Have you entered my current giveaway yet?
Playing Grace Thomas Doll Bakery
Sharing Saturday 15-8
Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas with us last week. There were so many great ideas!! Please make sure you check them out. I am only featuring a few of the amazing ones. This week we have been dealing with the incredible amount of snow and have had my 12-year-old nephew visiting. Part of the week was spent at my parents so they could see both of their grandchildren. Since they live on Cape Cod, they have about half the snow we do. Here are some pictures for you to get the idea of what they have. These pictures are of the same beach. The Cape Cod Bay has snow on it!
Ok, back to Sharing Saturday. This week I chose Creative/Engineering Play, Books with Activities and some Favorites. I will admit that some of the favorites are because of my strong desire for winter to end!!
Winter Wonderful DVD Review and Giveaway
Today we are sharing four fun DVDs with you and at the end of the post there is a giveaway for all four!! Thank you to NCircle Entertainment for providing these DVDs.
Chinese Zodiac and Chinese New Year Book Reviews
This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Chinese New Year Blog Series and Giveaway. More details about all of this below including the giveaway!!
 |
Seal Nakhon Si ThammaratBy Fine Arts Department (กรมศิลปากร) of Thailand.[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
Chinese New Year Math and Literacy Unit Review
Do you know that the Chinese New Year starts on Thursday (February 19) this year? If you are looking for a fun unit that uses a Chinese New Year theme to teach PreK, Kindergarten or First Grade some math and literacy, this packet is perfect for you. The packet am I talking about is Chinese New Year Math and Literacy Unit ~ Holidays Around the World (CC Aligned) by Kid World Citizen.
Multicultural Math: Benjamin Banneker
Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #24
Please
note this is NOT Sharing Saturday, but the Creative Kids Culture Blog
Hop. If you do not have multicultural activities, crafts, etc. to share,
you can still share at Sharing Saturday.
Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop!
Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop!
The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time!
Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.
This month our co-hosts are:
Doll Valentine Play Date
Every year Hazel's school usually has the Friday around Valentine's off for a teacher's development day and it is right before February vacation. The past couple of years we have invited some friends over for a Valentine's Day playdate. This year we invited friends and their dolls. Two girls were able to come and the three girls had so much fun!! When they first arrived they picked out a mailbox for their doll and decorated it. I picked up small mailboxes at Target in The Spot section for $1 each.
Sharing Saturday 15-7
Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! There were so many amazing ideas. I had a hard time limiting my features, but I came up with some Valentine's Day Features and Other Features. By the way with Valentine's Day tomorrow, I am going to write a bonus post about our Valentine Doll & Me Play Date. I hope you will come check it out. Then on Sunday I will co-host the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (link live 2/15 at midnight). If you are sharing anything cultural/multicultural please come back and share again there! Now onto our features.
American Girl or 18-inch Doll Accessories from a Party Store Product Review
Yesterday I received an email from Shindigz informing me that my DIY American Girl Themed Party had won an award (you can see the award badge on the post). I responded what a coincidence since I was about to write a review of Shindigz products to use with an 18-inch doll. So yes, here are some ideas of party supplies that work with 18-inch dolls like American Girl dolls. We are getting ready for a Valentine themed Doll Play Date later this week. Hazel invited a few of her friends and their dolls over. We are planning on having a tea party with the dolls. First of course all the dolls need tiaras. These mini tiara combs are the perfect size for the dolls.
Valentine's Gifts and Doll Party Supplies
Yesterday I shared Hazel's lucky ducky Valentine cards for her classmates and teacher with free printables. It is a little hard to put a card with a rubber duck into an envelope. However we wrapped them in a piece of red construction paper and then used these great We Know What Love Is stickers to seal them. They are not pretty, but at least the card is hidden and the stickers have a Scripture and Valentine theme. (Hazel goes to a Christian school.)
Lucky Ducky Valentines with Free Printables
Now I know I have talked about Hazel's Ducky before. When I saw this idea for a Valentine, I knew we had to do it. Of course, I cannot find where I saw it. Sorry!! However, I found red and pink mini rubber ducks at Michaels and bought two packages of 8.
Mahalia Jackson -- Black History Month Blog Series and Giveaway
This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Black History Month Blog Hop and Giveaway. More details below.
While reading the books written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s relatives this year I kept seeing mention of Mahalia Jackson. I had read the book Martin & Mahalia by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, but did not really see the connection to them besides she was a gospel singer and he was a preacher.
Reading stories about how Martin asked Mahalia to get the people in Washington in the right frame of mind for his speech and her whispering to him to tell them about his dream, made me want to learn more. Of course with any musician one of the first things I do is look for a CD at the library so we can hear the music.
Sharing Saturday 15-6
Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were so many amazing ideas shared!! If you have not checked them out, please do so. For features this week we have a few Valentine Features, Book Features and a category I am calling Play and Learn Features.
The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra Book Review Black History Month
Have you ever heard of Sun Ra? How about Sun Ra and the Arkestra? I hadn't until I read this great book, The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra by Chris Raschka. You know it is going to be interesting when it starts out with Sun Ra always said he was from Saturn. It goes on to basically say even though we know that is not true let's assume it is. Sun Ra was an amazing musician and composer. He formed a group of musicians called the Arkestra or Sun Ra's Arkestra. When looking at the various cultures, I like to give Hazel a well rounded look. As important as the Civil Rights Movement is, I think it is also important for her to learn a bit about the arts and the people.
 |
| Sun Ra and the Arkestra in 1992 by Pandelis karayorgis at en.wikipedia [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons |
Tadeo Turtle Book Review
Today I get to share with you a wonderful book called Tadeo Turtle written and illustrated by Janis Cox. Now I got to know about Tadeo Turtle through Sharing Saturday. Every few weeks Janis will share a Tadeo craft with us. Recently she asked if I would like to review the book and I jumped at the chance.
Easy Valentine Tic-Tac-Toe Game Craft
I have been seeing these felt tic-tac-toe games for Valentine's Day everywhere. Some are for sale and others are crafts made by kids or parents. I wanted to give it a try. I thought about sewing it all and making the lines out of stitches, but I wanted it to be simple enough for a child to make so I decided on gluing on ribbons.
Black History Month: Learning about Huntsville, Alabama and Civil Rights Movement
Have you heard of Huntsville, Alabama? You may know it as the "Space Center of the Universe" or "Rocket City." After all the Marshall Space Flight Center is just on the outskirts of Huntsville.
Sharing Saturday 15-5
It has been a crazy week here. We were hit with Blizzard/Winter Storm Juno. Hazel was out of school for two days due to the storm, and Steve was at work for around 36 hours straight. Plus it was Multicultural Children's Book Day on Tuesday! Our internet is acting funky, so I have not been posting as much this week. Sorry! However we had an amazing turn-out at last week's party!! If you have not had a chance to check them out you should!! There are many, many ideas from winter, Valentine's Day, educational and more!! I chose a few favorites for you with the categories being Winter, Penguins, Valentine's Day and Miscellaneous. Please check them out and go back and check out the ones I didn't have room to feature!! A huge thank you to everyone who shared with us and to those who took the time to see what others shared!
Sticker Style Shop Product Review
I have to thank Candlewick Press for sending this great activity book for us at the perfect time! Perhaps it is because they are based in Massachusetts, but somehow this perfect sticker activity arrived the day before the blizzard or at least the afternoon before the blizzard started that night. Now Hazel and I often ride out the storms without Steve since he works for the power company and has to be ready to help when the power goes out. He sleeps at the office and works crazy hours. Therefore it is always good to have something for Hazel to do and keep her entertained. Imagine my joy when I opened a package containing Sticker Style Shop by Jenny Bowers the afternoon before the storm. It officially is available February 10th.
DIY A Doll's Valentine's Day Box of Chocolates
Today is Multicultural Children's Book Day! Be sure to check out all the great book reviews!
While exploring one of my favorite craft stores, The Paper Source, I found these cute little heart boxes that looked like the right proportions for a doll's box of chocolate for Valentine's Day. I bought one for Hazel's dolls. Hazel of course wanted to have four. One for each doll. I bought her three more with conditions of helping clean the house today since we are snowed in. First we painted the box red both inside and out. I was going to add ribbons and flowers, but we have not gotten that far yet.
Groundhog Masks inspired by the Wild Kratts with free pattern
Hazel's favorite television show is The Wild Kratts. It is on PBS and features Chris and Martin Kratt in real life who go into cartoon to explore different animals lives. In cartoons they have all sorts of great technology including creature power suits that allow them to change into the animals. Of course it is not on enough for Hazel so we watch it On Demand often. Since she was home all last week we have been watching the four or so shows that are On Demand over and over. One of the episodes is an Episode from Season 2 called Groundhog Wake Up. (You can see the full episode here for $1.99.) I am sure it is On Demand since Groundhog Day is fast approaching. On the show they make a map on their Creature Pods (I think that is what they are called) after scanning a real groundhog's burrow. Hazel decided to use her play tent as her burrow with the tunnel as one of the entrance tunnels. Watching her play groundhog gave me an idea.
 |
| "Groundhog, eating" by D. Gordon E. Robertson - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. |
Sharing Saturday 15-4
Have you ever had one of those days where your computer just doesn't want to work. That is how my night is going, but it seems to be behaving now. First a huge thank you to everyone who shared last week with us! And a special thank you to everyone who took the time to visit what others shared!! This week our features are winter related, Valentine related and Others.
The Dragon New Year Book Review for Multicultural Children's Book Day & Chinese New Year Blog Series
Today I am going to review my second book for Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD). On Monday I reviewed the first book, Endeavour's Long Journey. There I shared all the exciting things going on with MCCBD. MCCBD is a national event which Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom created to celebrate diversity in children's books. MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media. This year's MCCBD is January 27th! The 2015 sponsors for MCCBD are:
Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop,
Gold Sponsors: Satya House, Multicultural Kids.com, Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof,
Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild, Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books, The Omnibus
Publishing.
Bronze
Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing, Rainbow Books, Author
Felicia Capers,
Chronicle Books Muslim Writers Publishing , East West Discovery Press.
Pine and the Winter Sparrow Book Review
Have you ever wondered why pine trees keep their needles in the winter and the other trees lose their leaves? Alexis York Lumbard shares an old Native American tale explaining this to young children and weaves through the message of helping others and charity. The book is Pine and the Winter Sparrow and the story is based on a Cherokee (or at least that is where Ms. Lumbard thinks it is from) fable called Why the Trees Lose Their Leaves.
Doll Clothes from Outgrown Clothes
I usually pass Hazel's outgrown clothes to a friend who has a three-year-old girl. However there were a few I kept this time. One was a t-shirt that the tag was cut out and whoever cut it out cut the shirt as well. The second was her favorite dress (well actually I kept three favorite dresses, but I only did something with one so far) and the third is a favorite skirt. I started with the t-shirt. It had a pom pom type trim on the neck (this is what got cut) and a band at the waist. I cut the band off and then cut the neck decoration off and saved it for later. Next I got out my pattern for a BFC doll t-shirt from Beach Baby Doll Boutique. I won ten free patterns from Sylvia at Beach Baby Doll Boutique awhile ago and one of the patterns I picked was the Easiest Tee to fit BFC Ink. I have to say it really is the easiest pattern!! After completing the t-shirt I added a piece of the neck trim to the neck of the doll shirt.
Endeavour's Long Journey Book Review for Multicultural Children's Book Day
Today I am reviewing the first of two books for Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD). What is Multicultural Children's Book Day? It is a national event which Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom created to celebrate diversity in children's books. MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media. This year's MCCBD is January 27th! More about MCCBD and the events this year later in this post. Now onto our book!!
Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #23
Please
note this is NOT Sharing Saturday, but the Creative Kids Culture Blog
Hop. If you do not have multicultural activities, crafts, etc. to share,
you can still share at Sharing Saturday.
Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop!
Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.
Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop!
The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time!
Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.
Sharing Saturday 15-3
|
Martin Luther King, Jr. Features
Faith Celebration--United Church of Christ
Have you entered my current giveaway for a wooden watch?
Back in September I reviewed the beautiful book, Everyone Prays: Celebrating Faith Around the World by Alexis York Lumbard. As I thought about this book I began to think about how wonderful it would be to have a place to learn about the different world religions in a personal way. I talked to some of my fellow bloggers at Multicultural Kid Blogs and came up with the wonderful series that will include a giveaway of the book. Each blog participating will be sharing about their own religion and all will be linked together on January 25th at Multicultural Kid Blogs with a review of the book and the giveaway. In my part here is to share about my own religion.
I grew up attending Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut. This is the church in which I was baptized and attended Sunday School. For a short while my mother served as the Interim Director of Christian Education there. It was a church with a lot of history. It is across the street from the Mark Twain House in Hartford and I was always told that Mark Twain called it the oily cloth church because of the yellow and green tiles above the entrance.
 |
| Immanuel Congregational Church (Source) |
I grew up attending Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut. This is the church in which I was baptized and attended Sunday School. For a short while my mother served as the Interim Director of Christian Education there. It was a church with a lot of history. It is across the street from the Mark Twain House in Hartford and I was always told that Mark Twain called it the oily cloth church because of the yellow and green tiles above the entrance.
DIY Disney's Frozen Birthday Party Thank You Notes--Free Printable
Big Red Kangaroo Book Review
Have you entered my current giveaway for a wooden watch?
Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to 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.
We are so excited to share this fun book with you today. Big Red Kangaroo by Claire Saxby is a wonderful book about red kangaroos. It was released last week. In similar fashion to Grandma Elephant's In Charge (which I reviewed last month), Big Red Kangaroo follows a dominant male red kangaroo with his mob but also gives facts about red kangaroos in side notes. The dominant male kangaroo is responsible for the safety and livelihood of its mob which is made up of females and joeys (baby kangaroos). Young male adult kangaroos will challenge the dominant male for the mob. The dominant male will have to fight off or scare off the challengers. He also has to help find the safe places for the mob to eat and rest during the hot sunny days. It is so interesting to learn about the harsh climates these animals live in.
Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to 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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)