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Letters Of The Week

I am chilling with my little man.  I am waiting for the furnace repair man today after a weekend with wonderful women in Nashville and filling my head and heart with new information and friendships.  I didn’t want to leave anyone hanging so I have found wonderful  letter activities from a number of great blogs around the web. Most are geared towards older preschoolers and young school age kids but are all worth bookmarking for later even if your little one isn’t ready for them quite yet.

This is a fun way to use flash cards – see I don’t think they are inherently evil, they just need to be played with ! Muffin Tin Mom makes a fun game to help teach letters and promote early literacy.

This is from my other blog Craftivity Corner on FamilyEducation.com . We loved matching up the letters and stickers, and my 3 year old was adamant about doing it all by himself. The activity wasn’t too daunting or long but still offered a challenge.

This phonic flip chart from Quirky Momma is a fantastic way to play with letters with children who have started to show interest in spelling . When I went to the next blog I noticed they had linked this exact activity today as well. Hey when an idea is good it deserves recognition!

I had booked marked this word family activity from Preschool Playbook a while back . What a wonderful way to learn dynamically!

I love this idea from Hey, I’m just the nanny. For children who are past the basics and ready to play with sentences using a well loved book ( we all know which ones our kids know so so well) is a great way to scaffold this activity!

I had to include something for the little ones too. This Caterpillar C from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman is so cute I couldn’t resist!

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Sunday Spotlight

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When you go to conferences you find a bunch of new sites to dive into and explore but sometimes it also reminds you of a site you have loved forever that you want to share . Because Babies Grow Up is awesome! Amber Passey and I have enjoyed each other’s blogs for ages, we have a similar mission about early education , motherhood and play.  She shares songs, crafts , books and more!  Check her out!

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Valentine Books

Books by Carrie Anne

Can you feel it in the air? No not cold germs or frost bite. I’m talking about love. February is all about love in our house and yes Valentine’s Day plays a big part in that. We’ve been busy drawing hearts and writing love letters this month, along with reading books about love, all sorts of love. Here are a few to share with your little loves.
what+do+you+love
What do You Love?
published by Harcourt
written by Jonathan London, illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
boardbook
This fun read-aloud rhyming boardbook asks the simple question ‘What do you love? A mamma and baby pup joyfully answer throughout the book. They spend from morning until night time doing the things they love together, including spending time with each other. The illustrates are fun and colourful, taking-up the whole page. The copy is simple and large for easy reading. Kids will enjoy reading this rhyme and perhaps it will inspire you to spend an afternoon together doing what you love with your little one.
My Furry Valentine
My Furry Valentine
published by Blue Apple Books
written/illustrated by Deborah Zemke
picture book (age 4+)
This delightful rhyme asks the question How do you say, ‘Be my Valentine’? and the animals answer: we say it in spots, wing to wing. The simple illustrations show animals exchanging love with their mates. Although the poem references animals and their unique characteristics (fire flies ask in lights) the words could easily be transferred to how we celebrate our own love. Along with a cute use of word and illustrative play, Deborah includes fun flaps and folds and cutouts to add to the secret valentine fun. This was a new release sent to me by Raincoast Books.
olivemylove
Olive My Love
published by Harcourt
written by Vivian Walsh, illustrated by J.Otto Seibold
picture book (3-8)
From the creative team behind Olive, the Other Reindeer (a wonderful Christmas story), Olive is taken on another journey. Her friend and flying dog Dexter (like cupid) drops a large heart at her front door. Olive, worried that Dexter dropped his heart by accident, decides to return it to him. She fills a sack with fresh biscuits and heads out. Along the way she befriends a squirrel named Handler and a spider named Weaver. Together the three friends work their way back to Dexter’s house only to find out that Dexter wanted to give Olive his heart, to keep. The friends end their adventure with a wonderful picnic of bonbons, biscuits, nut chews and fly wings. This is a wonderful story about the love found in friendship. You can’t help but love Olive’s warm and open character.
slugs in love

Slugs in Love
published by Marshall Cavendish
written by Susan Pearson, illustrated by Kevin O’Malley
picture book (age 4-7)
Margaret loves Herbie but she’s too shy to tell him herself. One day while in the garden Margaret’s mind filled with thoughts of Herbie so she wrote him a love poem. Herbie found the poem and wanted to meet Margaret, so he wrote her a poem back but Margaret never found it. Margaret keeps writing notes and Herbie continues to respond only having his notes washed away or moved. Eventually the two connect and stay together. This is one of my seven-year-old’s favourite books. She loves the cute little poems the two slugs send back and forth to each other.
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Yuck, a Love Story
published by Stoddart Kids
written by Don Gillmor, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
picture book (age 4-10)
Austin Grouper is a boy with a dog a best friend and a bike. His life is full. Then a little girl named Amy move in next door. Yuck, is Austin’s response. In typical boy style, Austin thinks everything about Amy is yucky. But everyday he visits her. For her birthday he wrestles the moon from the sky to give her. The wonderful interaction between Amy and Austin is wonderful and so true; parent and children alike will enjoy their conversations. I love how Austin decides he doesn’t like Amy for no real reason but ends up being her friend in the end. Some friendships sneak up on you like that.
Mr Pusskins
Mr. Pusskins
published by Atheneum Books
written/illustrated by Sam Lloyd
picture book (age 3-6)
Emily loves Mr. Pusskins. She plays games with him, brushes him, praises him and reads him a special story each night but Mr. Pusskins is bored and wants more. One night he leaves through the cat flap in search for something new. At first he enjoys his naughty life without Emily, yeowling at the moon and playing in the trash, but soon things change and he starts to feel lonely. Just when he thinks there’s no hope to return to his old life, Emily finds him and takes him home. Mr. Pusskins is a new cat. Both Mr. Pusskins and Emily realize how lucky they are to have each other. My kids are partial to cat stories because of the love they have for their own cats. Although Mr. Pusskins is a story about a cat, the actual story about appreciating the love and friendship around you is one both kids and parents would enjoy.
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Carrie Anne is our contributing writer, a blogger to many ,  a mom to 3   and lover of great books you can read more at her blog Another Day, Another Thought ….Or Two
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Blissful Links!

I am presently in Nashville, well I am on my chair watching SuperWhy with my sick 3 year old but when you read this I will be in Nashville at Blissdom. Although I will have my trusty laptop I won’t have my trusty helper, glue or paper to make anything fun. So I am sending you to all these other awesome blogs ( who are all at Blissdom too!)  that have shared wonderful ideas that you might have missed! Enjoy.

I love these self portraits from She Wears Many Hats. Check out the easy steps that make your child’s art a true masterpiece!

I love how easy this awesome puppetfrom Impress Your Kids is, pretend play and art all in one project!

Look at these awesome SuperBowl Cupcakes from Hoosier Homemade!

I saw this make your own construction site on Mom Tried It a while back and have been meaning to make it for my little man, who would love it!

I can’t help but link to these Mini-Peanut Butter Cups, from Eclectic Whatnot because if I don’t I may make a batch and gain 30 pounds.

I love these free printable Valentine Bookmarks from Living Locurto!

I can’t leave Make and Takes out of this post! Check out this simple recipe for A Valentine’s  Popcorn Treat!

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Napkin Ring Necklace

Napkin Ring Necklace

We were at the dollar store getting art mats ( the plastic place mats I use) when I spied these napkin rings. Perfect for beading when hands are still not nimble enough for smaller beads. This is a quick craft to make but one that is fun to play with long after. Make one for grandma or mama for Valentine’s day or use it as a basic patterning lesson.

  1. Gather your materials. You will need some napkin rings, ribbon and scissors. Napkin Ring Necklace
  2. Start by cutting your ribbon into a piece log enough to comfortably fit over your child’s head.
  3. Tie one ring on to make a stopper for your rings. Make sure to leave enough room to have some ribbon to tie.Napkin Ring Necklace
  4. Thread them on.Napkin Ring Necklace 003
  5. Loop the last one through is you want, this is just a astetics thing for me I like them all squished together . Napkin Ring Necklace
  6. Invite your child who announced that ” I am too big for this craft.” to model the necklace for all the “Other kid’s mommies”.Napkin Ring Necklace

Books

Norman Noggs

A Valentine For Norman Noggs by Valiska Gregory is a quite cute , it is about a new girl in school who has caught the eye of all the boys. Normal hopes and dreams that she will look at him and fall in love, but all the other bigger, stronger boys seems to be catching her attention. He is kind to her in class though, offering help without being boastful and although he doesn’t notice she does notice him. When he is made fun of by the bigger boys about a Valentine he made her she comes to his rescue. I like that her character was strong but didn’t like that she physically hurt the other boys. This is a longer picture book , my son zoned in and out while reading it, but would be great for 4-5 year olds.

IfYou'llBeMyValentine

If  You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant is a great book for preschoolers because it doesn’t just focus on romantic love or love of a parent and child but rather love of all the things this little boy is grateful for. He writes little valentines to his family members, teddy bear, even the bird and tree outside. It’s very sweet and cute without making you cringe one bit!  My son loved this one , it was perfect for a 3 year old.

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