Ultimate Food Atlas -- Explore the World through Food with This Book

 

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

When Hazel was younger, we loved exploring the world and participated in a blog group celebrating food from around the world. We did the series Around the World in 12 Dishes. I miss it sometimes because it got us exploring different dishes. Some we loved and others not so much. Today I get to share a book that lets you explore the world through food so basically our series in one book sort of. The book is Ultimate Food Atlas: Maps, Games, and Recipes for Hours of Delicious Fun by Nancy Castaldo and Christy Mihaly. It is from National Geographic Kids and is recommended for ages 8 to 12 but could work with younger kids with adult help.

Fun Facts About Finches with a Focus on American Goldfinch and House Finch

Today we continue our Who's In the Backyard? Series with a look at finches. We commonly have American Goldfinches and house finches at our feeder so I am going to share general finch fun facts as well as fun facts about each of these types. 

Christmas in Hawaii -- Hawaii Challenge -- Christmas in Different Lands

As part of the Multicultural Kids Blog's annual Christmas in Different Lands Series, we are taking a look at Christmas in Hawaii. I figured since we are participating in our Hawaii Challenge we might as well find out what Christmas is like on the islands.

Hawaii Challenge -- A Look at Native Hawaiians -- Native American Heritage Month

Today we are taking a look at the Native Hawaiians. This is our post for the Multicultural Kid Blogs Native American Month. I figured this was a perfect time to truly explore the Native Hawaiians. They have been making news lately because they are fighting the world's largest telescope being installed on one of their sacred lands. Although they are not actually indigenous people many think of them as a group of them. Since we know they came from the Polynesian Islands they are actually aboriginal people. (Source) As I mentioned in my fist Hawaii Challenge post the Hawaiian islands were formed by volcanoes. South Seas peoples of Polynesia and Tahitian descent came to the islands and stayed. This was around the third century. 

Hawaii Challenge -- How was Hawaii formed?

Awhile ago I read a Facebook post about how Native Hawaiians have been conserving and preserving our wildlife and earth for years. The post challenged people to learn about it. So I am taking the challenge. I want to learn more about the 50th state and its people. It has an interesting history and I am fascinated with the legends and such. Plus I do want to preserve our wildlife, so I want to see what they are doing and how we can help. It is also top on my list for places I want to visit. Are you in? 

Changes at Crafty Moms Share

With my new business of selling Thirty-One Gifts as an Independent Consultant I have not had as much time and energy to put into Crafty Moms Share. Over the summer I thought and prayed and discussed what to do. Hazel really wants me to keep it going. I considered stopping it. When I started this blog in 2011 I was sharing things I was doing with Hazel and she was only 2.5 years-old. Now she is 10.5 and does a lot on her own. We stopped Sharing Saturday because of the low participation and Crafty Weekends is also dwindling. I love having others share their crafts and ideas but link parties seem to be a bit of a thing of the past.  Then I also feel pressure to work on book reviews and I realized I have been getting too many books to review and many do not motivate me to review them, so we decided to cut back on book reviews as well as how many we accept. We also discussed what we would do with Crafty Moms Share. One of our most popular series ever has been Fairy Tales in Different Cultures. While we looked at a few fairy tales we really focused on Cinderella. She was Hazel's favorite princess at the time and there are so many different versions easily available and most are in picture books which were perfect for Hazel at the time. Now she has a few different favorite princesses. Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) and the Frog Princess (Tiana) are among the top ones. So we are going to restart this series and look at some of the other fairy tales a bit more. I even gave our button a new look for it. What do you think?

Fun Facts about Rubber Ducks with Rubber Duck Craft Round-Up

Did you know January 13 is National Rubber Ducky Day? In honor of it I thought I would share some fun facts about rubber ducks. (Did you know there are some people who spell them rubber ducky or rubber duckie?) There are rubber duck races around the world raising money for charities and it is considered a classic toy. Here are some interesting facts I found out about these little guys.

Sharing Saturday 18-4

It is time again for Sharing Saturday! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. So glad you joined us!!

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all your diverse/cultural posts be sure to share them at Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. 

Hawaii Dreaming in our Winter Wonderland a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This winter we have had unbelievable cold weather and lately several snow storms. It has been a bit of a winter wonderland. Once we got rid of the first snow, it snowed again.

Sharing Saturday 18-3 TWO WEEKS LONG!!

It is time again for Sharing Saturday! This time it will be two weeks long since next Saturday is Multicultural Children's Book Day and I am a co-host!

This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. So glad you joined us!!

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! This Sunday the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop will start up again, so stop by to share all your diverse/cultural posts. 

Exploring the States with a Personalized Book & More!

Disclosure: I See Me! Inc.  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.

This summer we are exploring the states of the United Sates. It was part of our homeschool curriculum this past school year, but I thought we should do more than what she had been doing in school. We have been enjoying some items we already reviewed, but want to extend our lessons all summer. In the past month we had a couple of birthday parties for younger girls. I asked Hazel what we should get and she immediately said a book from I See Me. Hazel loves the books we have gotten from there.  When we were shopping for the gift I saw the perfect book for our USA exploration. It is My U.S.A. Road Trip by Jennifer Dewing and illustrated by Barbara Bongini. This is a photo book so you can have the child's face put into the pictures!

A Look at Real Life Princesses -- National Princess Week Resources & Giveaway

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.

Last week I introduced our big giveaway for National Princess Week (April 23-29). Today I am going to share our first post about the amazing resources we are giving away. The prizes in this giveaway are the resources I like to use with Hazel to see princesses as strong, brave and wonderful role models and not just weak girls waiting to be saved or who just go to tea parties and balls. To begin with resources my favorite place to start is a look at real life princesses. One of my favorite places to start especially with younger girls is Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. 

Honey Girl the Hawaiian Monk Seal Review & Giveaway

Disclosure: I was sent a digital version of this book free of charge for this review in return for an honest review by The Children's Book Review & Jeanne Walker Harvey. All opinions in my review are my own and I will receive a small compensation for writing it.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation for your purchase.

A couple of winters ago New England had a record breaking amount of snow mostly in February. A couple of weeks ago I was afraid we were having another year like that, however this past week has had us all feeling spring. But during the record breaking winter I did a series called Dreaming of Hawaii, just to think of some place sunny and warm. Hawaii is one of the top place I want to visit. Today's book shares a true story Hawaii and enables my Hawaii dreaming again. It is Honey Girl: The Hawaiian Monk Seal by Jeanne Walker Harvey and illustrated by Shennen Bersani.

The Mystic Princesses and the Magic Show -- A perfect chapter book for Earth Day

* Disclosure: The Gymboree links in this post are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Disclosure: I was sent 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.

Can you believe Friday is Earth Day? I feel like spring is just beginning and it is already the end of April. How do you get your children to focus on taking care of the Earth for Earth Day? We have the perfect chapter book for the day and it is also perfect for next week which is National Princess Week. Anyone who has been following Crafty Moms Share knows I tend to look for books about princesses who are less frilly and typical fairy tale princesses but ones that show courage, strength and independence. Well the Mystic Princesses are just that type of princess. Of course what makes them the Mystic Princesses is that they each have a parent who is a god or goddess or Mother Nature. Each princess also has a special magical talent as well. 

These princesses however have joined together to protect Harmonie. She is the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. Aphrodite sent Harmonie away with her brother Eros when she was a baby for protection from Ares. Harmonie brings peace and calm to everyone around her which goes against Ares desire for war. Now his other children are after her and Eros so they separated and the Mystic Princesses have sworn to protect Harmonie. In the first book, The Mystic Princesses and the Whirlpool, PJ LaRue introduces the princesses and the story. We had the pleasure of reviewing the first book in the series for Multicultural Children's Book Day. Now we are bringing you the second book in the series,   The Mystic Princesses and the Magic Show by PJ LaRue.

My Mother's Quilts -- First Look Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Worthy Ideals. 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.

Quilting has taken on its own art form, but originally started out of necessity. They have been used as gifts, as signs and communications, to record stories and as maps. They have held a very special place in my heart. My mother started quilting when I was in elementary school. Her first quilt was a sampler--where the blocks are all different. There was a square with three sun bonnet sues in different sizes to represent me and my older sisters. There was a square with a man using a transit to represent my father. This quilt was on my parents bed for years. My sisters and I all want to inherit it though my mother says it is threadbare. 

The Mystic Princesses and the Whirlpool -- Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from PJ LaRue. 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.

It is January and that means Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD) is approaching!! This year I am honored to be a co-host of this amazing event!! The MCCBD team’s mission to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.

Exploring Tonga -- Global Learning for Kids

In December Global Learning for Kids explored Tonga. I have to admit I had not heard of Tonga (and didn't vote for it). I turned to the library to find some information to share with Hazel. However the only children's books that showed up with Tonga in them had to do with Africa and not Oceania, which I knew was our focus. I then looked at the adult books (because I was desperate to find something, anything on this little country). The adult books were slim pickings as well, but here is what I found. (Recently I searched for Queen Salote since one of the books was about her and found one children's book with her in it so I'm going to get it tomorrow so I can at least share about the country's most famous queen.)

Tribal Nations Maps Product Review and Native American Women for Women's History Month

For Women's History Month we took some books out of the library on various women. One group we have been reading about are some of the strong Native American women. After reading some of these books, we pulled out our Tribal Nations Maps that we won in November and looked at what the Natives called themselves where these women came from. Hazel LOVES looking at these maps!!

Little Quilts -- Book Review

Disclosure: Ryland, Peters and Small 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. 

Today I get to share a wonderful quilt book, Little Quilts by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger. Two things interested me with this book. First the idea of little quilts will mean easier (smaller and quicker) projects so it will not take me months to make one and second little quilts are often doll size. With Hazel being so focused on her dolls she wants doll quilts, so I figured this book would help me get creative!!

Friday Fruit Exploration: Pineapple

I have been a bit absent this week. It has been a bit crazy with helping a friend with a sick child, having a sick child and life in general. I am looking forward to escaping the chaos later today as I join some women from my church and head a women's retreat in Maine. I am only going for one night (and one full day) since I need to be back at church on Sunday and Hazel is having a hard time with me being gone already.