The Garden Classroom--Book Review

One of the gladiolas blooming in my yard

As you probably have guessed I love gardening. Or maybe I should say I love the products of a garden (I am lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who likes to do much of the labor for me). I also love the planning. Well my love of nature comes from how my parents brought me up. Each of us girls had our own flower garden in our yard. We also helped choose and plant the vegetables in my father's big vegetable garden. I still remember the day my father dug out my little flower garden in the middle of the grass between the patio and the evergreens bordering our property. I cannot tell you how young I was, but I wanted my own garden space so he made me some. Each spring we would go to a local nursery and get to pick out flowers for our garden space. We would also go through the Burpee Seed Catalog to choose which vegetables we would try. I remember several years trying carrots, because I love carrots. Needless to say my upbringing taught me how important it is to love nature and to garden. Ever since I have always tried to grow something. Even when I lived in apartments without garden space I grew plants on balconies. Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a wonderful e-book written by Cathy over at the Nuture Store.

Cathy just released the e-book, The Garden Classroom: 52 Kids Gardening Activities this week. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy to review for you!!

The Lower Garden in My Parents Yard

First let me start off with if you have not visited the Nuture Store you are really missing something. It is one of my favorite places to go and get ideas. Now this book takes so many of the wonderful gardening with kids ideas floating around out there and puts them in one place as well as introducing some new ones. 

Hazel helping Pop water the flowers at the Cape

The book starts with the introduction as to why gardening with kids is important and goes into the basics of gardening from starting seeds to choosing the right plants for your area, etc. Yes, even if you haven't planted a seed before, you will be able to use this book!

Let's face it, children love playing with dirt, leaves and water. Thus they will love gardening. It combines all of it and you can also teach them while doing this. The Garden Classroom goes beyond just the garden and crafts for the garden, but also gives you math activities, science experiments, literacy activities and so much more. If you are homeschooling, this book is a perfect addition to any curriculum.

Hazel's Sunflower Garden (First Planted)

I, of course, love the crafts and art that goes along with it. There are the creative ideas for planters and watering cans to the flower related crafts that can be done in the colder weather. We will definitely be doing some of these and you may see us delve into some of the sunflower activities as Hazel's sunflower garden grows. I love all the different ideas introduced there.

So I recommend you go visit the Nuture Store and purchase a copy of this wonderful e-book. It will be a wonderful addition to your library for great activities to get your child outside and moving!

Fireflies Part 2

Did you check out our firefly paintings and the books we have been reading last week? As promised here are some more firefly crafts that we have been trying. This time we used some glow sticks to give our fireflies their light.

The first was inspired by somewhere on-line, but I cannot seem to find where again. I thought it was Family Fun Magazine, but I cannot seem to find it again. Anyway, you need a plastic Easter egg and a glow stick, some construction paper and googly eyes or marker and pipe cleaners if you want antennae and legs.

Put the glow stick inside the egg and then glue the construction paper wings on and eyes and pipe cleaners (we skipped this part). Let them dry and then play with them or hang them for a nighttime scene inside.

We also tried this with toilet paper rolls and construction paper. We put a glow stick inside and then put orange paper over the head end and yellow over the tail end then covered the roll in orange. We added white and orange wings and drew on a face.

I apologize now for my camera. It does not do well with the glow in the dark pictures or any nighttime pictures. 

Finally, our last inspiration was from Lorie at Reading Confetti. Using glow sticks to make fireflies or butterflies. Ours looks more like a butterfly.

 


We have a few more ideas to try with fireflies and then we are going to move onto butterflies. Of course, yesterday's story time got me thinking more and more about butterflies and bugs! I want to try a few ideas from Betsy over at Tippytoe Crafts. I always love her ideas!!




 This is where I share...
 

Readathon Week #5--Earth and Being Green

For this week's theme, MemeTales Readathon has chosen Green/Earth. There are two free books along this theme. Through the five weeks over 5500 meals have been donated to FoodForEducation.org. Has your child(ren) joined yet to donate another meal?

The books this week are Let's Go Chipper! Into the Great Outdoors published by Let's Go Chipper and What Does It Mean To Be Green? by Rana Di Orio. Let's Go Chipper! Into the Great Outdoors is about a suburban squirrel going on a camping trip and meeting all sorts of new friends there. The purpose of the book is to remind children to get outside and discover the world even in your own backyard.

Happy Family Times #17--Visiting Extending Family & Zucchini Muffins

Have you done something fun with your family this week? Kelly over at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are collecting fun family activities each week so we can all be inspired to have more quality family time. Please share yours below.

This week we went to visit my parents at Cape Cod. Steve had the two cats in his car and I had Hazel and lots of stuff in mine. We left Thursday. Hazel was so excited because her only first cousin visits my parents from North Carolina every July, and she does not get to see him very much. Even though her cousin is ten, they play so well together and really love each other. I love watching them play together. Thursday afternoon Steve took both kids to the beach for a swim while I helped my mother with dinner.

Friday morning my mother and I left for Connecticut (a three-hour car drive). One of my first cousin's got married at Foxwoods Resort. Apparently they both love gambling so they thought a casino setting was perfect and they thought Friday, the 13th was perfect since it was the same date as their first date. Since we were going to splurge and spend the night at a luxury hotel, we decided to go for massages before the wedding. It was wonderful.

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Before the wedding we did some quick shopping for gifts to bring back for the kids. I got Hazel a great Native American drum. Foxwoods is run by the Pequot Tribe. (I have to admit I have a huge fascination with Native American culture and history, so if you would like to learn more about the Pequot history check this out.)

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The wedding was at Lake of the Isles which is also run by the Pequot Tribe. The ceremony itself was on the deck by the lake. It was beautiful!! Plus the couple really put a lot of themselves in the ceremony as well as the reception. It was so unique and fun. It was fun to catch up with my cousins and aunts and uncles as well. We do not see my mother's side of the family all that much. My mother is one of five children and each of them has at least two children--almost all who are married and with children now. The reception was in the clubhouse ballroom. The food was excellent and I danced a bit with my cousins--plus we all had fun with the photobooth and costumes.

Saturday my mother and I ate earlier than the family brunch and headed back to the Cape so I could enjoy my family vacation. Hazel had gotten to hang out with her three favorite males in the world--her Daddy, her Pop and her cousin. She had a great time.

My father's zucchini is starting to be ripe so on Sunday Hazel and I made Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins. Her cousin was going to help us, but he slept in that day and we gave up waiting for him to get up. We used a recipe from my mother's cookbook--The Classic Zucchini Cookbook by Nancy C. Ralston, Marynor Jordan, and Andrea Chesman. (She has made several recipes from this book and has loved all of them.) Dinner for Saturday also came from this book.

We of course changed the recipe a bit. The original recipe is very similar to this one. We mixed two cups of whole wheat flour, one tablespoon baking powder, a quarter teaspoon salt, a teaspoon cinnamon, and half of a cup of oatmeal.

Then we beat two eggs, three-quarters of a cup of non-fat milk, one third of a cup of olive oil, and a quarter of a cup of honey together. Then we added grated zucchini and raisins. I added much more than one cup of zucchini since my mother had a lot to use up. She had a large one that she had used in the pesto pasta salad the night before but she only had used half of it so I used the other half. I would guess it was close if not more than two cups. This was too much!!

Fluffy wanted to help too!

 Then we scooped them into the muffin pan. Hazel wanted to do most of the scooping. It was a bit messy, but she had fun. Then we baked them at 300 for at least 25 minutes and with the extra zucchini we should have baked them even longer. They were good but a bit too mushy in the center.

Then we cooled them in the pan for ten minutes except my mother turned the timer off on us since she thought it was for the oven which was already off. Oh, well. Then we enjoyed them warm. Again they were tasty, but a bit too mushy.

We brought home some more zucchini so maybe we will try again or we will try zucchini bread.


Steve left Sunday morning, but my sister came that morning. Hazel was so excited to see her aunt. She actually was in tears this morning about having to come home. She didn't want to leave all her extended family she doesn't get to see enough. We had a fun time last night going to Provincetown and having dinner at our favorite restaurant, Napi's. If you are ever in P-town, you really should check it out. If you are seated before 6, ask for the Early Bird Specials. The food is excellent and it is such a unique place to eat.

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Virtual Book Club for Kids--Don and Audrey Wood Month

Today is the day the link party for the Virtual Book Club for Kids opens for July. Our July authors are Don and Audrey Wood. I am so excited to share with you today a wonderful book by Audrey Wood that still let's me have my Multicultural Monday theme. But first, let me explain about the Virtual Book Club for Kids.