is always an exciting month here at Crafty Moms Share. It always represents Multicultural Children's Book Day since it is held the last Friday in January and the books are reviewed throughout the month of January. I am co-hosting once again this year as well as one of the many book reviewers for the event. Tuttle Publishing is always a sponsor of this event and although this book qualifies to be part of it I am not reviewing it today for Multicultural Children's Book Day. It is one I have on my review shelf before I started getting the books for the event.
Two Beautiful Picture Books about Growing Up and Mindfulness
Today I am going to share with you two absolutely beautiful picture books. The books are recommended for pre-K through grade 3. One is about becoming a big girl and putting away toys and the other is about learning to meditate. The first book is Nasla's Dream by Cecile Roumiguiere and illustrated by Simone Rea.
Books to Celebrate Filipino American History Month
Did you know October is Filipino American History Month? Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation. They are third largest ethnic group in California (after Latinos and Blacks). October was chosen because it commemorates the first Filipino to step foot on the continental United States. On October 18, 1587, Luzones Indios came ashore at what is now Morro Bay, California, from Nuestro Senora de Esperanza, a Spanish galleon. In 2009 the United States Congress recognized October as Filipino American History Month. (Source) To celebrate I thought we would look at some books about the Philippines and their culture.
The Benefits of Doing a Puzzle and a Puzzle Review
Disclosure: I was sent this puzzle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Are you a puzzle person? As the country shut down the sales of puzzles went up. In fact there was a puzzle shortage back in April. Puzzle manufacturers could not keep up. One company said that in one day in March they sold more than they sold in the entire month of December. (Source) I have always loved puzzles. However when Hazel was younger I often had Steve do them with her. She found out why a few years ago at my parents condo building. I become a little obsessed with the puzzle and will stay working on it for hours and hours and not go to bed because I want to find one more piece. My focus is completely on the puzzle and not much else. However we have started to do more puzzles as a family. Or at least they will help me a bit with puzzles now. I shared a new puzzle awhile ago as one of our stay-cation activities. (Which Hazel has found 1 of our missing pieces--under the chair cushion. Now we are just missing 1 piece. I know it will turn up.) Today I am going to share another, but before I do I thought it would be fun to look at some of the benefits of doing a jigsaw puzzle!
Kamala Harris -- #Blacklivesmatter Series
My family is having a stay-cation this week so I may not post quite as often. I missed Crafty Sunday because I hadn't really crafted and was tired. We celebrated my birthday with my sister over the weekend. Hard to believe I am 50. Wow! Anyway, I do want to keep up my commitment to post about Black people every week. This week I returned to the list I received from my three Black teacher friends and am focusing on Kamala Harris. I will admit I knew nothing about her when I added her to the list, but of course she is in the news quite a bit now and maybe more so if she is picked as Biden's running mate. I will also add that I am not trying to make a political statement by featuring her. Although I tend to agree with the liberal side my husband is the opposite and yes the past couple of years have been tough when politics comes up more so than in the past. I usually can see both sides so I can stay somewhat neutral around him, but I have struggled with that recently. Anyway back to our post about Kamala.
The Discovery of Anime & Manga Review as part of our Explore Japan
Back in May we explored Japan with various posts to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Due to one of those posts Immedium contacted me asking if I would be interested in reviewing their newest in The Asian Hall of Fame Series, The Discovery of Anime and Manga by Phil Amara and Oliver Chin and illustrated by Juan Calle. I have reviewed many books from Immedium previously and have enjoyed them.
Exploring Japan Part 4 -- Fun Facts & Resource Round-Up
For the last three Mondays we have been exploring Japan. We started with some picture books, then looked at crafts and artists and then origami. Today we are looking at fun facts about Japan and doing a resource and activity round-up. But first some facts about Japan itself. Japan is called Nihon or Nippon in Japanese. It means "land of the rising sun". It was once believed that Japan was the first country to see the sun each morning. The country is made up of 6,582 islands, but has four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Three tectonic plates meet near Japan and cause many earthquakes. Japan experiences 1,000 earthquakes in a year. Some of these cause tsunamis. There are also 200 volcanoes in Japan. Sixty of them are still active. Almost three quarters of the land is covered by mountains and forest which make the land hard to farm or use for industry or residential. The Japanese Alps run down the center of the island of Honshu. Mount Fuji is the highest mountain/volcano in Japan and is considered sacred by many Japanese people.
Origami: Fun Facts, Product Reviews & Craft Round-Up
We are on our third week of exploring Japan for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. If you missed our first two weeks we did new picture books to learn about Japan and crafts from Japan. Today we are taking a look at the ancient art of Japanese origami. I thought I would start with some fun facts since I shared a bit about the history of origami a few years ago.
Japanese Arts, Crafts and their Makers
This month is Asian Pacific Heritage Month and to celebrate it we are looking at Japan all month long for Multicultural Mondays. Last week we started with two picture books including one on the creation myth in Japan. Today we are going to look at the crafts and craftsmen/women of Japan as well as a round-up of Japanese-inspired crafts and artists. To begin this post I am sharing a new book that is being released tomorrow (May 12, 2020). It is Craftland Japan by Uwe Röttgen and Katharina Zetti.
Learning about Japan for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week 1
Wow, April was a bit of a strange month with the stay at home order. It is hard to believe it is May. Our weather is finally starting to warm back up. April was the coldest April on record here and until this weekend our warmest day in 2020 was in January! May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Multicultural Kid Blogs has stopped doing its monthly heritage month series but I still wanted to share about it. So this year as I looked at my resources (aka my review shelf) I noticed a definite theme of Japan. So I am going to try to post on Mondays sharing different resources on Japan and Japanese culture. And it makes the most sense to begin with well the beginning. So our first book today is Kojiki: The Birth of Japan by Kazumi Wilds.
Lunar New Year
The Chinese New Year or lunar new year starts on Saturday. Did you know there are other countries that celebrate the lunar new year besides China? Other Asian countries celebrate it like Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and others. Since I have shared so much about the Chinese New Year in the past I thought I would share books that share the culture of China and Korea this year. For both countries I have books that share about the lunar new year as well as other books to learn about the culture and way of life.
Multicultural Books for Multicultural Monday
January is upon us. Wow, time has been flying. Now that the holidays are over we turn back and look at our lives. Did you make resolutions? I always find January to be bitter sweet. I enjoy the holidays and seeing everyone and they are over. We take our Christmas decorations down and the house seems empty. However as someone who loves diversity there are always more things to look forward to. Multicultural Children's Book Day is January 31st and I am co-hosting again this year. Stay tune for my official posts starting this week. The lunar new year is also approaching. I will be participating in Multicultural Kid Blogs annual blog series on January 20th to share books about China and Korea and their lunar new year celebrations. And of course Martin Luther King Day is this month. So much great stuff. Then February hits with Black History Month. Lots to look forward to. Today I thought I would share four multicultural books with you to start off our January.
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