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Dreidel Fun! Hanukkah for Kids

Disclosure: Daria Music gave me a copy of this book 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.

As part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Hanukkah for Kids Series we decided to explore dreidels with the help of Daria Music's Dreydel (Dreidel) Song and Game Activity



Make Your Own Zoo -- Crafty Weekends

Disclosure:  Ryland Peters & Small sent me a copy of this book 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.

We are definitely having a crafty weekend at my house. Hazel and I finished up some of the fun zoo animals from Make Your Own Zoo by Tracey Radford and worked on some Christmas gifts as well as doing the free craft at Lakeshore Learning. 
http://www.rylandpeters.com/make-your-own-zoo

 This post however will focus on our zoo animals and this great book. Hazel was so excited to get started on these. She actually tried to make some herself, but got a little confused. It is definitely kid projects but a six-year-old needs some help with them. We of course had to make the flamingo.

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Sorry for the delay. Both my Linky Tools subscription and Blogger were giving me issues yesterday. But everything seems to be working today!!

Anyway, thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were many fun ideas shared!! Our features are just a sampling of the wonderful things shared, so if you haven't checked out the rest you should!! The features for this week include Thanksgiving, Educational and Crafts and Gift Ideas. I have also started a new craft link party (the crafts just have to be family appropriate and not kid related) and it is a place to share crafts, reviews of patterns, craft books, etc. and patterns. I hope you will come check it out tomorrow. This past week we also began the new month for Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop--so be sure to stop by to share your multicultural posts and ideas and recipes there.

Cinderella's Stepsister & the Big Bad Wolf and The Wonder -- Book Reviews

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.

Today I am going to share with you to fun picture books that came out in September. The first is a new take on Cinderella!! Cinderella's Stepsister and the Big Bad Wolf by Lorraine Carey and illustrated by Migy Blanco is a fun version of the classic tale. 
http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=Title&mode=book&isbn=0763680052&pix=y


Dear Santa, Love Rachel Rosenstein -- Book Review

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.

Rachel loves Christmas!! She loves everything about Christmas--the decorations and lights and all the excitement. There is only one problem, Rachel is Jewish. What she really wants is to have Santa come to her house. Now she just has to figure out how to make it happen. This is the story of Dear Santa, Love Rachel Rosenstein by Amanda Peet and Adnrea Troyer and illustrated by Christine Davenier. 

A Squirrel's Story and The Ship Captain's Tale -- Book Reviews

Disclosure: Little Five Star sent 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.

Today I am sharing two fun books from Little Five Star. The first is a true story about a mother squirrel who will do anything for her babies. A Squirrel's Story by Jana Bommersbach and illustrated by Jeff Yesh is a story about a mother's love. The narrator is the mother squirrel. 
http://www.fivestarpublications.com/book_detail.php?recordid=166

Christmas Book Review: B Is for Bethlehem and Santa's Christmas Train

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.

 Today we get to share two fun Christmas books with you. One book is a religious Christmas book and the other is a Santa Claus one.  The first is a book that has the elements of the Nativity story in an alphabet book form. Hazel has been very into alphabet books lately and started reading this one as soon as we got it (in September). B Is for Bethlehem by Isabel Wilner and illustrated by Elisa Kleven is a beautiful book. 

Exploring Navajo Nation or Dine Nation -- Global Learning for Kids & Multicultural Mathematics

Last week we shared some books we used to explore a bit about Arizona from Massachusetts. I even shared some of the pictures my family took in Arizona on our trip across the country when I was young. While flipping through the pictures I noticed pictures labeled near the Navajo Monument and thought it would be fun to learn more about Navajo Nation. I remember fondly stopping to look at the beautiful jewelry made by the Navajo and getting to pick out a bracelet. I wore that bracelet all the time until it broke. So we went off to find some books about the Navajo.

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time! Created by Frances of Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes, the blog hop has now found a new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs.
This month our co-hosts are:

Crafty Weekends: Half Yard Christmas Review & Craft Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Search Press. 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.

For this weekend's Crafty Weekend we are sharing the start of our Christmas crafts. Today I am sharing ones I made with instructions and patterns from Half Yard Christmas by Debbie Shore. We started sharing our Christmas posts this week so you will have time to get and enjoy some of the great finds we have made this year. 

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Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! We had a good number of amazing ideas shared!  Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features' themes are Autumn, Holidays, and Parenting. Also a side note  I host another link party on Saturday night for crafts for any age person called Crafty Weekends. If you are sharing a craft (especially a non-child craft) this is the best place to do it with some fun features from the previous week!! A new one will be tomorrow night. Stop by to share your crafts, patterns, reviews of craft books, etc.

Exploring Arizona with Books: Arizona Way Out West & Wacky and Addie Slaughter -- Book Reviews

Disclosure: Little Five Star sent 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.

Today I am really excited to share with you our adventure in exploring Arizona. Now I have been to Arizona a few times in my life. The first was when I was almost eight. My family packed up our pop-up camper and car and traveled across the United States for an entire summer. Reading these books got me to help my mother search for our old photo albums and I'll share some old pictures with you. First we will start with Addie Slaughter: The Girl Who Met Geronimo by Susan L. Krueger, Ed.D. with Reba Wells Grandrud, Ph.D.

Ishtar's Odyssey and the Christmas Journey Storybook -- Advent and Christmas Book Reviews

 Disclosure: Kregel Publications sent 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.

As someone who likes to focus on one holiday before the next, I try not to share Christmas too early. However I am seeing it everywhere and this year I have some great books and DVDs to share with you. I decided to start with a great Advent book and a fun Christmas story book. I am always trying to bring our focus to the story of Jesus and not the commercialism that Christmas has become. These books are two great ones for doing this. 

Heartprints --Bilingual or Board Books Review & Craft

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.

Today we are sharing a book by P.K. Hallinan called Heartprints. It was originally published in 2002 but is being released again on December 8th. I received two versions of the book for this review: a board book and a bilingual paperback book. 
http://www.amazon.com/Heartprints-P-K-Hallinan/dp/0824919645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447272212&sr=1-1&keywords=Heartprints+board+book
Both books have the same story in English. The bilingual version also has the words in Spanish.

Legacy -- YA Book Review -- Mommy Time

Disclosure: Novel Publicity sent me a copy of this book free of charge in return for an honest review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

The year is 2041. A teenage girl is crossing the Golden Gate Bridge alone to enter the evacuated and dangerous San Francisco. Her mother is sending her with important information for the Resistance, but it may get her killed. This is how this amazing book starts. Legacy by Ellery A. Kane is a page turner. 

Exploring Diwali with Books, Game & Craft -- Free Templates


This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Diwali for Kids Series. Be sure to check out the other great posts and link up an Diwali posts you have.

As Christians we do not know much about Hinduism or Diwali. We of course turned to books to learn a bit more. We found some books that we found informative and on the right level for Hazel at the library.



Metacomet (aka. King Philip) -- Native American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway

For one of my posts in this year's Native American Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway, I thought it was about time I learned more about Metacomet. After all I went to a middle school named in his honor with his English name--King Philip. I knew King Philip was an Native American who had fought a big war, but that was about all I knew. I'm a little sad I didn't learn more about him while at a school named in his honor. Anyway we of course turned to the library.

Crafty Weekends -- Fat Quarters: Small Fabrics, More Than 50 Big Ideas -- Book Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Lark Crafts sent me a copy of this book 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.

Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you Fat Quarters: Small Fabrics, More Than 50 Big Ideas by Lark Crafts. 
http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Quarters-Small-Fabrics-Ideas/dp/1454708794/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446948070&sr=8-1&keywords=Fat+Quarters+Lark+Crafts


 This book has patterns divided into six sections: Babies & Kids, Bags, Quilts & Pillows, Home Decor, Wearables, and Give & Use. The patterns require different number of fat quarters to make each item. For those that do not know, fat quarters are pieces of fabric cut in a 18-inch by 22-inch rectangle (which is equivalent to buying a quarter yard of fabric, but in a more useful shape). The projects range from birthday hats, toys and clothes to organization baskets and so many more! It was hard to chose which project to do first, however I decided to start with the Child's FQ Reversible Apron. design by Anneliese. 

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Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! It was another great week of sharing!  Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features' themes are Pumpkins, Thanksgiving & Diwali, and Educational & Fun. Also a side note  I host another link party on Saturday night for crafts for any age person called Crafty Weekends. If you are sharing a craft (especially a non-child craft) this is the best place to do it with some fun features from the previous week!! Our third party will be tomorrow night. Stop by to share your crafts, patterns, reviews of craft books, etc.

Modern Art Adventures -- Book Review

Disclosure: Chicago Review Press 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.

My plan was to do some of these projects with Hazel over the summer; explore more art this past summer like we had one in the previous one. However summer somehow came and went and we hadn't tried one. We finally sat down and tried a couple. The book Modern Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw has thirty six projects for children to try based on eighteen modern artists including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Andy Warhol, and Frida Kahlo. With each artist a famous painting is shared with information about the painting and artist and then there are projects based on that famous painting and artist's style.

The Great Thanskgiving Escape -- Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book 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.

Imagine a large family gathering. where you are a not a little kid and not a teenager, but in the middle. You are stuck in the room with the babies. Your only cousin close in age to you tells you it is time to make a break and go out to play on the swingset. Of course the journey to the swingset has many obstacles--the wall of butts, the hall of aunts (the type that squeeze your cheeks), the teenager zombies, etc. Then you finally make it to the back door to see it pouring. What are the cousins to do? Well make their own fun of course! This is the story of The Great Thanksgiving Escape by Mark Fearing. 

Chalk Ola Markers -- Product Review

Disclosure: ChalkOla sent me these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

I am sure by now you have noticed the chalkboard craze going on. Everywhere I look I see chalkboard products on sale. Whether it is chalkboard paint, chalkboard stickers or actual chalkboards they are everywhere. As a former teacher who hated chalkboards, I just didn't get it. When I taught with a chalk board (which wasn't most of the years I taught thankfully), my hands were so dry and messy. I hated it. I already have issues with dry skin and did not need chalk making it worse. Thankfully the invention of chalk markers has happened. My first exposure to them was at work. They are used to make signs as well as to label boxes. One of the best things about them are they require a wet cloth to clean them so the chalk does not just rub off (once it is dry). Plus the colors are great!