Christmas Crafts for Kids eBook Review & Giveaway

Ok, I know Halloween has not happened yet and I am one of the first to complain about the stores having Christmas things up too early. However, I have the opportunity to review and giveaway a wonderful ebook by Beth Gordon of 123 Homeschool 4 Me called Christmas Crafts for Kids. One of the things I love about this book is it is written to help you keep Christmas and family in Christmas and not get into the commercialism of society. It is wonderful to help children focus on what really matters during the holiday season.

In this amazing book, Beth has a children's book for each day of December before Christmas. She also offers an alternative book in case you do not own or cannot find a copy of  the suggested book at the library. I was able to find one of the suggested books for each day at our local library if I did not already own it. Then she has several crafts and activities to go with each book (or day). These crafts and activities include things you can do as a family or one parent can do with a child or children. There are crafts, snacks, and activities including some charitable activities.

One book she shares is The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry. This is a scratch 'n sniff book, so I do not recommend getting it from the library. (We did, and all the scratch 'n sniff spots were used up.) One activity Beth suggests with this book is to make a plate of seasonal scents. We used what we had in the house (or outside for the pine needles) and did not stick directly with her suggestions. We also made a gingerbread cake for the scent and to enjoy. On our scent plate is a branch from an evergreen tree, peppermint extract, orange extract, cinnamon on a cotton ball and cloves. Hazel loved smelling this plate and continued to do so for several days (until I got rid of it).

Another story we used was The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg. This was the alternative book and the suggested book was J is for Jesus by Crystal Bowman, but we could not get it from our local library and could get The Legend of the Candy Cane. I am so glad we found this book. I love the message behind the whole story and it gives all the legends of the candy cane I have heard in one story (J-shaped for Jesus, shaped like a shepherd's hook, etc.) and it has the overall message about sharing them with the story of Jesus. It will be added to my must read every Christmas list. Along with many wonderful candy cane crafts, Beth suggested this wonderful snack of apple and banana slicing shaped as a candy cane. Hazel of course loved it since she LOVES fruit.

Another book is Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry. One of the many wonderful suggestions to go  with this book was a straw Christmas tree ornament. Hazel and I had a great time making these. We used the supplies we had already, so we did not have a gold sparkly pom pom for the top and our pom poms were a bit big, but we like it anyway. There were other crafts, snacks and an activity to go with this book.

So that gives you a bit of a sample of what Beth has put together. She offers you 24 days of books and activities as well as one alternative day in case you do not like either choice or cannot find either choice of her suggested books. Some of the books are focused about the religious meaning of Christmas and others are not. I know I plan on doing more with this great book once December comes. I hope you will take the time to check it out and enjoy your holiday season!

Now Beth has offered me a copy of her e-book to giveaway. Since it is e-mailed, it is open worldwide!! So here is your chance to win Christmas Crafts for Kids, just do as the Rafflecopter asks to enter and follow my Giveaway Rules (except it is open worldwide so you do not have to be in the USA). If you do not want to wait for the giveaway to end, you can purchase it for $9.99 here. (You can also buy a print copy there for $24.99.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Little Pim Giveaway

 

Little Pim Language Learning

RV $49.99-$149.00

 

Hosted by:

The Squishable Baby

  IMPORTANT: Please read this Blogger Opp thoroughly and in its entirety.   We are giving away 1 Little Pim Language Learning System. Little Pim is an award-winning system of DVD's and digital downloads that teaches children ages 0-6 a number of languages with choices from French, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish, German, Hebrew, English (ESL), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Chinese. The final price depends on how much participation we get.   For a review on Little Pim, go HERE.   Thank you lovely Co-hosts for helping me with this giveaway!  

Wife, Mummy, Nurse	Mommy's Favorite Things	Unschooling Momma
Kids Yoga Stories	Homemaking With Style	Momma Lew's Blog
P is for Preschooler	Mrs. Tee Love, Life and Laughter	Crafty Mom Share
Mommynificent

  We are looking for bloggers who have at least 1,000 Twitter followers AND 1,000 Facebook fans to post the blogger opp, the getting excited about language learning post, the giveaway (all 3 posts), plus promote at least 4X per week on both Twitter AND Facebook. If you do all those things, you will receive a FREE Twitter and Facebook link in the giveaway. All HTML will be provided.    

The Schedule

 

November 5 - The Get excited about Language Learning Post

November 12 - December 4th - The Giveaway

 

Co-host pages and paid links are also available.

 

Paid links

 

$3 per additional link (Bloglovin, email/newsletter subscription, Pinterest like, Pinterest Pin, Instagram, etc)

Links appear in the main entry form

No Google + links as it's against Google guidelines.

 

Co-host Pages Available

 

$10

4 additional links appearing in the main entry form

Back link in main post to your blog

  Forms to fill out and Blogger Opp HTML  

Fill out the form to enter the giveaway HERE.

 

HERE is the HTML to post the Blogger Opp on your blog.

 

HERE is the form to report your Blogger Opp Posting. If you do not report your posting, your links WILL NOT be included in the giveaway.

IMPORTANT: It's important that you report all of your posts (link will be in the email when I provide the HTML) and promote at least 4X per week on both Twitter and Facebook. If you do not do these things, your links will be removed.

    Litle Pim is hosting a Kickstarter campaign for 13 days in which they are trying to raise money to produce a holiday eBook that helps children learn about traveling, languages and holiday traditions around the world. Those who donate to the campaign receive reward and those who donate $10 will receive a free eBook. You can find more information on the Kickstarter Campaign here.    

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: The Korean Cinderella

Last week we shared Kongi and Potgi by Oki S. Han. This week I am going to share The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo. It is very similar to Kongi and Potgi, but has a few differences. Since we explored a bit about Korea last week (both in the fairy tale post and our Around the World in 12 Dishes post), we will go right into the story.

Noah's Ark

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Hazel and I read her story Bible every night at bedtime. We read through it once skipping around a bit and then started at the beginning again. Hazel loved the story of Noah's Ark. I knew I had bought ages ago a Shrinky Dink Noah's Ark kit when it was on sale or clearance. I had put it away for the right time. I also discovered there are hundreds of books about Noah's Ark. Today we will share some of the traditional stories that follow along with the Bible. Hazel loves when we read a Noah's Ark book.

Most of these books we took out of the library, but some I also found at the used book store. The amazing thing is I didn't take out all of the Noah's Ark children's books at the library, because there were so many. Again these are the ones that tell the story the same as the Bible. I will share others another time.

My sister had given Hazel a wooden Noah's ark toy many years ago. Hazel loves the idea of it, however the top floor never stays in and the roof of the top never stays on correctly plus she is missing many of the animals. Hazel now plays with it usually more as a storage place, house or something but without all the pieces together. 

So after reading many of the books, I pulled out the Shrinky Dinks one Saturday. Hazel and I had fun coloring them in together. Don't you love the zebra colors? Hazel did them. A hint for coloring them is to put white paper underneath so you can see what you are coloring (unless you are coloring white of course).

Then we put them on a pan and watched them shrink.

Then once they cooled they turn harder and the kit came with stands for them.

The kit also came with a ark to put together as well as some other animals. Steve took on the job of putting the ark together for us.

Now Hazel has two Noah's ark toys. She really loved playing with this one. Here is the other side.

Stay tuned for some more Noah's Ark stories and crafts!!

Sharing Saturday 13-41

First an apology to all who have been following my Flamingo Fridays. My week got a bit hectic and I decided I needed a break and did not want to put out something that was not up to my quality, so I took the break. Also an apology for not getting to visit everyone's wonderful post shared last week. The ones I did visit are amazing and I am sure the others are as well. Thank you to everyone who share with us last week. We had quite a few new blogs sharing!! I hope all of you had time to be inspired by them all. This week we had a tie for most clicked.

From Living Montessori Now: Positive Use of Technology with Kids

and

From Peakle Pie: Halloween Party Bunting

Here are a few favorites from the ones I visited.

1) From A Beautiful Ruckus: Kids' Craft Fall Handprint Wreaths

2) From Doodle Buddies: Breast Cancer Ribbons Tutorial

3) From Happily Ever Mom: A Not So Scary Fairy Pumpkin House

4) From Preschool Powol Packets: Egg Carton Bats

5) From Wildflower Ramblings: What is Classical Education?


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:

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-002.jpg" /></a>

From Your Hostess:
This week we shared a Korean Cinderella, shared our mixed up stories (great for creativity and imagination growth) with Virtual Book Club for Kids, shared our exploration of Korea with Around the World in 12 Dishes, Reviewed and am giving away a copy of a Kids Yoga book that goes through the Australian Animals from A to Z, and shared our various ways of decorating pumpkins so far this year!

Our current giveaway ends Wednesday!! But more giveaways coming soon!!

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 newly updated button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

<a href="http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/search/label/Sharing%20Saturday" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/cpericola/SharingSaturdayoption2-150_zpsba88f805.jpg" /></a>

4) I would love it if you would follow me on Facebook,  Google+, and Pinterest 

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