Chinese Meets Japanese with Chinese Origami for Children -- Product Review for Summertime Fun Series

Be sure to check out my on-line Thirty-One Review & Party!! Get all your summer organizing essentials!!

 

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these products free of charge. 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.

 

Sometimes in the summer one needs some quiet or indoor activities due to various reasons--tired, busy momma, or bad weather. Origami is a perfect activity for those times. Today we are sharing a fun book where the Chinese culture meets the Japanese culture as well as some fun packs of origami paper to try out the various projects. The book is Chinese Origami for Children by Hu Yue and Lin Xin and illustrated by Samoo Tang. 

Perfect Gift Wrapping Ideas -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Have you entered my current giveaway for a custom canvas print? There are only one more day to enter!!

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.

How do you wrap gifts? Do you just throw them in a gift bag? I'll admit I often do at least for gifts for kids. However I always love playing with gift wrapping. At work we charge at least $6 plus the supplies for gift wrapping. I'm always amazed when people pay it. I will admit the gifts always look beautiful when they are done. They are usually done in a seam line wrapping style. And today's book that I am sharing gives a tutorial in this kind of wrapping!

Canvas Factory Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: Canvas Factory sent me a coupon to get this print free of charge for this review and are providing the winner of the giveaway with a coupon code. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the site for your convenience.

Do you have a favorite photograph that you have taken recently? Have you noticed the new thing is to have canvas prints done of your photographs? When I took Hazel and my nephew in to have their pictures taken I got one with our package. (Don't tell my parents since the pictures are their Christmas gift.) At many of the photo studios these canvases can cost over $100. Imagine my excitement to be offered a free 16 x 20" canvas to review and one to give away!! And right now they have a sale going on where it costs $38.70. You can even create canvas collages with various size prints and more!!

Craft Factory: Friendship Bracelets -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

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.

Before I begin today's post, I would like to take a minute to remind all of us in the United States that this is Memorial Weekend and we need to remember all the people who have sacrificed for our freedom and safety. Please say a prayer for the armed forces as well as their families and a very special pray for the families of soldiers not returning home. 

Today I get to share this month's Parragon Book of the Month for their Book Buddies. It is not really a book, but a craft kit. It is their Craft Factory: Friendship Bracelets. It was released this past February. It comes with metallic threads, as well as some black thread, an instruction book, star beads and a needle. 

Sharing Saturday 16-20

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week our features are animals and flowers & paint.

Sharing Saturday 16-17

Reminder: This link party is for child-oriented crafts and activities and parenting/teaching posts!! 

Happy Earth Day!! I had planned a post on some fun books about animals for Earth Day, but instead spent the day outside with Hazel since it is the last day of her spring vacation. 

 It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts,crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And the Creative Kids Cultural Blog Hop lasts all month for anything cultural or diversity posts.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! I always love seeing what everyone has been up to and your creative ideas!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week our features are Reading Features and Everything Else.

Coloring Books -- Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

THIS Link Party is for all craft posts and craft product review posts!! Sharing Saturday (for kid related posts) is here. Creative Kid Culture Blog Hop (for multicultural posts) is here. 

Disclosure: I was sent 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.

Has the adult coloring book craze hit you yet? I love it and so does Hazel. However with so many options out there it is hard to know which book to chose. We have had the pleasure of reviewing several different ones (The Time Garden, The Time Chamber, some of the Magic Series, and Colour Your Day) and today we are reviewing two new ones!! The first is from Candlewick Press  and is The Coloring Book of Cards and Envelopes: Nature by Rebecca Jones.  I have to admit we LOVE this one. Instead of just coloring pages to color and relax you are coloring cards and envelopes that you can use to send a note or for a holiday. Hazel has mostly taken over this book on me.

The Little Monkey King's Journey & Chinese Lantern Festival

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these book 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. 

Did you know the Chinese New Year is still continuing? It ends with the Lantern Festival which is fifteen days after the first day and this year that is Monday, February 22nd. Hazel and I read about it in Celebrating Chinese Festivals by Sanmu Tang. (We reviewed this fabulous book earlier this month.)

Hatshepsut of Egypt -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Goosebottom 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.

Today we are honored to review a book about a very strong woman, Hatshepsut. Have you heard of her? I hadn't, so I found this book fascinating. The book is Hatshepsut of Egypt by Shirin Yim Bridges and illustrated by Albert Nguyen. It is part of The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses.

This is a series of books that share real princesses with girls. These are not your average fru fru princesses who wear pretty dresses and sit around waiting to be saved by a prince. These are women who had strength and guts to rule countries.

Sew Sweet Creatures -- Crafty Weekends Review and Link Party

I have 2 current giveaways!! One for an Origami Toy Monsters Book & Kit and the other for 2 DVDs.

 Disclosure: Lark Crafts sent 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.

This week I get to share a fun book to make absolutely adorable animals. The book is Sew Sweet Creatures: Make Adorable Plush Animals and Their Accessories written by Lark Crafts. 

 As you can see on the cover the animals are wearing clothes and doing different things. They are made from fleece, super soft fleece, felt and/or flannel. Some are handsewn and others allow for machine sewing. We have fallen in love with quite a few of the creatures and I will be making that adorable llama (Anna the Snuggly Llama) on the cover eventually as well as the Fairy Mouse. I started however with James the King of the Jungle. I made him for our friend's second birthday. We had bought him some clothes from Gymboree, but I wanted to give him something he could play with and when he opened the gift he just hugged the lion. As many two-year-olds are he was overwhelmed by all the people and was tired since it was nap time.

Sharing Saturday 15-25

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Hazel and I have been enjoying her first week of summer vacation with a short trip to Cape Cod to see my parents. This week's features include some ideas for Father's Day (this Sunday in the U.S.), educational posts and some other favorites. Remember this is just a sampling of what was shared last week, so go back and check out the other great ones!!

All the Little Fathers -- Book Review

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.

This was Hazel's last week of kindergarten so I have been busy with school events, but her summer vacation has started! To start the vacation we read All the Little Fathers by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Marilyn Faucher, this month's Book Buddies Picture Book from Parragon Books. 

All the Little Fathers is a wonderful book about father animals taking care of and playing with their children. It is the perfect book for young children and especially the month of June in the United States since Father's Day is the third Sunday in June every year. Like many of Margaret Wise Brown's books, the text is relatively simple. The various animals do things like bears catch fish for their children, grasshoppers jump over their children, and they all put them to bed. 

The pictures in the book are colorful and fun. It is a beautiful book. Hazel really enjoyed it when we read it and to be honest she can probably read it now, but has not tried yet. My only comment is that it is not necessarily accurate with the animals as to what the fathers do. For example it is the mother bear who raises the cubs and not the fathers. The fathers have nothing to do with it. However I know this more because of Hazel's love of learning about animals, so I am probably just more in tune to that kind of thing. She did not comment on those things at all. 

It is a lovely new book by Margaret Wise Brown, author of Good Night, Moon and The Runaway Bunny. It is a fun book for children to read and hear and imagine what the animals life is really like. After all I can see the lions roaring with their children and the rabbits all hopping about together. It definitely can stir some fun images as well as be a good conversation starter on what really does happen. 

To see our first Book Buddies Review, check out Spot a Lot Vehicle Adventure Book Review.

Sharing Saturday 15-23

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! This week there were less posts shared, but the ones that were are amazing!! For features we have some help with picking Summer Reading, June Holidays, and what I am calling Create and Play. 

Asian Book Reviews -- Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

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 Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway. More details about all of this below including the giveaway!!

Since May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, I contacted my friends at Tuttle Publishing. It was a logical choice since this is their specialty. They publish books on Asian cultures, languages, and history. They have books for children and adults. It is a wonderful publishing company that puts out high quality and beautiful books. They also have provided five of the books for the giveaway below! The first book we will review is one of the prizes.

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

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. 

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.

Travel with Books at Home Product Reviews

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.

Do you love to travel? Or do you dream of traveling without hassles? We love to explore the world from home with dreams of someday getting to see more of it. For now we like to explore with books and posters and such to see and learn about the world without leaving home. Candlewick Press has some products that makes this really fun and easy. The first three books are from a series called Panorama Pops. We got to explore The Louvre, Australia and Venice in this form. It was so much fun. These books are like pocket guides with pop-up pictures. The book is double sided since it folds out and has the pop-ups on both sides.

Thanksgiving and Sarah Josepha Hale

Have you entered my giveaway for 4 Christmas DVDs yet?

Have you ever heard of Sarah Josepha Hale? I know I hadn't, however I had heard and memorized something she wrote: "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Sarah Hale was an American author and editor. She was also a mother and wife and she is responsible for our national holiday--Thanksgiving. I know you are probably thinking what do you mean she is responsible for Thanksgiving, because that is what I was thinking when I saw this book at the library, but she is the reason we have a national holiday.

Sarah Hale By painted by James Reid Lambdin (1807-1889)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons