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Sharing Saturday 14-21


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It was another amazing party last week!! If you have not checked out all the great ideas shared, you should!! As always, they are so inspiring. Thank you to everyone who shared with us and to all who visited and commented on others ideas. We had a most clicked from In the Playroom: Sponge Painting: Van Gogh Starry Night.

http://intheplayroom.co.uk/2014/05/15/sponge-painting-van-gogh-starry-night/

Since a Van Gogh Starry Night project was most clicked, I thought I should share the other Van Gogh Starry Night project in case some of you missed it, so it is with some of my favorites below. But first here are a few Memorial Day and Outdoor Features. Monday is Memorial Day here in the United States.


Memorial Day and Outdoor Activities
1) From Some of the Best Things in Life Are Mistakes: Free Patriotic Printables Round-Up
2) From Every Star Is Different: Memorial Day Unit 2 With Free Printables
3) From Mothers Madness: Woodland Animal Hunt
4) From Left Brain Craft Brain: How Bubbles Work & 20 Things to Do with Them

A Few of My Favorites
1) From Mini Monets and Mommies: Van Gogh Art Activity: Kids' Clay Famous Artist Project
2) From Wesens Art: Bird Cage Made Of Newspaper
3) From Prettily: DIY Toy Drum Set
4) From Little Bins for Little Hands: Moon Sand Sensory Play Recipe
5) From All Done Monkey: Cloth Diapering Tips and Resources to Get Started!
6) From 3 Dinosaurs: Green Yarn Sheep -- Where is the Green Sheep?

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 a Middle Eastern Cinderella tale for Fairy Tales in Different Cultures, an Asian Pacific Island Book Round Up and Link Party for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, Painted Mickey and Minnie Mouse Tote Bags for our upcoming party, DIY Minnie Mouse Pinata with activity signs for the party, and a Zoo Scavenger Hunt.




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.
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4) I would love it if you would follow me on FacebookGoogle+, and Pinterest 

5) If you do not have a blog, but want to share an idea you can leave it in the comments or e-mail it to me with a picture (if possible).

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

DIY Minnie Mouse Pinata & Free Party Activty Sign Printables

Disclosure: I was sent the black jumbo streamers 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.



Zoo Scavenger Hunt with Free Printable


Since we missed the Earth Day Celebration Scavenger Hunt (it was too cold and windy to wait around for it), I promised Hazel we could go on one of our own. I even suggested we go to the zoo and have one. Well our plans for the zoo trip fell through and I forgot about it. For Mother's Day, we decided to go to our local zoo. Our membership ends at the end of May, so we thought we would use it one more time. Hazel of course remembered the scavenger hunt. I had to hunt around to find it, and did not find the copy I printed for us. I found it on my computer, but had changed the animals to more common zoo animals to share with you, so I made some quick adjustments and printed it for her.


For a copy of a zoo scavenger hunt with more general animals click here. The idea was to put a sticker on whichever item she saw. We spent the trip looking for the things on the list. However, the zoo is under construction and some of the animals were not there including our favorites: black bears and flamingos. We'll have to go back again later this summer.


We did get to see the snow leopards. They were sleeping, but it was one of the first times Steve got to see them at all. I had actually seen them from the car as we drove by their area to get to the parking lot.  We also saw one of the wolves.


We saw the usual reindeer, but then saw his mate and their baby. How exciting to see a mother and baby on Mother's Day.


I didn't take pictures of all the animals we saw since we have a lot of pictures of them already. Then near the black bear area there was a zoo worker with one of the macaws, so we got to visit with the macaw.


Usually the macaw is in the area that was closed, so it was nice to see him. By this point we were all tired and headed home. It was a pleasant Mother's Day overall and Hazel loved doing the scavenger hunt!

For other zoo trip posts check out:

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Tote Bag Craft

So for Hazel's actual birthday party we had received these wonderful yellow tote bags from Oriental Trading for us to review. Our plan had been for guests to make handprint flamingos on them, however the guests did not want to, so we still had many of the bags. I thought they would be great favors and we could paint Mickey and Minnie Mouse heads on them. My original idea was to get a large sponge and cut it in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head, however I could not find a sponge large enough. Then I thought of the bottom of cups or plates or jars. I tried a few and asked Hazel which size she liked best.

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month -- Book Round-Up

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. I always feel bad about this month. It happens at such a busy time of the year and is often overlooked. May was chosen to mark the anniversary of the first Japanese immigration and the completion of the transcontinental railroad. (The majority of the workers on the railroad were Chinese immigrants.) It also represents such a large area. Asian-Pacific Island includes all of Asia and the islands in the Pacific including New Zealand and the Polynesian Islands. It covers a huge area. (Source)


http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm
Source: World Atlas
Although we have no Asian or Pacific Island heritage that I know of, I like to teach Hazel about all the various cultures. I always describe myself as an American mutt since I have quite a mixture of European ancestors and even have some that can be traced to the Mayflower. There is a story in our family history of someone marrying a Native American as well, but I do not know the details. As such I do not identify with any ethnicity besides American and I find it interesting to look at the different ones around. To begin looking into Asian and Pacific Island Heritage we went to the library for books.


General Asian Stories and Picture Books


  • A is for Asia by Cynthia Chin-Lee
  • Asian Children's Favorite Stories by David Conger, Marian Davies Toth & Kay Lyons
  • Asian Holidays by Faith Winchester
  • Come Look With Me: Asian Art by Kimberly Lane
  • I Dreamed I was a Panda by Debra A. Johnson
  • Floating Clouds, Floating Dreams Favorite Asian Folk Tales edited by I. K. Junne
  • Moon Magic: Stories from Asia by Katherine Davison
  • The Tiger's Whisker and Other Tales from Asia and the Pacific by Harold Courlander
  • Folk Tales from Asia by  Asian Cultural Centre for Unesco
  • Tikki Tikki Tembo and More Stories to Celebrate Asian Heritage DVD produced by Weston Wood Studios, Inc.
Asian Crafts and Animals


  • Asian Kites by Wayne Hosking
  • Haiku: Asian Arts and Crafts for Creative Kids by Patricia Donegan
  • Asian-American Crafts Kids Can Do! by Sarah Hartman
  • A Kid's Guide to Asian American History by Valerie Petrillo
  • Asian Crafts by Judith Hoffman Corwin
  • Monkeys of Asia and Africa by Patricia A. Fink Martin
  • Really Wild Animals: Adventures in Asia DVD produced by National Geographic Society
Next I took some of the many countries in the area and found some picture books to read with Hazel. I am sure there are more and of course there are more countries, but at least this is a start. I am going to add a link party to the end so people can add their own favorite Asian and/or Pacific Island themed books to help learn about the cultures and celebrate the month. Many of these books are about immigrants' experiences in coming to America or leaving their country. Since there are so many, I am not going to list each one. I will however list the ones I have posted about previously with links in case you want to learn more.


Cambodia


China
The Year of the Horse is part of a series of books about the Chinese Zodiac

The Phillipines


India


Japan
http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-sora-and-cloud.html
Sora and the Cloud Review


Korea
Thailand

Vietnam


Asian-Pacific Cinderella Tales


http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-golden-slipper-vietnamese-cinderella.html

http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2013/11/fairy-tales-in-different-cultures.html


 
http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2013/06/fairy-tales-in-different-cultures.html

Wishbones and Yeh-Shen

If you know a good book to learn about an Asian or Pacific Island culture or to help celebrate this month, please list its title and author in this link party and share with us all!! You do not need to link a review or post about the book!!