Asian and English Nursery Rhyme Books

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

Do you have preschoolers or even toddlers? Do you want to introduce them to other cultures but are not sure how to bring it to your home or classroom? I have to fun books that will do just that. These books will also work to help older kids become familiar with Chinese and Korean as well. Both books come with CDs so the pronounciation of the other languages can be heard and you do not have to try to figure out how it is said. Nursery rhymes have been a favorite in our house. Hazel even has a nursery rhyme quilt that I made her when she was younger and had a nursery rhyme themed birthday party when she turned three. Oh and there was the year that Hazel and I dressed as the dish and the spoon for Halloween. But today's books are different than our nursery rhymes. They give us a sense of different cultures. We will start with Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes: Little Mouse and Other Charming Chinese Rhymes by Faye-Lynn Wu and illustrated by Kieren Dutcher. 

Picture Books for Everyone

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

It can be hard to pick the right picture book for your child. There are so many choices out there with so many different themes, messages and more! Today I am going to share a variety of new picture books with you and I am sure there will be something for each child in this group!! 

The Find It Book -- Review

Disclosure: Parragon Books sent 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 always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

 We are sharing a book Hazel is really enjoying this month as part of the Parragon Book Buddies Program, The Find It Book by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Lisa Sheehan. This beautiful book is the latest by Margaret Wise Brown who also wrote Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and All the Little Fathers. In this book the reader is asked to find various things from famous nursery rhymes in the beautiful illustrations. Lisa Sheehan is up for the AOI World Illustrations Award for her illustrations in this book. (Source)

Honey Bees, House Fly and Itzy Spider -- Book Reviews & Crafts

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 we are going to share three fun books about bugs from Candlewick Press. Hazel and I enjoyed all three of these books. Some were educational and others were funny and fun or a combination of them. We also found some fun crafts to go along with each of them! I hope you check them all out. We love all of them!!

The first book is Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber and illustrated by Brian Lovelock. This story is in the written in the same way as many of the Candlewick Press books about animals. There is a story about one honey bee, a scout, and then little pieces of information on the sides. We love these books and have reviewed several (Emus, Hippos, Elephants, Big Red Kangaroo). This book shares the job of a scout bee as well as information about honey bees. It is informative and fun. It also shares the jobs of all the bees in the hive and the order the bees get each job. Then at the end it discusses the threat to honey bees and ways to help. We loved it!!

Nursery Rhyme Fun with Book Reviews

Make sure you enter the Earth Day Giveaway we are co-hosting!!

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copies of these 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.

Now if you have been reading Crafty Moms Share, you know we have a thing for nursery rhymes. In particular Hazel LOVES Hey, Diddle Diddle. Yes we have a nursery rhyme quilt, have dressed as the dish and spoon for Halloween, had a nursery rhyme birthday party and have just about every version and spin off written of Hey, Diddle Diddle (and yes there are quite a few). Well Candlewick Press added two more nursery rhyme books to our collection. 

Back To School DVD Pack Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVDs free of charge and is supplying the ones for the giveaway 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 DVD on NCircle Entertainment's site for your convenience. You can also find their DVDs at local retailers!

 With all my giveaways ending tomorrow, it is time to kick off another one! This month NCircle Entertainment has changed the monthly review and giveaway of one DVD to a prize pack of five DVDs which will not be monthly. Since we have recently started school in the United States, they put together a Back-to-School Package. It includes the newest Octonauts: Deep Sea Mission, and The Wiggles: Apples & Bananas as well as The Cat in the Hat: Show & Tell Sure Is Swell!, Sid the Science Kid: The Ruler of Thumb and Animals Atlas: Animals ABC. So today I will review these five DVDs and then at the end you can enter to win all five of them!!

Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge

Have you entered my current giveaway yet? Come win the fantastic book to inspire creativity and imagination!!

A bit ago I was contacted and asked if I would make and share a Fiber One Snackcessory to help promote the contest they currently are running. They offered to send me all the materials I would need to make this Snackcessory. I was intrigued and needed a bit of creativity challenge so I said yes. This weekend a package arrived with my supplies.

Now first what is a snackcessory? Well it is a container to carry your Fiber One bar (or any other snack). I'll admit it took me awhile to decide to do this because I try to stay away from most bars of any type and really any processed food, but I figured we are always looking for ways to keep snacks so why not try it.

Second, what is the challenge? You must design and enter your own snackcessory at Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge. You will have a chance to win a trip for two to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City in February 2013 and the nine finalists will each be awarded a $500 gift card for a handbag of their choice and a box of Fiber One Bars and Brownies.

Well my package arrived this weekend. It had a black container that looks like it is a hard case eye glass case, adhesive spray, a plastic ziplock bag, a small jar of glitter, a Fiber One bar, and directions. At first I was going to not do the glitter. My big fear was and is the glitter getting everywhere. I attempted to seal it, but I must admit it is coming off a bit still.

They asked us to personalize them, so I helped Hazel add some gems this morning. They were sticker gems, but did not stick to the glitter. We used glue which made them slide around a bit and they dropped a bit down the side. They originally were all in a line. Then I added her name in glitter glue. She wanted the black case as soon as she saw it. She loves opening and closing it and needless to say, for her, glitter only makes it better.

Then I decided to get creative. My first thought had been cover it with fabric. I thought about doing it like the fabric covered Easter eggs. Instead I decided since I knew Hazel would love the glitter to do some fabric covered boxes. My next challenge was finding the right size box. I found two. One is from dollhouse furniture (as a miniaturist I save lots of little boxes and containers) and one is from modeling wax that I bought for Hazel that we have not used yet. I added adhesive Velcro to the dollhouse furniture box so it could close and stay closed. Hazel added princess stickers. I think this one is for her as well.

Then I got to thinking of one Hazel could make with me. I wanted it to be more than covering a box. I thought of sewing one, but Hazel couldn't help with that. I came up with toilet paper rolls. I decided to double them up so it would be stronger. Now I'm imaging using this in a purse or school bag, so you want it to be strong as to not crush your bar. I traced the bottom of one of them twice and cut out the circles from some cardboard we had in recycling. I glued the bottom on and then for the top I cut a piece or ribbon. I glued the ribbon onto the circle so it had both ends hanging off a good amount. I glued one end to the tube and folded the other end and secured the fold with glue. I let them dry (or at least I did with the one Hazel made which turned out better). Next we picked fabric and cut out two circles slightly bigger than the cardboard circles and a rectangle big enough to cover the toilet paper roll. I used pinking shears so I would not have to worry about fraying. Hazel picked some of the nursery rhyme fabric I had leftover from her quilt. We Mod Podged the fabric on. We did the circles first and then the rectangle. We let this dry. Then I cut a adhesive Velcro square to fit the ribbon and put Velcro so it would close. And yes, the Fiber One bar does fit inside! I think I may go enter this one in the challenge! Won't you join me in it?

Wish I May, Wish I Might, Have the Wish I Wish Tonight

Source

Star light, star bright,

The first star I see tonight;

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.

Do you know the popular Star light, Star Bright Rhyme? It is American  and believed to be from the late 19th century. (Source) No one seems to know if the rhyme or wishing on the first star came first though. There are many different stories as to the source of wishing on stars or shooting stars, so I will leave that up to you.

Why am I talking about wishing on stars and an American nursery rhyme on Multicultural Monday? Well, I want to share with you a wonderful book that I will be referencing often on Multicultural Mondays. The book is Wish: Wishing Traditions Around the World by Roseanne Thong.

This book offers a short rhyme about a way a country's children (and people) wish and then describes it in more detail. It includes wishing traditions from Australia, Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, and the United States (which in not wishing on stars). This book is full of so many beautiful pictures (illustrated by Elisa Kleven) and introduces so many new customs as well as shedding some new light on ones I already knew. 

For example, do you know about the Guatemalan Kite Festivals (November 1 and 2)? Wow, these look amazing. Here are some sites to check out the amazing pictures of these enormous kites. Festival Sumpango (sorry it is in Spanish and I cannot seem to get the English part working but if you go to the galleria the pictures are beautiful). Environmental Graffitti (English blog with beautiful pictures) Answers.com (for a little history).

Source

There are also the traditions of putting lucky coins in your left shoe (Russia), wishing as you blow a dandelion pod (Ireland), tossing a coin into Trevi Fountain (Italy) or any fountain in our country and so many more. 

What do you wish upon? What are your culture's wishing traditions?

This is where I share...

Sharing Saturday #3

Mia and I are so excited about the 125 entries this past week.  

We cannot wait to see your creative creations this week!!!

Snow and Nursery Rhymes

We finally got some snow, but Hazel and I are stuck inside with colds. So much for her building a snowman. However, last night I cut her out some felt so she could "build" and dress her own snowman. She was having fun with it this morning.

We were checking out all the clothes and accessories I cut out--vest, skirt, boots, bow tie, etc. Then she decided the boots needed their own eyes and noses.

The other craft we did involved using some of the Tagxedo prints I made and using the nursery rhyme party hats we made, but didn't use at Hazel's party. I unstuck them and mod podged them onto unfinished frames I bought at Michaels for $1.

The glue isn't completely dry yet, so I will have to do some touch-ups after it is, but that is what we have been up to.





In case you are interested here are the Tagxedo prints I did.

I cropped this one since it was an ice skate and not a shoe

I added Word Art in Word for the handle

I didn't do this one yet, Mary Had a Little Lamb

Hey Diddle, Diddle version I didn't use

I have my cropped and edited pictures in a Word document here. They are sized to fit a 4 x 6 frame.

Enjoy!!

Happy New Year!! And now onto the birthday party pictures

Happy New Year to you and your family!! I hope 2012 is your best year yet in every way!

I promised to share pictures from Hazel's third birthday party, so this is the post. You may remember I shared the invitation, the favors and some decorations, decorations done with My Memories, and birthday hats and more decorations previously. So I won't repeat those at least not too much.

More Birthday Party Preparations

Yesterday we baked some thumbprint cookies which we will call Little Jack Horner Thumbprints. I also started making the birthday hats. I decided our Jack and Jill ones were a bit impractical to make and wear, so I used some of the used nursery rhyme books I bought for decorations and cut out the pages. Each page is a hat. I formed a cone with it and used some glue stick. Then I punched a hole on each side. I used elastic cord with a bead on each end to keep it.

I used two different size books so some are for adults and some are for kids. I think they came out pretty well.

I also used some smaller used books to make one of the book page wreaths I saw on line.

Now I just need to find a place to hang it.

Last night I also made some Jello play dough which I have to say is much more work than the other kinds. In fact I made the traditional homemade play dough afterwards and separated it into two colors and scents. This will be on the table for the children to play baker's man with a reference to pat-a-cake.

Today I will be making the cake. Tonight setting up the house and tomorrow cooking like crazy and then enjoying. I'm thankful to my parents for coming to help me with all the prep work and especially my mom who is helping with everything!

Hope you have a great day. Come back tonight or tomorrow for our Sharing Saturday. This will be the last one I will be doing solo. New changes to come in the new year!!

Nursery Rhyme Birthday Party Preparation Under Way

This week we have been busy getting things ready for Hazel's 3rd birthday. I shared the invitation I made with you previously. Now I'll show you some of the crafts we have been working on. I need to do the last part of Hazel's dress, but I made her a dress from some Hey Diddle, Diddle fabric which I used in her quilt. I am making a pinafore for it as well. I also need to finish sewing the cloth napkins. I bought Three Blind Mice and Humpty Dumpty fabrics on clearance for napkins and am serging the edges since I couldn't find any nursery rhyme themed paper products. I figure I'll make a quilt out of them after the party.

 

Hazel and I spent a bit of time this week on favors. I had found 18 Strawberry Buttercream wax tarts on clearance earlier this year and bought them. Unfortunately we need  more than 18 adult favors, so we made some of the cinnamon apple ornaments in hearts and stamped them with a Thanks stamp.

I figured I could use the same rhyme for both. We also included a couple of pretty magnets in each bag.

Adult Favor Tag

For the children we made homemade play dough. We made orange and blue both with glitter and scented clove orange (using ground cloves and orange extract).  And we made a lavender play dough with dried lavender flowers and glitter in it and scented also with lemon extract. I bought little plastic snack cups at the dollar store to put them in and then we will put one in each gift bag. On this one we put a tag with Pat-a-cake type rhyme on it.

Play dough tag

 We also made some Jack and Jill hats. After finishing two, I decided that was enough of these. I changed the idea a bit but had gotten it from a craft book I found in the library.

We also are working on the Mary, Mary Quite Contrary centerpiece. Again an idea from the same book. The homemade flowers include ones that have silver bells, and shells and pictures of pretty maids as well as ones that are just pretty.

What we still have to do is make a wreath from old nursery rhyme books, make more paper hats from old books, finish our banners, make some play dough for the pat-a-cake station, make some different level "candles" from cardboard for the Jack Be Nimble contest and if I have time finish the cross stitched towel for the bathroom (with the cat and fiddle on it). Plus of course the cooking and baking. My parents arrive tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some help. Well I'm off to sew...hopefully I can finish the sewing today so I can move onto other things.

Hope you are having a great day!