by Carrie Anne
From concept books to story books, resolve to start the New Year by spending more time sitting and exploring the joy of reading together.
This New Baby
by Teddy Jam, illustrated Virginia Johnson
Groundwood Books
board book
22 pages
Holding a new baby, staring into a newborn’s eyes, can evoke a feeling that is hard to put into words. This New Baby, with it’s water colour illustrations, tries to express what mothers, fathers, relatives feel through the use of poetic versus. A wonderful book to read with your new baby and remember those first moments of joy.
Except the Color Grey
by Arlene Alda
Tundra Books
age 3-5
24 pages
What’s your favourite colour? It’s a common question asked of kids. The answer comes quick but usually it’s not just one colour. And who can blame them. Except the Color Grey explores this question with kids using wonderful coloured photographs depicting the sites kids might take in during their day. The words say what the kids are thinking about some of the colourful things they see outside. This is a great book exploring the idea of colour and how it exists in every day things. I love the use of general photos of things the kids could encounter when out. Why not explore some of your child’s favourite colours around the house or on a neighbourhood walk?
Bear in a Square
by Stella Blackstone, illustrated by Debbie Harter
Barefoot Books
age 3 to 5
32 pages
Bear in a Square is a fun concept book that combines shape recognition and counting. Follow bear’s adventures, from when he gets up until he goes to sleep. Each spread shows bear in his next environment, such as at school or visiting the circus bears. Readers are invited, through large text on the page, to find a shape in the illustration. As you turn the page, you’re asked to find a new shape and the number of images on each page increase from 1 to 10. Kids can count the shapes as they find them, plus they can count the line of shapes down the right, illustrating the number for that page. At the back is a page showing al the shapes with their names. Although the text is simple, the flow does illustrate a story which is nice within a concept book.
Lots of Dots
by Craig Frazier
Chronicle Books/Raincoast Books
age 3 to 5
32 pages
Okay, this isn’t a new book (released in 2010) but I do love it so. This colourful book invites you to examine the world around you, a world filled with dots of different sizes and functions, but dots none the less. I love the bright colours on the white pages with the dots highlighted. My kids loved pointing and counting all the dots on the pages. Plus afterwards they were more attune to the world around them, pointing out dots in things they never gave a second glance at before. A fun book.
You Are a Gift to the World / The World is A Gift To You
by Laura Duksta, illustrated by Dona Turner
Sourcebooks/Raincoast Books
age 3-8
32 pages
It’s so easy to get caught up in the idea of ‘items’. This uniquely designed book is really two books in one but with the same message: people and the beautiful world around us are the best gifts we can receive. You Are a Gift to the World, talks about how important our kids our to us, how they make us feel and how that is gift enough. This can translate into all people who are important in our lives. The World is a Gift to You, reminds us of the special gift the world is with the animal, plants and nature surrounding us. Each tale ends in the middle with a simple message. Forget the Barbie, LEGO and transformers, this is a message of appreciating the gifts that are really important. I love that.
I want to thank Crystal from Raincoast Books, Sylvia from Tundra Books, Leah at Barefoot Books, and Trish at Groundwood books for my review copies.
Carrie Anne is a contributing writer on No Time For Flash Cards , she is a mom of 3 , and is the Managing Partner and Editor-in-Chief at EverythingMom.com.
I am guest posting today at Toddler Approved . My post explores ways that we try to fit kindness into every day tasks and how leading by example is so hard some days. It is part of their 100 Acts of Kindness Project a series about ways to express, celebrate and teach about kindness. So pop over there and check it out.
My son loves math and adding marshmallows into the mix pretty much made this activity one of the highlights of our snow storm fun last week. You don’t have to add the contact paper but by adding it becomes reusable and I was able to quickly make the activity more challenging when my original problems were too simple. If marshmallows are not something you want to use as a manipulative try buttons, packing peanuts or cotton balls.
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 full sheets of construction paper ( backing, cups and strips of hot chocolate), a washable marker, double stick tape, a bunch of mini marshmallows, a white crayon for the steam, scissors, a tray or cookie sheet to keep it all together and a barely damp baby wipe for erasing the marker. I like dollar store cookie sheets because they keep the manipulatives in one place and I can attach the contact paper on top .
- Start by drawing a mug and cutting it out. I then used it as a template for 4 more.
- Tape the mugs down , add a strip of brown to suggest hot chocolate and add some stem with a white crayon.
- Cover with contact paper. Don’t you hate it when you make a ridge in the contact paper , the stuff is too costly to just redo it too. I dream of one day having a laminator….
- Using a washable marker write numbers or basic equations. I started with the ones above but as you will see had to change it to offer more of a challenge. That’s the beauty of the write and wipe surface.
- Add some marshmallows in a bowl and your little learner.
- I quickly changed 3+1 into 3-1 and the 5 into a 5+3 to test the waters.
- Magic of manipulatives- not a problem.
Finding just the right level of challenge is a bit of trail and error. My son didn’t think he could do 9-1 but he did. That is the perfect zone when they feel unsure of success but are willing to take a chance and take on the challenge. That is when new connections are being made. This stuff excited me beyond words. 
- This is such a great activity because you can wipe it clean and customize it to your needs 2 months from now or right away for another learner.
Last week we were snowed in and getting antsy. I decided to make a sticky table for my kids to explore with but when I looked at all the supplies I had to stick to it they were all choking hazards except these colored craft sticks . I thought it was going to be a 5 minute sparkler but as you will see my son ran with it. I loved reading stories to his sister who lost interest after 5 minutes like I expected and just watching him giddily create.
- Gather your materials. You will need some contact paper, painter’s tape to tape it to the table, scissors and whatever you want to stick to the table. With older kids I’ve used sequins, buttons, tissue paper, pom poms…
- Tape the contact paper down backing side up.
- Peel the backing off and trim.
- Explore the feeling- my son loved the feeling on the back of his hands, he just kept doing that.
- Add the sticks.
- My daughter liked placing the sticks and the resistance when she picked them off. Also she was doing it very carefully working on her pincer grasp ( fine motor skills).
- My son saw the possibility to create immediately grabbing the bag and asking if he could have all the sticks and his sister’s too.
- I just let him go.
- And go
- And go.
- If you look closely you can see a few houses in his creation – they are clone bases apparently. I just love that he was so engaged, so excited and watching those wheels turning so passionately was exhilarating.
We are almost half way through the alphabet with our Letter of The Week theme series. These theme posts are meant to bring together upper and lowercase letter crafts, crafts and projects that begin with the letter and whole alphabet books and activities. Why do this? To make it easier for you to find what you need for every letter.
{Letter L Crafts}
Ladder L- Leaf L -Lighthouse l - Love L
{Crafts & Activities That Start With L}
Ladybug Craft – Ladybug Math- Lanterns- Leaves – Lego Measuring – Leopard Craft- Lightning Bugs – Love Bugs
{ Alphabet Books }
The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z!
Alphabeep!: A Zipping, Zooming ABC
{ Whole Alphabet Activities}
Alphabet Sensory Tub - Car Alphabet – Family Letters
