Waiting for Spring to arrive can feel like it takes forever. We look for signs of Spring as soon as the temperature rises a few degrees. Today’s book is about an adorable bear who thinks he sees signs of Spring everywhere he looks. This book provides a great opportunity to get your kids looking for signs of Spring and to participate in some fun Spring activities.
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I am fascinated with learning about different customs and traditions around the world, especially when it comes to parenting. Finding out how other people live their day to day lives is so interesting to me. When I was given the opportunity to review a book on Dutch parenting and why Dutch moms are among the happiest in the world, I jumped at the chance! We could all learn to be a little happier.
Spring is coming! I love the spring time. The snow melts away, the flowers start to pop out of the ground and we can get outside again. Springtime feels like it is full of possibilities. We bought our house in November a few years ago, so when the gardens around our house started to bloom, we had no idea what types of plants and flowers to expect. It was so fun watching the plants start to come up through the soil and wait to see what would grow. Today’s book asks the same thing, and offers a lot of fun opportunities to learn about plants with different kinds of seed activities.
When it comes to teaching reading, activating prior knowledge is one of my favorite strategies. By using past experiences, or tapping into knowledge they already have, you can help kids to comprehend the stories and texts that you are reading. You can easily model this strategy for your kids while you are reading aloud to them, while also encouraging conversation. This can be done with children as young as toddlers!
At 20 months, my daughter already loves to cook. She has her own apron, and she insists on helping with most of the food preparation around the house. While I prepare a meal, she pulls out her step stool and asks to help. She loves to stir, dump ingredients, or count out ingredients as she adds them to a pan. When it comes to teaching kids to cook, I realize that she may not always be as helpful. (Eating handfuls of cheese does not constitute “helping Mommy to make pizza”). However, I love that she is excited about it!
St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and that means it is time for shamrocks, rainbows, leprechauns and pots of gold. Besides being Irish, I also enjoy the holiday because I love the bright colors of St. Patrick’s Day, especially after the gray and snowy days of January and February. To get you in the spirit, I gathered this list of great St. Patrick’s Day books for kids about leprechauns, luck and lots of mischief!
I love the colors and decorations of St. Patrick’s Day. The bright greens and golds and all of the rainbows are so bright and cheery after the dull grays of the winter months. The mischievous leprechauns and all of the colorful decorations for the holiday lend themselves to some great opportunities for learning fun! Check out some of our favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities for kids below!
The human brain is a powerful and interesting thing. I took a philosophy of the mind course in college, and the idea of thinking about how and why we “think” blew my mind! (I think…. The whole class made me reconsider what we define as the mind… or thinking….). It’s hard for us to understand how our brain works and why we think the things we think. In an effort to open a dialogue with kids about untangling confusing thoughts and uncluttering their minds, author Greg McGoon created the Tanglelows.
Losing a loved one is a terrible part of life, and it can be difficult for kids to understand. Dealing with grief, and understanding loss, can be hard for adults to handle. For kids, it can be even more confusing. Talking to them about their emotions is an important step in helping children handle grief. Jalisa Rose Smith offers a book which provides talking points and journal prompts to help with these conversations. She lost her father when she was 11 and decided that she wanted to help others handle the pain of loss.
Coming from a very tall family, giraffes have always held a special place in my heart. When the Monthly Crafting Book Club, run by Raising Fairies and Knights, selected Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae, we had to rush to the library to check it out! This story presents a great lesson on self-esteem and dancing to the beat of your own drum in a fun and colorful package.
