The Snail and the Butterfly -- Book Review and Giveaway with Craft Round-Up

 

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

Today we are sharing a fun, new book with an important message--dream big and have courage and determination to reach for those dreams. The book is The Snail and the Butterfly by Dougie Coop and illustrated by CJ the Kid.  I am including a craft round-up to go with the book, and there is a giveaway!!

Home Is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly -- Book Review with Craft Round-Up

 

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

Over the years we have loved learning about butterflies and especially monarchs. We grow milkweed to help keep monarchs around. Today I get to share with you a wonderful new picture book about the long journey they take every autumn. The book is Home Is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly by Katherine Pryor and illustrated by Ellie Peterson. It is recommended for ages 4 to 7. At the end of my post is a round-up of butterfly crafts and activities including a section on monarchs! It shares more than 50 ideas!

Mrs. Spring's Garden -- Book Review & Giveaway

 

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 Carole P. Roman to be part of the Virtual Book Tour. All opinions are my own.

Today I get to share with you another great book from Carole P. Roman. It amazes me how she writes fun fictional books full of lessons and wisdom as well as interesting nonfiction books all for kids. I have reviewed several in the past. Today's book is perfect for Earth Day as well as spring. It is Mrs. Spring's Garden by Carole P. Roman and illustrated by Leen Rosian. 

The Atlas of Migrating Plants and Animals --#STEM Review

 

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

Do you know an animal and/or plant lover? Are you a teacher? Today I get to share with you a new book that is absolutely beautiful!! This is a must have when teaching about animals and plants and especially ones that migrate or perhaps just teaching about migrating. It is The Atlas of Migrating Plants and Animals by Megan Lee and illustrated by Matt Sewell. It is recommended for ages 5 to 10. 

Origami Art with Origami Paper 1000 Sheets Color Bursts with Origami Butterfly Tutorial

 

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

I have shared I have been on an origami kick since I subbed at Hazel's school for the geometry teacher. I have had a piece of origami artwork I have been waiting to share. For some reason I thought the paper I used wasn't released yet, but it was, so I am finally getting to share it with you. I will also share the tutorial to make the butterflies on it. 

We Can Talk About Encanto--Encanto-Inspired Craft & Fun Movie Facts

 

It seems like everyone is talking about Encanto and of course the hit song, "We Don't Talk About Bruno." Have you seen the movie yet? How many times? We have watched it a couple of times and love it. I thought it would be fun to make an Encanto-inspired candle since the candle plays such an important part of the movie. I also thought it would be fun to share some fun facts about the movie. So we will start with the fun facts.

Celebrating Becoming a Teenager

 

I cannot believe it!! Hazel turned 13 last month!! Thirteen is such a big year. It is often when kids become young adults, as well as of course, they become a teenager! This year I wanted it to be extra special for Hazel. I came up with the theme of butterfly for her party. I told her it was because she is transforming into a teenager/young adult. She liked the idea of butterfly but did not like my reasoning. I began searching for 13th birthday ideas. I have a Pinterest Board for it if you want different ideas! I saw a printable that says "You have been loved for 13 Years..." I saw some on Etsy as well as some free ones, but I wanted to personalize it a bit. I had planned on having it printed as a poster and hanging it on her door for when she woke up, but that plan changed. Click on it to get a pdf so you can print it out at home.

Resources to help love nature

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

Have you been watching Shark Week? It ends tomorrow. Now I will admit to not watching it because I see enough about sharks in the news (just saw this on the news as I write this post) with all the sightings around Cape Cod and off the shore of Boston. However I love how this week gets people thinking about these amazing creatures and nature in general. To keep this going I am sharing some great resources about nature and helping you get your kids loving it. To begin we will start with a DVD for younger kids that includes a bit about sharks. It is Thomas Edison's Secret Lab: It Always Sharkest. 

Press Out + Color Birds & Butterflies -- a Relaxing Friday Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press sent me these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Today I am going to share with you two really fun coloring "books". They are both part of the same series by Zoe Ingram. It is the Press Out + Color Series. What is really neat about this series is the pictures you color press out to make into 3-D objects or decorations. Today I am sharing Press Out and Color Birds and Press Out and Color Butterflies. 

Butterflies -- Books, Crafts & More

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.

Saturday is Earth Day. Do you have any plans? Hazel and I will be visiting a friend in New York, but have been working on our garden plans. We have also been enjoying many different books for Earth Day. We will be sharing more tomorrow, but today I am going to share three books about butterflies! We love butterflies and even raised butterflies a few years ago. The first book to share tonight is The Butterfly Garden by Laura Weston. 

Monarchs and Mexico -- Global Learning for Kids

As I mentioned yesterday this month's country for Global Learning for Kids is Mexico. Yesterday we explored art from Mexico. Since Hazel loves animals, I thought we would focus on an animal with a connection to Mexico and the perfect one is the monarch butterfly!

Gaga for Googles! -- Summertime Fun with Googly Eyes!!

Disclosure: I was sent this book 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.

Today we are sharing a fun craft book for kids--Gaga for Googles!: Tons of Totally Fun Things to Make with Googly Eyes! by Walter Foster, Jr. Creative Team.  Now I will admit I was not sure how Hazel would like this. Around Halloween last year eyes started grossing her out. However she loves it!!

Spring Crafts

With the record breaking amount of snow this year in Boston, we are very ready for spring and to see our grass and flowers again. I think I have seen enough snow this year for the next few. Since we have a bit of spring fever we have been working on some spring crafts. Hazel started by making a vase of flowers.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party Ideas

Disclosure: Penguin Kids 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.

Penguin Kids challenged me this month. They sent me some popular books and asked me to come up with some birthday parties themed on the books and/or series and start a Pinterest Board for the party. Really they challenged me to do any favorite books as the theme. We posted one on My Garden by Kevin Henkes. They sent me the ever popular The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Now I do not know a parent or teacher who works with young children who has not heard of this story. Gymboree even sells a line of baby clothes based on this and others of Eric Carle's books. Hazel loves this book. Her kindergarten classroom started with The Very Hungry Caterpillar theme and the cubbies are still labeled with caterpillars and butterflies from the theme. Now Hazel is very excited to own a copy of the book since she loves the story and can pretty much read/remember it on her own. She loved the idea of a party with this theme. 

Holiday Shopping -- Products Review -- Uncommon Goods

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Uncommon Goods. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Before I start this post, I will warn my family that they should not read this one until after Christmas since it contains gifts I am giving them!!

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? I try to have mine done before Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the holiday season and not have to deal with the crowds at the mall. Now I do all the Christmas shopping for our family including my own gifts. After the first few Christmases I realized I needed to because even with a list, I was not getting what I wanted. When Uncommon Goods asked if I would review some products I jumped at the chance since they offer unique and unusual gifts.  They offer handcrafted gifts and more that are in harmony with the environment and there is no harm to animals or people with their products. Not only that, they stand behind their products and there is no date that things must be returned by. Plus with every purchase they donate $1 to a non-profit of the buyer's choice (from their list of non-profits to which they donate). This is not an ordinary company. 

Welcome, Spring!! Spring Craft Round-Up

What comes to mind when you think spring? There are so many wonderful parts to spring. The weather gets warmer; the flowers bloom; the world seems to wake up and then there are all the animals that return. Since spring officially began today at 12:57 p.m., I thought we would do a round-up of my spring crafts, activities and books so far on Crafty Moms Share. I will do an Easter round up another time and I did a Lent round up a couple of weeks ago.

Teddy Bear Picnic & Butterfly Party

Last week we went to a Teddy Bear Picnic run by recreation department of one of the towns near us. Hazel's best friend lives in the town and his mother told me about it, so we met them there. It was really cute. They had different stations with crafts and a few first aid stations. The first station we saw was a face painting/tattooing station. They had tattoo markers and drew designs on the children. The next station was to make a teddy bear purse out of a paper plate and a cut paper bowl (see two pictures below). Then there was a teddy bear mask station and a teddy bear clock station. They also had a first aid station. Here we had Ducky repaired since he had a small hole in him. Then they had a teddy bear check-up station where they weighed and measured and listened to the teddy bear's heart. Hazel brought my old teddy bear that I got when I was born. She calls him Teddy. At both of these stations they gave the children forms to say their teddy bears were healthy. They also gave a band-aid. Ours had teddy bears on it. They also had a station to make fruit cereal loop necklaces and finally a teddy bear treat station. The treats are gummy bear and Teddy Grahams. Sorry I forgot to bring my camera to the park, but at least you can see all our different crafts.

After going to all the stations, the kids played on the playground and we had lunch. It was a fun day!

The next day we had our butterfly party where we also asked people to bring cans of food for Hunger Action Month. I shared the invitation previously. We spent the morning decorating our patio and then of course it started to rain, so we quickly moved things inside.  We did not decorate as much inside, but we had our butterfly candle holders, butterfly frames, butterfly lantern and a few paper butterflies. We gave each person a frame and candle holder as well as a goody bag with butterfly bracelets, magnets and erasers. We also gave butterfly noisemakers and talked about how it worked like the butterfly's proboscis. We also read two stories, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. The girls also played pin the antennae on the butterfly. I drew a butterfly on a piece of posterboard and Hazel decorated it. Then I drew antennae on construction paper and wrote each girls' name on one and we put a piece of tape on the back. We did not blindfold them since Hazel is very afraid to be blindfolded. We also had several crafts for the girls to make. 

They made butterfly bracelets with pop beads. We had butterfly beads to string, but no one wanted to do this. We made lollipop butterflies with a lollipop and a cupcake liner. Finally the one the girls loved the most was decorating foam and paper butterflies. We gave them crayons, glitter glue and stickers. The glitter glue however was the big hit. Finally the rain stopped so we went outside. The girls were going to put on a show, so two of them put on their butterfly wings, but then Hazel spilled her colored bubble stuff and was upset that I didn't have more pink. (I bought three bottles on clearance at Michaels that week.) She is mad in the picture that she couldn't have more right away. I blocked her friend's face since I did not get permission to post her picture, but she was having a great time playing. Overall it was a fun day!! Plus I cleaned out my cabinets so we have a whole bag full for the food pantry.

Preparing for National Hunger Action Month

September is National Hunger Action Month. This year I thought I would get a head start. I am joining the amazing group of bloggers again called Moms Fighting Hunger. We are joining with No Kid Hungry to try to help combat childhood hunger in our local areas. Last year I challenged you my readers to join me in gathering food for local food pantries. Again I will extend this invitation to you. Last year I also helped plan a story time food drive at my local library, but since I got started late, it was in October. We used the theme of Stone Soup for it. This year I am starting earlier. I passed on Jen's from The Good Long Road idea of a food drive themed around The Very Hungry Caterpillar back in the spring, and we discussed doing a story time theme, but it hasn't happened. We are now thinking of doing some combination with the library's food drive around Thanksgiving. 

This year I wanted to do something bigger too. So I decided to gather emails for many local libraries and preschools and offer them the story time themes of Stone Soup and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I gathered craft ideas and story telling ideas for both on Pintetest boards: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board and Stone Soup Board. I also put together outlines for both story times with options of additional books, story telling props and crafts and activities. (You can click picture or caption to get the free downloads.)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Set

I also did a generic flyer to advertise the story time with spots to fill in each places information (in red). The flyer is in Word, so it would be easy to change.  Here is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. A big thank you to Vickie from Mrs. Plant's Press and Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy for allowing me to use their pictures on my outline.

Stone Soup Set

For Stone Soup, I used pictures from our story time last year on the outline and including a tutorial on making the story stones we used. Then I made a generic flyer again for this story time theme. Finally I made a set of memory cards to go with Stone Soup. The ones I printed, I forgot to center the page so you could print double, but I have fixed it in the printable.

I figured it would be a fun activity and also an easy take-home activity. I have not found as much on Stone Soup as I did The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so I wanted to add some more to it.

I then sent these as attachments to the local libraries and preschools. Above is the e-mail I sent out. I am sharing all of these in hopes that others will want to use them. Either to send out to local libraries in your area or to plan your own story time food drive. 

The next thing we are doing for Hunger Action Month includes our long talked about butterfly party. Hazel made up a Butterfly party song she sang at the library yesterday while playing her ukulele. Sorry I couldn't figure out how to turn the picture with the software it was in. We sent out our invitation to the party asking people to bring fruit for a fruit salad and a can of fruit or vegetable for the local food pantry.

I included the video in the invitation and somehow my clip art did not show up. Oh, well. Hazel is so excited for it. I will post more as we get towards it.

So that is what we are doing for Hunger Action Month. Will you join us and get the word out to help our hungry children? After all, one in five American children are from a family who struggles to get enough food on the table. In a country as great as the United States, I think we can do better for our children.

Metamorphosis: Caterpillar - Chysalis - Butterfly Cycle & some crafts and activities

Congratulations to Tracey over at We Made That for winning our Sewing School 2 giveaway!

For awhile I have been eying the butterfly nurseries at Lakeshore Learning. I have seen so many wonderful posts about people watching the amazing metamorphosis of the butterfly with their children and really wanted to do it with Hazel. Then they went on sale and I couldn't resist. I bought one in May, but I told Hazel we could not send away for the caterpillars until after our trip to Florida so we would be home to watch everything and take care of them. She was so excited and could not wait to do it. When we returned home
we sent the coupon in to get the caterpillars. 

The caterpillars arrived on June 19th. They come in a jar with food in it. The instructions were not to open

the jar until all the caterpillars were in chrysalis. The caterpillars traveled to Cape Cod with us that weekend so Hazel would not have to miss a thing. We watched them grow, but apparently I did not bother to take pictures of them growing. One did not grow and we realized it had not made it so we were down to four. On June 29th all the caterpillars were in chrysalis, so we opened the jar after preparing the butterfly nursery and hung them on the hook. Then we watched. 

On July 5th, the first butterfly came out of its chrysalis. We were so excited! Soon two more came out. The fourth did not make it. Hazel had knocked over the nursery by mistake and one had fallen. Although we gently made sure it was on the bottom of the nursery (and not under the paper), it did not recover from the fall. So we had three beautiful monarch butterflies. We prepared by reading Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons. We fed them sugar water as the instructions said, and then on July 13th, we let them go. Hazel was very sad to let them go, but she understood why we did. I told her every time she sees a butterfly she can pretend it is one of ours.

It was truly amazing to watch!! I think I may have been more excited about it all than Hazel. I definitely checked the chrysalises more often than she did.

We also did some butterfly crafts and activities. I made Hazel a butterfly barrette, using this pattern from Bugs and Fishes. I love the mobile she had the pattern for, but we did not get around to making one.

Next we took some ideas from Making Learning Fun. First a butterfly life cycle bracelet. Each bead or group of beads represents one of the four phases of metamorphosis. The white bead represents the egg. The red and green represent the caterpillar (we used more green ones than suggested since we used flat green ones) and then the clear bead is the chrysalis and finally a butterfly shaped bead. I made it the perfect size for Hazel to wear and I think we will make some of these at Hazel's butterfly party for which we still need to pick a date. (This summer is flying by!!)

Then the next activities also came from Making Learning Fun. I happened to be looking for some Roll-a- activities because Hazel loved it when she tried it at the new school she will be attending this fall. The day we took a tour the Pre-K class was doing a Roll-a-Frog activity and the teachers had Hazel try it. I bought her some dice today and put them in the little containers I had bought ages ago for it. Then I went looking for some pages. I changed it a bit in I did not have her draw them like the directions from Making Learning Fun said. I knew she was not ready for this with her drawing ability. Also the school one was putting pictures together from paper, so I cut them out of construction paper. While searching for the activities I found Roll-a-Caterpillar and Roll-a-Butterfly.

I printed off and made several other ones as well, but I won't share those right now. So that is one thing I really wanted to do with Hazel that we got done this summer! And we loved it! For more butterfly activities and crafts, check out my Pinterest Butterfly Board!

Butterflies

Since we were unable to have our Butterfly Picnic/Party last summer we postponed it to this year. In preparation of it and in honor of spring beginning, we did some butterfly crafts (with many more to come). We also have been enjoying the book Butterflies by Seymour Simon. This is the first book that gives clear differences (besides moths flying at night and butterflies during the day) between a moth and a butterfly. The main difference is in their antennae.

We decided to make a few cereal butterflies and caterpillars after seeing them at Toys In The Dryer. Hazel loved this since it meant she got to eat "colored cereal" while doing it. They are made with pipe cleaners, colored cereal and gum drops (we also used gum fruit slices and edible candy grass). We also added googly eyes though they did not stay well.

Hazel wanted to make more butterflies so we made tissue paper ones with pom pom heads. These used pipe cleaners, pom poms, googly eyes, glue and tissue paper. First we made them with full sheets of tissue paper and they came out very large (though Hazel loves playing with these) and then we cut the paper into quarters and pipe cleaners in half.

We decorated the top layer of tissue paper with Hazel's dot markers. It bled through to the lower layers. Hazel wants to put some in her butterfly box (though I think she has realized these are too large for it) and then we were going to make a mobile out of them. Of course she also likes to make them fly around the house (even while she is on the phone).

Needless to say we had a lot of fun. More bug kind of crafts to come!!