Lost -- Wordless Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

When Hazel went to a Waldorf School when she was young, we fell in love with wordless books. Some of Hazel's favorite books when she was young were wordless. Today I get to share a new wordless book. The book is Lost by Bob Staake. It is recommended for ages 3 to 7.

Book Nooks & Miniatures -- Crafty Sunday

 

In our chaotic world I have found that I need to craft. In some shape or form crafting relaxes me and helps me feel grounded. For two weeks each February our high school stops all regular classes to teach mini courses. This year one of my coworkers suggested a mini course of designing book nooks. Now I have built dollhouses from kits and made miniatures, but I hadn't explored book nooks yet. I wanted to coteach the course! I bought a kit as well as a blank book nook to play around before the course. I didn't have much time for either of course. But the class got me hooked on book nooks!

Virtual Book Club for Kids Bobo Books by Jez Alborough

Have you entered my current giveaway?

This month the author chosen for Virtual Book Club for Kids is Jez Alborough. We had not read any of his books but quickly fell in love with the Bobo series as well as the Duck series. Today we are featuring the Bobo series. I thought it would be fun for us to learn more about chimpanzees since they are an animal we do not know much about. But first let me tell you about the Virtual Book Club for Kids.

The Virtual Book Club for Kids is a group of amazing bloggers that have one author chosen for each month and each blogger chooses a book by that author and comes up with an activity or craft to go with the book. Then we host a blog hop which starts the third Monday of the month. We each link up our posts and invite others to link up posts about books by this month's author. The amazing bloggers hosting this book club are:

Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators' Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little - Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Mommy and Me Book Club - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti - Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Smile Play Learn - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Coffee Cups and Crayons - Having Fun at Chelle's House- Love, Play, Learn - Juggling With Kids - Motherhood on a Dime - Growing Book By Book

- This Reading Mama - Fantastic Fun and Learning

Ok, now onto our books. Bobo is a wonderful little chimpanzee. He is friends with many animals in the jungle but in particular an elephant and a lizard (at least I think it is a lizard, but it could be a frog). Each of these books have very few words. In fact most of the words are just the title repeated over and over. For example in Hug, on every page Bobo sees an animal friend getting a hug from its mommy and he says, "hug" repeatedly. Then he yells it and begins to cry until his Mommy yells, "Bobo" and comes and hugs him. The only words in the book are hug, Bobo and Mommy.



In Yes, Mommy tells Bobo it is time for different parts of the bedtime routine like a bath. Bobo says, "Yes" repeatedly during the bath, but when it is time for bed and Bobo says, "No" repeatedly. Then Mommy says "Bye-bye, Bobo," and Bobo's friends come and to play with him in the water. The lizard splashes Bobo and he says, "No." The lizard says, "Yes." Then they both say no when the elephant runs to the water. Then the three friends enjoy the water together saying yes. Soon Bobo becomes tired and falls asleep. The elephant carries him sleeping with his trunk to his bed in the trees where Mommy is waiting for them.



In Tall, Bobo is feeling small and climbs on a rock to be tall. Then his lizard friend comes and stands up on his hind legs and is taller than Bobo on the rock, so Bobo feels small again. The lizard has Bobo climb onto his shoulders so he can be tall. Then they find a lion cub who is taller so Bobo feels small. The lion cub gives Bobo a ride so he is tall. This continues throughout the book with different animals being taller until he gets on top of the giraffe. He begins to dance on the giraffe's horns and loses his balance. He yells, "Fall" and his Mommy comes running yelling his name and catching him. She carries him home hugging him and he is happy to feel small.

For these books we did a craft by making masks for Bobo and Mommy. For the pattern I went to the Jez Alborough website and went to his How to Draw section. How to draw Bobo is in the club members only section, but to join the club is free, so I joined. I used his steps to draw a pattern.

Dark Brown Pattern Pieces

We cut the pattern pieces out of cardstock scrapbook paper and cut the eyes out to make the masks. Then we colored the mouth, nose and eye brows. We glued them together and left them to dry. After they dried we punched holes and tied on stretchy string.

Light Pattern Pieces

Hazel then modeled both of them for me.

Bobo or Hazel's Mask

Mommy

Hazel loved wearing the masks, but I need to tighten the string on the Mommy mask. I also wanted to teach her more about chimpanzees, so we took some books out of the library.

I discovered that chimpanzees are endangered. I found this very sad especially since they have so many similarities to humans. I also found on Disneynature an educator's guide to go with their Chimpanzee Movie. I have requested the movie from the library, but have not gotten it yet. We had some fun exploring chimpanzees. I printed the lessons intended for the youngest grades in the educator's guide. It started with comparing chimpanzees to human beings. We looked at feet, hands and then took measurements and compared which was longer our legs or our arms. There was also a sheet to identify the emotions the chimpanzee in a picture was displaying on his face. 

They also gave us a map to color in where chimpanzees are found in the wild. Hazel mistakenly colored in an extra country, but we also noticed they are in Kenya which is our country this month for Around the World in 12 Dishes (post will be tomorrow), so it was a nice connection. We also read a short story and chose what animals and plants were in the chimpanzees habitat and finally we looked a food chain with the chimpanzee in it.

So that is our study of chimpanzees which was all inspired by the Bobo series of books. Every time I read one Hazel gets so excited and comments how she loves Bobo. Have you read a Jez Alborough book and done some activity or craft with it? Now is your turn to share. If you don't have one to share you can always check out all the great ideas others share here too.

Popsicle Stick Fish Craft & More

Congratulations to Kristen P. for winning the Octunauts DVD!!

Today I am going to share a simple craft inspired by a craft kit at Oriental Trading. Since we had most of the supplies already, we did not order the craft kit. I showed Hazel the picture and let her get to work on it. She came up with the following picture.

All the craft sticks she had left in her craft supplies had glitter glue on them. After she made this, we found more colored craft sticks. I made another one trying to spread out the sticks more. I actually like hers better. I also added some foam spots on the ends.

Seeing mine, she wanted dots on hers, so she added them.

For this craft, we glued the sticks in the order we wanted them and added the heart for a mouth and an eye. Then added the dots.Today we will also share a couple of fun things from this past weekend. First look what we saw while waiting in line at the drive through at Starbucks on Saturday.

Of course once I was at a good place to take a picture and got my camera, the line began to move. I noticed a bird fly out of the nest which is what caught my eye to it. Then I pointed it out to Hazel. So fun!!

Then one of the teenagers at church made these amazing cupcakes for the Sunday School snack on Sunday. We are using a Jungle-Themed Vacation Bible School curriculum for the summer lessons and this week's animal was a giraffe. She said she found how to do it on-line. I am guessing she found them at Sugar Sugar: Giraffe Cupcakes!

Flamingo Friday--First Day of School Jitters with a Flamingo Book

Today we are sharing a book by Jamie Harper, Miss Mingo and the First Day of School. Now the teacher of the class is the only flamingo in the book, however this is a fun book with many interesting animal facts. Miss Mingo's class consists of many animals including an ant to an elephant and a giraffe. Plus she even has a narwhal and an octopus. The theme of the first day of school is to tel what makes you special. Miss Mingo starts with how she eats upside down and her food makes her pink. Slowly the students begin to share something special about themselves and warm up to each other. The day ends with a pool party in pelican's pouch and using giraffe's tongue as a slide. 

This book is a fun reminder how each of us is special in our own way. I know many students and teachers are anxious about the first day of school each year. I know Hazel is extra anxious since we are switching her school. This book shows how many are shy and that is all right and if you open up and are yourself you will have fun.

To go with this book, I made up a little memory game. Hazel and I had fun playing it. The cards have each animal on them with their special characteristic in small print. To download your own copy in Word, click the picture below.

I know many schools have started or are starting next week. Hazel's new school does not start until after Labor Day, so we still are enjoying another week of summer. The change of schools has caused quite a bit of anxiety in Hazel, but we know it is the right thing for all of us. She has been very clingy this summer because she is afraid of the unknown.

Now I know I have not shared much as to why we have made the decision to switch schools. We had a bit of a discipline/communication issue last year. There was one student who had a few impulse issues and Hazel had a few run-ins with him. One being something inappropriate said to her. I found out about it from another child or that Hazel had cried quite a bit that day and it took me two hours to find out why from her. Then towards the end of the year she told me that the same boy was going under the snack table and biting her legs and pinching her. The teacher's response was that she thought it was only pinching but biting was unacceptable. Now pinching was unacceptable to me and the fact that it was happening quite often and I had not been told anything by anyone. Now many of the students had issues with this boy (one refused to come to school anymore even after he was kicked out). But what bothered us most was how it was dealt with and that we heard stories that it was not the only time where they had these kind of issues. We decided then that this was not the place for our innocent, shy, rule following (to a fault) daughter and looked for something else. We went to the opposite type of school and now she is going to be attending a traditional Christian school. She is excited that she will learn to read this year, but scared to be leaving what she has known. 

To ease this transition, we have read books about the first day of school, we have had playdates with a few of the students in the new school and we have had several visits to the school. Today she got to spend some time talking to one of the teachers when we stopped by for a visit. I think this helped. There are several blogs that have wonderful lists of books to read, so I am going to leave a few links for you in case you want to ease the day as well.

Lists of First Day of School Books

• Buggy and Buddy
• Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas for preschoolers, kindergarten and first grade
• KC Edventures for preschool through middle school
• Play Dr. Mom

So that is our story on going back to school. We have truly found Miss Mingo and the First Day of School enjoyable to read and educational. Plus it has enabled me to have many conversations about the first day of school and making new friends. 

Can You Spot the Leopard? --Review & Giveaway of a Beautiful Picture Book about African Animals

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Karen B. Winnick for this blog tour and will receive a small stipend for this post. All opinions are my own.

Do you know an animal lover? Or perhaps you have a unit coming up on Africa and its animals? I have a beautiful new book to share with you that is perfect for both!! It is Can You Spot the Leopard? An African Safari by Karen B. Winnick. This is the type of book Hazel would have loved when she was younger. 

Mitford at the Fashion Zoo -- 12 Days of Picture Books Review & Giveaway Link

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books 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.

Today is the fifth day of Penguin Kids 12 Days of Picture Books Giveaway!! And today they are giving away five copies of Mitford at the Fashion Zoo by Donald Robertson and we get to review it for you here. 

New Holiday Books for Younger Kids

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in order to provide honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe it is holiday season. Christmas is right around the corner so that means that it is time to share some of the new holiday books!! Today's grouping are books for younger kids. The first is a board book. It is Crocodile Christmas by J.D. Forester and illustrated by Reshu Lakra. It is recommended for ages 0 to 3. 

Spot a Lot Vehicle Adventure Book Review

Have you entered my current giveaway?

Disclosure: Parragon Books sent me a copy of this book 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.

So recently I became a Parragon Books Buddy. They are going to send us a picture book each month to review. This month's book is Spot A Lot Vehicle Adventure by Steve Smallman and Nicola Slater. I have to admit when I saw the title I was thinking it would be a book we would read, review and pass on, however when we got it Hazel fell in love with it! Usually vehicles are not really her thing, however she loves to play "I Spy" and loves this book as a result. 

2026 Calendars for Different Uses

 

Disclosure: I was sent each of these calendars in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

We all have calendars on our phones and computers. Do you use them? Or do you prefer paper calendars? Or perhaps you are like me and want both. When Hazel was younger, we had a "family" calendar hanging in a common room so we could keep track of everyone's appointments, meetings and Hazel's classes. This allowed us to figure out care and rides for Hazel. I had fun with that calendar, and some years even did photo calendars with pictures of Hazel from the past year or photos from a big trip like Hazel's first trip to Disney World. Other times I just picked a special calendar that I liked the pictures, messages and had big enough squares for us to write the appointments on. Now I use my phone calendar to keep track of my appointments and meetings as well as Hazel's appointments. We still hang a calendar in the same spot but don't write on it as much! Steve actually hangs a calendar in just about every room in our house. He takes all the ones companies send us and place them around just in case we wonder the date or perhaps to decorate the room. To be honest I hardly ever see the one hanging on the back of my bedroom door. However, I have found as a teacher and a blogger I need different types of calendars for different reasons. When Workman Calendars asked me to review some, I was very excited! They have different types as well as so many different themes! There is truly something for everyone! My uses for these calendars vary from at home and at school. I will review them by type starting with wall calendars.

Rigoberta Menchu

Back in August I had the pleasure of sharing She Takes a Stand: 16 Fearless Activists Who Have Changed the World by Michael Elsohn Ross. One of the amazing 16 women I read about was Rigoberta Menchú. I decided then to focus on Rigoberta for Hispanic Heritage Month (there is a giveaway below). I wanted to share her story with Hazel (though she got bored--I guess I'll have to wait a few more years) and you.  Rigoberta is an indigenous woman from Guatemala. She has dedicated her life to promoting indigenous rights in Guatemala. She received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

Rigoberta with other Human Rights Activists in 1992 By Moya110 (Own work) 
[GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Books to Celebrate World Animal Day!

 

Disclosure: I was sent copy of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Did you know today (October 4th) is World Animal Day? It is celebrate annually on October 4th which is also the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. I know our church always has a blessing of the pets day around October 4th to honor St. Francis. The idea behind World Animal Day is to work for increasing the status of animals and helping keep them from becoming endangered and/or extinct. (Source and more information on World Animal Day.) Hazel is a big animal lover and especially loved learning about animals when she was younger. She was a huge Wild Kratts fan. Over the years we have shared many animal themed crafts, books and activities. Today we are going to share two more animal-themed books in celebration of World Animal Day. The first is a book I wish was around when Hazel was younger. It is Howl Like a Wolf! by Kathleen Yale and illustrated by Kaley McKean. 

Somewhere, Right Now -- Beautiful new picture book to help deal with the bad moments

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What do you do when something doesn't go your way? It could be something small or something big. How do you model dealing with disappointments for your kids? Today I am going to share a picture book that teaches this. It is Somewhere, Right Now by Kerry Docherty and illustrated by Suzie Mason. It is recommended for ages 3 to 5.

Let's Read About Black Characters & People -- Round-Up of Children's Books

The other day as I talked to Hazel about current events on our walk and was telling her my plans for Crafty Moms Share, she said, "Did you ever notice that when there is a black person in a book there is just one in a group of white friends?" Oh, yes, we still have the token black person in our society of books and television shows. She even commented how sometimes the group is made up of one person of different races like in The Start-Up Squad Series. I recently read an article about how white people need to do more than talk to our kids about racism. Where we live, who our neighbors are, books we read/provide our kids, who our friends are, the diversity of the school we send our kids to all play a part in how our kids grow up and understand race relations. Now I cannot change your neighborhood or their school but I hope I can change the books in your house and your library. I asked some fellow bloggers as well as authors that are part of the Multicultural Children's Book Day group for any books, activities, and reviews they had with black people as the main characters. Today I am going to share a round-up of books shared and some others I found (on Amazon). I will link reviews and activities whenever possible. It is important that all of our kids read books that have people like them but it is also important that our kids read books with people who do not look like them. This will build their understanding and help them to grow and learn about race and culture and hopefully not be racist when they grow up. I have the books separated into picture books, fairy tales, chapter books/novels, and non-fiction/biographies. There are some separation within some of these genres as well. 

What Can You Make with a Cardboard Box? -- Cardboard Creations Crafty Sunday

What can you create from a cardboard box or two? This is what we asked our students for the last two weeks in February. Our school stops academics for two weeks and offers mini courses. One mini course is always for the theater department to prepare for the METG drama festival. For the non-theater kids, we change the course offerings each year, and they pick two classes--one for each week. This year I was offering Cardboard Creations with the physics/chemistry/math teacher. The first week is four days because of Presidents' Day and the second week was supposed to be five days, but we had a blizzard so it turned out to be only three days. 

 I started each week by showing the kids videos from this handout--Cardboard 101. I also shared the handout digitally with them. I also gave them a bunch of links to ideas for cardboard creations. The first video showed the strength of cardboard and talked about how corrugated cardboard was strong in one direction but not the other. We had to remind students of this fact a couple of times. I also showed them the video on rounding and folding cardboard. The school had purchased Makedo Tool Kit for a previous time this class was offered, but most of the kids were not very interested in it. One student did try out the screws that came with it and the most useful tool in the tool kit for my kids was the scoring wheel and the point on all the tools that could be used to poke a hole in the cardboard.

Supplies:

We gathered cardboard and many parents were happy to bring in their boxes for us. We had scissors and box cutters. The art teacher also provided some mats to use the box cutters on without damaging my desks. We also used hot glue guns and bought a box of glue sticks. We also bought quick dry clear craft glue, paint and paint brushes. Then it was up to the kids to decide what to make. 

Projects:

Week 1:

I decided to make a project each week with the kids. I find if I am doing it the kids can get more into it too. Most of the kids came in with an idea of what they wanted to make. The first week we had many big projects including a set of shelves that I forgot to get a picture of and a tower and a human size key character from a video game.

I decided to make a three-dimensional giraffe picture. My inspiration came from My Art Lesson's post called Cardboard Project Inspiration. The three-dimensional part was using layers to have it coming off the page. I used two pizza boxes and a few other things like a tissue box to create this.

One student decided to make a suit of armor with sword and shield. He later painted it green, so we call it his goblin outfit. But he kept the shield with the pizza box logo.

I also have a student who really wants to live in the woods in Northern Maine. He came in wanting to create a map of Maine on the flag of Maine. It came out pretty good.

Another student made this house/village. The house has furniture inside, but they didn't tell me they needed lights until Friday, or I would have brought them in for the display. The details are amazing!!

Some of the other projects include this lion dance mask which has fabric attached to cover the body and a piece of modern art that never got painted. The village above eventually sat inbetween them.

Here is a model of a student's house as well as the green goblin armor and the tower.

Week 2:

Our second week had students who wanted Cardboard Creations as their first choice. They were given the second week because it was supposed to be five days. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not agree and sent the Blizzard of 2026 which gave us two snow days. However, the kids came in ready to create. We started in the same way. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but one of the artistic kids who is close to me suggested I do a cardinal. They even drew me a sketch to start planning my project.

I worked with it and did my own thing. It included some papier mache. Several of the kids wanted me to teach them to papier mache this week. 

I struggled with trying to get the coloring right, but I think I did all right. After I finished her, I wanted to give her something to stand on because she was not very stable. I found a small box that was perfect. 

I got some round black beads for her eyes from the art teacher. Her wings actually flap too! Here is her face.

Now, the student who made the sketch for me is very into oceanography. They made two different sharks and a sea star. Plus, an apple shelf!! There was a shark made the first week, but the student got sick and painted it at home. 

The student told me the specific species of the sharks made but I don't remember. The sharks required papier mache. 

The apple shelf was a quick project while waiting for the papier mache to dry. All four of these projects were made in three days!

Another student made this deer head. This student is very into taxonomy. I love how the deer head came out.

It looks even better from the side!!

This student also made a nice front of a castle. I somehow didn't get a photo of it though. Another student worked on this sword that is from a video game. A student wanted to be knighted with it so that happened.

Another student did several projects but I loved the creativity of this TV head. The black and white screen is a mesh that got painted.

Another student made this spaceship. He also had made one of the Star Wars like creatures using the Makedo tools!

There were also masks made as well as some fun creatures like a cow and Snoopy. This boat that is from Percy Jackson was one of my favorites from the week. It wasn't completed with painting yet.

So, what can you create with a box or two? This was a fun project, and it was really interesting to see the kids create such different things! Plus, it was a great use of all those Amazon boxes that came in and the pizza boxes from Friday Pizza.