Imagination Soup

Lost and Found – Small World Play

2012-05-25T14:44:26Z

Hello! I’m Ness, and I blog at One Perfect Day where I share ideas for learning through play, arts and craft ideas, cooking with kids, children’s books and parenting tips. I am so excited to be guest posting at Imagination Soup. Melissa’s site is my go-to source of information and inspiration for everything related to kids and parenting and I’m honored to be writing here today.

Today, I thought I’d share a small world play scene I created with my 3 year old son, R. This play scene combines two of his favourite things – books and sensory tubs! R was thrilled when we made this, it really turned out so wonderfully, yet it was actually very quick and easy to put together. My goal when creating this scene was to only use items that we already had in the house. It’s all about using your imagination and making use of what you have on hand. So here is what we created…

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

This play scene/sensory tub is based on the Oliver Jeffers book, Lost and Found. Oliver Jeffers is a firm favorite in our home. His sweet, simple stories of friendship and adventure are timeless, and his illustrations are beautiful. Lost and Found centres around a young boy who one day finds a penguin on his doorstep. In his quest to return the penguin to its proper home, the boy discovers that the penguin is not lost but lonely, and a friendship is forged.

Dark and Stormy Night

The two friends share a long boat trip across the ocean to the South Pole. At one point in the story, they face a dark and stormy night. We used cardboard to create a sky and wrapped it around the outside of the tub. We used black cardboard on one side to create a night sky and added white paint and silver pipe cleaners to represent lightning and rain. R especially loved this stormy scene and he made lots of whoosing and zapping noises for the wind and lightning as he “sailed” the boat across the stormy seas.

Sailing to the South Pole

The boy and the penguin sail across the ocean to the South Pole. We made the South Pole using a piece of styrofoam which we decorated with glitter paint to give it a snowy icy feel. The little “Welcome to the South Pole” sign was simply hand written on a scrap of paper, decorated with gold glitter glue, and then the whole thing was glued to two tooth picks which we painted red. The toothpicks were inserted into the styrofoam and voila–a sign just like the one on the book.

The ocean is made from blue and green colored rice.

When the boy and penguin take separate journeys, the boy in his boat, and the penguin in the upturned umbrella, they miss each other on either side of an iceberg.

How to Make

We made the iceberg from another piece of styrofoam. The umbrella is a white cupcake case that we colored orange and yellow using colored markers. We then bent a pipe cleaner into a “J” shape for the handle and used adhesive tape to attach it to the cupcake case.

Colored rice is wonderful as a sensory tub material and it’s so easy to make.
Directions: Pour uncooked rice into a zip lock back. Add a few drops of food coloring and 1 or 2 teaspoons of rubbing alcohol. Seal the zip lock bag and mix until the color is evenly spread. Leave the rice out in the sun to dry and then it’s ready to use.

The boat is simply a small milk carton that has been washed out, with the side cut off. We painted it white and then painted a red stripe around the edge. Simple! The oars are popsicle sticks and we cut out some brown paper and glued them to the ends of the popsicle sticks to make the paddles. The two friends pack a suitcase to take with them on their journey. For our play scene, we used a plastic suitcase from one of our lego sets.

The boy is a toilet paper roll. We painted the top half in a light skin tone color and painted on his nose and eyes. To create this skin tone we mixed red, orange and white paint. His jumper was simply red and white striped paint, and we painted two thin lines for his legs. The beautiful simplicity of Oliver Jeffers illustrations means they are easy to recreate for a project like this. The boy’s hat was much simpler to make than it looks. It’s a paper napkin, wrapped around the top of the toilet paper roll and tied with a rubber band to make the pom pom on top.

The penguin was made using a styrofoam egg which we had left over from our Easter crafts. So that he could stand up, I used a knife to cut the bottom off the egg shape and make it flat. We painted him black, leaving an oval free of pain on his chest. We added a small orange line of paint on his chest. His feet and beak are simply scraps of orange paper which have been glued on, then add a couple of googly eyes and you’re done!

Creating a small world play scene based on your children’s favorite books helps to foster their love of reading and brings the books to life. It builds a child’s imagination and extends language and story telling skills as well. This project was a lovely way for R and I to spend time together – creating, imagining and learning.

I would like to say thank you to Melissa once again for inviting me to provide a guest post at Imagination Soup. If you have enjoyed this post, I would love for you to visit One Perfect Day at our Facebook Page where we are always sharing new ways to play, learn, create and explore!

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George’s Marvelous Medicine Pretend Play

40 STEM iPad Apps for Kids (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

2012-05-22T15:18:25Z

Ready for the best ipad STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) apps for kids? These can be great for summer learning, too.

Just remember that most ipad apps, with a few exceptions, won’t instruct your child. They will however, give him or her practice, repetition, and reinforcement. Which is great for stopping the summer slide!

Mathematics (Maths) Apps for Kids

Rush Hour - just like the original game; strategy fun
review on Common Sense Media

Blokus - similar to the board game, my kids love it
review on TUAW

Tam and Tao in Numberland - Montessori, 0 to 10 numbers
review on InkyGirl

Motion Maths - fractions & number lines
review on TUAW

Ghostblasters - times tables fun
review on Fun Education Apps

Hickory Divide - division practice
review on Fun Education Apps

Butterfly Brunch - a fun way to learn about coordinates
review on Fun Educational Apps

Not Just Another Puzzle - 62 puzzles for all ages
review on Best Apps for Kids

Rocket Math – math problems while launching rockets, 3 levels of difficulty
review on Mind Leap Tech

Mermaid Waters - preschool age number games
review on App Planet

Doodle Find – hidden pictures
review on App Safari

Coin Math
review on Best Apps for Kids

King of Math - mental math
review on the iPhone Mom

Rocket Solver - a Singapore Math app

Monkey Math (School Sunshine) – preschool math- patterns, dot to dot, addition, subtraction, sequencing
review on the OC Mom Blog

Talk Maths - designed for in-class use, several levels
review on Interface 3

Math Evolve - math facts games
review on Interactive Education

Noah’s Memory Match
review on Best Apps for Kids

Symmetry Shuffle - spacial puzzles
review on Common Sense Media

Math Monsters - games of math facts
review on Teaching Appz

My First Tangram
review on Kid Friendly iPad

Math Girl Addition House - facts, patterns
review on iPad Curriculum

Rock n Learn Multi Rap - catchy tune
review on Imagination Soup

I Live Math – Africa - problem solving
review on iHome Educator

Math Bingo - math facts recall
review on Imagination Soup

Khan Academy
review on Fast Company

Scicnce, Technology, Engineering

Tinker Box - fun engineering game
review on business wire

Science360 - free from NSF w/ science & engineering news & info
review on Common Sense Media

Solar Walk - super cool solar fun, can be 3D
review on 148apps

Star Walk - worth every penny to see the night sky in real time
review on Cool Mom Tech

World of Goo - fun physics game
review on 148apps

Move the Turtle - step by step computer programming for kids
review on Wired

DK The Human Body App
review on School Library Journal

Go CAR Go - another physics game, somewhat difficult but fun if you’re in upper elementary
review on Common Sense Media

Fotopedia Wild Friends - photographs and facts
review on Appolicious

Touch Physics – try to make the wheel move with your drawings; fun!
review on Mind Leap Tech

Ocean Encounters - beautiful photographs
review on App Advice

Cat Physics - control the ball and learn the principals of physics
review on Top Apps

Super Stickman Golf – easy to play; about angles and physics
review on MacWorld

World of Ants - a well-designed, non-fiction book about ants
review on Common Sense Media

Roundup of Math Apps on Apps in Education, Mr G Online and Teach With Your iPad.

One of the things I still haven’t found is a comprehensive clearinghouse for the best apps, age ranges, content topics. Here are a few sites that review and categorize apps for kids . . .

Best Apps for Kids
Ed Surge
Ed Modo

Best Reading & Writing iPad Apps for Kids

Any favorites here or different apps that I didn’t list?

Build Your Platform So You Can Be Heard

2012-05-22T14:30:02Z

“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?“

If you have something to share with the world, you need someone to hear it.

You’ve written your personal mission statement (you did, right?) and you’re are feeling clarity about your life purpose. Now you need to think about building your platform. Otherwise you’ll be like that tree in the forest with no one around to hear you.

Right now I’m loving platform-building guru, Michael Hyatt’s newest book, Platform: Get Noticed In a Noisy World. It’s a step by step guide to blogging and building your tribe with very specific recommendations. You’ll be so amazed at the wealth of information in it; I sure was. Especially for the price.

Not only is the price awesome but if you buy Platform this week, you get a bazillion (or seven) free bonuses worth almost $400! Check out the list of freebies:

Platform Video Jumpstart (a $179.00 six-session video series)
Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Be an Author (a $47.00 one-session video)
How to Write a Winning Book Proposal (a $47.00, two-session audio series)
Writing a Winning Non-Fiction Book Proposal (a $19.97 e-book)
Writing a Winning Fiction Book Proposal (a $19.97 e-book)
All the Digital Editions of Platform (a $38.06 collection of the Kindle, Nook, iPad, and PDF formats)
Audio Edition of Platform (a $24.99 audio edition of the entire book)

All you have to do is buy the book, email Hyatt at gifts@michaelhyatt.com a copy of your receipt, confirm your a real person, and he’ll send you the bonuses. Wowza!

Big Topics in Platform

Your Compelling Wows: Product, Name, Style
Prepare to Launch: Goals, Elevator Pitch, Pit Crew, Endorsements, Media Kit
Build Base: Blogging, About Page, Landing Page, Speaking
Expand Reach: Increase Traffic, Build List, Guest Post, Twitter, Facebook, Traditional Media
Engage Tribe: Comments, 20:1 Rule, Monetize

Honestly, if you and I follow the advice in Platform, there will be no stopping us! (And to think I thought I was getting the hang of this whole branding thing. Ha!) P.S. Hyatt knows what he’s talking about – 70,000 newsletter subscribers prove that.

Some of My To-Do’s After Reading Platform

- Read media kits from Andy Andrews, Dave Ramsey, and Jenny Blake. Learn, apply, and rewrite my own.
- Tell more personal stories.
- Use downtime (Hyatt uses his workout time) to think through blog posts.
- Try Scribe, a program that analyzes content and makes SEO suggestions.
- Read CopyBlogger series “How to Write Magnetic Headlines.”
- Add a colophon = details about technology used (I didn’t know what it was either.)
- and lots more!

Do you need this book as much as me?

Who are you going to share this post with?

image: Some rights reserved by Alan Cleaver

Why You Need a Mission Statement

2012-05-21T03:37:05Z

Last month I shared with you how I transitioned from teacher to writer. Today I’ll share why you need a personal mission statement and how to write one. Tomorrow I’m excited to tell you about my new favorite book, Platform, Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt.

Write Your Mission Statement

When I left teaching to be a stay-at-home mom, I thought I would be deliriously happy. Only the days seemed endless, filled only with diapers and breast feeding and no weekends. My life revolved around my child. Who was I? What happened to Melissa? I was not deliriously happy. I was miserable.

Can you relate?

One day, in despair, I called a friend, asking her through sobs what I was good at and if I was more than AJ’s mom. It was the first step in rediscovering myself and my new life purpose.

I believe that everyone has a purpose in life.

Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, an elementary school teacher, or a business executive, a personal mission statement becomes your road map for the future.

Our life purpose changes with different seasons. It’s fluid and that’s okay.

Over a latte last January, my friend, Rainey Wikstrom, said, “I know what your passion is . . . I can tell because you light-up when you talk about helping people.”

What makes you light up?

Think about it. Then start writing a personal mission statement.

1. Write.

I _[insert active, present tense verb] ___[insert object of verb]
broaden
collaborate
communicate
connect
create
design
empower
encourage
give
facilitate
help
lead
learn
love
organize
relate
remember
simplify
support
teach
write

Mine is: “I provide helpful information about learning that improves parents’ and children’s lives.”

2. Add how you will accomplish it.

” . . . through my blog and my writing.”

3. Rework, revise, ponder.

“I enrich lives with information about learning and education through my writing.”

4. What is your mission statement?

image: some rights reserved by Steve-h

Art and Writing Project: When Mom or Dad Has Cancer

2012-05-21T03:31:56Z

Art helps kids express feelings. For many children, it’s easier to draw an emotion than label it and talk about it. Certainly this is true for young children who may not know the feelings words yet.

In fact, art therapy is used for grief, loss, learning disabilities, emotional issues, mental disorders, abuse, cancer, and divorce, among other ways.

I’m not an art therapist but when my friend’s husband was diagnosed with cancer and had 2 kids under age 5, I decided to try to use writing and art to help them deal with their feelings. The kids wouldn’t understand the particulars of cancer, or the books I found about cancer, because they were so young.

As a result, I wrote a story about a panda bear named Kai whose dad had cancer – thinking of all the ways I could incorporate the boys’ frustrations and new situation into the story. Then, I had the four-year old help me illustrate it.

Fiction is hard! My story is only sort of decent because two of my dear fiction writing friends gave me some very kind feedback (how hard it must have been!) to make it less awful!! Thank you P.K. Hallinan and Suzanne Santillan. You are so talented and had your hands full.

I’m making the story available to you to use with a child who has a parent with cancer for your use only – don’t republish it or sell it please, it’s just for your own use.

Panda’s Dad Gets Sick Printable .doc OR Printable .pdf

Look what my friend’s son drew. Do you think he expressed his feelings?

Learn more about art therapy for kids with these resources:

Books

Art Therapy Sourcebook
The Creativity Handbook: A Visual Arts Guide for Parents and Teachers
Art Therapy Exercises

Websites

Art Therapy Blog
Top 50 Art Therapy Blogs via Expressive Art

Have you used art as therapy with your children or students?

I wrote this post to celebrate my friend, MamaSmiles, cancer-free 32nd birthday. For a $15 donation to the American Cancer Society, you will receive a Project Hope eBook, a book of hope-themed arts and crafts to make for cancer patients.

Visit Mama Smiles.

14 May Mama Smiles
15 May Artsy Craftsy Mom and Rainbows Within Reach
16 May B. Inspired, Mama!
17 May Rainy Day Mum and Imagination Soup
18 May Inspiration Laboratories
19 May Experimenting Mom
20 May Outlaw Mom
21 May NurtureStore
22 May Living Montessori Now
23 May Mess for Less
24 May Having Fun at Home and Craf toArt
25 May Mama Mia’s Heart2Heart
26 May Angelique Felix and Sense of Wonder
27 May Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
28 May Duck Duck Octopus
29 May Smiling like Sunshine
30 May Mommy with Selective Memory
31 May One Perfect Day
1 June The Educators’ Spin On It
2 June Kids Stuff World
3 June Rainy Day Mum
4 June Teach Preschool
5 June Dirt and Boogers
6 June Creative Connections for Kids and The Golden Gleam
7 June Montessori Tidbits
8 June Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
9 June The Iowa Farmer’s Wife
10 June Scribble Doodle and Draw
11 June Learn with Play
12 June Kitchen Counter Chronicles
13 June CRAYON Freckles
14 June Glittering Muffins
15 June Wise Owl Factory
16 June Crafty Maa
18 June Lessons Learnt Journal
20 June Growing a Jeweled Rose
21 June Growing Play
23 June JDaniel4′s Mom

You Might Also Like . . .
“8 Ways to Support a Mom with Cancer” – an article I wrote for Babble.com
Shel Silverstein, Great Illustrator Study

Great Illustrators Study – Shel Silverstein (plus some poetry, too)

2012-05-16T15:57:29Z

Maggy of Red Ted’s Art Blog is hosting a monthly series called Kids Exploring The Great Artists. I thought I’d participate but adapt to be The Great Picture Book Illustrators.

As I pondered what illustrator to choose first, my 10-year old told me about an in-class project on Shel Silverstein‘s black and white drawings. Her teacher, Jayme Mansfield, is an artist and a writer and thanks to her, we’ll start with an illustrator study of Shel Silverstein.

“Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
‘Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.”
- Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein – The Illustrator

Shel Silverstein’s illustrations are black and white cartoons. If you look at the illustrations with new eyes, you’ll see how they capture the essence of each poem. Read more about Silverstein’s life on his website and see the complete list of books he created.

Draw Like Shel Silverstein

Materials Needed:

Pen or Pencil (I like Faber /Castell PITT Manga pens or Sharpie.)
Paper (Strathmore Visual Art Journal, Strathmore Drawing Paper)
Elements of Art printable (optional)

Illustration Ideas:

We often only of Silverstein as a poet but he was a skilled illustrator, too. In fact, he’s one of the best illustrators to start this bi-monthly series since his illustrations are simple and don’t require a lot of materials. Take a look through some of his poetry books and observe his style.

Shel Silverstein, from A Light in the Attic

Today Is Very Boring
Use the first two lines from Jack Prelutsky’s poem, “Today Is Very Boring” and continue in with his rhyme scheme and stanza breaks but use your own words to write a new poem. Illustrate in the style of Shel Silverstein.

The Missing Piece
Use the idea behind The Missing Piece and make your own missing piece story, illustrations and all.

Point of View
1. Write your own silly poem or use one of Silverstein’s.
2. Decide what object or point of view to choose for the drawing.

Cutting Kate
This printable poem is ready-made for illustrations and more than one child. Have fun!

Faces
Go to the last page of this Silverstein packet and trace the camel. What do you notice about the face? How did Silverstein make the camel expressive?
Try several versions of the camel’s face and focus changing on the eyes to create different expressions.

Eight Balloons – A Book to Draw and Play With
This printable Eight Balloons book gives kids the delight of creating their own illustrations to match the popping balloons.

More Activity Sheets, Games & Fun
FREE activity sheets, games & fun.

“Happy endings, magic solutions in children’s books create alienation in the child who reads them. The child asks ‘Why don’t I have this happiness thing you’re telling me about?’ and comes to think when his joy stops that he has failed, that it won’t come back.” – Shel Silverstein

Please visit The Great Artists series on Red Ted Art and the other hosts of this amazing art series, The Imagination Tree, Mom 2 Posh Little Divas, and Creative With Kids.

You Might Also Like . . .

Introduction to Art Journaling With Kids

Sign Up to Receive Imagination Soup’s Posts by Email

Pretend Play George’s Marvelous Medicine

2012-05-14T20:59:29Z

Guest post by: Charlotte from Make, Do and Friend.

Hi! I blog about creative play and imaginative learning with my 2.5 year-old son, Vincent. I’m so excited to be at Imagination Soup sharing our Roald Dahl inspired playtime.

Recently Vin and I caught a reading of George’s Marvelous Medicine at our local library. Vinnie loved the story; we brought it home and read a chapter each night before bedtime. One of our favourite things to do is turn stories into playtime so I knew we would end up playing along as we read.

George’s Marvelous Medicine really lends itself to concoction making. We read through the description of George’s cupboard raiding, looking for disgusting ingredients and then looked in our own cupboards.
Using empty bottles in the recycling, I gave Vin coloured water, milk, vinegar, and baking soda, along with washing up liquid, lemon juice, almond essence, face cream and toothpaste, aiming for a range of different colours, scents and textures. Talk about a sensory experience. I also knew from a recent baking soda experiment that some of the ingredients would react with each other to create different effects.

I set out measuring scoops and a big mixing bowl, then Vin and his friend started concocting. By the end of our playtime, we had a gross vibrant pink, curdled, bubbly, frothy mixture. The kiddos totally had a blast, and chattered away about “making horrible medicine for grandma” as they played.

Exploring a story after you read it helps deepen a child’s understanding of the book; there is so much inspiration to be found in children’s literature. (See my pinboard of Book Related Activities for more book-themed ideas.)

————————————————-
Bio: Charlotte is a twenty-something mum to Little Vin, early years childminder, playdough maker and believer in the power of playdates. Check out the fun over at Make, Do & Friend, on Facebook, Twitter, G+ & Pinterest.

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Duct Tape Cities

Book Rhymes with Nook (Enter to Win!)

2012-05-14T18:24:04Z

You, my wonderful readers, go to the library with your kids. I know this. Now I’m wondering about your home libraries; so is Target. And Target wants to give one of you a . . . NOOK . . . and to tell you about the Target School Library Makeovers and Literacy Pilot program .

Nice, right?

School libraries need our help – badly. (Did you see this post about DC Schools cutting almost 50 librarians?!!)

Target is helping; renovating 32 school libraries with more books, new furniture, carpet, and shelves, and a full technology upgrade. In addition, each child in the school will receive seven new books for their home library.

In fact, why don’t we talk home libraries for a minute? What’s your home library situation?

As for me, I’m a scatter-the-children’s-books-around-the-house kind of gal. Here’s how I organize our books.

Living Room: Built-In Book Shelves

Basement: Free Standing Book Shelves

Bedroom: Wall Shelf

Bedroom: Plastic Tub

Bedroom: Shoe Shelf

Anyplace: Wooden Crates

How do you organize your kids’ books?

Do you have them in one central place or a little here and there?

Nook Sweepstakes

Comment with your home library system and you’ll be entered to win the prize package from Target worth $500 including
- a Nook
- 10 age-appropriate books
- 1 bookshelf
- 1 blanket
- 1 $50 Target Gift Card
- 1 “Fatboy” chair
leave your answer to the question (How do you organize your kids’ books? Do you have them in one central place or a little here and there?) by midnight EST Sunday, May 20, 2012.
By entering this sweepstakes, you agree to Imagination Soup’s official sweepstakes rules. No purchase necessary. Open to individuals in U.S. only, 18 years of age or older, void where prohibited. Winner chosen at random. Target sent me a $50 gift card to thank me for my participating in this giveaway.
P.S. Check out Target’s Before and After Library Makeover photos –
Before:

After:

See a listing of all the schools getting library makeovers.
Connect with Target: Like Target on Facebook, follow Target’s Twitter account, or read Target’s online magazine, A Bullsey View.

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Kids at the Library

Subscribe to Imagination Soup’s Posts by Email and Receive a FREE eBook of Pretend Play Ideas

24 Educational iPad Apps for Kids in Reading & Writing

2012-05-22T15:07:33Z

As I started a go-to list of the best educational iPad apps for kids, the list got so long, I split up my posts into categories. So, today we’ll start with my favorite iPad apps for literacy — reading and writing for toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age kids. Also, I’ve included special needs iPad app resources at the end of this post.

General Literacy and Learning iPad Apps

1. BrainPOP Featured Movie – BrainPOP®
I’m very impressed with the quality and learning videos – kids love these!

2. The Electric Company
Social-emotional games and content.

Pre-Reading, Reading and Writing Apps

3. Word Games for Kids – Futaba – INKids

4. Word Wall HD
A game that makes learning words fun.

5. FirstWords: Animals
Fun and playful.

6. Fingerprint Play Maker
Write your own play.

7. Big Kid Life Fire Fighter
Lots of fun — for free!

8. Big Kid Life Vet
Free!

9. Sight Word Bingo
Engaging fun for learning sight words.

10. Goofy Mad Libs
This app gives you word suggestions so you’re also building vocabulary while learning parts of speech and writing.

11. iF Poems
I LOVE this app! Especially the poems read by Helena Bonham Carter.

12. Toontastic
A big favorite of ours – a great way to write your own stories.

13. Scribblenauts Remix
Thinking, writing, spelling, problem solving . . .

14. Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App!
Make your own story and learn how to draw pigeon.

15. iDiary for Kids Lite 16. abc Joined Up
An engaging way to get kids to write!

17. Story Patch 18. My Story – Book Maker for Kids

19. Sock Puppets 20. Comic Life

21. Kids Crosswords 22. Spellosaur

23. Chickitionary 24. Rory’s Story Cubes

If you’re reading textbooks on the iPad, taking notes, or sharing files, you’ll want to consider these apps –> Goodreader, Evernote, Audio Note, Dropbox, and Aurasma.

Special Needs iPad App Resources:

Apps for Autism by Lois Jean Brady, M.A., CCC-SLP
A Basket of Special Needs Apps on Help f0r Struggling Readers
Apps for Special Needs on Moms With Apps
Special Needs iPad App List on Support for Special Needs

What are your kids’ favorite reading and writing iPad apps?

You Might Also Like . . .

Best iPad Book Apps for Kids

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math iPad Apps for Kids

Early Readers & Easy Chapter Books – Spring 2012

2012-05-09T03:42:47Z

If you have a child who is beginning to read, you’re looking for engaging books. Here are my favorite newly published early readers and easy chapter books.

But, I must add that there is no need to rush into chapter books. Picture books are always marvelous – and often get forgotten when kids start chapter books. Don’t forget them. Please?

Early Readers

Ride Fly Guy Ride by Tedd Arnold
Is there a bad Tedd Arnold book? I think not. This is another super Fly Guy story that engages early readers. We love these books!

Pinkalicious I Can Read Level 1 by Victoria Kann
(Pink around the Rink, Pinkie Promise, School Rules!, Pinkerrific Play Date)
JJ (7-years old) likes these books better than the original picture books. She loves stories that she can read by herself and anything about pink is good in her book. (She’s waaaaay into pink!)

The New Puppy (Bob Books) Level 1 by Lynn Maslen Kertell, illustrated by Sue Hendra
This new, harder series for Bob Books keeps the same simple stick-figure illustrations but adds color and tells a relatable story about children who want a puppy. A fine book for beginning readers.

LEGO Ninjago Readers by Tracy West
My friend, Mia, aka. Pragmatic Mom says her son LOVES these books. Read her review here.

National Geographic Readers: Titanic, Lizards,
These non-fiction easy readers rock! Enough said. Try to make sure your kids practice reading non-fiction, too. Let them pick a subject they’re interested in. Choice is essential.

Easy Chapter Books

Zeke Meeks vs. the Gruesome Girls by D.L. Green, illustrated by Josh Alves
I’m a big fan of Zeke Meeks. This is another funny adventure where Zeke is being tortured by the girls in his life – his mom, sister, and now his new neighbor. Great cartoon illustrations, too!

Jinxed! A Topps League Story by Kurtis Scaletta illustrated by Eric Wight
This is a story that will appeal to readers even if they don’t love baseball as much as Chad, the main character. He’s thrilled to be a bat boy for the summer but can’t understand why his classmate Dylan isn’t as thrilled. Nor can Chad figure out how to help his favorite player who can’t seem to stop all his bad luck. Is he jinxed?

Welcome to Silver Street Farm by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Katharine McEwen
Several mixed-up events happen to give these three best friends enough animals to start a city farm — not a country farm mind you. The kids have the perfect spot – the abandoned train station. But will the city council abandon their plans for a parking garage?

Duck for a Day by Meg McKinlay, illustrated by Leila Rudge
Abby is so excited that her teacher has a class pet, a duck! She and all the other students eagerly hope they will be allowed to bring the pet duck home for an overnight. Mrs. Melvio insists on specific guidelines for the ducks care. When Abby gets to bring the duck home, he escapes. Getting him back means she’ll have accept neighbor, Noah’s, help. Everyone, even Mrs. Melvio, learns a lesson.

Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett illustrated by Ann James
I just love Hannah, who has the naughtiest hands, Sadie and Ratz. Her hands are quite fed up with little brother, Baby Boy, and seem to always get into trouble.

Hooey Higgins and the Shark by Steve Voake illustrated by Emma Dodson
Hooey is a thinking kind of kid – he’s got plans to achieve his goals and is the kind of character I adore. To make money to buy a huge chocolate egg, Hooey decides the perfect plan is to (got to love his kid logic here) capture a shark and charge people to see it. Brilliant, right? Hooey will not be deterred in his goal to buy the egg – no matter what. A very funny, charming story.

Mrs. Noodlekugel by Daniel Pinkwater illustrated by Adam Stower
Nick and Maxine’s parents tell their kids not to visit or bother the old lady in the cute little house behind their apartment building. Of course, the kids do and are delighted to find a kind woman named Mrs. Noodlekugel who has tea with half-blind mice and talking cats. When the children confess to their parents, the parents said that they wanted the kids to disobey them. I’m still a bit puzzled by it. You’ll have to tell me what you think after you read it. Seems weird to me.

Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst and Lane Smith
Want to teach young writers about voice in writing? Use this book! I loved that Viorst interjected throughout the story of a spoiled brat named Lulu. Lulu is so mad that her parents won’t give her a Brontosaurus for her pet that she runs away to find one for herself. Which she does. Only he wants her to be HIS pet. What will happen? Will Lulu learn her valuable lesson? (Of course she will.)

Rainbow Magic Fairy, Olympia the Games Fairy by Daisy Meadows
(also new are the Magic Animal Fairies)
I’ve said this before, and here it is again. Gack. These are totally predictable and mind-numbing but for some reason, my kids love them. So, we own hundreds. (I even ordered some from the UK just to keep my reluctant reader reading.)

Mega Mash-Up
Remember these from my puzzle book post? These are fun, interactive books for young readers!!

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Recommended Early Readers for Young Learners – October 2011