My Garden Birthday Party Ideas

So Penguin Kids challenged me (and you) to come up with some birthday party ideas based on favorite books this month. They will be sending me some books to do this with and also wanted us to use our own favorites. I decided our first party idea would be to the theme of the book My Garden by Kevin Henkes. This is one of my favorite books and Hazel loves reading it still. We shared it a couple years ago with a few different crafts and ideas as part of the Virtual Book Club for Children. This story is about a girl telling us how her garden would be different than her mother's. The girl is very imaginative and it includes things like growing jelly bean buses and shells and having only chocolate bunnies. We decided to start with the table settings.

Tru-Colour Bandages Product Review

Disclosure: I was sent three packages of bandages to review free of charge from Tru-Colour Bandages as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own or my guest reviewers. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Have you ever thought about the color of bandages? I know I find the normal color never matches my fair skin, but it is not horrible. Hazel likes the character bandages nowadays and does not want a plain one. So when Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services asked us to review Tru-Colour Bandages I was not so sure. I knew my family did not have the skin colors for these bandages, so I asked a friend to help. One of Hazel's school friends is from Nigeria or at least her mother, Bibi, is. I e-mailed her and asked if she would help with this review since I did not think my opinion as a white person would really be meaningful. She was very willing. She was excited to see bandages in her families skin tones.

March Happenings & Announcements

March is coming in a like a lion in New England with yet another snow storm predicted today/tonight and another storm later this week. We may actually beat the record in Boston for the snowiest season ever (I think we need 5.5 inches now to do it). I know I cannot wait for spring!! Seeing this artwork in a yard we drove by really cheered me up. Hazel now wants to paint on our snow.

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Congratulations to Lori H. for winning the Winter Wonderful DVD Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! I was once again blown away by all the great ideas shared! If you have not had a chance to check them out, I highly recommend you do. My features this week are March Holidays, Artists and Some Favorites.

Cheap Doll Finds

I found some fun doll things at some of the discount stores this week. I thought I would share them here. Let's start with our game.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: South Africa -- Sosaties

Today we are doing our last post for Around the World in 12 Dishes. The group seems to be a bit defunct right now. There have been no plans for the next season and South Africa is the last country chosen. But I promised Hazel we would continue to explore the world one country a month, so we are going to continue on our own schedule and our link parties. This season I have been writing the introduction posts on Around the World in 12 Dishes website, but as I was about to write the introduction to South Africa I discovered the link code problems which still has not been resolved, so I didn't bother to write it there since there would not be a place to link up. (If I do not get the codes switched to my account by next week I will do my own link codes as a blog hop, so come back and check Bolivia, Senegal and here.) I also added a new picture to my Bolivia post. The arroz con leche looks much better cold!

Johannesburg at Night By Hillbrow_Tower.jpg:Kemptonreporterderivative work: 
Heitor C. Jorge (Hillbrow_Tower.jpg) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Senegal -- Poulet Yassa

Today we are catching up with January's Around the World in 12 Dishes. We visited Senegal. We read many books about Senegal and some stories from Senegal, but did not find any recipes of things my family would eat in the books, so I found one on-line. Be sure to check out the introduction post I wrote about Senegal. 

Pointe des Almadies, the westernmost point of the African continent (mainland),
located in the area of Dakar, Senegal By Jeff Attaway [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Around the World in 12 Dishes -- Bolivia: Arroz con Leche

 Between Hazel being sick, me being sick, holidays and snow, we have fallen very behind in Around the World in 12 Dishes. However we are going to catch up this week. The group itself seems to be having issues and may be ending, however Hazel LOVES studying a country each month so we are going to keep doing it here and will have link parties in case anyone wants to join in. (I'm in the process of seeing if I can have the codes used in my account instead so the past link parties will be available again.)

La Paz, Bolivia
By Teomancimit (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Malcolm X for Black History Month

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this novel 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.

Today I am going to share a review of the novel, X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon. I am also going to share a bit about Malcolm X and what I learned from reading the novel. Ilyasah Shabazz is the daughter of Malcolm X. She based this novel on her father's story. It is a novel since they could not go back an get the exact words and encounters that actual happened in the past. I also found a picture book at the library about Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X also by Ilyasah Shabazz, which I read to Hazel. 

Playing Grace Thomas Doll Bakery

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

At the beginning of the year, American Girl Doll Stores introduced this year's doll of the year, Grace Thomas. Now Grace had an adventure in Paris that changes her life and she is a baker/business owner. When they introduced their new doll they gave souvenirs to people who came to see her at the store. Well, Doll Diaries had a souvenir set for a giveaway in January and I won it. Hazel was so excited!! We finally got it this weekend. Hazel immediately wanted to go through everything. She was not sure what the recipe box, recipe cards and dividers are for, but we decided she could use the box as a table for now. She put the Grace apron on her Hazel doll and created her own bakery. She used straws and cupcake liners for supplies since she was too lazy to get out her baking supplies. I however got out the baking accessories for her and set up the 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

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVDs free of charge and is supplying the ones for the giveaway 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 DVD on NCircle Entertainment's site for your convenience. You can also find their DVDs at local retailers!

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

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

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

 Disclosure: I was sent this unit to review free of charge from Kid World Citizen. 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. 

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

Today I thought I would start a new series of Multicultural Mathematics. I will share about the history of math from around the world and mathematicians from around the world. Since we are in Black History Month, I thought we would start with Benjamin Banneker. To learn a bit about Benjamin Banneker, we went tot he library.

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!

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:

Crafty Moms Share on Multicultural Kid Blogs

For the Love of Spanish

Marie's Pastiche

Castle View Academy

All Done Monkey

Kid World Citizen

The Art Curator for Kids

Sand in My Toes

Cuddles and Crumbs

Healthy Child, Global Mind

Doll Valentine Play Date

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots 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. 

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

 Disclosure: I was sent these products to review free of charge from Shindigz Party Supplies. 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. 

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

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots 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. 

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

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.

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

Disclosure: Janis Cox 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.

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

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.

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

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.

 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.

This activity book comes with more than 150 stickers to add into the various shop pages: Candy Store, Costume Shop, Shoe Store, Toy Shop, Book Store and Pet Shop. Each of the stores have flaps to open and stickers can be put behind the pictures (in cabinets, cages and more). 

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!

Note: Links are provided for your convenience, but I receive no compensation.

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.