The Colors of Us--Exploring all the browns of the world

Just a quick reminder that Sharing Saturday and Homemade Mother's Day Gift link parties are still open. Please come linkup with your child-oriented crafts and activities and your great Mother's Day ideas! And of course visit to check out all the wonderful ideas already shared!!

This week I'm going to share some multicultural story books Hazel and I have discovered and liked thus far. With one of them we have tried  a painting activity, so I will share that with you as well. Some musical resources for this book would be DARIA's song Beautiful Rainbow World (on her Beautiful Rainbow World CD and her I Have a Dream CD) and Kevin So's song Individual (on his Individual CD and Along the Way CD). (I will share more about Kevin So's music at a later date, but Individual goes along with this book, so I'm sharing it here.)

No Is All I Know! -- Learn the Power of Yes!

 

Disclosure: I was sent a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Is your child in the no stage? It is a normal stage for toddlers who are exploring their boundaries and discovering their own voices and world. To learn more about this stage and some coping strategies check out this article. If you want to show them the power of yes, read on. Today I get to share with you a new picture book from Chris Grabenstein called No Is All I Know! and illustrated by Leo Espinosa. It is recommended for ages 3 to 7, but it certainly could be read to a two-year-old. 

Our New Morning Routine: Imaginations 2 Book Review

Disclosure: Bambino Yoga sent 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.

So for the last couple of weeks Hazel and I have a new morning routine thanks to Bambino Yoga. Carolyn Clarke sent us a copy of her newest book, Imaginations 2: Relaxation Stories & Guided Imagery for Kids. 

Exploring Iran with Books & Music

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copy of this product 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.

Take a moment to check out my post on the Middle East and enter the Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month Giveaway over at Multicultural Kid Blogs! Global Learning for Kids has left Lebanon and headed to Iran. Now recently I turned on the radio in the car to check the traffic report and we caught a small snip of the news and they were quoting someone from Iran about how Americans will always be their enemy. Hazel only heard a few words, but it was enough for her to question me what was said and why. Unfortunately, this was her first introduction to Iran. Now we are going to spend time to explore Iran and focus on some of the positives this month, but I know we will not be able to overcome that statement in her mind. However she has been enjoying stories from Iran, well actually Persia which is now Iran.  


We were lucky enough to get two fun Persian stories from Wisdom Tales Press and both are prizes in the giveaway. These are books you will want to add to your multicultural library, so make sure to enter or go buy them!!

Two Fun New Picture Books

Have you entered my current giveaway for a custom canvas print?

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books 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.

Are you looking for some fun books to read aloud or have your children read to themselves? Here are two new ones that are perfect!! Now I will say that you may not want to read them at bedtime, because they had us laughing so much I think it got Hazel a little restless and not really ready to fall asleep (Sorry, Steve). The first book is a reimagined version of Hansel and Gretel, it is Hensel and Gretel Ninja Chicks by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Rebecca J. Gomez and illustrated by Dan Santat. From the name you can tell this book involves chickens!!

My Love for You Is Like a Garden with Free Printable Match Game and Flower Craft Round-Up

 

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Flying Cardinal Press for this blog tour post. I will receive a small stipend for posting my review.

Spring is in the air! I see the tips of our daffodils, tulips and irises poking out of the soil between the mounds of snow. Spring is my favorite season. I love watching the world come back to life. I saw my first robin last week, so I know the warmer weather will be here soon. That means it is time to think about my garden. Today I am sharing a beautiful book comparing love to a garden. I made a match game with the beautiful illustrations and have a round-up of flower and garden crafts as well as a giveaway!! It is fun post! The book is called My Love for You Is Like a Garden by Laura Smetana. 

Sharing Saturday 18-19

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. So glad you joined us!!

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!! 

Picture Books for Everyone

Disclosure: I was sent these book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It can be hard to pick the right picture book for your child. There are so many choices out there with so many different themes, messages and more! Today I am going to share a variety of new picture books with you and I am sure there will be something for each child in this group!! 

Back to School Picture Books

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Back to school is going to look very different this year. Many schools are doing remote only. Some are doing a hybrid model and others are opening back up but with masks and social distancing. The decision on parents and teachers is a hard one. The kids will do better in person but what if someone gets Covid? Hazel's school is offering the choice of everything inbetween. Each day we can choose to keep her home to learn remotely or bring her into school. Since it is a small school and they did eight weeks of summer camp without anyone getting sick, we have decided to send her in person. Today we are preparing for her new student orientation. Since it is a new school and a strange year our anxieties are high. It reminds me of the years where many of the books I am sharing would have been helpful. As the school year begins teachers and parents turn to creative books to help put kids at ease. Today I am going to share some new ones of those as well as some books to help younger kids begin learning concepts. We will start with a book about getting to school on the bus and first time fears.

Five-Minute Bible Devotions for Children

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.

With it being summer Hazel is not learning about the Bible at school or going to chapel at school and we have been traveling many weekends and thus she has not been attending Sunday School regularly. I want her to know that reading the Bible and praying is still very important and that we are not taking a vacation from God. We found the perfect way to include Bible lessons in our nightly story times with the books Ideals Books sent us. 

Both books are very similar in how they are written. The first is Five-Minute Bible Devotions for Children: Stories from the Old Testament by Pamela Kennedy and Anne Kennedy Brady and illustrated by Amy Wummer. This book has twenty-one of the Old Testament stories. It simplifies and summarizes the stories so a young child can truly understand it and then it gives a paragraph of relating the story to everyday kids' lives. Next comes a prayer. Then there are four questions relating to the story, the illustration and the child's life. Finally there is a scripture.  To show you an example of the story I found this sample page at Rainbow Resource Center.

A Board Book for Truck Lovers Who Fight Sleep

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Do you have a young truck lover who likes to fight sleep? Today's book is for you! It is a board book recommended for baby through 3-year-olds. It is Dozers Don't Doze by Melinda Rathjen and illustrated by Gareth Williams. This book is being released on August 10, 2021!

Surviving Hurricane Sandy & More Crafts

Have you entered my Best Halloween Costume Contest yet? Please stop by to enter and to vote for your favorite!!

Today I thank God that my family and friends are fine after Hurricane Sandy.

Well, as you know I live on the East Coast so we have been hit by Hurricane Sandy. My dear husband is working like a madman to get people's power turned on in Massachusetts. The part I really hate about storms is how much he has to work and how angry people get about not having power. When I see how hard he and his colleagues work I realize that they are doing what they can. Anyway, that is another whole story. Today I will tell you about Hazel and mine experience of the storm.

It started sprinkling/misty on Sunday here, but really was not bad. The news said the worst part would start around noon on Monday. So on Monday morning we went out to run a few errands that we had to do. Now just about every school was closed and so was the library, state offices, etc. But most stores were not, so off we went. Then Hazel had an unheard of two hour nap. She doesn't usually nap anymore and when she does we pay for it at bedtime. I figured I would let her sleep since I needed some sleep and she hadn't really gotten to see Steve and he would be working late.

Shortly after she woke up, we lost power. And of course it was almost dinner time. Of course any problem with power here is dealt with a phone call to Steve. He called me back to let me know no one had reported it and gave me the number to report it. Then he called back to let me know it was a major area out (the local highway with all the stores were out as well) so I better figure something out for dinner since all the close restaurants were closed. I called one pizza place and was told delivery would take at least an hour, so I called another one and we got pizza in half an hour from the neighboring town. Hazel and I had a picnic in our family room. While we waited for the pizza to come we played many board games.

Normally after dinner we start to get Hazel ready for bed, however with her nap she was not ready for that step, so we did some crafts. We had candles lit for when it got dark outside. Then I remembered the lanterns and found them. The dark picture above is without the flash so you could get a sense of what we were dealing with as we crafted.  Hazel decorated some felt bags and a felt owl and pumpkin using stickers and glitter glue. Then I used two of the felt bags to make a tic tac toe board. I bought some wooden hearts and stars after seeing a tic tac toe board at the craft fair and loved the idea. I thought of the bags to hold the pieces. I had these felt bags for something (I think I got them on clearance). Hazel saw them and wanted to do some as well.

Then I liked this idea so much I went back to Michaels. They did not have anymore felt bags, but I found some canvas ones that had a pull string.  I bought some smaller wooden pieces for the smaller bags and used some fabric paint on them. I made a bunch for the Holiday Fair's Wee Folk Shop. Now I have all my required donations to bring tomorrow. Then I'll probably work on some more for them.