No time for flash cards

Time To Rhyme !

Rhyming is crucial to literacy. The ability to rhyme aids in the development of spelling and reading because it enhances phonological awareness which is the ability to recognize and play with sounds in language. It's also fun. For a post about silly poems I can't think of a better person to turn to than Jeffery Duckworth a dad, designer, poet, illustrator and puppeteer. It's fitting that his blog is called Duck of All Trades! His poems are gloriously funny , gross and kid approved! My 2 year old laughs at them and so do I! I hope this poem will inspire you to make up some silly rhymes today , your kids won't even know they are learning!

A Poem of Love

(To My Stinky Poo Mud-Pie)

By: Mr. Muffins with assistance from Mr. Duckworth

From afar I’ve admired and watched you for long.
In my heart I now hear the most ghastly of song.
Your face is so ugly, like the Man they call Booger.
But Booger Man is boogery, you are pure sugar.

Your eyes are the greenest, as green as can be.
The green shade one turns when sick out at sea.
Your voice, oh how perfect! A racket to hear.
Like a laughing hyena who belches root beer.

I love how you smell; dirty socks in a pair.
There never has been a foul odor so fair.
But unlike dirty socks that split up in two.
Not a thing in this world could split me from you.

If you promise me love, I promise my all.
Together we’ll be happier than Sasquatch is tall.
In me you can trust, so please do not worry.
Together we’ll be happier than Sasquatch is furry.

If you knew I existed I’m sure you’d agree
Of the ugliest uglies, your choice would be me.
For in this land there’s no monster so true.
Believe when I say “you’re my nightmare come true.”

For more awesome poetry, puppetry, and illustrations pop over to

Duck of All Trades

Thank you Jeff!

Wedding ABCs From

This weekend my little Picasso will be putting on his very first tuxedo and walking down the aisle ( we hope) as the ring bearer in my best friend's wedding. I have wanted to introduce my readers to Mindy Lockard who is an Etiquette Consultant and the woman behind Manner of The Month Magazine . This seemed like the perfect opportunity. As a mom of two young girls she has realistic advice and tips for parents who want to make manners a priority without expecting too much of little ones.

I am thrilled to be a guest here on No Time for Flash Cards and loved the topic Allie suggested. Being apart of the wedding party is a magical and potentially stressful endeavor for both the parents and flower girl or ring barer. As an etiquette consultant and mother of a three-time flower girl, here are a few tips I’ve learned (some the hard way) to help you help your children make the most of the magic!

For more summertime manners subscribe to July’s Issue of ManneroftheMonth.com magazine or for a summer of gracious living visit our blog.

Thank you Mindy!

Road Trip !

Cereal Box

Gas Pump!

We are on vacation ! Don't worry there will still be something new every day , I have been saving up and have some super fun guest posts from amazing bloggers lined up as well. We've been prepping our son for the trip , we have made up songs , talked and read about driving and Sunday we made this! He played with it all evening and had to gas up every single car today.

Gather your materials . You will will need a cereal box, some tape ( any will do),2 pieces of construction paper, markers, some stickers with letters and numbers, a pipe cleaner, a bendy straw, and a picture hook You will Also need a hot glue gun, which wasn't pictured .
Start by having your child color the construction paper.
Next wrap and tape the paper around the cereal box. I used painters tape because my son was excited to help tape. The painters tape lets him help and when the tape folds on it self it's not the end of the world because it doesn't stick too hard. It also doesn't pull out hair when it ends up in it. I left access to the inside of the box but NOT covering the bottom.
Add your signage and amount per gallon. When I asked my son how much he said 1.99 , earlier in the day we went past a sign for 1.99 milk and he asked me about it.
Time to make your hose. I wish I had one of those bumpy straws from kids cups at restaurants , they would have been perfect for this , but I didn't have one. Cut your straw into small pieces .
Thread the straw pieces onto your pipe cleaner. I was so excited when my son was able to do this. It's awesome fine motor and hand eye coordination practice!
The last piece should be the piece of the straw that bends to make a spout. Bend the end of the pipe cleaner around the end of the straw.
Poke a hole in the side of the cereal box.
Thread the bottom of the pipe cleaner through the hole and tape inside the box .
Using hot glue add a painting hook to the side.
Hang up your hose and gather some cars to play !
Get your gas now before the price goes up!

Books!

"This Is The Van That Dad Cleaned" by Lisa Campbell Ernst gave me a good chuckle, I only have one child and my car seems to multiply sippy cups, cheddar bunny crumbs and a mess on it's own! This book is about a dad with a van, a clean van and 3 kids who ruin that very quickly. The siblings act like siblings teasing and fighting while making a growing mess in their poor dad's clean van. The book is a poem that keeps growing and growing like the mess. In the end the kids are the ones that clean up the mess and I like that, in our house like the book even the baby helps clean up.

"Trucks Roll" by George Ella Lyon got a huge compliment from my son today when we read it. When he really really wants more of something not only does he ask for it with words but the sign language he learned so long ago comes out. This book got the "More Trucks!" out loud and the frantic more signs! The book is the perfect length for 2-4 year olds who like my son love anything you can drive. It also explains well what trucks drivers do and how so many things make it from one place to the next. Cute book, worth a read for sure!

" Truck Driver Tom " by Monica Wellington is one of my son's picks. The story is simple, Tom and his puppy drive produce from the farm to the market and see the country side and much more along the way. The best part of this book are the fun bright and detailed illustrations, there is a wide variety of trucks, cars , emergency and construction vehicles! Also it's a great lesson about how our food gets from the farm to us

Letter of The Week I

Island I !

When I asked my son what we could make with the letter I he suggested an igloo, which excited me that he knew that igloo started with I but being July , I suggested we make something less wintery. Not sure that the island looks like and I , it sorta looks like just a palm tree but the lesson did the trick my little sponge has been saying " I igloo, I island" .

Gather your materials. You will need 5 different colors of construction paper paper, glue, crayons or markers, and scissors.
Start by writing a large upper case I on the brown paper.
Have your child color the I. My son was in a monochromatic mood, matching most of his crayons to the paper.
While they do that draw some palm leaves, waves and a sun.
Have them color those as well.
Cut everything out.
Glue the waves on first
Add more glue
Add the I
Add the leaves
Add the sun
Let dry.

" An Island in the Soup " by Mirelle Levert is an award winning book , and it's easy to see why. The story follows a little boy who refusing to eat imagines a fantasy world in his bowl of soup, it rains peas and carrots and he encounters a bad fairy but in the end he eats his delicious soup. The illustrations are perfect although the bad fairy's unibrow is very very frightening!

"It's Mine!" by Leo Lionni is one of my favorite books to pull out when I hear those words... which I have recently. The story is about 3 frogs who all live on a small island, and fight all the time. They take turns claiming this or that never sharing with each other. When a flood comes they learn that they need to rely on each other and share in order to survive. After they learn their lesson they see that the island is a happier place to be when all their energy isn't spent fighting and screaming "It's mine" to each other.

"An Island Grows" by Lola M. Schaefer is so pretty it reminds me of what the store Anthropologie would look if it was a children's book about how islands are formed. It's part antique fabric, part funky modern floral patterns... this was the book that I was saying "Whoa" each time I turned the page. It does a great job explaining how islands grow from under water volcanoes too !

Sunday Spotlight

The Spotlight is on...

Have you ever found a blog and an hour or two later you were still reading it and had no intentions of stopping? That was me when I discovered Everyday Celebrating! There is everything you need to make every day and special days worth celebrating. Michelle shares her ideas as well as ones she has collected from all over the Internet for your parties and celebrations. Stay away from her chocolate cake in a mug post though, I didn't listen to her warning, and made the 3 minute cake and it's already gone!

Happy 4th of July!

Read White and Blue !

Below are all our 4th of July book reviews together in one easy to find place. Also the last book is a new review not found in any other post. Have a fantastic and safe holiday weekend!

"Wow America!" by Robert Neubecker has already been memorized by my son since I found it at the library on Sunday. I can't blame him and in the 50 times I have read it in the past few days I have found something new and interesting each time. The story is simple, a baby runs away and her older sister goes after her and they see some of the wonderful things in the United States that make us all go "Wow!" Each page has a short title like "Wow Statue" for The Statue of Liberty , then a little more text to explain what the reader is looking at. The illustrations are detailed and we've played eye spy with this book more than a few times. This is a wonderful book and the map on the inside cover has been fun to play with as well, we like to find where various far off friends and family live. Go check this book out for sure.

"How to Make a Cherry Pie and see the USA" by Marjorie Priceman didn't disappoint one bit. I was worried after falling in love with the previous book that this couldn't live up to my expectations. It did! This time she wasn't looking for ingredients for the pie, but rather materials for her tools. She gathered wood in Washington for her rolling pin, cotton in Louisiana for pot holders granite in New Hampshire for her pastry slab and more. What I wasn't expecting of this book and loved was how she gathered natural resources and then processed them to make what she needed. I think this is a wonderful lesson about manufacturing and could be used for a launchpad for learning about so much more. Another gem I will be adding to my must buy list.

" A is for America" by Devin Scillian is a perfect mix of national pride and real facts. As a Canadian I always feel strange critiquing works like this, I don't want to sound too critical and that won't be the case with this wonderful book. There are plenty of fantastic reasons to celebrate America and this book lays them on the table from A to Z !

"How to Bake an American Pie" by Karma Wilson is sentimental, sweet and probably should be reviewed by an American. The reason I say that is that it's written to pull at your heart strings, make you feel pride in your country and I am sure it succeeds when the reader is American. But the same way I wouldn't expect an American to get choked up singing "O Canada" the way I do , I just don't get the full effect. Strictly as a book this was a little too figurative for my son although he loved the illustrations of the dog and cat baking the pie and kept turning back to the page with rainbows. Older kids will recognize some of the text that is taken from America the Beautiful and will understand the figurative language, although may be put off by the illustrations that seem more geared towards little ones. I would love to hear from any Americans who have read this book to get your take!

"Apple Pie 4th Of July" by Janet S. Wong is an awesome book. I am always awed by authors who can tackle complicated "adult" issues in the pages of a children's book successfully. In this case the issue is 1st generation identity and immigration, at least that's my take. The little girl in this book is sulking around her parent's store on the 4th of July. They are busy making Chinese food for customers she is sure won't come, who would want Chinese food on such an American holiday is her rational. Of course there are layers about her connection to her ancestral culture and her own national pride. As a proud owner of a green card and a Canadian passport I relate to this story, sure the differences are as deep or as obvious to an outsider but unlike the previous book when this book ended with fireworks I got tingles of pride for my adopted country. Fantastic book- and my son liked it too.

"Hats Off for the Fourth of July" by Harriet Ziefert is a fantastic book for children who are just understanding what this holiday is all about. The book follows a parade with hints of what is next to come along, making the reader feel the same feelings real parade goer does as they stand on their tipy toes to see what is on it's way. My son really enjoyed the book because it was packed with marching bands, motorcycles and more. My son will see his very first 4th of July parade tomorrow and this book helped me explain what he'll see and when we get home it will help us discuss what we saw. Useful and entertaining.

It Is Called Independence Day

Star
Cookie Cutter Prints

I love cookie cutter printing and my son loved it months ago but today I made the dire mistake of doing it outside. He poured the paint on the plates, but the rest was all me. I get asked often what I do when he doesn't want to do a craft. Usually I just let it slide, I will leave the craft half done and he often comes back to it. I have been known to beg but really when it comes down to it if I force him he won't enjoy it and he loves art projects , I don't want to ruin all the fun for one project. So he happily played with bubbles while I painted.

Gather your materials. You will need some white paper, construction paper if you want, red and blue paint, star cookie cutters, a plate or 2 and glue.
Start by pouring your paint on to the plate.
If you are my son exert your Independence and slip through the arm rest of the chair and go play bubbles.
Dip your cookie cutters into the paint and print.
Let dry
Add glue to your construction paper
Add your painting.

While I was taking a picture of the dried painting my son decided he wanted in on the fun ( 5.5 hours later) he had conditions though, only the big star and only the red paint. Aren't 2 year olds fun? I'm glad he did it and did it on his terms though!

Fantastic Book!

Naptime Creation

Doily Stenciled Dragonfly

I made this ages ago, and with all the holiday crafts it has been bumped. It couldn't wait any longer. I love , no adore how this turned out and wish I had a reason to make more! The stenciling will probably be very frustrating for toddlers and most preschoolers but my on loved playing with the finished product.

Gather your materials. You will need a few doilies, a marker, a piece of construction paper,a few pieces of white paper scissors, tape and a art dauber or a bingo dauber.
Start by drawing 1 large and 1 smaller wing on your white paper.
Layer a second piece under it and cut out.
Lay your doily on the wing and stencil. Simply paint on it by going straight up and down, it's pretty forgiving but you may want a few doilies on hand in case it gets soggy.
Let wings dry.
Draw a body and head on the construction paper.
Paint
Cut out and let dry.
Tape the wings onto the unpainted side of the body and you are done.