Virtual Book Club for Kids Bobo Books by Jez Alborough

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This month the author chosen for Virtual Book Club for Kids is Jez Alborough. We had not read any of his books but quickly fell in love with the Bobo series as well as the Duck series. Today we are featuring the Bobo series. I thought it would be fun for us to learn more about chimpanzees since they are an animal we do not know much about. But first let me tell you about the Virtual Book Club for Kids.

The Virtual Book Club for Kids is a group of amazing bloggers that have one author chosen for each month and each blogger chooses a book by that author and comes up with an activity or craft to go with the book. Then we host a blog hop which starts the third Monday of the month. We each link up our posts and invite others to link up posts about books by this month's author. The amazing bloggers hosting this book club 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 - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Smile Play Learn - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Coffee Cups and Crayons - Having Fun at Chelle's House- Love, Play, Learn - Juggling With Kids - Motherhood on a Dime - Growing Book By Book

- This Reading Mama - Fantastic Fun and Learning

Ok, now onto our books. Bobo is a wonderful little chimpanzee. He is friends with many animals in the jungle but in particular an elephant and a lizard (at least I think it is a lizard, but it could be a frog). Each of these books have very few words. In fact most of the words are just the title repeated over and over. For example in Hug, on every page Bobo sees an animal friend getting a hug from its mommy and he says, "hug" repeatedly. Then he yells it and begins to cry until his Mommy yells, "Bobo" and comes and hugs him. The only words in the book are hug, Bobo and Mommy.



In Yes, Mommy tells Bobo it is time for different parts of the bedtime routine like a bath. Bobo says, "Yes" repeatedly during the bath, but when it is time for bed and Bobo says, "No" repeatedly. Then Mommy says "Bye-bye, Bobo," and Bobo's friends come and to play with him in the water. The lizard splashes Bobo and he says, "No." The lizard says, "Yes." Then they both say no when the elephant runs to the water. Then the three friends enjoy the water together saying yes. Soon Bobo becomes tired and falls asleep. The elephant carries him sleeping with his trunk to his bed in the trees where Mommy is waiting for them.



In Tall, Bobo is feeling small and climbs on a rock to be tall. Then his lizard friend comes and stands up on his hind legs and is taller than Bobo on the rock, so Bobo feels small again. The lizard has Bobo climb onto his shoulders so he can be tall. Then they find a lion cub who is taller so Bobo feels small. The lion cub gives Bobo a ride so he is tall. This continues throughout the book with different animals being taller until he gets on top of the giraffe. He begins to dance on the giraffe's horns and loses his balance. He yells, "Fall" and his Mommy comes running yelling his name and catching him. She carries him home hugging him and he is happy to feel small.

For these books we did a craft by making masks for Bobo and Mommy. For the pattern I went to the Jez Alborough website and went to his How to Draw section. How to draw Bobo is in the club members only section, but to join the club is free, so I joined. I used his steps to draw a pattern.

Dark Brown Pattern Pieces

We cut the pattern pieces out of cardstock scrapbook paper and cut the eyes out to make the masks. Then we colored the mouth, nose and eye brows. We glued them together and left them to dry. After they dried we punched holes and tied on stretchy string.

Light Pattern Pieces

Hazel then modeled both of them for me.

Bobo or Hazel's Mask

Mommy

Hazel loved wearing the masks, but I need to tighten the string on the Mommy mask. I also wanted to teach her more about chimpanzees, so we took some books out of the library.

I discovered that chimpanzees are endangered. I found this very sad especially since they have so many similarities to humans. I also found on Disneynature an educator's guide to go with their Chimpanzee Movie. I have requested the movie from the library, but have not gotten it yet. We had some fun exploring chimpanzees. I printed the lessons intended for the youngest grades in the educator's guide. It started with comparing chimpanzees to human beings. We looked at feet, hands and then took measurements and compared which was longer our legs or our arms. There was also a sheet to identify the emotions the chimpanzee in a picture was displaying on his face. 

They also gave us a map to color in where chimpanzees are found in the wild. Hazel mistakenly colored in an extra country, but we also noticed they are in Kenya which is our country this month for Around the World in 12 Dishes (post will be tomorrow), so it was a nice connection. We also read a short story and chose what animals and plants were in the chimpanzees habitat and finally we looked a food chain with the chimpanzee in it.

So that is our study of chimpanzees which was all inspired by the Bobo series of books. Every time I read one Hazel gets so excited and comments how she loves Bobo. Have you read a Jez Alborough book and done some activity or craft with it? Now is your turn to share. If you don't have one to share you can always check out all the great ideas others share here too.

Sharing Saturday 13-27

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I am always so inspired by each post shared. Last week was definitely that way, so if you have not had a chance to check them all out, please do so!! Last week we had a tie for the most clicked.

Our Virtual Flat Stanley is in Kenya!

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

This month we are "traveling" with Around the World in 12 Dishes to Kenya and it seems only appropriate that is where our Flat Stanley is as well this month! This month's Flat Stanley comes from the children of Andrea at Ziezo - Crafting and Living in Kenya. Now in the past we have posted about Kenya. Our first was when Hazel did a post card exchange with Andrea's children. We also posted about Christmas in Kenya for the Christmas Around the World Blog Hop. Then we posted about a wonderful book, A Kenyan Christmas by Aunty Kiko which Andrea was kind enough to send me for my research on Christmas in Kenya. Since we have done a bit about Kenya itself and will do more next Tuesday for our Around the World in 12 Dishes post, I thought we would focus on the Maasai people there.

The Maasai (sometimes spelled Masai or Masaai) are an ethnic group of people in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. They are a well known group due to their location near many game parks in Eastern Africa and for their distinctive customs and dress. They are well known for their jewelry.

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Although the governments of Kenya and Tanzania have programs to encourage the Maasai to give up their semi-nomadic way of life, they continue their old customs. The speak Maa, but are also educated in English and Swahili (the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania). 

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The Maasai are a patriarchal group with the elder males sometimes making decisions for the entire Maasai group. They have a full body of oral law and most disputes are settled with a payment of cattle.  Many Maasai have become Christian and a lesser number Muslim. Their wealth is seen as the number of cattle and children. Their lives center around cattle since it is their main food source. Due to high infant death rates, children are not truly recognized until they are three moons. End of life is non-ceremonial with the Maasai. Bodies are left out for the scavengers. (Source)

Bridal Set of Necklaces (Source)

The Maasai live in a Kraal, which is a hut village or typically a group of huts surrounded by a stockade. (Source) The Maasai's is arranged in a circular fashion and the fence is made out of acacia thorns which keep the lions from attacking the cattle. It is the men's responsibility to build the fence and the women's to build the hut. Traditionally extended family share a Kraal, but with new land management system it is unusual to see a single family in a Kraal. The Inkajijik is the Maasai word for house. They are loaf shaped and made out of mud, sticks, cow dung, cow urine and grass. Women build the house as well as supply the water, collect firewood, milk the cattle, and cook for the family. Warriors are in charge of security while boys are in charge of the livestock care. With the arrival of formal schooling, the livestock care has become a parental responsibility while the boys are in school. 

Livestock is important to the economy of the Maasai. It is their primary source of income. The livestock they have are cattle, sheep and goats. A Maasai prayer is "May Creator give us cattle and children," or "Meishoo iyiook enkai inkishu o-nkera". 

The Maasai diet traditionally consists of meat, milk, and blood from the cattle. People drink blood on special occasions such as a circumcised person, a woman who gave birth or the sick and it is also used for intoxicated or hungover people. More recently the Maasai have become dependent on food produced other places like maize, rice, potatoes and cabbage. Some Maasai who live near crop farmers are forced to farm and use their own products as their main source of food. This is traditionally frowned upon by the Maasai since it is believed that tiling the ground is a crime against nature. (Source)

Source

The Maasai hunt lions. It is a sign of bravery to hunt a lion in the Maasai culture. Due to a decrease in the number of lions though, they now have group lion hunts instead of solo ones. They are hoping to give the lions a chance to increase their numbers again. Since the Maasai believe females are the giver of life in any species they do not hunt the female lions. They also have laws against hunting lions hurt by drought, snared or poisoned.  From the lion they take the mane, tail and claws. The women take the mane and beautifully bead it and give it back to the warrior. When the warrior becomes a junior elder he must through away the lion mane, however first he treat it with respect by sacrificing a sheep and rubbing the mane with a mixture of sheep oil and ochre. (Source)

Warrior Shield for Lion Hunting (Source)

With that we will stop looking at the Maasai. Now you will have to wait until next month to see where Flat Stanley shows up. And if you are interested in hosting Flat Stanley where you live, please check out the information here.

Flat Stanley/Sophia So Far (top 3 are Hazel's)

 

July Happenings at Crafty Moms Share

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It is hard to believe July has already started! We have joined several amazing bloggers to bring you different special events this month. Some have been going on for awhile like The Virtual Book Club for Kids and Around the World in 12 Dishes, but one is something special just for this month, a Pinterest Scavenger Hunt. I cannot wait to tell you more about it.

It will involve several multicultural blogs and there will be prizes! I'll let you know more soon since it begins on July 15th!! 

This month the Virtual Book Club for Kids' author is Jez Alborough. Now this is an author I really knew/know nothing about, but Hazel and I have been enjoying his books so far. Several of them have few words with wonderful pictures. Others rhyme. All of them have been fun! I hope you will join us on July 15th to see which we pick to feature and of course to share your activities with a Jez Alborough book.

If you have not heard about the Virtual Book Club for Kids, we are a group of bloggers who choose an author each month to feature. Each blogger chooses a book and does an activity and/or craft with the book and then posts about it and hosts a blog hop. Everyone is welcome to join the hop as long as it is a post about a book by that month's author!

This month for Around the World in 12 Dishes we are traveling to Kenya! A country we have done a few posts on but are looking forward to exploring more in depth. So far we are loving some books and stories from Kenya. I hope you will join us on the 16th for our day exploring Kenya!

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This summer our goal is to take it slow and easy. I hope to have a lot more at home time with Hazel instead of us running all over the place like what seems to happen. That being said this month we do have plans to visit Maine with friends and for Hazel to attend Vacation Bible School at our church (and me to volunteer at it).  We also have a few theater tickets to see princess musicals at the local theater. Hazel loves going to these. We saw Snow White last week! More about that another time though. I hope you will tune in this month and join us for some of our fun and relaxing adventures!

Exploring Spain 2 with Food, Crafts, Music and Dance

Last week I shared our first post about exploring Spain with food, craft and stories. Today we decided to explore it a bit more with some music, gazpacho and flamenco dancing and a flamenco dancer craft. 

We started by making some gazpacho. We combined the three recipes found in the same three cookbooks we used last time. Hazel enjoyed peeling and chopping the cucumber. We also pulled out the garlic press and the food processor, so she enjoyed it. She said the soup itself was all right, but really did not eat much. (The true test to whether she likes something is how much she eats. She always says things are good.) I on the other hand had two bowls of it for lunch.

Gazpacho Recipe:
2 medium cucumbers, peeled and chopped
5 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
4 cups cubed bread with crusts removed first
4 cups cold water
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon oregano
juice of a lime

Put all ingredients in food processor and puree. Chill for a few hours and serve cold.


After making the soup, we read a bit more about Spain in the Fiesta Series Spain book. I wanted to read more so we could try the flamenco dance. Hazel loved doing this. We pulled out the fan we made last week as well as the one we bought in Epcot and her to castanets. Then we danced around the house to a CD of Flamenco Music from Spain that we got out of the library.

Hazel really wanted to do a craft today as well, so we made a flamenco dancer clothespin doll. I found the instructions at Making Friends. Hazel really enjoyed wrapping the string for the dress. While making this craft, we continued to listen to the Flamenco CD. Then t we listened to a playlist of songs from Spain from these CD's.

Overall we had fun learning a bit about Spain! Next month we will be "traveling" to Kenya. I hope you will join us! Plus next week I'll have a fun craft I found to keep track of all of these adventures.

Also for your own passport check out this link from Glittering Muffins and for a fun placemat, this link.

You also can check out these amazing posts or add your own Spanish adventure here. 

Sharing Saturday 13-8

Wow, we have been enjoying school vacation week up in New England. This week we went to visit my parents for a few days. I caught up with my visiting last week's shared posts and once again the creativity of all of you is amazing! If you have not had a chance to visit all 85 of the shared posts, you should. I am so inspired. In fact I used a recipe shared for dinner tonight (see my Facebook page for more information).

This week there is no most clicked. When I last checked it was a four way tie. So neither Michelle nor I will be featuring a most clicked. But make sure you go check out Michelle's features since hers are different than mine. Just visit Having Fun at Chelle's House. Now onto my features. Here are a few of my favorites from last week.

1) From Happy Hooligans: Homemade Cardboard Construction Set -- I love this and want to make one for Hazel! How fun and such a great way to recycle!
2) From Living Montessori Now!: Montessori Inspired Study of Africa -- This is a wonderful round-up of some hands-on activities to study Africa. It seems like a great topic to study during Black History Month.
3) From Zing Zing Tree: Pebble Art  -- Ok, it may be the Waldorf education choice, but I love the creativity with nature here.
4) From ArtClubBlog: Paper Circle Crafts -- Oh, so much fun and creativity, plus getting to play with a new craft toy. Enough said!
5) From Buggy and Buddy: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Necklace Craft -- Oh adorable is this. I love it!
6) From Mums make lists: My Mum's Maths Manifesto -- Ok, I know this one is because I'm a former math teacher, but I love her Mum's reasoning and explanations! I want to find some time to explore some of her other math posts.


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.

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My Week in Review: This week I shared a Caribbean Cinderella, our first book for this month for the Virtual Book Club for Kids--Bartholomew and the Oobleck, my first Easter Peg Dolls, Royal Clothespin Dolls and two children's books--one is an update of my Christmas in Kenya post, and the other is a new favorite for winter.

 

 

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.

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Christmas in Kenya in February

You may remember I participated in Christmas Around the World and I shared about Christmas traditions in Kenya. Well after my post was published my friend, Andrea, from Ziezo - Crafting and Living in Kenya  and her Esty store, Ziezo, sent me a book one of her friends wrote. Now Andrea was a huge help in my previous post since there is not much available in the United States or on line about Christmas in Kenya. Her friend's book, A Kenyan Christmas by Aunty Kiko however is a wonderful resource, so I want to share it with you even though it is February and not near Christmas.

This is a wonderful story about a Kenyan girl named Akinyi. She cannot wait for Christmas (like all Christian children). It tells how she and her family prepare for Christmas. She is waiting for the short rains to end. She has helped her mother plant the garden with sweet potatoes and sukuma (kale) and is wondering about the plants as she listens to the rain fall on the tin roofs. When the sun finally comes out she notices jacaranda trees are bare and the hornbills have flown away.

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Her family goes out shopping for Christmas gifts for family and friends. There are many Christmas fairs to shop at and the schools are closed and decorations fill the shopping centres. She also wonders abut Christmas Mama, Baba and Toto. I would guess they are the Kenyan equivalent to the American Santa Claus and they are pictured on the cover of the book.

Hornbill (Source)

Akinyi wonders what her family will do for Christmas. They may travel to the village to visit her grandfolks like so many Nariobians or go the beach for the New Year or go on a safari. She knows no matter what they decide it will be a special family time which will include new clothes and new shoes for the new year.

Kale (Source)

In the mean time, her family decorates a tree and then goes swimming and has long cool drinks. Nairobi begins to slow down as people leave to go visit their families in their villages. The buses leaving Nairobi do not have empty seats.

Our Mandazi

Finally it is Christmas. Every kitchen is full with happiness. The cupboards store juices and goodies. On Christmas morning her family has mandazi and sweet chai (see my original post for a recipe and our experience making mandazi). They sing a few songs and tell stories about Christmas and of course open their zawadi (gifts). Then they wait for their visitors whom they will feed.

Doesn't that sound like a lovely Christmas? Now, A Kenyan Christmas is available for sale, however I have had trouble finding an on-line site that sells it. Creative Parenting is the site to purchase it, but is in the middle of re-organizing. If you are interested in purchasing see the comment below from Aunty Kiko (the author).

Sharing Saturday #50

Wow, once again I'm blown away by the amazing ideas shared last week! If you have not had a chance to visit them all, you should. I found it so inspiring and am definitely going to be trying some of them. I know this week I have not been on-line as much and thus not blogging as much and for that matter we haven't been doing as many crafts. This weekend I am taking some time to spend with my family and prepare for the holidays. Since Hazel's birthday is right after Christmas I always feel a bit stressed at this point. Plus I'm mostly handmaking all of her gifts for both Christmas and her birthday. What was I thinking? I will be sharing more soon.

Click picture to go to post!

Last week there were many along the same themes, but here are a few of my favorites (one is very similar to another one from 2 Big, 2 Little so I featured the other one since she already had the most clicked).

1) From Gift of Curiousity: DIY Christmas Snow Globes (Such an easy way to make it)

2) From Life with Moore Babies: D is for Dentist (I love this experiment and we will be trying it!)

3) From Little Wonders' Days: Gingerbread Playdough Activity (Great seasonal activity)

4) From Keitha's Chaos: Cutesy Elf Decorated the Bathroom (What a cute Elf on a Shelf)

5) From Vixen Made: Stamped Christmas T-Shirt (Love the ease of this!)

6) From Stay at Home Educator: A Felt Nativity Story (Definitely going to make this one!!)

7) From Housing a Forest: Stained Glass Nativity (Love this one as well!!)

8) From April's Homemaking: Easy Paper Angel (So sweet and simple!!)

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here or earlier this week, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

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From Your Hostess: Christmas in Kenya

Now for This Week's Party A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow both hosts via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  
Hosts are Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart. A reminder: Mia is taking a blogging break. Hopefully she will be back soon to host again!!

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 button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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