Picture Books for Animal Lovers

 

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

Can you believe Thanksgiving is almost here? Time is flying by as usual. It is time to think about gift buying and the holidays. Today I am doing a round-up of picture books that are perfect gifts for animal lovers!! Do you know any young animal lovers? Perhaps kids who love the Wild Kratts like Hazel did?  To begin we will start with one with a thankful theme. It is from the World of Eric Carle. It is Little Book of Thanks from Brown Bear and Friends by Eric Carle and Odd Dot. It is recommended for babies through 3-year-olds. 

My Love for You Is Like a Garden with Free Printable Match Game and Flower Craft Round-Up

 

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Flying Cardinal Press for this blog tour post. I will receive a small stipend for posting my review.

Spring is in the air! I see the tips of our daffodils, tulips and irises poking out of the soil between the mounds of snow. Spring is my favorite season. I love watching the world come back to life. I saw my first robin last week, so I know the warmer weather will be here soon. That means it is time to think about my garden. Today I am sharing a beautiful book comparing love to a garden. I made a match game with the beautiful illustrations and have a round-up of flower and garden crafts as well as a giveaway!! It is fun post! The book is called My Love for You Is Like a Garden by Laura Smetana. 

Picture Book Extravaganza

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

Are you ready for the holidays? I know there is a saying that says one gift they can wear, one toy gift and one book gift. The next couple of weeks I am focusing on books and trying to clear off my recommendation shelves. Today I am starting with the picture books. There are books in this grouping for the very young to the older lovers of picture books. I am  going to share them by age group as best as I can, so if you are looking for picture books for older kids, scroll down. Are you ready for our picture book extravaganza? 

Author Inspired Books

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Are you trying to get your child to read this summer? We all know about the summer slide and how much learning they lose with the two plus months off. Most schools now assign summer reading and even summer work to help stop this. Do your kids do it? I find it is important for kids to find books they want to read. They need something that inspires them and you know what--I am the same. If I cannot get into a book I will not finish it. I have always been that way. I am a slow reader and if I am going to take the time and effort to read a book, it has to be a good book. Today I am going to share some books about what inspires authors and one that is a John Keats poem presented in a new way. I hope some of these might inspire your kids to read more!!

Sharing Saturday 15-39

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! It was another amazing week full of so much inspiration!!  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 are October Educational Ideas, Bats and Spiders and a few of my favorites.

The Nonsense Book by Eric Carle -- Book Review

Disclosure: Penguin Kids sent me an advance 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.

Now everyone knows Eric Carle and probably loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar along with many others of his popular books. We have posted ideas for a birthday party and a story time to kick of a food drive to go with the theme of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Well Eric Carle is coming out with a new book and it is being released on October 13, 2015. It is called The Nonsense Show. You can pre-order it now.

The Nonsense Show is full of a lot of nonsense!! It is fun and silly and it is a great way to introduce young children to surrealism.  Carle's last two books, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse and Friends, introduced expressionism and abstract art. This sort of trilogy is perfect for introducing young children to the different areas of art. 

The Big Blue Thing on the HIll & See What Seals Can Do -- 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.

We have been having so much fun with animal books from Candlewick Press lately. We looked at insects, emus and hippos, Australian animals, bears and endangered animals and kangaroos. Today we are sharing two more animal books. The first is a fun book with many animals who are trying to figure out what the big blue thing on the hill is and how to get rid of it and the second is about seals.

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. 

Jonathan London's Froggy Series Themed Birthday Party Ideas and Giveaway

Disclosure: Penguin Kids gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review and are providing the book for 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.

Have you been following the fun challenge Penguin Kids gave this month? It all started because Froggy's Birthday Wish by Jonathan London and illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz was released on March 10th! We were lucky enough to receive a review copy as well as two other Froggy books, Froggy Builds a Tree House and Froggy Gets a Doggy. Have you discovered the Froggy series yet? They are so fun. We are going to provide some general Froggy birthday party ideas as well as ones from each book. For even more Froggy birthday party ideas check out my Froggy Birthday Party Pinterest Board!

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. 

Sharing Saturday 14-24

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week and to all of you who took the time to check out what others shared! I know I had a very hard time choosing features (you will be able to tell by the number I am featuring). There were so many amazing ideas shared! There was not a most clicked this week, so I broke our features into three categories: Father's Day (it is on Sunday), Painting and Artwork, and a Few of My Favorites.

In case you are in need of a Father's Day Idea, here are a few of the ones shared last week. 

 

1) From Crystal's Tiny Treasures: Father's Day Poem Printable

2) From Planet Smarty Pants: A Father's Day Gift: a Lego Card Holder 

3) From Stella 123: Ten Ideas for Giving the Gift of Family Time This Father's Day

4)  From Lou Lou Girls: 20 Amazing Father's Day Gift Ideas

5) From Some of the Best Things In Life Are Mistakes: Last Minute Ideas for Father's Day

 Painting and Art Features

1) From Mini Monets and Mommies: DIY Metallic Paint

2) From Krafts and Kiddos: Picasso Flower Art

3) From Crystal and Co.: Homemade Watercolors for Kids 

4) From Rubberboots and Elf Shoes: Fingerprint Fireflies 

A Few of My Favorites

1) From Ruffles and Rainboots: FROZEN-Inspired Princess Anna Dress Up Apron 

2) From Enchanted Homeschooling Mom: Tape Line Obstacle Course Gross Motor Skill Activity 

3) From Let's Do Something Crafty: Cereal Box Crafts: Making a Cardboard Hat 

4) From Mommy in Sports: Cardio With the Kiddos! 

5) From Our Adventure Story: 7 Doughnuts from Around the World

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog. 

Featured Button Code:

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From Your Hostess: This week we shared a review of the Minnie Mouse decorations, Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle for Virtual Book Club for Kids and our seahorse mobile, the food and activities from our Minnie Mouse Party, a review of some fun summer craft kits from Oriental Trading, some books, crafts and activities to celebrate Flag Day and a review of the amazing new book 101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest Funnest Ever! by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller from Kid Activities Blog.

Make sure you enter our giveaway for the $30 gift certificate to the Air Plant Shop!! They have such neat things and  fun easy craft ideas!

Our Air Plant Craft

Now for This Week's Party  
A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow Crafty Moms Share via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post. 

3) Post the Sharing Saturday button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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 Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest.

Summer Craft Kits Product Reviews

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots 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 added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Point I get them to for Hazel

Virtual Book Club for Kids: Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

 Disclosure: I was sent the seahorse craft kit 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 added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Sharing Saturday 14-20

What a busy and beautiful week it has been here! Last week's Sharing Saturday had so many wonderful ideas!! If you have not had a chance to check them out yet, you should!! They are so inspiring!! Thank you to everyone who shared and to all who visited and left comments!! We had a two-way tie for most clicked. I am not sure what to think since one was clearly a spring craft and the other was a summer round-up. For the other features I chose some of my favorites and broke them into two displays so the pictures will be bigger.

Raising Ladybugs from Larvae

Today Hazel brought her ladybugs to school to share with her friends. We raised them from larvae and she was so excited to share them. The teachers were excited too since they just started a unit on bugs. Talk about perfect timing. I thought I would share them with you as well.

Last year Hazel and I raised butterflies. I thought it would be neat for her to see the cycle of life of a butterfly. I asked Hazel this year if she wanted to do butterflies again or try ladybugs. She decided on ladybugs, so we bought the ladybug house from Lakeshore Learning with our 20% off coupon and sent away for the larvae. Now ladybugs are even easier than the butterflies. The only important thing to do is to keep the sponge in the home moist. Besides that you sit back and watch. Hazel loves using the dropper to keep the moisture up, however as the larvae and ladybugs rose to the top, I took over the job to make sure we didn't have any escape.

After adding the moisture, we poured the tube into the cage and checked out the larvae. The tube had this white paper in it, and we just kept it in with the ladybugs since the larvae were climbing all over it. The small brown powdering stuff is their food. The tube arrived on March 27th.

We sat back and watched as they grew. The little spots of things became much bigger. These pictures are from April 14th. The larvae molt at least three times before going into the pupa stage.

We kept watching for the pupa stage. It was hard to see since they did not change much and really just stuck to the sides of the home. I also did not get any clear pictures because they were stuck to the sides of the plastic home. The clearest pictures of the larvae and ladybugs came from the magnifying glass on top and the sides cannot be seen well with it. Sorry!

Then this past weekend, we discovered we had ladybugs!! Of course we have also been reading books about ladybugs while watching them. We learned a few things like ladybugs have yellow blood. Some ladybugs have spots and some do not. They come in different colors. Red is the common color we all think of but they can be orange, yellow and even pink. 

Different Species Source

The resource books we have read are pictured below. They are Ladybugs by Ann Heinrichs, Ladybug by Emery Bernhard, Grub to Ladybug by Melvin and Gilda Berger, and Lucky Ladybugs by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann. The information about ladybugs mentioned in this post I read and learned from one of these books.

All of these books include a ladybug's life cycle. There are also many free resources on line to teach the life cycle. One I sent to Hazel's teacher is on Montessori Printshop. Everything Ladybug! has a good one as well.

Ladybug Life Cycle Source: By Pudding4brains (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The life cycle is of course the ladybugs mate and the female lays yellow eggs on a leaf. The eggs hatch and larva comes out of each egg. The larvae change and molt at least three times. Then they go into pupa stage growing a hard shell on the outside. In a few weeks the adult ladybug breaks through the hard shell. 

Ladybugs also have a few defenses to deter predators. One is their taste. They also can release a bad smelling and tasting chemical. They also can play dead so the predator will leave them alone. 

Ladybugs are also called ladybirds or lady beetles in Europe. And although they have lady in their name there are male ladybugs and female ladybugs. Since ladybugs eat aphids (bugs that harm crops and orchards), many people consider the ladybug lucky and have throughout history. They have been used and are still used by farmers to save their crops. Many farmers found using chemical pesticides also killed ladybugs (and other helpful insects and some birds) and this did more harm than good, so they now order ladybugs to come eat the pests to their crops. In fact when orange groves in California were dying due to scale insects that showed up after the ladybugs had been killed by the insecticides, millions of ladybugs were sent from Australia to eat the scale insects and saved the oranges and trees. In the Middle Ages people were so thankful for ladybugs as well as the Virgin Mary, they were called Beetles of Our Blessed Lady. Once they were believed to have magical powers including finding a single girl a boyfriend. In early America it was considered good luck to find a ladybug in a house in the winter. Ladybugs or rather ladybirds even made it into Mother Goose Rhymes. 

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are gone.

 This was a rhyme farmers used when they burnt  the vines after the harvest. They wanted to send the beetles away from the fire so they could return the next year. It was first published around 1760.

Ladybugs are also popular characters in picture books. Some we have found and read or hope to read are:

• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle (June's author for Virtual Book Club for Kids)
• Ladybug on the Move by Richard Fowler
• Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis (There is a whole series)
• What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson
• Yoo-Hoo, Lady Bug! by Mem Fox (May's author for Virtual Book Club for Kids) (a fun search for the ladybug on each page)
• Ladybug at Orchard Avenue by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
• Lara Ladybug by Christine Florie
• The Very Lazy Ladybug by Isabel Finn and Jack Tickle

So that is what we have been exploring with bugs this year. Hazel has informed me that next year she wants to go back to the butterflies and then alternate each year. She loves "hatching" bugs as she calls it.

More posts and crafts on ladybugs and bugs:

• Virtual Book Club for Kids: What the Ladybug Heard 
• Virtual Book Club for Kids: The Little Squeegy Bug
• Poetry, Trees and Bees
• Growing Butterflies & Butterfly Life Cycle
•  Cereal Caterpillars & Butterflies 
•  Tissue Paper Butterflies 
• Beaded Butterflies 
• Origami Butterflies 
• Toilet Paper Tube Butterflies 
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Time & Food Drive 
• Butterfly Party (Games & Crafts)
• Bugs are Insects
• Baby Dragonflies & Damselflies
• Fireflies Part 2
• Fireflies Part 1
• Bugs and Crawly Things Pinterest Board

Hunger Action Month

Today I am going to remind you that September is Hunger Action Month. I have joined a group of amazing moms to try to fight hunger for children. Did you know that hunger affects 16.2 million American kids? Or that kids go to school hungry every day and in fact 3 in 5 teachers say they have students who come to school hungry every day in their class? Did you know that we are raising the largest generation of kids in hard times since the Great Depression? Did you know that just $1 can help connect a child to as many as 10 healthy meals? (Source: No Kid Hungry)

Stone Soup Plan

Now much of what we did for Hunger Action Month, we actually did in August in preparation. I e-mailed local public libraries and preschools with story time plans to start a food drive. I already shared all of this in August. I shared to ideas using the classic tale, Stone Soup and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. For the Stone Soup plans I used ideas from the story time food drive I helped organize at my library last year as well as a few ideas I found on-line and a memory game I made. The Very Hungry Caterpillar plan came from several blogs and things I found on-line. The original idea came from The Good Long Road.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Plan

The next thing we did was to host a canned food drive at Hazel's butterfly party. Between me cleaning out our cabinets and what Hazel's friends brought we had a very full bag of food for our local food pantry. When Hazel is older I am hoping to volunteer with her at the food pantry and the local soup kitchens.

I also would like to share some more books to help start the discussion of hunger with children. For the younger children a good short story about hunger is The Hungry Monster by Phyllis Root. This story is about an alien monster that lands on Earth and is very hungry. He tastes things he sees--a daisy, a rock,  a tree, and then he sees a girl who gives him her banana (instead of him eating her) and he finally finds something he likes to eat. The girl is a little disgusted since he eats the peel and all. It is a wonderful introduction to talk about people who do not have enough to eat or enough good food to eat. The Very Hungry Caterpillar will also work for this. An activity following this discussion could be going to the grocery store and buying some food for your local food pantry. Let your child pick out some nutritious canned food and then bring it to the food pantry together.

For older children I like Kids Against Hunger by Jon Mikkelsen. In this story two friends wonder why their soccer coach does not get upset when a teammate missing practice every Wednesday. They decide to follow him one Wednesday and discover he is volunteering for an organization called Kids Against Hunger. The teammate explains that when he was younger his family went through rough times when they did not have enough to eat and now he likes to help others in that situation. The boys want to help to and suggest that they ask the coach to move their Wednesday practice to Thursday so the whole team can volunteer. It is a nice story to show how kids can help by donating their time. And of course the obvious activity with this book would be to volunteer at a food pantry or soup kitchen. To find a food pantry in your area look here. 

Another easy thing to do is Dine Out for No Kid Hungry. There is still five days left to have a portion of your meal donated. Just click the link to see what local restaurants are offering near you.

So I hope you will join us in trying to end hunger throughout the world even if it is making a donation (food, money or time) to your local food pantry and/or soup kitchen. Also feel free to join us in this link party to share what you have done to end childhood hunger!

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.