Junior Explorers Multicultural Product Review

Have you entered my current giveaway?

 Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Junior Explorers as part of the Multicultural Kids Product Promotion Services. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today I have the pleasure of reviewing a monthly packet from Junior Explorers. We received the Amazon Jaguar Mission packet. Hazel was really excited for this. In our packet we had many things including an introduction letter with your mission code, a checklist to make sure you have everything or your mission, information sheet on the region, stickers and temporary tatoos, 

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. 

Creating a Cozy Reading Nook -- Decals Tree Product Review

Disclosure: Decals Tree gave me a wall sticker 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 wall sticker for your convenience.

In Hazel's bedroom there is a little nook between her closet and what may have been another closet at some point with a window. I have always wanted to make it a reading nook for her. I wanted a cozy spot with some fun pictures to help her imagination go wild. She fell in love with bean bag chairs at the Whole Foods play area near us. So we got her one at Target and moved her fluffy rug over there. Then Decals Tree offered us any wall sticker on their site for $50 or less and are offering a giveaway of the same thing to one of my readers. 

Exploring Origami -- Global Learning for Kids: Japan

Congratulations to Lauren L. on winning the Spring Into Science Giveaway!

Origami is something I have enjoyed for a long time and I have introduced it to Hazel many times: butterflies, various animals, exploring All About Japan. I have taken mathematics teacher courses on using origami in the classroom. It is especially great in geometry. Hazel has attempted origami a few times with me but she still struggles a bit with it. I think she needs to be a bit older to really get it, but for now we practice. 

History of Origami

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Paper making was introduced to Japan by the Chinese in the beginning of the seventh century. The Japanese found a way to make a thin paper called washi. Washi was used for official religious record keeping and Buddhist writings. In Shinto religious ceremonies offerings for the gods were wrapped in washi paper as well as other things. Eventually people began to fold the paper into animals and decorations for the gifts. During the Muromachi period, it became the rule that gifts had to be adorned with decorations. Butterfly ornaments are often used in wedding ceremonies. (Source) Origami was originally called orikata, but it was changed to origami in 1880. Origami comes from two Japanese words: oru meaning to fold and kami meaning paper. (Source)

The History of Zero--Asian Pacific American Heritage Blog Series and Giveaway Post

This post is part of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Blog Series and Giveaway on Multicultural Kid Blogs. You can enter the giveaway at the end of the post. There is a link party for all Asian-Pacific American Heritage posts on Multicultural Kid Blogs. We also have a link party for Japan posts in our Global Learning for Kids this month. Next month will be India.

History of Zero:

Can you imagine a world without zero? Or perhaps you wonder why we need to represent nothing at all? For centuries there was no mark or symbol of zero. The history of the number zero begins in Asia. It is believed that the first people to have a symbol for zero were the Babylonians. The Babylonians had inherited the counting system of the Sumerians which was the first to have a symbol instead of hash marks for each number.

Around 1450 B.C. By Свифт/Svift (my work) 
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #27

Please note: This is not Sharing Saturday. Sharing Saturday is available here.

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:

La Cité des Vents on Multicultural Kid Blogs Marie's Pastiche Crafty Moms Share Castle View Academy The Art Curator for Kids Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes  La Cité des Vents Words n Needles Bilinguazo Russian Step by Step for Children Scrambled Nest Los Gringos Locos

Asian American Figure Skaters: Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan

Have you entered my current giveaway yet? Only a few more days to enter!!

For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I wanted to look at different parts of the culture. I decided to do something with sports. Since we have already read books about martial arts, I decided to go with something I love: figure skating. I went back to my younger days and found some books about Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan. 

Sharing Saturday 15-20

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! There were a few less than usual, but we still have some great features! This week they are not labeled like they usually are. Enjoy!! Be sure to go back to last week's party to see even more great ideas.

Spring Into Science 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 Amazon for your convenience. You can also find their DVDs at local retailers!

 For spring, NCircle Entertainment invited me to review four DVDs with science themes and offer new copies of the DVDs to one lucky winner!! All four are popular shows!! These are a fun way to bring science into your home either as a homeschooler or just to reinforce the school lessons! All four DVDs have been or are being released in 2015!

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Prize Review

Have you entered the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Giveaway being hosted over at Multicultural Kid Blogs? It is part of our Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series. I will be co-hosting two posts in the next couple of weeks as part of the series and I wrote the first post for the series on Multicultural Kid Blogs. I also played a roll in getting some of the prizes for the giveaway. I thought I would take some time to review the prizes since I wanted to check some out for myself. There are three prize packs that you can win and each has a good number of books. Some of the books we have reviewed previously and others we have not. Today I am going to review four books published by Lee & Low Books that I got out of the library. I will also share information about the other prizes that I have previously reviewed or know something about. I will provide links to where prizes can be purchased for your convenience. I do not get anything from you purchasing them besides the joy of sharing wonderful resources.

 The Prizes

Mother's Day Celebration with Link Party

This year for Mother's Day Hazel and I went to a tea house on Friday for afternoon tea. I had promised her we would do something like this when I had to miss the Mother/Daughter Tea Party at her school in April. I figured Mother's Day weekend was the perfect time. Hazel dressed up for the occasion with gloves and all. We had a wonderful time. 

Sharing Saturday 15-19

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! There were such amazing ideas shared last week. I had a hard time figuring out which ones to features. These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of  Nature Related Crafts (and lessons), Science Lessons and a Few Favorites. 

Discovering Sushi -- Global Learning for Kids: Japan

Disclosure: I was sent this playset to review free of charge from Melissa & Doug. 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. They also sent one to me for the Asian Pacific American Blog Series and Giveaway!!
 
On Monday I shared that I am teaming up with Multicultural Kid Blogs to begin a new series called Global Learning for Kids. This month our focus is Japan. You can find my introduction to Japan on Multicultural Kid Blogs as well as the amazing Asian Pacific American Heritage Giveaway!! Our focus this week has been on sushi. Now I have only had sushi a couple of times in my life and as a non-fish eater, it has only been vegetarian. However we got this great Wooden Sushi Slicing Playset from Melissa & Doug, so I thought I should teach Hazel a bit about it. 

Nature Anatomy Book Review to Celebrate the Earth

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.

Here is a perfect book for Earth Day although I'm a little late. This amazing book was one of the prizes in our Earth Day Giveaway. When I saw it I thought it looked like a book Hazel would love. I was right. Not only does Hazel love it, Steve and I love it and my father was looking very interested in it (and he really doesn't do books). The book is Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman with help from John Niekrasz.

Exploring Switzerland with books, music, and food

Have you entered my current giveaway? This is one you do not want to miss!!

 For the month of April, we explored Switzerland. We have enjoyed learning about many things about Switzerland and from Switzerland. Switzerland is officially the Swiss Confederation and is a small landlocked country in Europe. It is a very mountainous country with the Alps and Jura as some boundaries of the country.

"LocationSwitzerland" by User:Rei-artur - Original by User:Vardion, Image:A large blank world map with oceans marked in blue.svg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Global Learning for Kids

Have you entered my current giveaway? This is one you do not want to miss!!

 I am joining a group of Multicultural Kid Blogs to start a new series called Global Learning for Kids. Each month we will explore a country with books, music, crafts, lessons, food, etc. and share our exploration as well as have a link party so the posts will be a one-stop place to get many resources on the chosen country. This month we are starting with Japan! I wrote an introduction to the country of Japan over at Multicultural Kid Blogs to kick off Global Learning for Kids as well as the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway. (Make sure you stop by to enter the giveaway--there are some amazing prizes!!) We will be sharing posts about our exploration of Japan all month and later this month we will share two posts in the Blog Series and Giveaway (not having to do with just Japan). Make sure to follow this month!!

Since we are starting with Japan, I thought I would start with a round-up of everything we have already learned about Japan since we actually have quite a few posts with things about Japan in them.

Spring Candy Bird Houses

Have you entered my current giveaway? This is one you do not want to miss!!

We finally have spring weather in the Boston area and we definitely have a bit of spring fever at my house! The weather is too nice to stay inside all day. However we took time the other morning to make these adorable bird houses from graham crackers, Peeps and frosting. I saw the idea at Yesterfood. When I saw them, I knew Hazel would want to make them. She is after all obsessed with birdhouses and bird cages.

 
 We Had fun making them. Hazel remembered making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and this reminded her of that. We used a tube of decorating frosting, but it took a few tries and some time to get them to stay together. 

We had two kinds of Peeps. The new birthday cake flavor (which Hazel thought was ok) and the original ones in pink (which Hazel does not like since she does not like marshmallow, but I love them). She made the house for the pink one and I did the blue one.

For similar ideas check out these posts:

• Graham Cracker Nativity 
• Valentine's Day Gingerbread House 
• Building a Bird Nest
• Yarn Bird Cages

Sharing Saturday 15-18

Have you entered my current giveaway? This is one you do not want to miss!!

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! I am blown away by the creativity and amazing posts shared. These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of  May Features, Educational Features and Food and Play Dough Features. 

Gift a Feast: A Feast of Snacks Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: Gift a Feast sent me a Feast of Snacks free of charge to review. They are also offering one to one of my readers. 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.

Are you looking for the perfect gift for someone who does not really need anything? Perhaps a gift for Mother's Day, for a graduate or an end of the year gift for a teacher? Want something different from the norm, then this review is for you!! I have the pleasure of sharing with you Gift a Feast and reviewing their A Feast of Snacks gift and down below you can enter to win one. If you order one of their gifts on their website you can choose the gift wrap. Gift a Feast has a variety of gifts including sweets and savory treats. All the gifts are food items from the San Francisco area. So each gift is a taste of San Francisco. The gifts are wrapped beautifully. The papers are gorgeous. I let Hazel open them and she did not want to rip the paper so she could use them for crafts later. Our gift was in pink flowered paper. Here is a picture of it before it was mailed. Isn't it gorgeous?

Emus and Hippos!! Book Reviews

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of these books 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 we are sharing two fun and educational animal books from Candlewick Press. They are written in the same style as Grandma Elephant's In Charge and Big Red Kangaroo which Candlewick Press sent previously to me to review (and we bought one as a birthday gift for one of Hazel's friends because we love them so much!). These books tell a story about a particular animal and/or group of animals as well as have aside facts about the animal.

The first we travel to Australia to learn about emus, with Emu written by Claire Saxby and illustrated by Graham Byrne.

Heather Has Two Mommies Book Review: What Makes a Family?

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.

Lately there is so much talk about families. There are the debates over same sex marriage and almost everyone at some point will meet a child with two same sex parents. As an avid supporter of equal rights for all, I believe it is important to help children see that this is all right. We do not want to ostracize a child because of the make up of his or her family. I know we have all heard those embarrassing stories about when a child first noticed someone who is different from them. How they are prepared to deal with differences will help make these stories non-embarrassing.  Today I get to share the perfect book to help prepare children. The book is Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Laura Cornell. This is a new edition of the book.

Sharing Saturday 15-17

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am amazed by all the great ideas! These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of  Gardening and Bees, Booking Across America, and Some Favorites. 

God's Amazing World! Book Review for Earth Day

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Ideals Books. 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.

This year for Earth Day I thought I would focus on the holiday in a different way. There are so many ideas floating around for crafts many using recycled materials and others looking like the planet. There are also all the ideas to help protect the earth. Many people talk about the reasons why we need to do this, but I am going to give you another--a religious point of view. In Genesis 1:28

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

 God gave us dominion over the creatures of earth. He gave humans the job of keeping the earth. To teach this lesson, I found a great book called God's Amazing World! written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Melanie Florian.

Our Recent Doll Finds

I have not shared our doll finds lately and we have quite a few. We will start with our newest doll. Hazel really wanted to spend her Easter money on this doll at Target last week. She was on sale for $19.99 so I let her. Meet Ginger...

Hazel's Science Center

Last week I chaperoned Hazel's class field trip to Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire. It was a fun place for the kids to learn even more about the ocean and really end their ocean unit. They ended it the next day with watching Finding Nemo. Hazel liked the science center better. The time at the science center began with a demonstration/class for the kids. First an employee presented about tide pools and the animals found at different levels of the tide pool and then they divided the kids into two groups to have some hands-on experience with the animals.

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #26

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 15-16

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am blown away by all the great ideas! This week our features consist of  Earth Day & Mother's Day Features, Art Features, Toddler Features, and Other Features. 

Ladybug Girl Teaches Empowerment and Imagination: Book Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review and are providing the book for the giveaway. 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 discovered Ladybug Girl by Jacky Davis and illustrated by David Soman? Last month we shared some ideas for a birthday party themed around the Ladybug Girl book series. After the fun we had last month with book themed party ideas, this month Penguin Kids sent us the original Ladybug Girl book and asked us to come up with some ideas to go with it. Of course they sent us more than just the book. 

Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories Book Review

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing 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. 

Hazel loves exploring the world. She loves learning about different cultures. Since her father does not like to travel or spend the money to travel, we explore from home. We try recipes from other countries, listen to music from other countries, read books about other countries and we love to read stories from other countries. Tuttle Publishing sent us Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories retold by Phuoc Thi Minh Tran and illustrated by Nguyen Dong and Nguyen Thi Hop.

Anna and Her Rainbow Colored Yoga Mats and Sophia's Jungle Adventure Yoga Book Reviews

Make sure you enter the Earth Day Giveaway we are co-hosting!! You have until midnight Tuesday EDT.

 Disclosure: Kid Yoga Stories gave me a copies of these books 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 tried yoga with your children yet? Hazel loves it--though we do not do it often. We have had the pleasure of reviewing three of Giselle Shardlow's books and Hazel loves them all. Thus far we have reviewed The ABC's of Australian Animals, Luke's Beach Day, and Hello Bali! Today we are sharing two more. It was a beautiful day here finally so we tried some yoga outside! The first book is Anna and her Rainbow-Colored Yoga Mats by Giselle Shardlow and illustrated by Paul Wrangles. (Please note that the photos are of Hazel attempting to copy the pose in the books. They are not all correct, but she is on her way to getting them.)

Sharing Saturday 15-15

Make sure you enter the Earth Day Giveaway we are co-hosting!!

Thank  you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am blown away by all the great ideas! This week our features consist of Spring/April Features and Other Features.