New Holiday & Winter Books Roundup

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in order to provide an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have shared three roundups of new Christmas picture books as well as reviews of some other ones this month. Today I am sharing at another December holiday--Hanukkah and winter books for you to check out. We will start with the Hanukkah book. It is Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Hanukkah Party! by Leslie Kimmelman and illustrated by Tom Brannon. It is recommended for ages 3 to 7.

Asian American Figure Skaters: Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan

Have you entered my current giveaway yet? Only a few more days to enter!!

For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I wanted to look at different parts of the culture. I decided to do something with sports. Since we have already read books about martial arts, I decided to go with something I love: figure skating. I went back to my younger days and found some books about Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan. 

Christmas in Different Lands -- New England

This post is part of the Christmas in Different Lands series from Multicultural Kid Blogs.  Be sure to visit the main page and Pinterest board!

This year instead of investigating what Christmas is like in another country, I decided to share Christmas in our neck of the woods. Of course then I had to wonder "What defines Christmas time in New England?" 
 

Map of New England Source

In many ways I often feel like Christmas time is a step back in time in parts of New England. Many houses (and almost all the churches) are still decorated with white lights on the tree, candles in the windows and a wreath on the door. I tried to get a picture of our church at night, but the candle light seems to blur.

Somewhere In Between - Book Review

 

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

Young children can find compromising very hard. They are at an age where empathy isn't really developed. They only see things their way. Today I get to share a picture book released this week about finding middle ground. It is Somewhere In Between by Laan Cham. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.

Craft It Up! Chirstmas Around the World -- Book Review

Disclosure: Ryland, Peters and Small 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. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Today I am going to share with you a fun Christmas craft book that helps teach a little bit about various countries around the world. In August of 2013, I had the pleasure of reviewing Craft It Up Around the World. Now the same authors, Libby Abadee and Cath Armstrong have a second book published, Craft It Up Christmas Around the World. 

Decorations and Gift Crafts & More from Oriental Trading -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these items in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving this week? Have you started to look towards Christmas? We have gone a bit Christmas crazy here and have been loving it. Today we are going to share some crafts and other things that are great for gifts and Christmas decor. All of it came from Oriental Trading and their amazing Christmas items. Earlier this month we shared crafts and items that focus on the nativity. Today's are more non-secular. Hazel LOVES Peanuts right now so several of them will be Peanuts themed including this fun Peanuts® Christmas Wreath Craft Kit.


These foam wreaths are adorable and easy to put together. The pieces are self-adhesive for ease of creating. Hazel is going to give them to friends and teachers. Aren't they adorable?



Our next craft kit is actually for Hazel's class. I asked her teacher to peruse the Christmas crafts and pick something that would work in her classroom. She picked these Peace, Hope and Joy Foam Ornaments. I opened one of each and laid them out without sticking the self-adhesive backs to get photographs. I wanted to make sure her class will have all the ornaments to make. Aren't they adorable? They are perfect for a class. They are individually packaged and all the pieces are self-adhesive.



Hazel fell in love with painting ceramic objects when we got the Paint Your Own Pumpkin Banks this fall. She really wanted these DIY Ceramic Ornaments to paint for gifts for teachers and family members. They are fun and easy for her to do. I helped her paint a couple so far, but she still has many to do!! The nice thing is that the back are white so you could write on them and use them as gift tags. They are sold by the dozen with two of each ornament.



Did you see our doll Christmas tree yet? I fell in love with these Christmas Light Bracelet Kits. I knew they would be the perfect size "light bulbs" for our doll tree. Instead of making the bracelets (besides one for each of us) I strung them on a long string and put them on the doll's tree. They are the perfect size for it!!


Our final craft item for tonight is Peanuts® Color Your Own Christmas Snow Globes. Hazel is loving these. She colored one so far for herself and one to give the office manager at her school who loves Snoopy!


Aren't they fun? I love how they turned out. I can't wait to see what she does with the other four. Six come in a package.

I also got a few stocking stuffers to review. Oriental Trading is a great place to get them!


Hazel and Steve love puzzles. I figured these Plastic Puzzle Balls will be perfect surprises in their stockings. They are inexpensive and thus a bit cheaply made, but I imagine they will still enjoy them!


Now Hazel loves her Extreme Dot to Dot book that I got for her earlier this year. So I got her this great Extreme Dot to Dot US History book. I know she is going to love it and it will give her something to do in the car while we travel Christmas day to my parents. I love that the pictures relate to US history including parts that she is studying this year!