Saving the Sun -- Book Review with Craft Round-Up and Giveaway

 

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

As fall is upon us, the days are getting shorter which means that the sun is shining for less each day. Today we are sharing a sweet book about the sun deciding to take a dip in the ocean, and it needing saving to light the world again. The book is Saving the Sun by Emma Pearl and illustrated by Sara Ugolotti. Along with my review there is a craft round-up to go with the book and a giveaway!

Can't Get Enough Space Stuff Review with Craft & Activity Round-Up

 

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

This week for our Back to School with National Geographic Kids we are sharing a fun new book about space. To go with our book review, we are sharing a round-up of crafts, activities, lessons and more all about space for different ages. Our book is Can't Get Enough Space Stuff by Stephanie Drimmer and Julie Beer. It is recommended for ages 7 to 10.

The Moon and the Sun -- Fun Facts, Books and Craft & Activity Round-Up

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

I have some fun books sitting on my review shelf. One is about the Mid-Autumn Festival. This year (2020) Mid-Autumn Festival is October 1st. Then I received a cute book about the sun and moon for younger kids. And finally I am sharing the new National Geographic Kids Almanac 2021 because of course it has something about the sun and moon. It has something about everything! As I was thinking about these books I thought it would be fun to share a bit about the moon and sun as well as some crafts and activities to go with them. 

Photo Home Decor Review with Special Savings Code

Disclosure: Artsy Couture sent me these prints of my sister's photographs in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you how my sisters and I are fixing up my parents (and grandparents) former house on Cape Cod to rent out. We want some home decor with Cape Cod/beach theme without being too personal. My sister who is an amazing photographer (she has an art degree and use to work professionally as a photographer), took some photos of places around the house and sent them to me. I asked Artsy Couture for help in making them into something we can use at the house (that is if I am willing to give them up--I haven't decided yet). The house sits on a saltwater marsh on the bay side so it has the most beautiful sunsets. She was able to capture one in these photographs. 

Solar Eclipse Crafts and Snacks - Crafty Weekends Link Party

Are you ready for the solar eclipse tomorrow? We are getting ready for it. Steve showed us how to set up his telescope to see the eclipse indirectly so we do not need the glasses (which he does not trust). Then we did a few crafts and made a few snacks. The idea for our craft came from NASA Eclipse Activity Guide. (This guide has many activities including information about the eclipse and lessons on it.) The craft is very easy. You need dark paper, chalk and a roll of masking tape or some other circle template. 

Hostess Gifts & More for Summer Parties

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

Have you been looking for a gift to bring a hostess of a summer party? Or perhaps for those hard to buy for people? One of my favorite places to check out is Shop gifts under $25 at The Grommet. The Grommet is a company that helps launch new products onto the market. Usually it is the inventors/creators of the items that they are helping. The gifts are unique and new. Check out some of these great ideas from the gifts under $25 at The Grommet. 

Rainbows, Spring and St. Patrick's Day

So as I stated the other day, we are ready for spring. We have been busy thinking about spring crafts and putting away our winter decorations. Today I am going to focus on a couple rainbow crafts we have done. After all, rainbows seem to say spring as well as St. Patrick's Day. 

The first one I saw on I Can Teach My Child. We changed it a bit by using wooden beads, white clay and adding a sun coming out of the clouds.

After making this craft, I decided to make Hazel a needle felted picture of a rainbow. I took a piece of white wool felt and needled a light blue roving all over it for the background.

Then I added the rainbow using small amounts of each color. After the rainbow, I added some clouds and tried to make them three-dimensional and added a bit of grey to the white in them. And of course I added some sun, so it would be like the craft we did together. Now to find a place to hang it.

Summer Solstice Shrinking Sun Lesson

When I was a child I loved Shrinky Dinks. If you do not know what they are, you should check them out. They are some plastic sheets that you can trace a picture and color and then you put them in the oven for a minute or two and they shrink to a hard plastic. Well I have been thinking about the summer solstice and a craft to talk about it and thought this would be perfect.

Solar Prints

I remember as a child my mother and I purchased a solar print kit. It is funny the details one can remember of certain things. I actually remember the exact store we bought it at. Anyway, I was so fascinated by it. I remember collecting flowers and leaves and such to leave on it and leave the papers in the sun. My memory is for hours, but I don't know now. I decided to buy one of these kits at Lakeshore Learning to show Hazel a bit about the sun. (Sorry they don't sell them on their website.)

It was a bit different than what I remembered. It came with prints you could use or you could use any flat thing you found. At first I didn't buy the flat things (back from my memory I didn't worry about flat things), so we tried pine cones, acorns, sticks, etc. things from our nature table. I didn't bother trying to use the clear covers it came with either since the non-flat things would not fit in them.

They also said to leave it in the sun for 1-5 minutes until the paper turned white. Then you needed to soak it in hot water and then cold and then dry. As you can see my 3-d objects were more blotchy than anything. We also left them for a few hours in the window since we started this project just before we had to leave. Since it is winter and our sun is not too strong right now, I figured we would be ok.

We also tried a paper heart and a doily. Then tried flat objects like a feather, pine needles and some of the prints that came with the kit. We used the clear plastic holders for these. I also watched these more closely.

These came out much clearer, so I guess with this kit flatter is better.

Hazel was not as excited as I expected, but she is still young for it. We will try it in the summer and see what fun things we can use.

Our next project will be to do some things with shadows as Hazel is showing great interest in shadows.

Now we can make them into cards and what not. The kit came with cards and envelopes and some of the prints they gave us were words like Happy Birthday.

Hope you will join us for Sharing Saturday tonight/tomorrow!! Last week was our largest one thus far and hopefully this week we will break that record!