Shed to Clubhouse Transformation

For as long as I can remember Hazel has loved little playhouses. She has really wanted one, but we never got around to getting one. We kept wanting to get her a special one that she would want to use for many years, but we never found the money since those tend to be so expensive. Since we added a garage to our house, Steve has not been storing as much in his shed and decided to give Hazel the shed as her clubhouse/playhouse. She was excited for this and we talked about decorating it with curtains and a rug. While out shopping Hazel chose the pink shag rug for the clubhouse. I pulled out pink sparkly curtains I had bought on clearance and planned to use for a birthday party, but never did. We hung them with a thin branch from a tree that had fallen in the yard and used nails to keep them up. 

Crafty Weekends Link Party

I am away for the Thirty-One Conference this week, so we are going straight to our party! It was a small party (after all it is summer), so there are only a few!! Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party.  Just a reminder that we do not feature any of the food/recipe posts and ask you not to share them here. There were some great ideas shared. Below are a few of the features from our last party, but be sure to go back and check out the many great crafts shared! Please remember Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place to share all your diverse and cultural posts there.  I can't wait to see what your latest creations are!!

Twists, Braids & Ponytails -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Quarto Knows sent me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I will admit this is not a total craft this week, but it does have some creativity and with the week I have had, this is the best I  could do. Hazel loves having her dolls hair look nice. However she has not really mastered braids or doing hair yet. I got her (and me) this book to get some ideas and learn new tricks to do. It is Twists, Braids, & Ponytails by Joel Benjamin. 

Virtual Book Club for Kids--Extraordinary Egg

It is time for the Virtual Book Club for Kids. This month the author is Leo Lionni. The book we will be featuring is An Extraordinary Egg. If you have any activities, crafts, etc. to go along with a Leo Lionni book, you can share it below!

An Extraordinary Egg is about three frogs who live on an island. Two of the frogs like to stay near their inlet while Jessica likes to explore the island. Jessica is always bringing back things from her explorations that she thinks are extraordinary. One day she brings back a large white pebble. This time Marilyn and August were truly astonished and Marilyn told them it was not a pebble, but a chicken egg.  Since Jessica had never heard of a chicken, she believed Marilyn.

The egg hatched and a long, green, scaly animal came out and asked where the water was. The frogs called this animal, Chicken. Chicken was a very good swimmer and taught the frogs some tricks in the water. One day Chicken saved Jessica's life when she was stuck in some plants at the bottom of the pond. From that day on, they were inseparable. Chicken joined Jessica on her explorations. One day a bird spoke to Chicken saying her mother has been looking for her. The bird took them to Chicken's mother. Chicken's mother called Chicken her little alligator. Jessica went home and told Marilyn and August all about it. They found it so funny that the mother called a chicken a little alligator.

Reading this book got us to thinking about what animals lay eggs. We too out Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller to learn more. We learned the word oviparous which is the name for any animal that lays an egg. The oviparous animals are all birds, most snakes, lizards, crocodiles, alligators, turtles, dinosaurs (did), frogs, toads, salamanders, fish, seahorse, octopus, moonsnails, spiders, snails, insects, and the two mammals are the spiny anteater and the duckbill platypus (both mammals live in Australia). We used this information for our activity. We did it two ways: one with a homemade egg craft and one with plastic eggs.

With the plastic eggs, I collected some of the animals that would lay eggs and put them inside the plastic eggs. (Yes, I bought a Toob of animals for this, but used many we already had as well). Then Hazel opened each one to see what was inside. Our flamingo did not fit into the large plastic egg we had, but we pretended it did since flamingos lay the largest eggs of all birds. The animals we had were chick, duck, frog, alligator, flamingo, goose, turtle, beetle and dinosaur. She really enjoyed this activity and it was very easy to do since we had not put away our plastic Easter eggs yet.

Our next activity involved making three paper mache eggs. We did this by blowing up three water balloons and then covering them in strips of tissue paper dipped in a glue and water mix. Then we left them to dry overnight. When they were dry, I popped the balloons and slid an animal into each one. I had to cut the hole a bit bigger for the animals to go in.

Our Eggs

Then I lined them up and had Hazel guess which one was the alligator, the chicken and the goose eggs. She discovered she could see in the holes and changed her mind on all of them after peeking. Then she took away the eggs and animals so she could play with them.

That is our exploration of An Extraordinary Egg. Have you done some activities with a Leo Lionni book? Share it below and join all these wonderful bloggers who host the Virtual Book Club for Kids each month. 

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
 

An Upcoming Event: This summer there will be a Virtual Book Club Summer Camp at home for 5 weeks. Each week will feature a different theme and you will be asked to share links based on those topics--they do not have to be from books. To sign up, click on the button above! It starts June 24th and is geared to 2 to 8-year-olds.

Sharing Saturday 13-45

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were some amazing and inspiring things shared. I haven't seen all of them, but have enjoyed the ones I have gotten to so far. I hope you have had a chance to check them all out and leave some comment love for each other! Now onto our features.

From Gift of Curiosity: 20+ Turkey Crafts & Activities

With Thanksgiving next week, I decided to feature some of the Thanksgiving lessons, crafts and decorations shared. We had so many wonderful Thanksgiving ideas shared. I picked only a few of them. If you are looking for a lesson, craft or decoration, make sure to go back and check the rest of them.

1) From Thank You Honey: Tiny Turkey's

2) From Green Owl Art: Corn Cob Doll

3) From Sugar Aunts: Cardboard Tube Turkey Juice Box Cover

4) From There's Just One Mommy: Candy Corn Turkey

5) From 3 Boys and a Dog: Thanksgiving Printables: Reading Flashcards 

6 & 7) From Bible Fun for Kids: Thanksgiving with Preschool 

8) From  Kims Kandy Kreations: Turkey Napkin Place Card Printable

9) From EduArt 4 Kids: Thanksgiving Crafts: Awesome Turkeys and Indian Pottery (Sorry I couldn't take a picture from the site.)

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

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From Your Hostess:
This week we shared two more Native American Cinderella tales, our exploration of Thailand with Around the World in 12 Dishes, a round-up of Thanksgiving books we enjoy and a thankful corn craft, and a wonderful flamingo book for Flamingo Friday.

Next week I will be focusing on Advent, so if you have any Advent calendars, wreaths, etc. please share them so I can feature them!!

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share 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.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

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

Sharing Saturday 13-48

Sharing Saturday last week. If you have not had a chance to check out the amazing ideas shared, you should! Thank you to everyone who shared and to everyone who visited others!! There was not a most clicked, so we will go straight to our features. Here are a few of my favorites (and I did try to pick some non-Christmas ones this week).

1) From Growing in God's Grace: Mystery of History Lessons 43-45 (Yes, they made an aqueduct!)

2) From Where Imagination Grows: Salt Dough & Melted Bead Tree Ornaments

3) From Imprints from Tricia: Button Christmas Ornaments

4) From Blissful Sewing: Felt Christmas Ornaments Tutorial

5) From My Nearest and Dearest: Scented Wreath Craft for Kids

6) From Danya Banya: DIY Educational Toy: Emo Dolls

7) From Crafting Connections: Abstracted Painted Scarf: Gift and Wear (with help decorating by kids)

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

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From Your Hostess:
This week we shared our activities for the second week of Advent: Peace, an easy paperclip angel ornament and Christmas craft round-up of the past three years, an child-made photo display that we are giving the grandparents, a fun flamingo craft and review of flamingo party items from Oriental Trading.

Don't forget to enter our Giveaway of homemade magenta leather doll clothes and accessories & a gift certificate for Leather Hide Store!! Giveaway ends 12/16!

 

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share 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 Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

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

Kid Made Mother's Day Card Ideas with Round-Up

Can you believe Mother's Day is only a week away? This year with remote learning going on the kids are not getting help from their teachers to make cards and gifts. That means it falls on the kids and the dads. Steve brought up the idea of shopping for Mother's Day cards with Hazel and whether it was safe. I reminded him that most of our stores here are closed and will be until after Mother's Day. I suggested they go to our local Walgreen's but when push came to shove Hazel did not want to go out. She has been home since this has started except for our walks when it is nice out, a trip to her school for her yearbook picture, a trip to a good friend's house who is also social distancing but we needed to exchange things with one another and trips to her grandmother's house with Steve. I went to Walgreen's and picked up a couple of cards for her grandmothers. She was afraid one of them would not like getting a homemade card. I found it hard to believe but figured it was worth getting cards for her to give them. She can make one for me. Then I got to thinking of the dads out there who haven't had to deal with this before. I got the idea of sharing some when I got an email from Crayola featuring a flamingo card. I figured we had to try it since Hazel LOVES flamingos. 

Sharing Saturday 13-31

Thank you to all of you who shared with us last week and to everyone who comes to be inspired and check out all the amazing things shared each week! This week I'm spending some time with my parents, so I have not gotten to visit everyone's yet, but I will.

Novels for Grades 1-3

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

Today I am going to share with you four novels perfect for your first through third graders. The first two are part of the Circle C Stepping Stone Series by Susan K. Marlow and published by Kregel Publications. These are books 3 and 4. This series takes place in the Wild West during the late 1800s. (There are Circle C books for different age groups as well.) The first book is Andi Lassos Trouble. 

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!

Summer Craft Kits Product Reviews

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots 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. 

Point I get them to for Hazel

Can You Spot the Leopard? --Review & Giveaway of a Beautiful Picture Book about African Animals

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Karen B. Winnick for this blog tour and will receive a small stipend for this post. All opinions are my own.

Do you know an animal lover? Or perhaps you have a unit coming up on Africa and its animals? I have a beautiful new book to share with you that is perfect for both!! It is Can You Spot the Leopard? An African Safari by Karen B. Winnick. This is the type of book Hazel would have loved when she was younger. 

Valentine Crafts & More -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Last week's Crafty Weekends Party was huge and there were so many great ideas I was a bit overwhelmed with putting together all the features!! Put that together with a busy week (and Hazel first snow day of the school year and the second is tomorrow) I didn't get much adult crafting done. We did however make some fun Valentine's Day crafts. The crafts I am sharing today involve two kits from the Paper Source which I purchased for us, so this is not really a review per say. I will provide you links when possible. I do not receive any compensation if you click them or purchase from them. They are solely for your convenience.  The first kit is the Ombre Heart kit which is actually in the clearance section and no longer available on-line. I made the teacher Valentine (the large one) and added on some of the words of 1 Corinthians 14.

1930's Dresden Plate Doll Quilt Blocks with Free Templates

Awhile ago I posted about making a quilt for Kit Kittredge. Kit is the American Girl from the 1930's/the Great Depression Era. In my post I explained I was having difficulties with the dresden plate quilt block and getting it the correct size. I decided to just make Sun Bonnet Sue squares. I started making them and at some point put them away and now I have to find them. However this weekend my interest was renewed because Hazel had her first sleepover Friday night which has turned into a weekend guest including her American Girl doll, Ruthie. Ruthie is Kit's best friend in the stories, so we have been having lots of doll fun including a trip to the American Girl Store today. However my depression era interest is back. Now awhile ago I discovered Wren Feathers has an easy dresden plate doll quilt pattern on her site. If you look up dresden plate quilts you will see three styles or so of dresden plates. Wren Feathers is the one that is just a circle. I did some more research and finally figured out what I needed to do to make my pattern. I found The Quilting Company's article to be very helpful in sizing of them. I wanted to make one with the scalloped edge and I figured it out!!

Hispanic Hertiage Month--Some Legends of Puerto Rico

Hispanic Heritage Month is every September 15th to October 15th. Last year we really focused on Mexico for Hispanic Heritage Month. We also have done two Mexican Cinderella tales in our Fairy Tales in Different Culture series (as well as a Hispanic American version). This year we are going to expand out a bit. You will be seeing some Hispanic Heritage posts in our Fairy Tales in Different Cultures series (including this week) as well as our Flamingo Friday posts. Today I am going to share with you two wonderful picture books that tell two legends from Puerto Rico. Before I begin with the books, I need to send out a huge thank you to Daria over at Daria Music for sending these great books to me. If you have not checked out Daria's site, you should. She has amazing CD's as well as a great monthly page with several giveaways each month. This month she is giving away a basket full of castanets and a set of fair trade zamponas.

Origami Bonsai -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me 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.

Tomorrow we are sharing our exploration of Japan and our Japanese tea party as our post for the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Asian Pacific Island Heritage Month Series & Giveaway. To kick off our exploration of Japan I thought it would be great to share two Japanese arts in one book -- origami and bonsai. The book is Origami Bonsai by Benjamin John Coleman. 

Little One-Yard Wonders Book Review

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.

Today I get the pleasure of reviewing Little One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins. This is the newest addition to the One-Yard Wonders series. I love these books!!

This book has 101 sewing projects for children and babies. It has everything from clothing to toys and room decor. Just on the cover you can see a floor cushion, shoes, a diaper bag and the mushroom tea set and more!! The first project I wanted to try was the Summer Days Hat. This hat is perfect for Hazel with her long hair that she always wants up. Her sun hats tend not to fit over her pony tail.

DIY Flower Wreath & Crafty Weekends Link Party

A few weeks ago I was in one of the craft stores and checked out the flower summer wreaths. I couldn't believe how expensive they were so I looked at supplies. I found this twig wreath and two flower stems on sale. Since our front door gets so much sun that hot glue melts, I used wire to secure the flowers. I cut the stems of the flowers and stuck the stems into the spaces in the wreath. Once I got the flowers arranged how I liked them, I wrapped the wire tightly around the stems and hid them with the flowers and leaves. I added a ribbon to hang it and now have the perfect wreath for my red door.

Crafty Weekends End of 2018

It is time for Crafty Weekends!! I have spent the day on the couch trying to breathe. Yup, I got a Christmas cold. So I am not going to be sharing any crafts of my own or even reviewing any books because I am a bit tired. So we are going right to the party!! This party will see us through the end of 2018 since I will be taking some time to spend with my family for the holidays!! Come back and keep sharing!!

Solar Eclipse Crafts and Snacks - Crafty Weekends Link Party

Are you ready for the solar eclipse tomorrow? We are getting ready for it. Steve showed us how to set up his telescope to see the eclipse indirectly so we do not need the glasses (which he does not trust). Then we did a few crafts and made a few snacks. The idea for our craft came from NASA Eclipse Activity Guide. (This guide has many activities including information about the eclipse and lessons on it.) The craft is very easy. You need dark paper, chalk and a roll of masking tape or some other circle template.