Crafty Moms Share

Books for Black History Month

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy 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.

One of Hazel's favorite things is to learn about history and people. This month we have been enjoying four books from Candlewick Press that are perfect for Black History Month. They have also donated some of the amazing prizes for the Black History Month Series & Giveaway. (Have you entered yet?) One of the books in the prize pack includes Voice of Freedom illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Ekua illustrated a poetry book, Out of Wonder, by Kwame Alexander coming out in March. The books I am reviewing today I will in order of time for the history timeline. We will start with The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud and illustrated by Erin Susanne Bennett.

Disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

I haven't shared with you any of cheap doll finds lately and have had a few of these sitting there waiting to be shared so here they are. Now the first finds I found around the start of the school year. I think they were either at Target or Michael's but am not sure. The first is a burger pencil sharpener and french fries eraser set. They are on one of Hazel's dishes for her dolls to show you the size.

It is time to share your crafts for the week!! Now I as I mentioned in Sharing Saturday (which is hopping this week, so be sure to check it out). I have had one of those weeks where not much got done for my blog which includes my crafts this week. However I am visiting my parents for part of Hazel's school vacation week so I thought I would share this fun quilt my mother is making for my flamingo loving daughter.

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 smaller party than usually, but had some 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 two groups of features: Educational Lessons and Book & Craft Features.

Disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Have you seen Hidden Figures yet? Now as a family we hardly ever go to the movies. We really do not like supporting the Hollywood scene or spending the huge amounts that it costs to go out and get a popcorn. However on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day our family went to the movie theater to see Hidden Figures. Between my love of multicultural stories and math, my engineering husband's love of space, and Hazel's love of history and learning, we all loved this movie. We felt it was worth the money spent and found it to be a great activity for the day. Now I was especially excited for the movie since my post last year for the Black History Month Blog Hop was about Katherine Johnson. The movie made me want to learn even more and teach Hazel more about these amazing women.

This has been a very busy week and today I managed to catch a cold. Ugh!! My crafting didn't happen, but the party must go on. So I am sharing some features from last week as well as a bonus of free printable Valentines from last week and from previous Crafty Moms Share posts. Valentine's Day is Tuesday so these are perfect for anyone who needs something quickly! Many of these go with small gifts but also can be used without them. (When did Valentines start to include the gifts? I never received them when I was little.) I have listed the gifts after the links. I hope this will help relieve stress for some mom or dad out there. Let me know if you use one and/or which one is your favorite!

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was another great party and there were some amazing ideas shared. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groups of features: Current Events, Parenting, and Lessons & More Features.

Disclosure: I was sent these books 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. Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Last week Punxsutawney Phil and Massachusetts official groundhog, Ms. G, saw their shadows so apparently there are six more weeks of winter and if today is any sign they will not be nice weeks of winter. We have snow with blizzard warnings and requests to stay off the roads. This makes me want to think about spring (and somehow this time of year always gets me thinking about spring no matter what the winter weather has been). Today I am going to share with you two new books perfect for thinking about early spring and nice weather. The first is My Color Is Rainbow by Agnes Hsu an Yuliya Gwilym.

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books 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.

Today I get to review a fun book for middle schoolers (grades 5-8). It tells the tale of a young lady finding her self one summer with the help of friends she meets due to being cast as a Munchkin in the local theater's production of The Wizard of Oz.

Disclosure: I was sent these books 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.

Now a series of Tea Parties Around the World would not be complete without looking at Chinese tea. Let's face it, the China is where tea began. January seemed like the perfect time for us to look at China since we were looking at the Chinese New Year already. I will admit writing this post has been intimidating me and I keep putting it off. How can I do the long history of tea in China justice? I have decided just to share with you my references and what we enjoyed as we looked at China and the history of tea.

This week we have done a few crafts. The first to share is our Super Bowl craft. It was Patriots Spirit Day at Hazel's school on Friday. I checked out Patriots t-shirts and refused to spend the $20 on them, so I bought some printable iron-on transfers and made her one. This way she could participate and not wear her uniform and we didn't spend too much on a shirt she will wear once. (I already had the grey t-shirt.) My father now wants one since he is the huge Patriots fan in the family.

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Ideals Books./Worthy Kids. 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 it is already February? Today starts Black History Month in America and I get to share with you two board books to introduce perhaps the two most famous civil rights activists in America to the youngest kids. It seems like the perfect way to kick off Black History Month. The first book is The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. written by Johnny Ray Moore and illustrated by Amy Wummer.

Disclosure: Macmillan Publishers gave me 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.

Wow, it is February tomorrow. That means love is in the air. Today I am going to share some books about love for younger kids. Two are board books and the rest are picture books. Most of these are about family love and friendship love. The first is a fun board book called Love You Always by Roger Priddy and is part of the Shiny Shapes series.

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.

Are you ready for Valentine's Day? We are, thanks to Oriental Trading. Now Hazel's school has a Father/Daughter Snow Ball the Saturday before Valentine's Day every year and this year I am co-chairing it. As a result I had even more Valentine's Day stuff to get than normal. I got the tablecloths we need for the Snow Ball.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was another great party and there were some amazing ideas shared. A special welcome to all the new people who shared with us last week!! Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have two groups of features: Multicultural (in honor of Multicultural Children's Book Day) and Other Features.

Multicultural Children's Book Day -- Link up!

Welcome to our 4th Multicultural Children's Book Day! Here's how to celebrate:

Link up your diversity book reviews
Win diversity book bundles at our Twitter Party tonight! We're giving away 100+ children's books from 9pm to 10pm EST. RSVP here. Use hashtag: #ReadYourWorld.
Get your a copy of Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children's Books for Parents and Educators. It's FREE today through January 31st!

Read Your World: A Guide to Multicultural Children's Books for Parents and Educators

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me 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.

For my last review before the big link up and party tomorrow, I am sharing three multicultural books with you. Each one is for a different age group and each has so much to share. The first is a picture book called Green Pants by Kenneth Kraegel. It is being released in March.

Disclosure: I was sent these books 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.

Although Multicultural Children's Book Day is quickly approaching I thought I would share some books that are not part of the event. These picture books are great for younger kids, but we still enjoyed them!! The first book is the perfect book to bring to a baby shower. You know the ones that ask you to bring a book for the baby's library. It is Hand in Hand by Rosemary Wells.

Disclosure: Capstone Publishing gave me copies of these books free of charge for this review in return for an honest 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.

Today I get to share with you some fun multicultural books from a silver sponsor of Multicultural Children's Book Day. These group of nine books are a mix of picture books and easy reader chapter books. We will start with the amazing picture books. The first book is appropriate for January since it is about a girl who cannot wait to meet the POTUS when she goes to work with her mother at the White House. It is When Penny Met POTUS by Rachel Ruiz and illustrated by Melissa Manwill.

Disclosure: Monika Schroder gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest 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.

Can you believe Multicultural Children's Book Day is on Friday? I cannot wait to see all the great books reviewed in the link up on Friday. I am a co-host so you can see them here!!

http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/

Heart & Fairy Crafts -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thanks for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

This month I have been working many weekends at the store. Hazel has been missing me quite a bit, so this weekend I devoted time to spend with her when I was not working. She wanted to have a pretend sleepover in our family room, so she set up her sleeping bags and made a pretend pizza and snacks. Then we played a card game and decided to do some crafts. She had gotten as a gift The Fairy Kit.

Disclosure: Mina Javaherbin gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest 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.

Today I am sharing with you a wonderful multicultural book that gives an inside look at life as a child in Brazil. It is Soccer Star by Mina Javaherbin and illustrated by Renato Alarcao. This tale follows Paulo Marcelo Feliciano through his day. His hope is to have time to practice soccer, but first he and his teammates must do their work.

Today I am participating in the blog tour for a great new middle grade book that has adventures throughout it. The book is The Matchstick Castle by Keir Graff. This book has quite the fantasy in it with every day humans.

Disclosure: I was sent 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.

The lunar new year which is celebrated in China as well as many other countries
is January 28th this year. We will be saying goodbye to the monkey and enter the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese Horoscope. We have had a fun year of the monkey and are looking forward to the year of the rooster. To teach Hazel more about the Chinese culture we have enjoyed two books written for the year of the rooster. Both are bilingual books. The first is called The Year of the Rooster by Oliver Chin and illustrated by Juan Calle.

Announcement: Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party (and Giveaways)

Please join us for our Multicultural Children's Book Day

Win 1 of 12 Book Bundles! Giving away Book Bundles every 6 minutes!

Twitter Party

Friday, January 27th

9 pm to 10 pm EST

Hashtag: #ReadYourWorld

We will be discussing the state of children's book publishing and giving away diversity book bundles every six minutes! We invite EVERYONE to join us: authors, publishers, parents, caregivers, librarians, KidLit lovers. You don't have to be an author or publisher sponsor to join us! Let's talk about our favorite multicultural and diverse children's books, authors, and illustrators!

How do you join the Twitter party? Just use hashtag #ReadYourWorld to find us. When you tweet, use the hashtag so everyone can find you!

Register below to be able to win!!

Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review and is running the giveaway. 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.

Do you have a child who always wants to touch the book while you read it? Or perhaps you want your non-reading child to have more of a role during story time. Or you are like me with a budding magician. If you have a child or desire that matches one of these do I have a book for you!! The book is This Book Is Magic by Ashley Evanson. It is being released today!!

Disclosure: Scholastic gave me a copies of these books free of charge for this review in return for an honest 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.

Today I get to share with you three books from one of the Platinum Sponsors of Multicultural Children's Book Day. We have had so much fun with these books. We will start with The Granddaughter Necklace by Sharon Dennis Wyeth and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.

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.

This Thursday is the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Chinese New Year Blog Hop. In preparation I have been gathering some great resources and I thought I would share the craft one with you tonight. It is Paper Cutting for Celebrations: 100+ Chinese Designs for Festive Holidays and Special Occasions by Zhao Ziping.

http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/new-releases/paper-cutting-for-celebrations-paperback-with-flaps

Finding coupon codes that work when shopping--my review of Dealspotr.com

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

Do you shop on-line and search for the latest deals for certain sites? Then always wonder if the code is still working? Or perhaps go into the store but search for coupons first? Or maybe you are one of those people who do not want to give your email out to get the coupons. (I have a Hotmail account for businesses that I only check when I want a coupon.) However I have recently discovered Dealspotr.com.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was a fun party with many great ideas shared. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groups of features: Holiday, Parenting and Crafts & Lessons.

10 Cheap Food-Free Valentine Ideas & Printables

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.Thanks for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Schools today usually request non-food Valentines. Does yours? I know Hazel's does and there is always at least one family if not more in her class that pays no attention. And her class has someone with severe food allergies. Of course the candy Valentines are so easy since you can buy them everywhere for pretty cheap. Today I am going to share some non-food Valentine ideas and printables to go with items you can order from Dollar Tree.

Disclosure: Kathleen Burkinshaw gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest 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 is January and that means Multicultural Children's Book Day is approaching. This year it is January 27th and I am co-hosting, so be sure to check back to see the amazing array of books reviewed for this great day.

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest 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.

As a child of the 1970s and 1980s I grew up with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and loved them. Of course back then Sesame Street was very different. There was no Elmo or Abby. Everyone in our family had a favorite character. My oldest sister loved Kermit, my middle sister loved Oscar the Grouch and I loved Cookie Monster. I remember at one point saving my money to buy a new album. I was going to get the newest Shaun Cassidy (it was the 70s after all) and instead bought C Is for Cookie from Cookie Monster. I sang those songs all the time except I did sometimes change the title to C is for Carrie. My sister who also loved Shaun Cassidy thought I made a bad choice, but I loved my album.

As I thought about what I wanted to do this year for Martin Luther King Day for Kids I reflected on what we have done in the past. We have shared numerous books on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as other Civil Rights Activists. We have done various crafts about unity and diversity and peace. I'll be honest I wasn't sure what to do. Hazel understands the teachings of Dr. King and we have focused quite a bit on the Civil Rights Movement in the past. I want to first reflect on a few things.

Disclosure: I was sent these products to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. 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.

Happy New Year!! Crafty Weekends has been on hold for a few weeks due to the holidays and Hazel's birthday parties. We are back this week with a review of two great children's craft books using things from your recycle bin!! I put a Valentine's Day twist onto the ones I made. I am also providing you with some free printable Valentines in case you do not want to make the crafts to go with them.

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! I have been taking a few weeks off due to the holidays, but our party was still continuing. However we had a very small party the last few weeks, so our feature numbers are less. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have just one group.

Fairy & Ice Cream Party Updates

Disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

I am finally stopping to catch up after the holidays and Hazel's birthday. Today I am going to share some of the details of her two birthday parties. First we always have a family and adult and younger kid party for her birthday. This year we decided on an ice cream theme. I made invitations with My Memories Suite.

Authentic Living for the New Year

Disclosure: I was sent these books 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.

We have had a very busy weekend with the new year and Hazel's birthday. After two birthday parties and many hours of working, I am back. I will share more about her ice cream themed and fairy parties soon!! Today however I am sharing the perfect book for getting your focus on your faith for the new year. The book is Authentic Living: 365 Devotions for Deliberate Faith by Richard Exley.

How do you join the Twitter party? Just use hashtag #ReadYourWorld to find us. When you tweet, use the hashtag so everyone can find you!

Register below to be able to win!!

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