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Earth Day Resources for 2020

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

It is a strange time and hard to believe Earth Day is next week. With all the stay at home orders around the world we are hearing about amazing things happening to our Earth like the Venice canals being clear (although not necessarily because the water is cleaner see here) and the skies above cities being clearer including in New Delhi, India, people are seeing the rare blue skies. The air in Los Angeles, California is even said to be clear. (Source) As scary as Covid-19 is it seems the Earth is enjoying a break from the craziness our society has been causing. But we know this break will end and we can choose to go back to the craziness or do something to help our Earth and keep our planet going for generations to come. Today I am going to share three books about people, places and ways to do just that. The first two are picture books. We will start with Solar Stor y: How One Community Lives Alongside the World's Biggest Solar Plant by Allan Drummond.

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

We have a spring break coming up and then it is almost time for summer break. I don't know about you but I know I will need some ideas to keep Hazel busy. Today I am going to share some fun books for kids that will keep them busy and help them learn! Our first book is from National Geographic Kids and it is Make This! by Ella Schwartz and photographs by Matthew Rakola.

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

Are you ready for the holidays? I know there is a saying that says one gift they can wear, one toy gift and one book gift. The next couple of weeks I am focusing on books and trying to clear off my recommendation shelves. Today I am starting with the picture books. There are books in this grouping for the very young to the older lovers of picture books. I am going to share them by age group as best as I can, so if you are looking for picture books for older kids, scroll down. Are you ready for our picture book extravaganza?

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

I can't believe it is already midJuly. Where is this summer going? I know my gardens are started though they need some work and I need to replant some of the vegetables that the rabbits didn't let grow past a few leaves before the devoured them. I also have to figure out how they are getting through the fences. Today I am going to share some books to help you bring plants to your life--indoors or out as well as a wonderful way to dispose of your food waste that will help your plants. We will start with indoor garden ideas. These are for people like my parents who love plants, but no longer have a yard or much space. The first book is Miniature Terrariums by Fourwords.

Well Easter has passed. Did you get to see our Easter Round-Up last week? It included features from our last party as well as the last Crafty Weekends. 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!! And for all your diverse/cultural posts be sure to share them at Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

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

Today I am going to share some new picture books with you. These books are mostly aimed towards preschool and lower. Each is fun and have good lessons in them. I hope you will read my reviews and check them all out!!

It is time again 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!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop.

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.

It seems everywhere you look people are talking about STEM. The products at Lakeshore Learning seem to be labeled STEM or STEAM. This is the latest educational craze and it is about time. As a former math teacher I know the importance of math and science for our kids. I also know that it is important for them to be taught at a young age so they can really enjoy learning them. And for the most part kids love learning science!! It is one of the few places that hands-on learning is not made up it just is. The experiments and discoveries are natural and normal. They lead to real life math problems as well. However this is often where the elementary teachers have a shortfall. Since our elementary teachers teach all the subjects: reading, math, science, social studies, phonics, handwriting and grammar; they often focus on their favorites or what they feel are easiest for them to teach. It makes sense. Unfortunately it is often not math or science and sometimes the teacher's own insecurities of these subjects can be passed on (as well as the parents') by how it is taught and approached. It seems that the publishers and educational toy makers have finally realized they needed to bring products to parents and teachers to make teaching these subjects easier. After all in this high tech world science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are the careers of the future. So today I am going to share with you some great resources to bring a little STEM into your house this summer as well as a few of the lessons we did for our science units as I homeschooled Hazel the last six weeks of second grade.

Disclosure: I was sent these products to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Can you believe tomorrow is Mother's Day? Where has the time gone? I suppose with all the recent changes in our lives time is really flying. A few weeks ago we pulled Hazel from her school and I began homeschooling her until the end of this school year. We will be sending her to a new school in the fall. However I have to say I have a lot of respect for anyone who chooses to homeschool. It is a lot of work and this is with the workbooks and such that she was already using this year. Go Teach offered me some supplies for Teacher Appreciation Week to make gifts and I explained I was now homeschooling, but thought they would make nice Mother's Day gifts for the homeschooler (or for end of the year gifts for a teacher). (Now I know most moms probably want something for themselves and not their classroom, but some of the supplies could be used for their own crafts as well.) Plus I have some fun books about moms and spending time with your mom for younger kids from MacMillan Publishers. We will start with some gift ideas. I was sent white board markers, glue sticks and scented twistable crayons.

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies 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. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

This past week was Hazel's spring break. We have had quite the week and a half. The last week of school included Hazel's class's Easter play and my parents came to see her and celebrate Easter with us early. Then my sister came to go to the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday with us. Then we celebrated with my mother-in-law on Easter Sunday. On Monday we headed to the American Girl Doll Store Boston (which is not in Boston). Hazel had saved almost enough to buy herself a doll. We loaned her the last $30 since we were going. My plan had been to take her so she could really decide which doll she wanted. Seeing the dolls in person helped her really decide which were her top picks. Some that had been top picks fell off the list in person. After a bit of thought she decided on Kit Kitteredge. She LOVES the books about Kit, so I thought this was a wonderful choice.

Sharing Saturday 17-16

Have you entered my current giveaway for 18 amazing books having to do with not your typical princesses?

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 at our last party! It was a small party but full of great ideas! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have one group of features.

Disclosure: I was sent these items 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 am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Can you believe Easter is only two weeks away? I love spring and Easter and love making various crafts for this time of year. I also am always looking for some non-candy ideas for the Easter eggs and basket. I turned to my friends at Oriental Trading for some of all of these. I cannot wait to share with you what we have been making and what surprises Hazel will have on Easter morning. We will start with ideas for the Easter eggs and basket and our new Easter flag.

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am amazed by all the great ideas! These features are just a sampling of the posts shared. I hope you will go and check them all out! This week our features consist of Gardening and Bees, Booking Across America, and Some Favorites.

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I am blown away by all the great ideas! This week our features consist of Earth Day & Mother's Day Features, Art Features, Toddler Features, and Other Features.

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copies of these 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. They are also providing copies for the giveaway.

Today I am joining with a group of bloggers to do an Earth Day Giveaway. There are three prize packs and the information for the giveaway is below. Today I am lucky enough to review two of the books that are in the third prize pack. Hazel loves both of these books! The first book is Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree by Durga Yael Benhard. This book was released to celebrate Arbor Day which is April 24.

http://wisdomtalespress.com/books/childrens_books/978-1-937786-34-2-Just_Like_Me_Climbing_A_Tree.shtml

Spring has finally hit our area. It is hard to believe it is already May and the temperatures are just getting to be springlike. After school and gymnastics class, Hazel wanted to come home and get outside. I didn't blame her. She asked if she could plant some flowers in her garden. A few weeks ago we read Henry Cole's On Meadowview Street and Hazel wanted to do what Caroline did in the book.

In this book, a young girl named Caroline moves into a new house on Meadowview Street. While her family is settling in she decides to see if there is a meadow on Meadowview Street. On her way to see, she sees one lone flower growing in the middle of the lawn. She wants to save the flower and finds some sticks and string to rope it off. As the flower grows more flowers come up and she expands her meadow. Birds and bugs come to visit and soon she wants a tree. Eventually her whole yard is a meadow and some of the neighbors follow suit.

Since we don't have a random flower in the middle of our yard, Hazel decided she would do it in her garden. Last year Steve dug me a new garden with better sunlight, so my old garden became Hazel's. It has my oregano and our raspberry bushes in it, but otherwise is hers to play and/or plant. Since she wanted a meadow, I bought her some butterfly and hummingbird flower seeds. We also found all the flower seeds from the past couple years that hadn't been finished. We figured we can see what will grow. The first thing we had to do was get rid of the weeds. Hazel took out her hoe, but I didn't get any pictures of it. Steve dug up some of the oregano (which has taken over this garden the past few years) and then our landscaper came and he wanted some to take home so he dug up the rest of what I didn't want. Once the weeds were up, Hazel began planting the seeds. I planted some of the milkweed seeds we found in the beginning of April. Then I explained to Steve that she wanted to rope it off like the girl in the book. He pulled out some of my stakes and I gave them some string.

We also released her ladybugs today. They did not seem to want to leave their plastic home, so we put it in the garden.

Hazel had so much fun, digging, planning and planting. I hope some of it grows for her, but I figured we can always buy some annuals if they don't. For now the fun is just the hope and getting out there. Plus we let her do what she wanted with all the seeds. She asked for help with pouring them into her cup.

She and I discussed where to plant the sunflowers. This year I bought her pink sunflowers (Ms. Mars from Burpee). I hope they grow since she is so excited for them. I also found an old pack of yellow sunflowers and we mixed them up for her.

Steve asked if she wanted a scarecrow for her garden and put it in for her. Then he helped her rope it off (while I took a nap).

When Hazel came in, I ran out to get a picture of the final product. They added some more things like a "Welcome to my garden" sign and fences. Hazel also wants to put her wooden bird feeder and bird bath that she and Steve put together. That may be tomorrow's adventure.

Hopefully later in the year, we will have a butterfly and hummingbird paradise. I'll let you know!

For more of our gardening posts check out:

Welcome, Spring!! Spring Craft Round-Up

What comes to mind when you think spring? There are so many wonderful parts to spring. The weather gets warmer; the flowers bloom; the world seems to wake up and then there are all the animals that return. Since spring officially began today at 12:57 p.m., I thought we would do a round-up of my spring crafts, activities and books so far on Crafty Moms Share. I will do an Easter round up another time and I did a Lent round up a couple of weeks ago.

Due to my crazy schedule, this is a continuation of last week's Sharing Saturday. This week's features come from two weeks ago. If you have not checked out the amazing ideas shared two weeks ago, you really should go and be inspired. And of course, please check out all the wonderful ideas that were shared last week and already this week! Here are some of my features from two weeks ago. (I shared different features last week!)

Then there were a few themes from last two weeks ago. Last week I shared some the gardening themed posts. This week I am going to share some of the science themed posts. I should add that several went in both categories, but I picked one for them.

1) From Buggy and Buddy: Bubble Science

2) From Gummy Lump Toys: Taking a Look Inside of Our Bodies

3) From Schooltime Snippets: Making a Wind Vane

4) From The Usual Mayhem: Germs and Microbes Week 1

5) From For the Children: Nature Study: A Week at the Pond

6) From The Measured Mom: Make an X-Ray Light Box

Thank you to everyone who shared last week and two weeks ago!! 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.

Featured Button Code:

From Your Hostess: Another busy week but we shared a Minnie Mouse Dress, Why I Love Weeds, A Cinderella Story from India--Anklet for a Princess, and the Virtual Book Club for Kids June Author is Gail Gibbons.

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.

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

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 13-22

I have a crazy day and a crazy week scheduled this coming week, so I am starting Sharing Saturday early and it will last two weeks! That way I will have two weeks to try to get the visiting done--especially since I cannot imagine getting much done the first week. There will be some features from last week this week as well as next week, so make sure you come back to see if you were featured. If you have not checked out the amazing ideas shared last week, you really should go and be inspired. Here are my features.

First I cannot let one of the farm playmats made from the swap I ran go by without featuring it. Look how great this one came out. (I still have a little more to do on Hazel's, but it is coming along.) This one is from My Rhythm and Rhyme in Motherhood.

Then there were a few themes from last week's shared posts. Today I am going to share some of the gardening themed posts.

1) From The Gift of Curiosity: Dissecting a Flower (I should note she also shared dyeing flowers last week too)

2) From Carrots Are Orange: Introducing Parts of a Seed to Preschoolers

3) From Fit Kids Clubhouse: Garden Math (I love that they are learning in the garden!! It is truly the best way to learn instead of cards and books.)

4) From Trillium Montessori: Flower Activities

5) From Making Boys Men: 5 Tips for Gardening with Kids

6) From Domestic Bliss Squared: Growing Potatoes in a Garbage Pail

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.

Featured Button Code:

From Your Hostess: Another busy week but we shared an American South Cinderella--The Talking Eggs, our small world jungle playscape and a Minnie Mouse outfit.

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).

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

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

Earth Day Resources for 2020

Kids' Activity Books Review

Picture Book Extravaganza

Garden Crafts & More -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Sharing Saturday 18-12

Picture Book Round-Up

Sharing Saturday 17-30

Books to Add STEM to Your Summer

Mother's Day and Homeschooling Gifts & Books

Vacation Week Crafts - a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Sharing Saturday 17-16

Spring and Easter Crafts, Ideas & More with Products from Oriental Trading -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Sharing Saturday 15-17

Sharing Saturday 15-16

Earth Day Book Reviews and Giveaway

Spring Fever: Planting Hazel's Meadow/Garden

Welcome, Spring!! Spring Craft Round-Up

Sharing Saturday 13-22 Week 2

Sharing Saturday 13-22

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