Summer Reading -- Fun Picture Books

Disclosure: I was sent these books 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.

Are your kids working on their summer reading and/or summer homework? I know we are and I have to admit I find it to be a bit of a pain. The part we enjoy however is the daily reading. Hazel reads at least a book or a chapter if it is a chapter book to my parents each night before bedtime. If they are not available, she reads to me. She is loving reading from her summer reading list but she also loves to read some of the new picture books we have received. Here are four fun ones to share today. Next week we will share some middle grade chapter books and have some suggestions throughout the summer. Be sure to check back for all of our recommendations. The books today are fun books. Many of them are rather funny.

Summertime Fun Supplies -- Where to Buy

Disclosure: I will receive thank you products for writing this post. All opinions are my own. I have not received or used any of these supplies, but am sharing ideas with you.
 
Where do you get all of your supplies for Summertime Fun? My go to place is Oriental Trading. They have great prices and lots of fun things. Many people know them for their party supplies, but they have so much more!! Of course they have everything you need for your picnics and barbecues as well as for any luaus you may want to throw. And of course they have everything for Vacation Bible School (or just some Bible learning at home). Every Sunday School teacher knows that Oriental Trading is the place to go for Bible crafts and religious toys.

However some of my favorite things are to get your kids active and outside enjoying the beautiful weather!! Perhaps you could set up an obstacle course with products like these Crawl Through Arches and Tropical Potato Sacks (there are many different designs to choose from but I liked these) which are available in the Games & Activities. 

Summer Fun: Activities & Crafts for Beginning Campers

For a very long time Hazel has really wanted to go camping. She has seen various television characters go camping and has heard about it from her friends. Now I grew up camping with my family, but Steve did not. I own a very small tent, but have always camped with people who know how to camp better than I do, so I do not have much confidence. We have promised to take her at some point, but in the mean time I made her a tent and campfire for her doll and then we tried some beginner activities. 

Avoiding the Summer Slide with Free Programs

Before I get into today's post, I have to share with you what made me so proud of Hazel yesterday. She had decided she wanted to get her hair cut. She was not sure what she wanted to do, but mentioned the possibility of donating it again. With it long it gets tangled very easily and she hates brushing them out. Well at the hairdresser she decided she did want to donate it and got a cut similar to mine. She was very excited this morning to brush her own hair and put her own barrettes into it.

Sharing Saturday 15-27

Thank you to everyone who shared the last two weeks!! With the USA celebrating its Independence Day last week, we did a two week long party. There were many fun ideas shared! If you have not checked them out, you should. For the sampling of ideas from the last party I went with Summer Features, Outside Summer Features and Some Favorites. Enjoy!!

Little One-Yard Wonders Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Storey Publishing. 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 get the pleasure of reviewing Little One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins. This is the newest addition to the One-Yard Wonders series. I love these books!!

This book has 101 sewing projects for children and babies. It has everything from clothing to toys and room decor. Just on the cover you can see a floor cushion, shoes, a diaper bag and the mushroom tea set and more!! The first project I wanted to try was the Summer Days Hat. This hat is perfect for Hazel with her long hair that she always wants up. Her sun hats tend not to fit over her pony tail.

Sharing Saturday 15-21

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! This week there were so many great ideas!! People are kicking into summer mode and I know this is a busy time around my house. How about with you? This week's features are Summer Plans & Travel, Art & Crafts and a few of my favorites. These are only a sampling of what was shared. Be sure to go back to last week's party to see even more great ideas.

Sorbet Floats--Summer Celebrations or Perfect Drinks for a Frozen Party

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

We are in the middle of Labor Day weekend here in the United States. It is the unofficial end to summer. Hazel starts school this week and she is not happy about it. To celebrate summer, say an end or just for fun, we made some sorbet floats. Now this idea started when we were out to dinner with my parents at the Rock Harbor Grill. We looked at the dessert menu after dinner even though none of us could eat another bite and I saw a blueberry sorbet IBC cream soda float. I was tempted, but then noticed all desserts were $8 and figured we could make it cheaper at home. I bought a six pack of IBC cream soda and then searched for blueberry sorbet. I finally found some in one of those serve yourself frozen yogurt places. We bought a small cup of it and made the floats.

Now since this was a summer celebration we used our umbrella straws. I could totally see Olaf drinking this in his dream of summer. Since we did not have much sorbet, we only needed one bottle of soda for the two drinks. Hazel loved it! (Now she has yet to like any of the drinks with bubbles in it previously.)

I finally got her to take the straw out of her mouth and told her to smile to show she liked it, but the smile didn't quite happen.

Now one of the best things of these floats is it is made with sorbet which is dairy free so Hazel can have them without worry of the dairy issues! We had some raspberry sorbet in the freezer, so we tried that the next day. We put in a lot of sorbet the first time we made them and not quite as much so it could have a chance to melt. We talked about the sorbet being like frozen hearts from Disney's Frozen. So we decided this would be a fun punch to make for her Frozen party. 

Hazel has been asking for these every night now. We are not quite as fancy as the first ones. Needless to say we love them. 

My favorite is when the sorbet is really starting to melt and you can taste the fruit mixed well with the soda. So that is our summer celebration/Disney Frozen inspired drinks. Goodbye, summer!! We will miss you!!

For more Frozen inspired things check out:

• DIY Olaf Mugs for Frozen party
• Frozen Fractals Lesson
• Frozen Fractals Lesson 2 & Olaf Craft
• Sharing Saturday with Frozen Features
• My Disney's Frozen Pinterst Board

Sharing Saturday 14-28

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Thank you to everyone who stopped by last week to share and be inspired and a special thank you to all who took the time to visit others. With the holiday, we had less than usual, but there were many amazing ideas shared as always. Here are some of my favorites.

 
1) From Just a Touch of Crazy: "Summer Is" Poem Printable

2) From DabblingMomma: Leaf Creatures

3) From Our Adventure Story: Clouds Study with Printables 

4) From Living Montessori Now: N is for 40+ Summer Nature Walks 

5) From Wesens-Art: Summer Ideas  

6) From ABC Creative Learning: Curious George Goes Camping Poppins Book Nook

 

1) From Rubberboots and Elf Shoes: Sandcastles: Books and Activities

2) From Toddling in the Fast Lane: Recycled Flower Crown 

3) From Blossom Family: How Your Child's Brain Works 

4) From Krafts and Kiddos: Seashell Letters 

5) From Mini Monets and Mommies: Alphabet Art with Plants

6) From Exploring Literacy with Heart: Inspiration #2...Play 

7) From An Idea on Tuesday: Pirates and Mermaids 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

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From Your Hostess: This week we our review of the newly released Cat in the Hat DVD and have one to giveaway, a review of a beautiful book on Mulan as well as one on Chinese words, our color exploration looking at secondary colors and hues and another one looking at intermediate colors and shades or violet, a review of the book, Mei-Mei's Lucky Birthday Noodles, and our lime exploration!

Make sure you enter our giveaway!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

 

 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Sharing Saturday 14-27

Thank you to everyone who shared last week. As always it is so inspiring to check out what everyone has been up to. If you have not had a chance to check out the ideas others shared, please do so and remember to leave some comment love! We had a two-way tie for most clicked.

From Crafty Journal: Aluminum Can Dimensional Star

and

From A Bountiful Love: How We Potty Trained Our 2 Year Old in 1 Week

For features I chose two categories. The first is summer/beach themed crafts and the other is some of my favorites!

Summer Features

1) From Kids Activities Blog: DIY Seashell Necklace

2) From Moosewood Connections: Shell Critters

3) From Stella123: The Perfect Free Beach Souvenir

4) From Kids Activities Blog: Butterfly Pasta Watercolor Art

A Few of My Favorites

1) From How The Sun Rose: Around the Sun and DIY Birthday Ring

2) From The Chaos and The Clutter: Create Your Own Babysitting Kit

3) From Jewelry Making Journal: Wire Angel Pendant Tutorial

4) From Felt with Love Designs: Reader Requested: Monkey with Blanket Stuffed Animal with Free Pattern

5) From Craft Ideas for Kids: Making Rain

6) From Mini Monets and Mommies: DIY Glow in the Dark Kids' Paint

7) From The Surly Housewife: 10 Everyday Chores Any Kid Can Do

8) From Wesens-Art: Recycling Art

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

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From Your Hostess: This week we our Craft Stick Fish, Petrosinella: A Neapolitan Rapunzel, Sock Animals, our second Fractal Lesson and an Olaf craft and our Patriotic Necklaces.This coming week we will be hosting two giveaways, so make sure you come check them out!!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

 

 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Sharing Saturday 14-26

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were so many amazing ideas. For features this week I chose two themes: 4th of July/Independence Day and Summer. Since my mind seems to be with both it only seemed right. I picked a few of each, but there are many more from last week! I hope you will go check them and all that was shared out!

Fourth of July Features

1) From Happy Deal- Happy Day: Frugal Craft: 4th of July Centerpiece

2) From  Rock-a-Bye Parents: American Flag Bead Pin

3) From Gift of Curiosity: 4th of July Montessori Activities 

4) From Stella 123: 4th of July Marshmallow Decorating 

5) From ArtClubBlog: Flag Stones 

6) From A Little Pinch of Perfect: Patriotic Windsock Kid Craft 

Summer Features

1) From Living Montessori Now: Top 10 Summer Themes for Preschoolers

2) From Our Adventure Story: The Ultimate 2014 Summer Adventure List 

3) From  Play Dr. Mom: ABC's of Summer

4) From Felt with Love Designs: Links with Love: The Ultimate Round-Up of Summer Sewing Projects 

5) From The Jenny Evolution: Beach Books for the Summer 

6) From Krafts and Kiddos: Handprint Mermaid Painting 

7) There's Just One Mommy: 20 Sea Animal Crafts

 

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

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From Your Hostess: This week we explored lemons, shared The Persian Cinderella for our Fairy Tales in Different Cultures, a simple craft to help teach prayer, a starfish and sand dollar wreath, a review of math picture books and a math lesson on fractal (frozen fractals from Disney's Frozen).

Make sure you enter our giveaway!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

 

 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Starfish and Sand Dollar Wreath for a Touch of Summer

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft items 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.

So while at Cape Cod last week, Hazel and I were in one of our favorite shops and I saw a pretty wreath made with white starfish. It looked very simple. It was a chipboard wreath form painted white with white starfish glued all over it. I showed it to my mother and Hazel and said we could make that. The owner of the store even commented how he considered getting out his glue gun to make one. I think it was on sale for about $17 dollars. I remembered the wonderful starfish I had received from Oriental Trading and thought let's make one when we get home. 

Sharing Saturday 14-25

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! I know I am so inspired and have been pinning and commenting all night on so many great ones. I had a very hard time choosing which to feature, so there are three categories this week. The first, with summer officially starting here tomorrow morning, Summer Lists, the second, with Hazel and I becoming obsessed with Disney's Frozen, Frozen Features, and finally a few of my favorites plus one special one. First our special one.

From Danya Banya: Octonauts Party Starring Dashi

The perfect ideas to go with my current giveaway of the soon-to-be-released Octonauts: Calling All Sharks DVD. Have you entered yet?

Summer Lists

1) From From ABCs to ACTs: 10 Fun Camping Games for Kids
2) From Powerful Mothering: Best Summer Activities for Kids Under 5 Years Old
3) From Carrie Elle: 15 Fun and Free Outdoor Activities for Kids
4) From From ABCs to ACTs: 101 Family Friendly Summer Bucket List Ideas
5) From The Jenny Revolution: Free Summer Reading Programs for Kids
6) From The (Reformed) Idealist Mom: 3 Ways to Crush Your Summer Bucket List

Disney's Frozen Features

1) From Some of the Best Things In Life Are Mistakes: Frozen Crafts and Ideas Round-Up
2) From Here Come the Girls: Frozen Birthday Cakes
3) From Here Come the Girls: Olaf Juice Cartons for Kids

Did I mention Hazel is thinking of perhaps a Frozen theme for her next birthday party? I have already started a Pinterest Board to keep ideas for it and have added these.

A Few of My Favorites

1) From Felt with Love Designs: Ocean Exploration Finger Puppets (Free patterns!)
2) From Like Mama ~ Like Daughter: Enchanted Childhood Preschool - The Letter V
3) From Danya Banya: An Invitaiton to the Fairies: DIY Fairy Door
4) From Lou Lou Girls: I Spy with My Little Eye! Kids' Road Activity

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

Featured Button Code:

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From Your Hostess: This week we visited my parents at Cape Cod and I did not get all my posts written, but we did share our creative and simple mermaid craft, our exploration of Hungary for Around the World in 12 Dishes, our review and giveaway of Octonauts: Calling All Sharks! dvd, and our seashell art!

Make sure you enter our giveaway!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

 

 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.