Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

 Disclosure: I was sent the seahorse craft kit to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

An Easy Paper Plate Sea Gull Craft

Today I am sharing a quick craft we did at our local library. Every Thursday they have a free craft and Hazel loves to go and do it. This week's craft was a simple paper plate sea gull craft. To make the sea gull you need to cut the head and neck by making a somewhat squiggly line on each side of the middle. Draw it on first to get the shape you want. I also rounded the head on mine a bit. Then you fold the wings down and add eyes (either googly or drawn), beak (red or orange paper or draw it on) and feet (yellow paper). Then if you want you can add decorations like eye lashes or color to the wings and body.

Hazel's Sea Gull

I helped Hazel with the cutting since she is not confident at cutting yet. I also cut out the feet and beaks for her. She did the rest. 

My Sea Gull

I used the markers that were out to decorate a bit more. It seemed like the perfect craft since we had been taking a closer look at sea creatures and lately we have been reading about birds.

For more ideas on Ocean Life and Birds check out:

• Shark Exploration
• Cinderella Penguin
• Wild and Free: Dolphins, Whales and Manatees
• Jellyfish Exploration
• Trip to Boston
• Ocean Pinterest Board
• Paper Plate Ducks 
• Needle Felted Birds 
• Bird Nest Crafts 
• Peg Doll Birds 
• Pine Cone Swans 
• Birds for Our Homemade Nests 
• Bird Nest Treats 
• Gift for the Birds 
• Pine Cone Ducks
• Simple Bird Nest Crafts (scroll to bottom of post) 
• Birds Pinterest Board 

Legend of the Sand Dollar for Easter

Since we are entering Holy Week, I thought I would share a book we

discovered as we were investigating underwater creatures. The book is The Legend of the Sand Dollar: An Inspirational Story of Hope for Easter by Chris Auer. This book is about a young girl, Kerry, who takes a bus with her older sister to a relative's house. Kerry cannot understand why they cannot be with their parents for a few days, but loves going to the relative's house and playing with her cousin, Jack. On the first morning there Jack takes Kerry for a ride in his new boat to an island in the sea. They see sand dollars. Kerry asks what they are and Jack tells her about them and their legend. Now their legend is not a secret. It is all over the internet, but I had not heard it before. Anyway the legend gives Kerry the hope she needs to wait to see her parents again and she shares the story with her sister.

Octonauts: To the Gup-X DVD Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVD free of charge and is supplying the one for the giveaway free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.

Having gone from allowing Hazel to watch very small amounts of television to watching much more after switching schools, I tend to really pay attention to what she is watching. One of her favorite shows is The Octonauts on Disney Junior. What I like about the show is it teaches something about underwater creatures and to protect the underwater life. I believe this show is where she got the idea of exploring underwater creatures. If you have missed them, we have posted two of our underwater explorations thus far: jellyfish and sharks. The show is based on books written by Meomi and we will be reviewing one of them during this giveaway as well!

Coloring Page Source

Since I know Hazel loves the show and I like her watching it, I jumped at the chance to review and giveaway a copy of the newest Octonauts DVD from NCircle Enterntainment. Octonauts: To the Gup-X is being released on March 18th. You can pre-order it from NCircle or Amazon. The suggested retail price is $12.99.

Octonauts: To the Gup-X contains six episodes including "Great White Shark", "Coconut Crabs," "Bowhead Whales," "Whale Shark," "Monster Map," and "Flying Fish." It also has a bonus feature of a close up of the Gup-X. Overall the episodes are child-friendly ways to explore the underwater world and learn about sea life you may never have heard of. For our underwater creature explorations I turned to the library for some books on the creatures and included the creatures in these episodes. I found some of the creatures.

We read these books to learn even more about the creatures. "Monster Map" has an octopus in it for the creature. The first time we watched it, Hazel was scared of the "Great White Shark" but I found after learning more about them, she was not as afraid. I think the more exciting thing is when she saw the cover of Deborah Muzzola's Whale Shark book, she told me it was about whale sharks. She is learning what the creatures look like.

To go with the video we made an Octonaut hat. I was going to make one out of fabric for her, but I wanted her to have a part in making it. I had seen a tutorial to make a sailor's hat out of a coffee filter and cardboard at Cut Out and Keep. Since our coffee filters are missing right now, we used a paper bowl. Hazel used her water color paints and painted the bowl. Then we made a rim with cardboard and construction paper. The hardest part was attaching the rim to the bowl. I glued it and then put some tape on it as well as clothespins until the glue dried. I enlarged one of the pictures over at Disney Junior for the Octonaut symbol on the hat.

I also made Hazel some peg dolls of a few of the characters. She cannot wait for me to make the rest of them, but for now she has Kwazii, Peso and Captain Barnacles. They are three of her favorites.

She has also asked me to make a full outfit for her. She decided it should be Captain Barnacles since he has the most clothes and she wants the tool on his belt. Looks like I have some sewing to do.

Needless to say we loved the DVD. Hazel has watched it several times which is a lot for her with any DVD since she usually wants to watch the shows on television and not a specific DVD. If you are looking for a DVD that will appeal to either boy or girl and will also educate them a bit, this is a great one! Now I get to offer you a copy to win for you own thanks to NCircle Entertainment. Just follow my Giveaway Rules and do what the Rafflecopter says.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shark Exploration of Underwater Creatures

Today we continue our underwater creature explorations with sharks. Now we are giving you some of our activities and books that we use in preparation of our reviews of a book and DVD on The Octonauts. The review of the DVD including a giveaway will be on Tuesday!! If you missed our first underwater creature exploration, you can check it out on jellyfish.

Jellyfish Crafts, Exploration and Book

Recently Hazel asked to explore under the sea creatures. I think this fascination comes from watching The Octonuats on Disney Junior. I am really excited to be reviewing an Octonaut DVD and book in the next few weeks and giving away a copy of the DVD. To build up to our reviews, I thought I would do some under-the-sea creatures first. Today's creature is the jellyfish.

Photo taken on visit to New England Aquarium

We started our exploration with the book: Nature's Children: Jellyfish by James Kinchen. Jellyfish have been in the waters for millions of years before the dinosaurs. They live in seas and oceans all over the world including the Arctic waters. They have no brains and no eyes and its body is made almost entirely of water. The various types of jellyfish vary in size with the smallest being about half an inch across and the largest being six feet across. The tentacles on the large ones can be 117 feet long. Their movement comes from their body opening and closing like an umbrella. They can shift their body into different shapes to get into tight spots. The book suggests using a water balloon to see what their body is like. We did this.

Jellyfish also can sting. The stingers come from the tentacles. A sting from a sea wasp can kill a human in less than fifteen minutes. Jellyfish use their stings to capture prey and to defend themselves against enemies. The book describes each sting like a hollow harpoon that uncoils itself fifty times the original length. Poison flows down to the harpoon. Adult jellyfish are called medusas after the Greek myth.

Photo from visit to New England Aquarium

The life cycle of a jellyfish is very interesting. A female jellyfish can produce thousands of eggs. Each fertilized egg becomes a larva. The larva has no mouth and looks nothing like the adult jellyfish. The larva drifts until it grabs hold of a rock or seaweed. It rest there and changes into a polyp. Now it can hunt and eat. It has tentacles and is building up its food reserves to see it through its final metamorphism. Each polyp breaks off like a stack of dishes and becomes many medusas. 

Photo from New England Aquarium Visit

After reading this book and doing our water balloon experiment, we made some jellyfish crafts. There are many out there, but we decided to try ones with clear plastic cups with sheer ribbons and large white cupcake liners with glitter ribbons. We started with the cupcake liners. I cut lengths of the ribbons and then we taped them at the half way point to the inside bottom of the liners.

We were happy with how they came out. I liked that you could see how they would open and close to move in the water.

For the cup ones I cut long lengths of ribbon and then gave Hazel the tape. She decided to tape them singly to the inside sides of the cup. I taped the middle of mine together and taped that to the inside bottom of the cup. They both came out nicely.

Afterwards I hung them from our kitchen light. The ribbons are a bit long, but I like them. I put the long ones to the middle of the table so they wouldn't get into anyone's food.

For more on ocean life crafts and lessons check out:

• Beach Trip and Beach Play Mat
• Wild and Free: Dolphins, Whales and Manatees
• Cinderella Penguin or Antarctica
• Pinterest Beach Board

Beach Trip and Beach Play Mat

Last week we visited my parents on Cape Cod. Now I headed up on Friday so my mother and I could drive to Connecticut for a family wedding. Steve brought Hazel up on Sunday when my mother and I were returning. He stayed for the day and Hazel and I stayed until Wednesday. I promised her we would go to the beach. On Monday Hazel and I took my mother to her rehab class (post heart surgery) and my sister and nephew came up. My sister was dropping my nephew off for his summer visit with my parents. They live in North Carolina and usually come north twice a year--for his July visit and Christmas. So with all the excitement of the crowd and everyone's ideas for what we should do each day, the beach did not happen until Wednesday morning. I knew we would only have a couple of hours there since we had an appointment at home at 3:15. And of course it was low tide that morning. Normally we go to the bay side beach near my parents house so Hazel can swim and play without much fear or waves. However at low tide you can walk for miles before being able to swim on the bay side. So we headed to the ocean side for her first time swimming with waves. She loved it!! Since I was holding her hand or her while we were in the water, I did not get any pictures of her in the water, but got some of her playing in the sand.

Now I have had an idea for quite awhile. I was inspired by crafts at the Jo-Ann Fabric's Cape Discovery Summer Craft Challenge. You may remember the jungle diorama I shared at the end of May. They had some beautifully crocheted sea shells and other sea things. They inspired me to make a beach play mat. With this in mind we have been gathering small sea life toys and shells, etc. My idea changed form several times and then I saw a large, stiff piece of sand colored felt at a craft store. I bought it and some blue felts. Then that night I pulled out my needle felting roving and decided to needle felt the water to the felt. My original plan was to glue actual sand onto the sand part of the play mat, but I never did and I think I like it this way (mess free) instead.

Now the felt was not wool, but it was easy to needle felt to it. I tried to use different shades of blue as well as make some texture for waves. Then I put the shells and animals on it and left it for Hazel. She loves it!!

I am happy with how it came out and am glad we have been collecting the various sea animals for it. I am thinking I may make her some peg dolls in bath suits next.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Cinderella Penguin or Antarctica

So a few days late, but this week our Cinderella story is not really a multicultural one, but it is called Penguin Cinderella or The Little Glass Flipper by Janet Perlman. It is really just the traditional Cinderella story written with penguins as its characters. I thought it would be a fun time to share some facts about Antarctica and the penguins we have seen at Sea World Orlando and New England Aquarium. I will also be using Penguins by Gail Gibbons (Virtual Book Club for Kids author of the month) as a source!

Antarctica is the southernmost continent and contains the South Pole. It is the coldest, driest and windiest continent in the world. It also has the highest elevation. It is considered a desert due to the minimal amount of precipitation. The temperature has reached −129 °F. There are no permanent human residents, but many people reside there throughout the year at research stations. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by a sheet of ice averaging 1 mile thick.

Source

Antarctica is home to many species of penguins as well as blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. We will focus on the penguins due to the book being based on penguins. The Emperor Penguin is the only penguin that mates in the winter in Antarctica. The Adelie Penguin breeds farther south than any other penguin. The Rockhopper Penguin has distinctive feathers around the eyes. (Source)

Rockhopper Penguin at Sea World

There are seventeen different kinds of penguins. The smallest is the Little Blue Penguin (also called the Fairy Penguin) and the largest is the Emperor Penguin. All penguins have black or bluish-gray backs and white bellies. They all have the same basic body shape and characteristics.

Little Blue Penguins at New England Aquarium

The Adelie and Emperor Penguins never leave Antarctica. Others live in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, South America, and the Galapagos and other islands. 

King Penguins at Sea World

All penguins are birds, but they cannot fly. Over time their wings changed into flippers to aid in swimming and hunting for their food. They are excellent swimmers and divers. Larger penguins can swim faster than 25 miles an hour. Groups of penguins may stay in the water for weeks at a time. Their natural enemies are fur and leopard seals, sea lions, sharks and orcas (killer whales). 

Swimming Penguin at Sea World

Once a year many penguins come together and form colonies called rookeries. This is the time they mate and raise their young. At this time the penguins make loud noises, but most of the time they are quiet. The mating process is different for the different species. I think the most the commonly known mating process is the Emperor Penguin's. The Emperor (and King) Penguins only lay one egg. The female quickly passes it over to the male and he carries it at the top of his feet . The egg is kept warm by a flap on his belly called the brood pouch. During the incubation time the female swims out to sea to feed. The male Emperor Penguins gather together to stay warm. They rotate constantly to the inside and outside of the group so all are able to stay warm. During this time the males do not eat and can lose up to 45 percent of their body weight. It takes 65 days for the egg to hatch. The female returns around this time and she tucks the chick under her brood pouch. The male then goes out to sea to feed. The chick is grey and covered with soft down. The mother feeds the chick by regurgitating food for it. When the father returns, both parents take turns feeding and keeping the chick warm. When the chicks are large enough, they gather in groups called creches. They huddle together to stay warm. When the chicks are three to ten months old they begin to lose their gray down and grow their adult feathers. At this stage they are called fledglings. (Source: Penguins by Gail Gibbons)

Penguins at both Sea World and New England Aquarium

Before going into the book, I want to share our experience on the Antarctica ride at Sea World. Now the first day we went to Sea World, this new exhibit had a two hour wait. With a four-year-old and twin five-year-olds with us, we did not wait two hours. Hazel and I went back for a second day in the rain and the wait was only fifteen minutes. We did wait this time and it was worth the fifteen minutes. I am not sure I feel it would be worth a two hour wait. When you get in the first room you see a short film about a penguin hatching from the egg. You then follow this penguin chick through his life as he grows up a bit. The next room is where you decide which ride you want. There is a mild ride and a wilder ride. We went on the mild one. From what I could tell, the wilder one turned more and bumped around a bit more. The ride is suppose to give you the sense of what life is like in Antarctica. There is even a cold spot supposedly, but the only place we felt cold was when we were in the penguin exhibits.

Pictures from the ride including wet Hazel on it

During the ride you see more short films about the life of the penguin including a blizzard hitting. Then when the ride is over you are literally only a couple of feet away from live penguins. There are places to see them underwater and places to seem them above. Sometimes there was a glass wall between you and other times it was a plastic fencing that did not go all the way to the top. It was so neat. This to me was the best part of the whole ride.

Pictures from Sea World

Now onto our story. So in this story Cinderella is a penguin. She is a good penguin. In the book she has gold hair. Her stepmother and stepsisters are also penguins. The stepsisters get to wear beautiful clothes and sleep in luxurious beds. Cinderella is given rags and sleeps in the cold cellar on a shelf next to some tin plates. Cinderella does all the housework including picking up after her stepsisters.

Our Penguin Puppet Show

One day an invitation arrives to the Penguin Prince's Costume Ball. The stepsisters have new costumes made and spend much time looking at themselves in the mirror. Cinderella would like to go, but her stepfamily just laughs at her saying the prince would never want to meet someone like her. The day of the ball Cinderella helps the stepsisters get ready and then without a thank you or goodbye their carriage leaves and Cinderella is left alone. She begins to cry and the little blue fairy penguin comes and asks Cinderella why she is crying. She tells her to go get a pumpkin so she can go to the ball. (Ok, first spot that we know this story does not take place in Antarctica since pumpkins cannot grow there.) The fairy turns it into a beautiful coach. Then she finds six mice carrying a hunk of cheese (we only had three). She turns the mice into horses and the cheese into the coachman. Then she turns Cinderella's clothes into a beautiful gown and glass flippers. (We used our Sea World Animal Rescue Barbie doll flippers.) Cinderella goes to the ball with the warning that she must leave by midnight. She dances all night with the Prince Penguin and all of a sudden it is almost midnight. She runs off and leaves behind one of the glass flippers. The prince will only marry the penguin whose flipper fits in the glass flipper. Everyone tries it on, but the glass flipper is too small. Then Cinderella gets her turn and of course it fits. She marries the prince and they live happily ever after.

We made the penguin puppets and acted out the story with some props. The puppets are just construction paper and googly eyes glued to popsicle sticks. We did not dress them or give them hair, but kept them more natural or how we saw them at Sea World.

Wild and Free: Dolphins, Whales and Manatees

Have you ever just loved a CD and have the music inspire you to be creative? This happens to me and Hazel all the time. The CD is from Daria and it is called I Have a Dream. Daria had been kind enough to send me this wonderful CD last year so I could review it here, and we followed her instructions to make a quilted rainstick. Now this CD lives in my car for the most part, and it is what Hazel and I tend to listen to while driving. Even when Hazel is not in the car I tend to listen to it. We both know the words to almost every song on it. As I have been listening to Hazel sing along I have had all sorts of creative ideas flowing through my head. Today I am going to share one of them with you. I am thinking we will do something with almost every song on the CD, so stay tuned for more music inspired songs.

 The song I am sharing today is Wild and Free. With Daria's permission I am sharing her YouTube video of this song with you.

Now I will admit this song is the first since we just got back from Florida. Every time we heard this song, Hazel would ask me what a manatee is, so we did some research and came home with many library books plus I realized SeaWorld Orlando has manatees (as well as dolphins and whales), so I knew this was the perfect time to talk about this song and the animals in it. Now the manatees are endangered and need the help of humans as we are their only enemy--if you can call us that. They do not have natural predators due to their size. They have been hunted as well as hurt by boats and nets and of course their food supply is dwindling due to development. For more information on how you can help, check out Save The Manatees website.

The dolphins they play in the ocean...

Blue Horizons Show at Sea World Orlando

The whales (beluga and killer/orca), they swim in the ocean...

Beluga Whales on top in Wild Arctic Exhibit and Orca Whales in One Ocean Show

The manatees play by the bayside...

Manatees outside Turtle Trek Exhibit

While at SeaWorld, I bought Hazel small plastic versions of each of the animals. We also bought a Sea World Rescue Barbie that came with dolphins as well. Plus we pulled out the whales I made when we read The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson for the Virtual Book Club for Kids.

Then I set up the entire zoo for Hazel, but more about that later.

We also made an ocean interactive box. We took a shoe box and lined it with sky blue paper and then cut a strip of dark blue paper to be the ocean and glued to the front. We cut a slit on the bottom of the box. Then I printed out pictures I found on line of each animal and we cut them out and glued them to popsicle sticks. 

Then we acted out  the song while we listened to it. (I think we probably should have lined the bottom of the box with the dark blue as well.) I had all sorts of other craft ideas, but they did not happen. I am also working on sewing some felt creatures for her. I have started the manatee. I'll share it when we finish. I have found patterns on line for a dolphin and killer whale as well. I think I may try to make my own beluga pattern. 

Some final pictures to show you. Above is a picture of Hazel at SeaWorld looking for beluga whales. Below is the zoo I set up for her. As she was looking at it, she was mentioning that we had an Australia section with kangaroos and a wombat and an African section with the lions, giraffes, zebras and elephants. I mentioned the panda bear being from China and she started asking where the other animals were from. I guess I'm bringing her up to notice the animals of the world at least.

Finally here is a collage of the books we have collected on manatees, dolphins and whales. We have not read them all and many of the manatee books are more picture story/fiction ones, but I always find those fun to include. Manatee on Location is non-fiction though. Also you can purchase Daria's CD at her store for $10 with free shipping!