Door d !

Sometime a craft really makes you proud, I know this isn’t rocket science but I was pretty excited when I thought of this , it reminds me of the lift the flap books that my son still loves and has since he was a baby. Inside the door we hid a dinosaur! Even with it’s novelty the craft is fast and easy .

1. Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper, some crayons, scissors, a marker, glue and a sticker or two.
2. Start by writing a lowercase d on one piece of paper.
3. Have your child color the d. My son discovered he can hold multiple crayons in one hand for maximum coverage!
4. Cut out the d and cut the inner circle on 3 sides. Leave one side attached and fold carefully back.
5. Glue the d back on. My son was insistent that he do the gluing , I wanted to do it so it didn’t get on the flap but conceded to writing x where he needed to put it. He did great and I was reminded yet again to chill out.
6. Place it on the 2nd piece of paper.
7. Add the sticker, you could also add a door knob, my wee one declared ” No door knobs mama, you’re silly” a hole punch dot would be perfect if you want one.
8. Let dry!

Books!

” Dogabet” by Dianna Bonder is a fun playful alphabet book, perfect for animal lovers. We love dogs in our house so this was a sure fire hit, but even if you can’t tell a foxhound from a poodle you will like the busy pages and cute alliterative text. Each page is devoted to one letter and a corresponding breed of dog,  our favorites were the Otterhounds with their oboes and the purple Pugs. Also at the back of the book there is a guide to hidden images on each page that all begin with the proper letter, as well as a cat and bone. My son loved this book and playing “detective” with it.

“Sleepy ABC” by Margaret Wise Brown . I had never read this book before, and although I have a legendary hatred of Runaway Bunny I generally love this author, I can’t get enough of The Big Red Barn right now. I like this book, and the illustrations will zip you back in time for sure.  Unlike many alphabet books it has a great rhythm for reading it all without breaks.  My one complaint is that the child is tucked into bed then a few letters later is out listening to a story from another woman not their mom. I am not sure perhaps those are different children, didn’t bug my son one bit, but left me wondering. Like it’s title suggests it’s a good alphabet book for a bedtime read, it even ends with something I say often ” Go To Sleep!”.

“ABeCedarios : Mexican Folk Art ABCs in English and Spanish” by Cynthia Weill and K.B.Basseches , wood sculptures by Moises and Armando Jimenez.  This is a simple but amazing book.  The text is simply labels in both English and Spanish for the bright and wonderful photographs of the matching sculptures. I loved that for X the sculpture is of a mythical animal and the book asks the reader to make up a name begining with X, very clever!