Book Review – Page 6 – Nurture Mama

Plastic Egg Creative Creatures

April 10, 2012April 10, 2012 Nurture Mama Leave a comment

“Can we do an Easter craft?” asked the Ant Bug.

“Uhhh…sure. Let’s see…” And I hopped onto makeandtakes.com, hoping for some quick inspiration.

I was thrilled when I found Marie’s Plastic Easter Egg Bunny Craft post. We had plenty of plastic eggs lying around (literally, they were all over the living room floor after the weekend egg hunts!), and so here are the creatures my children came up with. The activity took zero preparation, and kept my children entertained for about 25 minutes. That’s my kind of activity!I love how the first egg they decorated resembled a more typical Easter bunny, but each creature got more creative with multiple googly eyes and colorful pom pom noses and wacky antlers/antennae.

What are you doing with your leftover plastic eggs?

Here are a few books on our Easter reading list (so I can remember them next year!)

Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Janet Morgan Stoeke

We discovered this chicken at Christmas time (think Amelia Bedelia, but a chicken) and we have been delighted with her adventures.

Happy Easter, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff

We will always be fans of the “If you give a …” series, and this cute little board book was perfect for my toddler.

Books and Fun for October

October 13, 2011October 14, 2011 Nurture Mama 2 Comments

October is a great month, full of fall time fun: leaves and pumpkins and Halloween (as well as a birthday for our family!). At our house we enjoy reading books to celebrate the season. Here is a sampling of what we are reading this month:

Dem Bones by Bob Barner: great book that shares interesting “bone facts”, paired with a familiar folk tune.

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler: silly and fun

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White: hmmm, this book makes me want to eat pumpkin pie!

10 Trick-or-Treaters by Janet Schulman: a great counting book on a Halloween theme

Where is Baby’s Pumpkin? by Karen Katz: a fun lift-the-flap book for the little ones.

So…what’s on our activity line-up for the month? Our traditional trip to the pumpkin patch, a ward Trunk-or-Treat party, Boo at the Zoo, carving pumpkins, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. But I’m sure we’ll have time for a few fun projects:

This year these adorable thumbprint spiders have caught my eye.

Thanks to Teach Mama, our lunchboxes will contain a laugh in the form of Halloween lunchbox notes.

Teach Mama also shared a lot great ideas for classroom parties, which can also be used at home. I like the Ghost Bingo Game.

Not Just Cute has a great index of preschool activities for fall (and pumpkins!).

I love these footprint ghosts. I saw this image on pinterest, but I unfortunately can’t find the original source to give credit.

Thanks to the Ant Bug, we’ve got a great start on our Halloween decorations. She spent most of last Saturday working on this poster, and I think she included everything pertinent to Halloween: a haunted mansion, spiders and webs, a witch on her broom, bats, a ghost, and a full moon. I love her creativity!

Be sure to check out my past Halloween posts for lots of great activity ideas to celebrate Halloween.

A Pumpkin Party Weekend (2010)

Halloween Recipes (2010)

Glowing Faces in a Jar (and other Halloween Fun) (2010)

Halloween Craft Fun (2009)

Ghosts in the House (2008)

Our favorite children’s picture books

May 26, 2011May 26, 2011 Nurture Mama 1 Comment

At our house, we love to read books. I love to read great picture books with my children, and I am always on the lookout for new titles to add to our list of favorites. Today I am sharing our list of favorites with you!

Andreae, Giles: Giraffes Can’t Dance; K is for Kissing a Cool Kangaroo

Becker, Bonny: A Visitor for Bear

Burton, Virginia Lee: The Little House

Boynton, Sandra (board books): Moo, Baa, La La La; Barnyard Dance; Pajama Time; and more

Bryan, Sean: A Girl and Her Gator

Canon, Janelle: Stellaluna

Carle, Eric: The Very Hungry Caterillar; Brown Bear… (and Polar Bear and more); Heat to Toe; and more

Cronin, Doreen: Click, Clack, Moo; and more

Davis, Jacky: Ladybug Girl

Dodd, Lynley: Hairy Maclary series, Wake up Bear.

Donaldson, Julia: The Gruffalo

Freeman, Don: Corduroy

Fox, Mem: Where is the Green Sheep?

Feiffer, Jules: Bark, George

Fuge, Charles: I Know a Rhino

Guarino, Deborah: Is your Mama a Llama?

Helakoski, Leslie: Big Chickens

Henkes, Kevin: Kitten’s First Full Moon; the mouse books (Lilly, Chrysanthemum, Julius…)

Heide, Florence Parry: Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl who Floated)

Hoban, Russell: Bread and Jam for Frances

Jenkins, Steve: What do you do with a tail like this?

Johnson, Crockett: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Lester, Helen: Tacky the Penguin

McCloskey, Robert: Make way for Ducklings; Blueberries for Sal

McMullan, Kate & Jim: I Stink

Numeroff, Laura: If You Give a Pig a Pancake; and all the other If You Give a…

O’Connor, Jane: Fancy Nancy

Rohmann, Eric: My Friend Rabbit

Rosenthal, Amy Krouse: Little Pea; Little Hoot

Shannon, David: No David series, Duck on a Bike.

Steig, William: Pete’s a Pizza; Dr. De Soto

Walsh, Ellen Stoll: Mouse Paint; Mouse Shapes; Mouse Count

Willems, Mo: Pigeon series; Knuffle Bunny series; and more

Wood, Don and Audrey: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear; King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub; The Napping House

Yolen, Jane: How do Dinosaurs….? series

Young, Ed: Seven Blind Mice

It’s quite the list, but I am sure I am forgetting some. You can see my favorite Caldecott Medal winning books here. To make this list a little more usable as a reference, I am adding it as a separate page to this blog. You can access it from the menu at the top bar of the blog.

When I’m looking for something new to read with my children, these are the first places I look for recommendations:

Best Books for Preschoolers by Simple Mom

100 Picture Books Everyone Should Read by Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Early Childhood Development

10 Great Authors in Children’s Literature by Simple Mom

The “Unsung” Favorites of Children’s Literature by Simple Kids

Children’s Literature We Love by Simple Kids

ReadKiddoRead.com: dedicated to making kids readers for life

Caldecott Medal Winners: You can see my favorite Caldecott Medal winners here

Newberry Medal Winners

Read Aloud America: recommended reading lists for infants through12th grade

I am looking forward to a lot of summer reading time. What books would you add to the list???

FHE: Use your manners. Be polite.

April 6, 2011April 4, 2011 Nurture Mama 2 Comments

Teaching good manners is a topic that I have been thinking about for awhile. Reminders like “Use a napkin, not your shirt” and “How can you ask that in a nice, polite way?” and “Use your fork, please” are heard often in our home. So I was very excited to find a FHE lesson on Manners at A Year of FHE.

I mostly just followed the lesson as outlined by Emilie. We talked about the magic words of please and thank you and we sang this cute little song:

(Sung to I’m a Little Teapot)

I have super manners. Yes, I do.
I can say “Please,” and “Thank You,” too.
When I play with friends, I like to share.
That’s the way I show I care!

Then we read Time to Say “Please” by Mo Willems. We’ve had this book out from the library for over a month now. Anything by Mo Willems is always a hit at our house, so this book has been a good tool for reminders about saying please and thank you.

Then we moved on to the topic of Table Manners. For our family, we have decided to focus on two:

Always use your tools to eat your food.

Clean with a napkin.

I made a little poster with some visual aids to help us all remember!

To wrap things up, the girls colored the mini book of manners that Emilie shared.

As they colored, we read and discussed What do you say, dear? by Sesyle Joslin, with pictures by Maurice Sendak.

This book was written in the 1950s as “A handbook of etiquette for young ladies and gentlemen. To be used as a guide for everyday social behavior”. What we have really enjoyed about this book is that even though the hypothetical situations the children face are often bizzare and quite imaginative, there is still a place for manners. For example, “You are picking dandelions and columbines outside the castle. Suddenly a fierce dragon appears and blows red smoke at you, but just then a brave knoght gallops up and cuts off the dragon’s head. What do you say, dear?” And the answer of course, as you turn the page is, “Thank you very much”.

Adding to our Family Habits List

Use your manners. Be polite. is the sixth habit we have added to our Family Habits list. To read more about the habits we are working on in our family, read this post.

Let it snow!

January 12, 2011January 12, 2011 Nurture Mama Leave a comment

Did you get snow over the weekend? Quite likely, since 49 of the 50 states now currently have snow. I, however, am living in Florida, where snow continues to be elusive and just out of our reach. In my mind, January should equal snow, so this week we have been making our own.

Make and Takes suggested using coffee filters for cutting out snowflakes. Let me tell you, the filters work wonderfully. Already in a perfect circle shape, and they are a little thinner and easier to cut through for little fingers. They were well worth the 97 cents I paid for 100 filters (although I did feel a little weird buying coffee filters, since that isn’t something I have ever consumed…)

We have them decorating our windows and hanging from the ceiling.

Later this week we plan to add a little color to our snowflakes. And when we get tired of our filter snowflakes, I think we’ll make a few out of q-tips.

Thanks to Confessions of a Homeschooler, the Sweet Bee and I have plenty of preschool activities to keep us busy. Today we had fun with the snowman matching card. We matched number clothespins with the appropriately numbered snowman, then counted and put each snowman in order.

Here are the books we are reading to complete our snow-themed bookshelf:

Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner

Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner

Thomas’ Snowsuit by Robert Munsch

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Stella, Queen of the Snow by Mary-Louise Gay

For more snowy ideas, check out my Snowy Fun post from 2010.

December Readings

December 2, 2010December 2, 2010 Nurture Mama 1 Comment

“At this time of the year my family knows that I will read again my Christmas treasury of books and ponder the wondrous words of the authors. First will be the Gospel of Luke—even the Christmas story. This will be followed by A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and, finally, The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke. I always must wipe my eyes when reading these inspired writings. They touch my inner soul, as they will yours.” (President Thomas S. Monson, source).

Our family has a tradition of reading Christmas stories in the month of December. First, we like to read the stories of Jesus. We use the reading program from the December 2008 Friend Magazine (I wrote about it here last year). This year I got fancy and made a color copy of the study guide and laminated it for durability. We’re using stickers to mark off each day’s reading, then when we are finished we can peel off the stickers and use the chart again next year.Second, we like to read stories about Christmas. Some that are funny (How Santa Got His Job or Mooseltoe or Olive the Other Reindeer), some that make you believe in good things (The Polar Express or How the Grinch Stole Christmas or Bear Noel or A Christmas Dress for Ellen), and some that are just all around beautifully written and illustrated stories (Drummer Boy). You can see our complete list of favorites last year here.

Admittedly, our permanent collection currently consists of 6 Christmas picture books (we try to add one book each year). So we make good use of the library and the ability to put the good books on hold. I’ve got 11 books waiting there for me to pick up tomorrow morning! We will be trying a few new titles this year, thanks to the recommendations from No Time for Flashcards.

As an adult, for your own personal enrichment this holiday season, you might take President Monson’s suggestion and read one or all of the following:

1) The Gospel of Luke

2)A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

3)The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke

I’ve read #1 and #2 previously (multiple times) but I had to resort to inter-library loan to get a copy of The Mansion this year. I’m looking forward to it. When I was searching for The Mansion, The Other Wise Man by the same author was also given high reviews, so I’ll be giving both a try this month.

Glowing Faces in a Jar (and other Halloween Fun)

October 15, 2010October 24, 2010 Nurture Mama 3 Comments

Last year, my Halloween Project To-Do List included making glowing jacks from Not So Idle Hands. It didn’t happen last year, but the girls and I had fun making them last week.
Supplies
glass jars
tissue paper
mod podge
black spray paint
Halloween face template (found here)

You can find the detailed tutorial here, but it’s pretty simple. Cut your tissue paper into strips, apply mod podge to the jar, attach the strips, then attach the faces.

You can be pretty creative with these. I didn’t have any orange paper for the traditional pumpkin look, so we used green, white and yellow for a more monster/ghost/creature theme. I just printed the faces off on regular white paper and regular black printer ink, but once the mod podge was applied they looked pretty good. I chose to spray paint the lids black for the finishing touch, but you could do green for pumpkins, or add some ribbon or tulle.

Don’t forget the candles for the finishing touch! (Actually, I bought a cheap pack of the little tea-lights that you can turn on and off, so I don’t have to worry about flames and little people).
Here are a few other seasonal Halloween activities I plan to try this year:

Monsters! Monster shapes from Little Page Turners
Bottle Cap Spiders from Silly Eagle Books
Building a Skeleton from Chasing Cheerios
Marshmallow Ghost from No Time for Flashcards
Festive Silhouettes from Serving Pink Lemonade

Here is a link to the fun Halloween projects we did last year.

As is our habit, we’re reading books!

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

10 Trick-or-Treaters by Janet Schulman

What Halloween fun do you have planned?

Princess Hyacinth: A floating book review

October 6, 2010October 6, 2010 Nurture Mama Leave a comment

At the library a few weeks ago, this book caught my eye.

Princess Hyacinth: The surprising tale of a girl who floated by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Lane Smith

Since my girls love everything princess-like (and fancy and fairies and cats and…) I picked it up for a closer look. The inside cover reads

“Poor Princess Hyacinth! If only she could run and play with the other children on the Palace Grounds. Why can’t she, you wonder? Well, because Princess Hyachinth has a problem…She floats!”

A floating princess? I was hooked, and my girls have been hooked too! And I don’t think this is a book just for girls, but I don’t have a boy old enough to try it out on.

This is a delightful story about a not-so-typical princess, a mis-adventure with balloons, a boy name Boy, and of course-floating. There is also a kite, and royal underwear, and fabulously expressive illustrations. It’s definitely a keeper on our list.

A Children’s Picture Book for Parents

July 30, 2010July 30, 2010 Nurture Mama Leave a comment

I’m happy to be sharing another guest post from my sister-in-law Eliza. I had a chance to read this book while on vacation this month and I thought it was great. Especially enjoyable for any parent!

Quentin Blake has a great picture book called Zagazoo. Even though it is marketed as a children’s book, it is really for parents. It starts out with George and Bella receiving a package with a strange pink creature inside. The label on the creature says it is “Zagazoo.” George and Bella are happy with this creature, but then one day, it turns into something quite different. I won’t tell you more, or I will spoil the book. You have to read it yourself (it is really short).

Eliza is the mother of two boys and one girl, with another boy on the way. She has a Ph.D. in journalism and taught at Brigham Young University for several years, but now cares for her children full-time. Of all her mothering duties, she especially enjoys helping her children learn to read. In her few spare hours during the week, she reads the news and attends a weightlifting class (so, as she says, she can keep up with her children).

Fun Picture Books for Boys

July 28, 2010July 28, 2010 Nurture Mama 1 Comment

This week I am happy to be sharing two guest posts from my sister-in-law Eliza. She has great taste when it comes to books for children, and I’m adding these to our library check-out list!

We enjoy reading books together, though we have discovered that boys sometimes like different picture books than do girls. Here are 10 fun picture book authors that our boys enjoy.