Family Vacation Time During the Pandemic

 

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

It has been a tough year for everyone. Our world shut down during Hazel's new school's spring break last year. It was such a strange time. We didn't know what was coming. Here in Massachusetts at least things are far from normal. Businesses are opening up again but masks are mandatory in public. We have been lucky. Hazel's school has been open this school year. We have the choice to keep her remote whenever we want to but can send her in most of the time. The school goes remote after vacation weeks so it enforces self quarantines for people who have traveled. It truly amazes me when I look on Facebook and see friends all across the country traveling and going out socially. The idea of stepping on an airplane right now or eating in a restaurant scares me. Yet I know there are people who do it all the time and I'm friends and/or related to some of them. We have not left Massachusetts since our trip to Disney in February 2020. We are very lucky though that my family has a house on Cape Cod and we have gotten away there including this spring break. Hazel has been off the past two weeks for spring break and this past week we headed to Cape Cod to spend time as a family, get a change of scenery and see my parents. Since Steve is working from home he needed a change of scenery as well as some time off. Have you traveled during this pandemic?

Going Exploring for Ant Hills

Last week Hazel and I bought a critter cage that came with a small net, magnifying glass and tweezers and we bought a nicer magnifying glass at Michaels. They were on sale an not very expensive. Hazel has been afraid of bugs for some time so I thought it might help to get rid of some of the fear. On Sunday we pulled them out. Hazel started by gathering rocks in her net and critter cage. Then after a bit she told me she wanted to go exploring and look for ant hills. I'm not sure if she really knew what an ant hill is or what one looks like, but we did find some.

Our front yard actually had many of them. We always seem to have ants around. Hazel had the best time just looking and searching.

We discovered the magnifying glass that came with the critter cage was not very good. It was rather blurry. So Hazel kept telling me she would share the good one with me. She was having so much fun.

Getting a better look

We also of course continued using our senses like we did on Saturday. After all exploring really requires one to use your senses. We found some feathers, bees (but they moved too fast to get a picture). Hazel took the first feather to put in her critter cage. I'm not sure it ended up there though.

Hazel also noticed that an airplane left lines in the sky.

Then we went for a walk to explore some more. Daddy joined us and Hazel wanted to be pushed. But she constantly wanted us to find something to put in her net. I finally picked up a rock for her. Steve had been doing some yard work and we moved her sand box out of the garage now that the weather is turning warmer. She was very excited to have it outside. She was serving everyone dinner at her swingset picnic table.

She asked if I was hungry and of course I said yes, so she gave me the best one.

I am loving our days spent outdoors. Each day seems to bring some new adventure, exploration or game. What have you been up to outside?

Oh, I know I have mentioned this book previously, but I am trying to relate our activities to books whenever possible. Since we were exploring for ant hills, it of course makes sense that we mention one of Hazel's favorite books, Ant and Grasshopper by Luli Grey. If you visit my previous post  you will see one of the crafts we have come up with to go with the book. I still plan to make Ant's house out of tissue boxes with Hazel. Stay tuned for it.

Some other creative play we have done lately:

Blowing Bubbles

Wind Wand--finally playing with it outside!!

Stove/oven for cooking with her sand table

Yes, she told me she was grilling chicken on her table!! I love it!!


This is where I share...

Glass Ball Christmas Ornaments--Ideas from Pinterest

I had a pack of six clear glass ball ornaments that I bought at some point. Before Hazel, I would make beach ornaments with sand and a few small rocks and shells to remember a trip to the beach, so I am guessing that is what I bought them for. I saw on Pinterest ages ago the melted crayon ornaments. I have no idea where I originally saw it since I can't find the pin, but here is one tutorial on Meet the Dubiens: Melted Crayon Ornaments. (I know this is not the tutorial I first saw since I remember the one I read saying to use low heat.) Now I have been saving some crayons--the ones from restaurants. I always keep a set in my purse just in case, however we go out enough that we have quite the collection of them. I wanted to try this, so I pulled these out the other day while Hazel was home sick. She became interested in it right away (even with the hair dryer that scares her. 

The idea is simple. Put pieces of the crayons in the glass ornament. Use the hair dryer to heat and melt the crayons and swirl them around as they melt. Have some oven mitts or thermal gloves handy, because your hands will get hot as does the ornament. I left the leftover pieces in there, but for the most part they melted completely.

A friend at church recently told me about the second kind of ornaments we made. You use Pledge floor cleaner and glitter. I did not have Pledge floor cleaner, but experimented with the ones I had. The pin my friend has was only a picture tutorial, so I googled it and found this one at The Ornament Girl. I am wishing I had read the tutorial first. I did not dump out the excess cleaner and now a couple of them seem to have a blob of glitter in them, but they still look pretty and Hazel LOVED making them.

We got creative with mixing the colors of glitter. The first one we did was a multicolor glitter, but after that it was Hazel choosing what to mix. She has asked me to buy more glass balls to make more of both types of ornaments. I am thinking maybe Christmas presents for next year. What do you think? Have you made anything that you saw at Pinterest yet? 

For more Christmas ornament ideas check out my Christmas Craft Round-up and my Christmas Pinterest Board.

The Monsters of Marymount Mansion --Book Review, Giveaway and Craft Round-Up

 

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 Gregory C. Allen to bring you this post and giveaway.

Today I am continuing my Halloween themed books with one about monsters. It is part of The Children's Book Review Virtual Book Tour of The Monsters of Marymount Mansion by Gregory C. Allen and illustrated by Shelby Goodwin. This book is an early reader chapter book that has wonderful themes about new experiences, accepting differences and so much more. There is a giveaway at the end of the post and I am including a fun monster craft round-up to go with the book!

Holiday Fair and More

Yesterday we went to the Holiday Fair at a Waldorf School in  Massachusetts. This is the school Hazel and I take our parent/child class and where we plan on sending Hazel through 8th grade. I had gone Friday evening with a friend for the adult only preview of the vendors. What I discovered in the past week was that in Europe (and perhaps other places) they have 100% wool felt that is much thinner than ours. One of the vendors who does amazing needle felting was at one of the craft groups getting ready for the fair and watching her was amazing, but she was using this other felt. Well when she found out we couldn't get it here she had her daughter go buy more so they could sell it. So I bought three different pinks since Hazel loves pink and now I'll be able to make a pink fairy picture with pink flowers, etc. I also bought from the Enchanted Caravan (the school store) much needed craft supplies. A proper needle felting foam, more roving, wool stuffing, 100% wool felt to name a few. Then I hit the beeswax/ local honey vendor. She is actually one of the kindergarten teachers and she and her husband also sell the honey and beeswax products. So I got a few Christmas gifts and some candles and some honey. I have found that eating a teaspoon of local honey really does help with my seasonal allergies. My mother had told me that it would and it definitely did.

Summer, Beach & Mermaids

So my mother-in-law asked me to print her a copy of the picture above in as an 8" by 10". I did, but it got me thinking about beach frames. So while at Michaels the other day I picked up two inexpensive frames on clearance. I knew I would cover them with shells and such so I didn't worry about their colors. I also bought some more shells and sea glass. Then I saw the Mermaid Contest over at Taming the Goblin.

Over the weekend, we made the frames. We decided to start by covering the frames with sand. We had some from last year's fairy garden. So our first step is to spread some glue on the frames. Hazel loved doing this!

Then we did our best to cover them with sand.

At this point we should have let the glue dry, but I had an anxious three-year-old helping me so we went ahead. She could not wait to start gluing on the shells, rocks and sea glass. (Sorry the picture came out a bit blurry.)

Then we let the glue dry for a few days (and it still wasn't completely dry--guess I globbed it on a bit much). By the way we used craft glue. I called my mother who just made one of those shell wreaths to see what she used and she used a hot glue gun, but didn't recommend it with Hazel helping. She thought craft glue would work fine and it did.

Mermaid Taking a Nap Framed

While it was drying I looked for pictures of mermaids. I found several at Graphics Fairy, but they were more vintage and not as kind looking as I hoped for. I did a search and came across Deviant Art. My favorite there is Mermaid Taking a Nap. Of the four I showed to Hazel, her favorite is one I found on Graphics Hunt. There are so many out there and I tried to look for friendly and not too sexy ones.

Hazel's Favorite Framed

Then I hung them in the family room to get some pictures. After that I put Hazel's favorite in her room and I changed the picture in my favorite to the beach picture. After all this is what I bought the frames for.

I do think we are going to use some of the wooden frames I bought ages ago to make some more shell frames for our mermaid pictures and for her beach picture as gifts.

So how do you like our mermaid inspired craft? I'm off to enter it in Taming the Goblin's Contest.




This is where I share...

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella

I thought I would try to finish the fairy tales that I know of and can get for our series of Fairy Tales in Different Cultures. This one is Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella and the version I used is written by Jewell Reinhart Coburn. Since i have been away this weekend and have had one of those days, I am going to skip giving you information about Cambodia. I also am using crafts we have shared in the past. To see the original post, just click on the picture!

A lonely fisherman lives with his daughter, Angkat, in Cambodia in a riverside home. Angkat (which means ash child) was dutiful and obedient. Beyond the fisherman's ponds lived a widow with her daughter, Kantok. Kantok was beautiful, but no redeeming qualities. The fisherman met the widow one day and shortly after they became married. The stepmother wanted Kantok to become the Number One daughter in the family. Angkat was upset and protested since the Number One daughter rightfully would be her. The stepmother proposed a test of fishing. The daughter who came back with the most fish would be Number One daughter. The Number Two daughter would have to serve the family without complaint. 

On the day Angkat took her basket and went into the cold pond and caught four fish. Kantok, who was lazy, dilly dallied along the way and arrived at the pond as Angkat was finishing. Angkat was cold and tired so she came out and wrapped her dry sampot around her. She wedged her basket with four fish in it between two rocks in the river and took a nap.

While Angkat slept, Kantok stole three of the fish from her basket and tipped the basket over to make it look like they escaped on their own and then ran home with the three fish. When Angkat woke up she found her stepsister gone and only one fish in her basket. She knew she was doomed to be the Number Two daughter. On her way home she let the poor little fish in her basket go in one of her father's ponds. While out doing her chores one day a shimmering fish came out of the pond and spoke to her. She recognized the little fish and saw a good spirit possessed it. She began to feed the little fish some of her rice. After this Angkat was no longer lonely. 

Blue Fish with Rainbow Fish Qualities

Kantok got suspicious of what was making Angkat so happy and followed her one day. She saw Angkat feed the fish some rice. The next day when Angkat was down the river fishing, Kantok caught the fish and brought him home for lunch.

Angkat was so upset when she realized her small friend was gone. She ran home to her mat and cried. The spirit of virtue appeared to her and told her what happened to her friend and told her to get the fishbones and put them under her mat that night. The next morning a beautiful pair of golden slippers were under her mat. The Spirit of Virtue told her to leave one that night by the open window and the other under her mat, and she did. She woke up to a large black bird carrying away the slipper. She was very upset.

Shortly after the prince was out walking in the palace gardens when a bird swooped down and dropped the golden slipper into his hands. At first he wondered why the slipper was dropped there, but decided that it was to help determine who his bride should be. He began the search for the woman who could fit the slipper. The stepmother, father and Kantok left to have Kantok try on the slipper telling Angkat she had too much work to do to try  it on. The stepmother took a bowl of rice and scattered it over the nearby field. She told Angkat she could attend the celebration after she had collected every single grain of rice. Angkat's father did not speak up for Angkat and left with his wife and stepdaughter. After they left a flock of chicken appeared and quickly filled her basket with every grain of rice, so Angkat could go to the celebration and try on the slipper. She quickly changed into her best sarong and hid the other beautiful slipper inside and set off to the palace. 

The prince was happy to see her when she arrived since no one had fit into the slipper. He insisted on having her do it right away and of course it fit perfectly and she pulled the other one out. He married her after the court women prepared her to be a princess with silk, fragrant oils and a multitude of flowers. The prince and Angkat were happily married and truly loved one another. However her entire family was very jealous of her and developed a scheme to get rid of her and have Kantok take her place. Her father sent a message to the prince saying he was gravely ill and needed his daughter home with him. Since the prince loved Angkat he permitted her to go.

When she arrived she was ordered to make her father hot soup. When she got close to the big pot on the fire, they knocked it over on her and killed her. They put sad looks on their faces and went to tell the prince of Angkat's death. They offered him Kantok as a substitute wife. The prince allowed her to stay at the palace to honor Angkat's memory. He was grief struck.

When the stepmother and father returned home they discovered a large beautiful red-leafed banana plant in the very place Angkat had been killed. The stepmother ordered the father to get rid of it since she feared Angkat's spirit had come back to haunt them. He got out his machete and cut it down in pieces then he went far into the forest and spread the pieces out. Everywhere a piece landed sturdy bamboo shoots rose from the ground.

The companions of the prince took him on a hunting trip to try to get his mind off Angkat's death. They decided to camp in a bamboo grove. While sleeping there he heard something comforting in the wind. He listened more closely and then ordered that all the bamboo be dug up and brought back to the palace. Then he sat in his bamboo grove each day.

One day he heard Angkat's voice telling him she was with him. The prince begged the Spirit of Virtue for the return of his true love. First he saw her faintly and then they touched hands. When Kantok looked out the palace window and saw this, she screamed and ran away from the palace. The family was banished from Cambodia and the prince eventually became king with Angkat his queen. They ruled over the kingdom in peace and joy for many years.

I found this version so interesting since the father was not just an invisible bystander or dead. He actually helped devise a plan to kill his own daughter. I also see so many ties to other Asian versions of the story. There is the fish which is in the Middle Eastern version, Chinese versions, Vietnamese version, and Thai version. Many of these also include the scattering of the rice with the aid of some birds. The Egyptian version has a bird that drops the slipper in the pharaoh's hands. You can see how the story has changed in different countries, but how it probably started as the same story at some point.

For more Cinderella in different culture posts:

• Abadeha:  The Philippine Cinderella
• Golden Sandals: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Tale
• The Golden Slipper: A Vietnamese Cinderella Tale
• Chinese Cinderella Tales
• The Korean Cinderella
• Kongi and Potgi: A Cinderella Tale from Korea
• Kao and the Golden Fish A Cinderella tale from Thailand
• The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Tale from Indonesia
• My Cinderella Pinterest Board

The Moon and the Sun -- Fun Facts, Books and Craft & Activity Round-Up

 

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

I have some fun books sitting on my review shelf. One is about the Mid-Autumn Festival. This year (2020) Mid-Autumn Festival is October 1st. Then I received a cute book about the sun and moon for younger kids. And finally I am sharing the new National Geographic Kids Almanac 2021 because of course it has something about the sun and moon. It has something about everything! As I was thinking about these books I thought it would be fun to share a bit about the moon and sun as well as some crafts and activities to go with them. 

Harry Potter Birthday Party

I took a bit of a break for the holidays. Christmas is often the only time we get to spend with one of my sisters and her son and then Hazel's birthday hits us. It is always a busy time and I decided to focus on family. It was wonderful. 

Books to Add STEM to Your Summer

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.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Kongi and Potgi: a Korean Cinderella

After having my parents visiting for Grandparents Day at Hazel's school, I am catching up with things like my blog. Today I am sharing a Korean Cinderella. On Tuesday I will be sharing our post for Around the World in 12 Dishes for Korea, so I thought it was a good time. We are doing our fairy tale today since Monday is the Virtual Book Club for Kids blog hop day. Before we get into the story, let's look at Korea a bit.

Korea is surrounded by water since rivers divide it from China and Russia and the Yellow Sea, Korea Strait and East Sea are on three sides. Korea is divided into two distinct sovereign states: North Korea and South Korea. The division of two separate governments happened at the end of World War II. North Korea was under the supervision of the Soviet Union, and South Korea was under the supervision/support of the United States and its Allies. North Korea is a communist republic and South Korea is a democracy. In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea with Soviet backing causing the Korean War. The result was more than one million people dead in the three years of fighting with neither state gaining much land.

Source: By Map_of_korea.png: User:Yonghokimderivative work: Valentim
(Map_of_korea.png) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Korea itself has a rich history with habitation going back to prehistory times. Hominid fossils have been found there dating to 100,000 BC or perhaps as far as 300,000 BC. In the 2nd century BC they adopted the Chinese alphabet, Hanja (in Korean), and in 1443 they developed their own alphabet, Hangul. This had a profound effect on Korea. Hangul is the official language of both North Korea and South Korea.  Their new alphabet was easier to learn and write. In the 4th century AD Buddhism was adopted.  Now there are several religions in South Korea, however the traditional beliefs of Korean Shamanism, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism remain the underlying religion for most Koreans.

Korean Palace Source: I, Skanky [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC-BY-2.5],
via Wikimedia Commons

Throughout the centuries Korea was known for its silk and pottery. Their pottery made with blue green celadon was sought by even Arabian merchants since it was of the highest quality. One of the best known artifacts is the Cheomseongdae. It is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia. It was built in 634. (Source)

Cheomseongdae Source: By Matt and Nayoung Wilson from Atlanta and surrounding, 
US (S1050317Uploaded by Caspian blue) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Now onto our story. I found three versions of this story. Two are picture books and one is a graphic novel. We will be using the version Kongi and Potgi by Oki S. Han for our summary, but all three were very similar.

In this story a couple have a daughter named Kongi. Kongi's mother gets ill and dies. Kongi's father fears his daughter not having a woman to help her as she gets older, so he remarries a woman who has a daughter Kongi's age named Potgi. He imagines Kongi and Potgi will become best friends. However this is not the case. The stepmother makes Kongi do all the chores while she and Potgi go to the market or relax. The father tries to stop this mistreatment, but realizes that his asking is not enough and goes along with it for the sake of his marriage. Then when there are events, she tells Kongi she cannot go unless she does near impossible jobs. However talking animals always come to her aid. 

Korean Doll I made last year

The first task is to hoe one of the fields. The stepmother gives Potgi the field near the river which is easy to hoe and give Kongi the one on the hillside which is much harder. Kongi breaks her wooden hoe trying to get the rocks out and finally ends up crying and a large ox comes to her aid and tells her he will clear and gives her an apple to eat. The stepmother and Potgi are at the market and see Kongi carrying a basket of apples. They are shocked she could be done already and she tells them about the ox, but they do not believe her. 

Before Kongi may go to the May Festival she must fill a jar with water, but the stepmother knows the jar has a hole in it near the bottom. A frog comes to help and stops the hole with his body. As Kongi and Potgi grew to be young women, they became excited to have the prince invite all the single young women to a great party is his honor so he could find a bride. This time the stepmother told Kongi she had to take bundles of grain to dry and remove each kernel of rice from the outer shell and she could not go to the palace until the jar was full. Sparrows came and helped her do this task. (This is similar to the Cinderella story from Vietnam.) After the jar is full, she realizes she has nothing to wear. Kongi looks at the sky and a beautiful rainbow appears with angels that dress her in the finest silks. Then four men with a sedan chair appear to carry her to the palace. 

When she walks in she gets everyone's attention. The prince comes right over to meet her. Kongi becomes flustered and runs away leaving behind one of the beautiful slippers the angels had put on her feet. The prince finds the slipper and vows to marry the woman who wore it. They search for the young woman by going to village to village and having women try it. The slipper always looks like it will fit, but never does until they get to Kongi. It fits her perfectly and she pulls out the matching one. Her stepmother and Potgi are amazed and later beg for her forgiveness for how they treated Kongi all these years. She forgives them and they begin doing things for others.

This is a lovely version since the stepmother and stepsister see their errors and Kongi forgives them. They all become better people and it is such a nice lesson to see at the end.

Sharing Saturday 15-28

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! There were many fun ideas shared last week. If you have not checked them out, you should. For the sampling of ideas from the last party I went with Activity & Games Features, Teaching Features, Arts & Crafts Features and Food Features. Enjoy!!

Sharing Saturday 13-14

Sorry for the late start to this week. We dealt with a sick little girl tonight and took her to Urgent Care at her insistence. Luckily it is not strep or an ear infection and just a virus again. Now onto Sharing Saturday. Thank you to everyone who shared last week (even without my email reminder). If you missed any of them, please check them out. Please make sure you check out the features of my co-host, Having Fun at Chelle's House as well. Now onto a few of my favorites!

1) From Life with Moore Babies: The Paper Bag Princess and Fizzing Rocks (Love the lesson being taught and in such a fun way!)
2) From Gift of Curiosity: Easter Egg Sound Matching Game (What a fun way to learn about sounds and more!)
3) From Teaching Little Ones at Home: Celtic Knot Cross (Ok, as a former geometry teacher, love Celtic knots and what a great tutorial!)
4) From ArtClubBlog: Origami Flowers (Aren't these pretty?)
5) From Mama of Many Blessings: Fun Ways to teach the REAL Meaning of Easter (Great ideas!! Sorry I couldn't grab a picture from it!)

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.

Button Code:

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-002.jpg" /></a>

My Week in Review: This week I shared Raisel's Riddle--A Jewish Cinderella, our Resurrection Garden with peg dolls, our French day--food, What the Ladybug Heard with ladybug crafts, and Teaching children to manage money.

 

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.

Button Code:

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="NewSharingSaturdayresized_zps6f405a2b" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/NewSharingSaturdayresized_zps6f405a2b.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest as well as Having Fun at Chelle's House at Facebook and Pinterest

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