Sharing Saturday 13-13

Have you entered my current giveaway?

 Since the wonderful Virtual Book Club for Kids author of the month is Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo Brand is offering a lucky U.S. resident and reader of Crafty Moms Share two of her amazing books--The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child. I hope you will come enter to win these great books!!

Thank you to everyone who shared last week. Once again I am so inspired. Now I just need to find enough time to do some of the fun activities and crafts with Hazel. We had a tie for the most clicked so we are not sharing them this week. Please make sure you stop by my co-host, Having Fun at Chelle's House to check out her features!! As for my features, they are split into two categories, Easter Favorites and Some Other Favorites!

1) From Sugar Aunts: Easter Bunny Cuties (I love the simpleness and all the great activities!)
2) From Powerful Mothering: Salt Dough Easter Eggs (I love this idea especially with the paper mache nest and pipe cleaners!)
3) From JDaniel4's Mom: Easter Story Cookies (Tell the Easter Story while making these cookies. I love it!)
4) From JoyJonne Hooks: DIY Bunny Ring (So cute!!)

1) From BlogMeMom: Jellybean Bush (Ok, I love Kevin Henkes' My Garden book, so I love this idea!)
2) From Organic Aspirations: For Our Feathered Friends (Some great tips and ways to attract birds to your yard and why you should.)
3) From ArtClubBlog: Punk Rocks (Ok, this one just made me smile!)
4) From 4 kids, 2 guinea pigs one happy family: Jack and the Beanstalk Growing Experiments (So many wonderful lessons and ideas!!) 

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! If you were one of the ones picked as a feature here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

Button Code:

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My Week in Review: This week I shared our Resurrection Garden, a Spanish American Cinderella with a Christian twist, The Snail and the Whale, Some Passover books, and Easter and Spring Match Games.

 

Now for This Week's Party 
 
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share and Having Fun at Chelle's House via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the newly updated button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

Button Code:

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4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest as well as Having Fun at Chelle's House at Facebook and Pinterest

Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share and Having Fun at Chelle's House permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest. 

Multicultural Tuesday--Passover

Have you entered my current giveaway for two amazing children's books by Julia Donaldson yet?

Since we have started our Fairy Tales in Different Cultures on Mondays, I have not had any other Multicultural Mondays. So in honor of Passover starting last night, I thought I would share a bit about Passover. Having grown up in a town that had a large percent of Jewish residents I have many friends who celebrate Passover. 

A Little History:

Passover is the holiday festival that Jewish people remember when God saved them from slavery in Egypt 3,300 years ago. The story is found in the book of  Exodus in both the Christian Bible and the Hebrew Bible. The book of Exodus includes how the Pharaoh enslaved the Jewish people and killed the males as well as the birth of Moses and how he was saved. Then how Moses and God led the Jews to freedom. The Bible tells that God helped the Jews escape slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born. The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the name of the holiday. When the Pharaoh freed the Jews, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise. For the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten. Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is a symbol of the holiday. (Source)

Matzo (Source)

Celebrating Passover:

To celebrate Passover, first one must cleanse the house of all leavening products (chametz). Many Jewish families will clean their house completely to ensure there is not a speck of chametz left in it. Many families also have a separate set of dishes for Passover as to not chance having any chametz residue during a meal from a plate. 

Seder Plate (Source)

It is traditional for a family to gather on the first night of Passover for a Seder (a special dinner). During the Seder the story of the Exodus from Egypt is told using a special text called the Haggadah. (Source) Seder customs include drinking four glasses of wine, eating matzo, partaking in symbolic foods on the Seder plate and celebrating freedom. There are six items on the Seder plate. An egg represents the sacrifice offered at the Jerusalem Temple. The shank bone symbolizes the lamb sacrificed at the Temple in Jerusalem. The bitter herb symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. Charoset/Haroses a sweet brown paste made of fruit and nuts symbolizes the mortar used to build the Egyptian store houses. Lettuce or Chazeret is Romaine lettuce or grated  horseradish also symbolizing the bitterness of slavery. Parsley which is dipped into salt water which stands for hope and new life and the salt water for the tears of the Jewish slaves. (Sources: Wikipedia and Passover Magic by Roni Schotter)

Children play an important role in the Seder. The youngest child present has the important job of asking the four questions. 

Why is this night different from all other nights?
Why on this night do we eat only matzoh?
Why on this night do we eat bitter herbs?
Why on this night do we dip parsley into salt wter and bitter herbs into haroses?
Why on this night do we recline at the table?

During the Seder the questions are answered by the adults reading the Haggadah. (Source: Passover Magic by Roni Schotter)


I wanted to find a way to introduce Passover to Hazel. For her age I decided on some story books. When we were at the library, I had her pick out a few books that looked good to her in the Passover section. Here are her choices.

These stories are wonderful ways to show how to celebrate the holiday. If you do not read the author's notes you will not learn the history of the holiday. I am not sure she is ready for this, so I have not extended it yet, but will at some point.

I hope to also have or attend a Seder with Hazel. The year I got pregnant with her my church held a Seder. I had helped in the planning a bit. I am hoping she will experience it as well at some point. As a Christian it is important to remember the Jewish holidays as well. For our communion comes from Jesus celebrating Passover with his disciples. 

I hope I have clearly and correctly stated about Passover and wish all my Jewish readers a very Happy Passover.

Wild and Free: Dolphins, Whales and Manatees

Have you ever just loved a CD and have the music inspire you to be creative? This happens to me and Hazel all the time. The CD is from Daria and it is called I Have a Dream. Daria had been kind enough to send me this wonderful CD last year so I could review it here, and we followed her instructions to make a quilted rainstick. Now this CD lives in my car for the most part, and it is what Hazel and I tend to listen to while driving. Even when Hazel is not in the car I tend to listen to it. We both know the words to almost every song on it. As I have been listening to Hazel sing along I have had all sorts of creative ideas flowing through my head. Today I am going to share one of them with you. I am thinking we will do something with almost every song on the CD, so stay tuned for more music inspired songs.

 The song I am sharing today is Wild and Free. With Daria's permission I am sharing her YouTube video of this song with you.

Now I will admit this song is the first since we just got back from Florida. Every time we heard this song, Hazel would ask me what a manatee is, so we did some research and came home with many library books plus I realized SeaWorld Orlando has manatees (as well as dolphins and whales), so I knew this was the perfect time to talk about this song and the animals in it. Now the manatees are endangered and need the help of humans as we are their only enemy--if you can call us that. They do not have natural predators due to their size. They have been hunted as well as hurt by boats and nets and of course their food supply is dwindling due to development. For more information on how you can help, check out Save The Manatees website.

The dolphins they play in the ocean...

Blue Horizons Show at Sea World Orlando

The whales (beluga and killer/orca), they swim in the ocean...

Beluga Whales on top in Wild Arctic Exhibit and Orca Whales in One Ocean Show

The manatees play by the bayside...

Manatees outside Turtle Trek Exhibit

While at SeaWorld, I bought Hazel small plastic versions of each of the animals. We also bought a Sea World Rescue Barbie that came with dolphins as well. Plus we pulled out the whales I made when we read The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson for the Virtual Book Club for Kids.

Then I set up the entire zoo for Hazel, but more about that later.

We also made an ocean interactive box. We took a shoe box and lined it with sky blue paper and then cut a strip of dark blue paper to be the ocean and glued to the front. We cut a slit on the bottom of the box. Then I printed out pictures I found on line of each animal and we cut them out and glued them to popsicle sticks. 

Then we acted out  the song while we listened to it. (I think we probably should have lined the bottom of the box with the dark blue as well.) I had all sorts of other craft ideas, but they did not happen. I am also working on sewing some felt creatures for her. I have started the manatee. I'll share it when we finish. I have found patterns on line for a dolphin and killer whale as well. I think I may try to make my own beluga pattern. 

Some final pictures to show you. Above is a picture of Hazel at SeaWorld looking for beluga whales. Below is the zoo I set up for her. As she was looking at it, she was mentioning that we had an Australia section with kangaroos and a wombat and an African section with the lions, giraffes, zebras and elephants. I mentioned the panda bear being from China and she started asking where the other animals were from. I guess I'm bringing her up to notice the animals of the world at least.

Finally here is a collage of the books we have collected on manatees, dolphins and whales. We have not read them all and many of the manatee books are more picture story/fiction ones, but I always find those fun to include. Manatee on Location is non-fiction though. Also you can purchase Daria's CD at her store for $10 with free shipping!

Virtual Book Club for Kids 2012-2013

Sharing Saturday is still open!! Please stop by to share your child-oriented crafts and activities or to be inspired by the features from last week and what has already been shared this week!    
Well as August ends and September begins the end of the Summer Virtual Book Club for Kids ends, however we have decided to make it a year-long event!! As you know in June, our author was Mo Willems, in July the author was Audrey and Don Wood and August the author was Kevin Henkes! If you missed any, please stop by and see the great ideas everyone has shared.

So the Virtual Book Club for Kids is a group of 20+ bloggers who will host a blog hop for activities to go with the author of the month. The Bloggers 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  - Here Come The Girls - PlayDrMom

Today I am going to share with you our line up for the next year!! The blog hop goes live the third week of each month and the dates are included in my list below! To participate read a book by the selected author of the month and do some activity with it. Be creative and have fun!! Then blog about it and come here to link up at the blog hop!! It is a fun way to get your child reading with you and enjoying books! Plus you may learn about some new authors that you will end up loving! Check out are great line up!

September 17th-Lois Ehlert

October 15th-Amy Krouse Rosenthal

November 19th- Tomie de Paola

December 17th- Jan Brett

January 21st-David McPhail

February 18th-Dr. Seuss

March 18th-Julia Donaldson

April 15th-David Shannon

May 20th-Leo Lionni

June 17th-Gail Gibbons

July 15th- Jez Alborough

August 19th-Donald Crews

I hope you will join us each month!!

Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

 Disclosure: I was sent the seahorse craft kit 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. 

Raising Ladybugs from Larvae

Today Hazel brought her ladybugs to school to share with her friends. We raised them from larvae and she was so excited to share them. The teachers were excited too since they just started a unit on bugs. Talk about perfect timing. I thought I would share them with you as well.

Last year Hazel and I raised butterflies. I thought it would be neat for her to see the cycle of life of a butterfly. I asked Hazel this year if she wanted to do butterflies again or try ladybugs. She decided on ladybugs, so we bought the ladybug house from Lakeshore Learning with our 20% off coupon and sent away for the larvae. Now ladybugs are even easier than the butterflies. The only important thing to do is to keep the sponge in the home moist. Besides that you sit back and watch. Hazel loves using the dropper to keep the moisture up, however as the larvae and ladybugs rose to the top, I took over the job to make sure we didn't have any escape.

After adding the moisture, we poured the tube into the cage and checked out the larvae. The tube had this white paper in it, and we just kept it in with the ladybugs since the larvae were climbing all over it. The small brown powdering stuff is their food. The tube arrived on March 27th.

We sat back and watched as they grew. The little spots of things became much bigger. These pictures are from April 14th. The larvae molt at least three times before going into the pupa stage.

We kept watching for the pupa stage. It was hard to see since they did not change much and really just stuck to the sides of the home. I also did not get any clear pictures because they were stuck to the sides of the plastic home. The clearest pictures of the larvae and ladybugs came from the magnifying glass on top and the sides cannot be seen well with it. Sorry!

Then this past weekend, we discovered we had ladybugs!! Of course we have also been reading books about ladybugs while watching them. We learned a few things like ladybugs have yellow blood. Some ladybugs have spots and some do not. They come in different colors. Red is the common color we all think of but they can be orange, yellow and even pink. 

Different Species Source

The resource books we have read are pictured below. They are Ladybugs by Ann Heinrichs, Ladybug by Emery Bernhard, Grub to Ladybug by Melvin and Gilda Berger, and Lucky Ladybugs by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann. The information about ladybugs mentioned in this post I read and learned from one of these books.

All of these books include a ladybug's life cycle. There are also many free resources on line to teach the life cycle. One I sent to Hazel's teacher is on Montessori Printshop. Everything Ladybug! has a good one as well.

Ladybug Life Cycle Source: By Pudding4brains (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The life cycle is of course the ladybugs mate and the female lays yellow eggs on a leaf. The eggs hatch and larva comes out of each egg. The larvae change and molt at least three times. Then they go into pupa stage growing a hard shell on the outside. In a few weeks the adult ladybug breaks through the hard shell. 

Ladybugs also have a few defenses to deter predators. One is their taste. They also can release a bad smelling and tasting chemical. They also can play dead so the predator will leave them alone. 

Ladybugs are also called ladybirds or lady beetles in Europe. And although they have lady in their name there are male ladybugs and female ladybugs. Since ladybugs eat aphids (bugs that harm crops and orchards), many people consider the ladybug lucky and have throughout history. They have been used and are still used by farmers to save their crops. Many farmers found using chemical pesticides also killed ladybugs (and other helpful insects and some birds) and this did more harm than good, so they now order ladybugs to come eat the pests to their crops. In fact when orange groves in California were dying due to scale insects that showed up after the ladybugs had been killed by the insecticides, millions of ladybugs were sent from Australia to eat the scale insects and saved the oranges and trees. In the Middle Ages people were so thankful for ladybugs as well as the Virgin Mary, they were called Beetles of Our Blessed Lady. Once they were believed to have magical powers including finding a single girl a boyfriend. In early America it was considered good luck to find a ladybug in a house in the winter. Ladybugs or rather ladybirds even made it into Mother Goose Rhymes. 

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are gone.

 This was a rhyme farmers used when they burnt  the vines after the harvest. They wanted to send the beetles away from the fire so they could return the next year. It was first published around 1760.

Ladybugs are also popular characters in picture books. Some we have found and read or hope to read are:

• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle (June's author for Virtual Book Club for Kids)
• Ladybug on the Move by Richard Fowler
• Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis (There is a whole series)
• What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson
• Yoo-Hoo, Lady Bug! by Mem Fox (May's author for Virtual Book Club for Kids) (a fun search for the ladybug on each page)
• Ladybug at Orchard Avenue by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
• Lara Ladybug by Christine Florie
• The Very Lazy Ladybug by Isabel Finn and Jack Tickle

So that is what we have been exploring with bugs this year. Hazel has informed me that next year she wants to go back to the butterflies and then alternate each year. She loves "hatching" bugs as she calls it.

More posts and crafts on ladybugs and bugs:

• Virtual Book Club for Kids: What the Ladybug Heard 
• Virtual Book Club for Kids: The Little Squeegy Bug
• Poetry, Trees and Bees
• Growing Butterflies & Butterfly Life Cycle
•  Cereal Caterpillars & Butterflies 
•  Tissue Paper Butterflies 
• Beaded Butterflies 
• Origami Butterflies 
• Toilet Paper Tube Butterflies 
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Time & Food Drive 
• Butterfly Party (Games & Crafts)
• Bugs are Insects
• Baby Dragonflies & Damselflies
• Fireflies Part 2
• Fireflies Part 1
• Bugs and Crawly Things Pinterest Board