Archive for May 2010
Howdy! While tripping over my son’s Woody doll which has been a constant feature in my bedroom in the morning ( he comes with my son at 3am nightly) I thought we have never done a cowboy themed book post. When I went to the library to find some books I was excited by what I found and the great cowgirl books too. Here are some for you to check out.
by Julie Danneberg is a touching story about a cowboy who just doesn’t fit in. He writes poetry and is proud of it at first until someone calls it sissy. Then he fails and fails and fails again at all the things that “real cowboys” can do. When the herd is in danger though Slim saves the day with his rhymes! This book was too long for my son at 2 to enjoy but 4-5 year olds would be perfect for this length of book as well as the message about putting other people’s interests down and why it’s okay to be different even if others don’t get it.
by Rebecca Janni is everything a children’s book ought to be. It’s clever, cute, and has a great message without being preachy. It’s Nellie Sue’s birthday and the one thing she really wants is a horse. See she is a cowgirl, everything she does she relates back in her imagination to some chore on the farm. When she is cleaning out her guinea pig cage, she is “cleaning the stalls at the barn” and when she is filling her dog’s water bowl she is “filling the trough” . When her birthday surprise isn’t a horse but a bike instead she is a little skeptical but with her imagination and true cowgirl spirit she makes it into the best horse ever! I loved how her parents play along with her imagination but don’t simply get her a horse, rather they present her the bike as if it is one, in her own terms. Great book!
Cowboy Small by Lois Lenski is a cute cowboy book for the younger set. We have the board book edition and it’s been loved for a long time at our house. The text is simple, the drawings are charming and the book covers all the basics of what a cowboys does day and night. From corralling cattle, eating from the chuck wagon and my son’s favorite singing cowboy songs by the campfire before hitting the hay in the bunkhouse , Cowboy Small does it all.
Cowboy Camp
I Want to be a Cowgirl
One of the most common questions I get asked by readers is ” What do you do with all the art work?!” Which I usually answer back with ” Most gets recycled. ” which is true but with the amount we make I still have a lot that ends up on the fridge. I love using clips like this to hold art work and thought we could make one extra pretty and wrap it up for a great handmade Mother’s Day gift. Although I would suggest this for 5 and up ( cutting foam is tricky) you could easily have the pieces pre- cut and have younger children do it successfully too. So make one of these, have your little Picasso paint a picture and send it off to Grandma for Mother’s Day.
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 or more colors of foam sheets, some clothes pins, magnetic tape, scissors, a pen and glue.
- Start by drawing your flower. Don’t worry about perfection this will be the back anyway. Cut out.
- Draw some leaves , cut out.
- Using the flower shape, trace a larger flower in a different color.
- Cut out and a middle of your flower as well.
- Layer and glue together on the clothes pin. Let dry.
- When dry glue the magnet on the other side of the clothes pin.
- Hang your beautiful art work with your beautiful art work !
Want more Mother’s Day Crafts? Need some Mom themed book recommendations?
Our complete Mother’s Day collection of crafts and book reviews
In the spirit of full disclosure these were actually made for my husband’s office, it’s his birthday today ( yay he’s older than me again) and he needed to take in treats. So I hit two birds with one stone and decided to make them mother’s day themed and make them with my little man. Kids love to help cook and bake and my main tips for a peaceful experience are, expect a mess, don’t worry about perfection and eat a healthy lunch before making them so when the sugar hits their belly it’s not as dramatic! We had fun writing out the letters and making shapes with the candy.
- Gather your materials. You will need your favorite cupcake mix and icing or recipes. Also to make the flowers and letter designs some rope licorice, and pink round candies.
- Mix your cake – I have no pictures of this because I had everything laid out in bowls, the oil, water and eggs and my son was so helpful he through them all in. I usually pre crack the eggs into a bowl and let him dump them in when I am making something that egg shells are hard to fish out of.
- Bake and cool your cupcakes.
- While they cool tear the rope licorice apart into single strands.
- Cut into smaller pieces you can make into petals
- When cupcakes are cool ice .
- Make letters to spell out MOM on one cupcake each or.. put it on a single cupcake.
- Make petals ( it’s easier to make them before adding it to the icing ) by pressing the ends tightly together.
- Add to the cupcake
- Add a candy middle.
Have fun however you make them . Oh and a tip that worked great for us this time. If you have a mini cupcake pan, put a few spoonfuls in that and let your child have a little cupcake before decorating the larger ones. This totally satisfied my son and made me feel better about how much sugar he consumed. I also had a mini one ( ok 2)and was able to leave the big ones alone !
Mama Books That Make Me Cry
Here are my top 3 books that require kleenex:
A Mama for Owen
Love You Forever
by Robert Munsch is perhaps the classic tear jerking picture book. I read this for years and years to children and had no problem getting choked up, it never bothered me, then I gave birth and I can’t read it without sobbing. The premise is simple, a mom sings this simple song to her son as he grows ” I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as you’re living , my baby you’ll be.” until she can’t sing it anymore and it’s his turn. For days after I read this I tear up as I lay my son in bed. * Edited to add that many readers have commented that they do not like this book at all! What do you think? Leave a comment and tell us!
Hair for Mama
Contributing Writer Kim shares this tasty , easy and really fantastically educational activity with us ! I love her perspective of having two children at different levels, enjoy!
Do you remember candy bracelets? This activity puts an educational and healthier twist to that bracelet from your past. All you will need are chenille stems, loop cereal (such as Fruit Cheerios or Fruit Loops), and an egg carton or muffin tin.
This activity is perfect if you have children at different levels of development because it can be implemented in so many different ways. I have a toddler and a preschooler. Activities that they can both do at the same time score big points with me. I gave my daughter an egg carton and asked her to put the cereal in each compartment. This works great for developing motor skills.
My son was given a muffin tin and asked to sort the cereal by colors. While both of the children put the cereal in their containers, I folded the tips of the chenille stems inward to make sure the wire did not poke the children.
After my son was finished sorting, I gave him a chenille straw. I asked which colors he would like to use to make a bracelet. Out of six colors, he only wanted to use two. So I asked him to thread the cereal onto the stem in a pattern of green, green, orange, orange. Depending on your child, you can do patterns of ABAB, AABB (like we did), ABCABC, or any other pattern.
While my son was threading his cereal, I tried to show my daughter how to thread the cereal onto the stem. As soon as we got one piece of cereal on she would chomp on it and giggle. It was extremely cute and provided her with a ton of fine motor skill practice, but didn’t help me get a picture to share with you. My daughter is only 19 months old and is not ready for patterns, but simply threading the cereal onto the stem is a great activity. She also just used the chenille stem as a hockey stick to shoot the cereal onto the floor. We will just call that a hand-eye coordination building exercise. Mommy didn’t appreciate it very much and put an end to it quickly.
When my son was finished threading the cereal we talked about the pattern and how it made the string look a certain way because of the pattern. I put on a purple and a red at the very end and asked him if those two matched the rest. We talked about how those two didn’t fit in with the pattern, so he decided they needed to be taken off.
To make it a neat bracelet we simply wrapped the chenille stem around his wrist and twisted the ends together. Now you have a great snack to finish up your fun learning activity. The best thing about this snack is that it is portable and can be taken along for the fun.
My son’s preschool class does this activity on a regular basis. As you can imagine it is a big hit with the girls, but met with the same enthusiasm from the boys. I want to thank my son’s preschool teachers for providing me with a fun learning activity that is so easy to do at home. I know they aren’t the ones that originated it, but they shared it with me and I thought I would share it with you.
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.Pool Noodle Bouquet
I love how these flowers look, they are brightening up my kitchen as I type and I love that they will look just as good in a week! My son hasn’t been into making crafts as much lately so I haven’t been pushing it, and have been resisting the urge to offer cookie bribes for crafts too. Kids go through different interests and just because I have a blog doesn’t mean my kid is any different, pushing and bribing them will just send the wrong message . He came in to help with some of the steps but really just wanted to play with the tape ! Choose your battles and for me art time is not one to bother with, it should be fun not work.
- Gather your materials. You will need a pool noodle that has a pretty flower shape, a bread knife, some green pipe cleaners, some green construction paper, a pen and double stick tape.
- Start by cutting your pool noodle into 1″ – 1.5 ” slices, one for every flower you want to make.
- My son was determined to cut the noodle but he’s not allowed to use knives, I think this is where he decided that I would be on my own for art time , he got angry, frustrated and tried to explain to me why he is old enough to use a knife , and when I didn’t buy it he was done .
- Stick the pipe cleaners into the flowers. This will be tricky for little guys but 3 and up can do it with minimal help. Just be careful they are sharp.
- Cut the leaves, if my son was helping I would have had him cut the leaves from the green paper. To make it easier on beginner cutters, pre cut the paper into a strip and have them simply cut pieces off. For more adept scissor users just let them make the leaves however they want.
- Write on each leaf something your child says they like about mom – I managed to get answers from my son who was playing in the next room. Make sure to leave some room on the ends of the leaves for the tape .
- Add double stick tape to the ends of the leaves and wrap around the stems.
- Pop them in a vase and enjoy the flowers and all the special messages on them.
Mother’s Day Books
Did I Tell You I Love You Today?
Piglet and Mama
Mama Always Comes Home
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