Little Page Turners

Meet Pete the Cat

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Meet Pete. He's the perpetually upbeat blue cat that has stolen my three year old's heart.

Yesterday was her preschool end-of-the-year performance. It was full of your typical kids songs sung terrifically off-key by adorable children. For the finale, they showed a video reading of Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, and the children joyfully sang along. I've actually been hearing snippets of the song from my daughter's mouth all year long, and was thrilled to discover it came from such a darling book.

Pete loves his white shoes, but when he steps in a pile of strawberries turning his white shoes red, does he cry? Goodness no! He just keeps walking along and singing his song "I love my RED shoes!" The story repeats through several different colors and the kids sing along with Pete and happily yell "goodness, no!" Because in the end, "it's all good."

Apparently Pete has been around for awhile - he's got a slew of books and his own website. You can hear a reading of A's new favorite book, download several free activity printables, or even purchase his app for the ipad/iphone. (I'll admit, I spent the 99 cents. It's a fun little seek & find game.)

Ticklish Orangutans {E's First Diorama}

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:10:00 +0000

If you had told me that I'd be dealing with large projects and grading rubrics as early as first grade, I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are with the THIRD major project of the year.
And while much of the nation is counting down to summer break in days, we still have nearly a month left in the school calendar.

I have to say I'm thrilled with the way E's first diorama turned out. (Okay, it's not technically her first, but it's a lot better than the one we put together years ago.) In fact, I'm afraid it's a little too good, but I swear E did the project herself, with only some guidance and suggestions from me.

The assignment was to create a diorama of one of four habitats (she chose rain forest) and then research and create a model of a wild animal in that habitat (she picked her daddy's favorite animal: the orangutan). We made the orangutan out of model magic, and God bless those people at Crayola, they make the stuff in a range of colors that you can then mix to form colors of your own. It's fabulous stuff - lightweight, dries in a day, and super sticky so there's no fear of the limbs falling off.

The raindrops were my suggestion, after seeing this "curtain" idea on Ruffles and Stuff. But E cut them out and helped sew them together.

She used birch bark and boxwood leaves for the trees, cotton batting for the clouds, and dyed spanish moss for the forest floor. One of the benefits of having a crafting mom, is the closet is full of random supplies! The only thing we had to purchase for this project was the model magic.

We found a bunch of interesting websites for information on orangutans (National Geographic for Kids, Sumatran Orangutan Society, San Diego Zoo), and even I learned quite a bit. Did you know that instead of trial and error, orangutans will think through problems before attempting to solve them?

We also had to do a little field research, being lucky enough to have a local zoo with their own crazy orangutans.

And of course we looked up books about the creatures. I loved this one in particular:

Orangutans Are Ticklish by Jill Davis & Steve Grubman

It's not exactly a book about orangutans, but it's great for any of your pint-sized animal lovers. Steve Grubman is a nature photographer and this book is full of his amazing pictures of fascinating creatures. Each page contains interesting fun facts about the animal as well as some behind the scenes info about the photography. Did you know that kangaroos can't hop backwards or that orangutans really are ticklish? I'm planning on getting this for my budding naturalist nephew for his birthday this summer!

Baby Gift Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:03:00 +0000

Is it just me or is the whole world pregnant? It's probably just my stage of life, but I feel as if everyone is sporting a swelling belly. For me, this means a steady stream of baby shower invitations.

Now if there's one thing I've learned from the dozens of baby showers I've attended, it's this: people always give clothes. Baby clothes are cute and irresistible, but the mom-to-be very often ends up with enough outfits to clothe quintuplets. A better idea is to pick something off her registry. But with the nearest Babies R Us 30 minutes away, I'm left to try to put together a practical, cute gift the mom will love and I will feel good about giving.

Hence I present the Favorite Things Basket!

Start with a cheap basket (Target and Michaels often have them in their dollar-ish sections). Layer the bottom with tissue paper and then add the baby products you simply loved. For me that was California Baby Calming Diaper Rash Cream, Aquaphor Baby, and Johnson's Baby Bath Bedtime. Then of course you have to add a book.

For this basket I included Tiger Tales' Hey, Diddle, Diddle. I always feel good about giving Tiger Tales' books as gifts because the quality of the books themselves is so high. This one is a lovely collection of favorite nursery rhymes paired with cute, colorful illustrations. We started reading to our kids as soon as we brought them home from the hospital, and the sing-song quality of nursery rhymes is perfect for reading to newborns.

Finish the whole thing off with a sweet, handmade "boo-boo bunny," and a card labeled with the phrase "These are a few of our favorite things." I promise, the mom will love every little bit!

Disclaimer: Hey, Diddle, Diddle was provided to me courtesy of Tiger Tales Books free of charge in exchange for a review. This does not in any way influence my review.

Rainy Day Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:32:00 +0000

It's a rainy sort of week and A has been stuck at home with a cold. My three year old might be happy to watch Tangled all day, every day, but I am not. So we have been busy with one boredom buster after another. Here are two of my favorites...

The first is to create towers out of packing peanuts. You know those biodegradable peanuts made out of corn starch? I figured if they melt when soaked, maybe they would just get sticky when wet.

Sure enough, all you have to do is wet one end with your finger and it sticks beautifully to another peanut.

It'll also stick to your finger, so keep some washcloths on hand.

The girls spent close to an hour creating caterpillars and towers. When they were done, everything wiped up easily with a damp cloth.

This next one I found at The Hippie Housewife via Pinterest. It's genius in its simplicity.

Simply add paint to ziplock bags and tape to the table with a sheet of paper under the bag. I used sandwich bags, which worked perfectly and didn't require a ton of paint. After she tired of squishing the paint, she started to write letters. "Hey, mom! I drew an A!" I used the opportunity to teach her several more letters of the alphabet.

So what are your favorite rainy day/sick day activities?

"Scary Mary" Fan Art {handprint chicken}

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:08:00 +0000

A and I had so much fun this morning creating this little piece of fan art. To go along with our barnyard theme, we read Scary Mary by Paula Bowles.
Mary is a selfish, cantankerous chicken who frightens away all the other animals on the farm.

When finally left alone she quickly realizes that solitude is lonely, and returns to her friends. This time she's the one asking if she can play.

While I would have appreciated the inclusion of an apology from Mary, it's a nice story for preschoolers about friendship and the importance of kindness. The illustrations are absolutely charming. Scary Mary's comic tantrums and outbursts are portrayed brilliantly, particularly if you've ever been chased by a real-live angry hen!

A liked the page where Mary practices her scary faces, so she practiced a few of her own. :)

To create our fan art we used a variety of techniques. We did a hand print to make Mary's body, and used a round sponge brush with the same paint for the sunflowers. A stippled the seeds on with a black pen, and the grass was painted using a fork. The rest of the details I added with markers.

We even learned how to spell the word "no."

If you want more barnyard ideas, check out this farm unit from Montessori Living Now and this collection of free farm printables from Totally Tots.

Disclaimer: Scary Mary was provided to me courtesy of Tiger Tales Books free of charge in exchange for a review. This does not in any way influence my review.

Farm Animal Crafts

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:31:00 +0000

A's preschool class has been doing a unit on farm animals, and she has brought home some darling crafts. This little piggy was made with two different sized paper plates and few construction paper cut-outs. I think the pipe cleaner tale is genius.

Then today she came home with this paper stick horse. The "stick" is rolled up newsprint, the mane is strands of yarn, and the head is two paper cut-outs stapled together with more newsprint inside. She's been "neighing" all over the house!

Now I know it's not technically a farm animal, but I thought this paper plate turtle deserved a shout-out.

So what books would you choose to read for a barnyard unit? These are a few of my favorites:

The Cow in Apple Time by Robert Frost

This is one of my favorite children's books of all time. I think I've blogged about it at least twice before, but it's worth mentioning it again. Robert Frost and adorable illustrations? How could you go wrong?

The Little Pig by Judy Dunn

I adore this whole series. They're out of print, but you can find them used for cheap. The photography is lovely and all the books make you want to sell your house, pack up your stuff, and move to the countryside.

Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boyton

Oh, admit it. You love this one.

The Rewards of Hard Work

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Meet E's new friend Eleanor! Eleanor arrived yesterday and is the culmination of months of hard work.

Nearly a year ago I set up an account for E on MyJobChart.com. This fabulous free resource let's you create online job charts for each child and assign each job a point value. Kids login to fill out their job charts and then spend, save, or share (donate) their accumulated points. Rewards can be anything you want - screen time, fun activities, or tangible rewards like toys.

E has been saving up all year for this American Girl doll. I set her price at 5,000 points, and after picking up hundreds of pine cones, cleaning the bathroom dozens of time, and of course setting the table, doing her homework, and straightening her room daily, her dolly doppelganger is here.

She spent half the afternoon yesterday playing with her, and the other half playing with the doll's virtual twin on InnerStarU.com. (I swear she's almost more excited about the computer games than the doll itself.) Then at bedtime, I created this quick and easy bed out of the AG box. I simply wrapped some scrap fabric around a folded batting to create the mattress, and then cut out some scrap fleece for a blanket. She and A's (My Generation) doll were all tucked in for the night.

I'm so proud of my little girl for her perseverance in working toward a goal! What are some of the ways you teach and reward hard work and motivate your children to help out around the house?

Fun with Science! "Painting" with Vinegar.

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:39:00 +0000

I'm back! Between home improvement projects and some personal crafts - not to mention work - I had to take a brief blogging break. But I'm back with this great activity I found on Growing a Jeweled Rose via Pinterest.

My seven year has always been interested in science. When other little girls were playing princesses, she wanted to do experiments. We've found some great products to encourage this interest - I'll feature one of those at the end of this post - but our three year old has been left out of most of the fun. That is until now.

I sprinkled baking soda on the bottom of a small tub and filled three cups with vinegar and food-coloring. Handing A an eye dropper, I set her loose to experiment with "painting" the baking soda with the vinegar. (Growing a Jeweled Rose used spray bottles, but the eye dropper helped draw out the activity and was great for fine motor control.)

Don't her curls just melt your heart?

She spent a good part of an hour drizzling vinegar onto the baking soda, watching the bubbles and seeing what would happen when she mixed different colors. I purposely gave her primary colors to work with. When she declared she was done, I handed her a spoon, poured some of the remaining vinegar into the tub, and let her experiment with stirring and mushing the mixture.

Two minutes to set up, two minutes to clean up, and nearly an hour of fun sensory play! That's my kind of science. :)

Speaking of science, E has been having a blast with her Young Scientists Club kits. Her grandparents bought her a subscription for Christmas, and each month she receives a new kit with five or six experiments centered around a theme. So far we've explored gases, solids, and liquids; learned about magnets; had fun with bacteria; and learned about weather. Each kit comes with a Magic School Bus themed workbook that walks kids (and parents) through each experiment and lets kids record their observations. I highly recommend these! (And no, the Young Scientists Club isn't paying me to say that. :)

Animalia & Alliteration Illustrations

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:54:00 +0000

We love Animalia. I ran across it on our shelf today and pulled it out for the first time in ages.

If you're not familiar with Graeme Base, it's time you met. To call his illustrations rich is a gross understatement. They're vibrant with color and detail. While all his books are worth your time, Animalia is my favorite. It is an ode to alliteration. Each drawing moves through the alphabet, illustrating the primary subject (ex. Great Green Gorillas Growing Grapes in a Gorgeous Glass Greehouse) as well as hiding in the scene dozens of similar starting objects.

But my daughter's favorite part of the book is the tiny Graeme in each illustration.

Like Waldo, he hides throughout the book, sometimes showing only a hand or a foot, and other times appearing so small you need a magnifying glass to spot his signature yellow striped shirt.

When she had found all 26 Graemes, I asked E to draw her own alliteration illustration:

Maybe not her prettiest drawing ever, but you've got to love these eels!

Later on we headed to the zoo to see some gorgeous giraffes gallivanting through the gardens. :)

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:51:00 +0000

From my family to yours, wishing you an Easter Sunday full of

JOY!

spring tissue paper wreath

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:18:00 +0000

It's SPRING and the cherry blossoms, dogwoods, and bradford pears are all in bloom! I planned on making a handprint-trunk, tissue paper-blossom tree artwork with A this morning, but she had other plans.
Running up with the plastic wrapper from the container of Trader Joe's cookies, she told me she wanted to make a crown. It fit her head perfectly, so I taped it up, grabbed the tissue paper, and we got to work.

I loosely wrapped the plastic ring in strips of green tissue paper and let A glue it down with school glue. Then I cut about 2" squares out of colored tissue paper and let A crumple them up into a flower shape. She glued them on while we talked about patterns and what color should come next.

With the addition of her dress-up veil, she looks like a fairy princess bride. I'm not sure what inspired the piety for this next picture, but she really couldn't look any sweeter!

The whole thing took us about 10 minutes, with A doing most of the work. Simple, fun, and HER idea!

And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano

The illustrator of one of my all-time favorite books - A Sick Day for Amos McGee - releases a new story of the promise of springtime. Erin Stead's illustrations are just as peaceful and whimsical in this new book, and are matched with simple but stirring narration.

The story follows a boy and his dog as they plant a garden in the brown of winter and wait for a sign that spring has come. Each page contains just a short phrase with the illustration, making this a beautiful book to read aloud to your preschooler.

Shamrock Shirts & Leprachaun Traps

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:01:00 +0000

I had nearly forgotten the fact that St. Patrick's Day is this weekend when A came home from preschool today buzzing with excitement about leprechauns.
Supposedly they sneaked into her classroom during recess and messed up the kids' toys and left them candy. She was so taken with the idea, that I caught her excitement and whipped up this t-shirt for E to wear to school tomorrow.

Appliques are a ridiculously simple way to jazz up a $3 walmart t-shirt. I used fabric from the curtains that hung in E's nursery (and which my husband accidentally poured bleach over). Tracing a clipart shamrock I found online, I cut out the shamrock shape from the fabric, stitch-witched it onto the shirt, sewed around the edges, and added the bow.

I would have loved to embroider the word "lucky" onto the shirt, but I don't know how to embroider. I used a pen.

It was another gorgeous day here today, so I sent the girls outside after school and suggested they build "leprechaun traps." A's interest lasted about 3.5 seconds, but E worked on this beauty for a good hour.

Gold spray-painted pennies will lure the leprechaun into a bed of comfy camellia blossoms. When he's fast asleep we'll pull out the stick and trap the magical creature! I wonder what we'll wish for?

Maybe for some interesting St. Patrick's Day books? I'm afraid I've never found one I really like. But the girls did enjoy some outdoor reading time together.

And some giggle time, too!

Marble Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:50:00 +0000

We painted with marbles! It's as easy as (and less messy than) it sounds.
I squirted some paint in a plastic bottle, dropped in a marble, and shook it up. (I promise she's not eating the bottle - just trying to screw on the lid.)

Then we took off the lid, dumped the marble into paper-lined bin, and let it roll around. The result was a fun, abstract work of art!

The project was inspired by the book:

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

I have no idea how this book ended up in our collection. (That actually happens more often than you might think.) When A brought it to me at naptime, I was honestly skeptical either of us would enjoy it, but by the end it won me over. This 1970 Caldecott Award winner is about a donkey who finds a perfectly round pebble that grants wishes to whomever holds it. When Sylvester sees a lion, he panics and wishes to be turned into a rock. Doing so causes the pebble to fall to the ground out of reach. Sylvester passes many months as a boulder and begins to give up hope, until one day his grief-stricken parents decide to picnic at a nice comfortable boulder and find a strange, perfectly round pebble lying nearby...

It's a simple story with classic themes that resonated not only with me, but with my sensitive three year old. We all know what it's like to feel sad and alone, and we all love a happy ending.

I'm linking up to:

A Very Tangled Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair! Our Tangled-themed birthday party was a great success - 10 little princesses had a wonderful time with all-things-Rapunzel. I pulled the party together in a week, so all of the ideas here are easy to do in a short amount of time and on a budget.

Instead of balloons, we marked the house with a skinny yarn braid hanging from our lamppost "tower".

When the girls arrived, they were ushered to our makeover station where they got to choose a braid and some accessories. To make the braids I cut yellow yarn into 4 - 4 1/2 foot strands. Three bunches of 15 strands made a nice thick braid, and I was careful not to braid it too tightly so as to keep it fluffy. I tied off each end with yarn and trimmed one end to hot glue onto Mini Tiara Combs. Find a good show to watch a marathon on Netflix while doing these! They aren't difficult but will literally take hours.

We pulled the girls' hair into ponytails and attached the braid into the base of the ponytail with the comb. They chose two flowers (purchased at the dollar store and hot glued onto hairclips) to place in their hair and a ribbon scrap to tie at the end of their braid. (Kudos to my friend Karen who played hairdresser and helped me manage the party!)

For the birthday girl's braid I added a purple ribbon and did her hair up in a bun ahead of time. She looked so pretty!

To entertain the girls while waiting for everyone to arrive and become Rapunzelfied, I turned on Tangled in the background. Every time there was a lull in the party, I simply unpaused the movie, pausing it again when we were ready to move on to the next activity.

When the girls had all arrived, we started the craft. Each child was given a kit containing a plastic string, beads, and a (paper) sun pendant. I made good use of the free printables from Paging Supermom throughout the party planning, including for the pendant.

The pendant was simply glued to the back of a bead. I used craft glue, but I think a hot glue gun would have better success in staying on.

While the first set of girls worked on the necklaces, the rest of the guests painted the wall, just like Rapunzel does in the movie. I taped a huge piece of butcher paper to the wall, taped a plastic tablecloth to the floor, and provided the girls with Crayola's new paint brush pens. These "paint pens" are actually markers with soft tips shaped like a paintbrush. I was a little disappointed there wasn't any actual paint involved (false advertising on Crayola's part), but they ended up being fine for this project.

Once everyone had a turn at the necklace and mural stations, we moved on to our game: pin the frying pan onto Flynn Rider. My talented sister Kim @ Sand and Sisal drew the poster for me...

and I got the frying pan printable from Paging Supermom. (Yes, our little artists found Flynn and couldn't resist coloring him in!)

Then it was story time! I asked my mom to read the girls the traditional Rapunzel story (which few of them had heard), while Karen, my husband, and I fixed lunch. It was so cute to hear the girls all chant together: "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

I've seen lots of incredible Tangled-themed menus in the blogosphere involving hazelnut soup, gourmet cheese and fruit platters, and braided bread. But these are seven year olds. I served chicken nuggets and mac & cheese (spiral shapes for Rapunzel's curls).

And of course I couldn't resist doing the orange slice/berry jello boat.

These lanterns were my "big splurge" for the party at a whopping $6 for the set. I found them at Party City and they added the perfect touch.

And finally... the cake! I baked the base in a mixing bowl and used a leaf tip to create the "grass" and vines. Cake decorating is not my forte, so I kept it as simple as possible. We used a dowel placed into the base of the cake to help stack the donuts and cupcakes.

The birthday girl had a blast with her friends and classmates, and I loved giving her a very happy birthday. I still can't believe my eldest is SEVEN! Happy Birthday, E!

Leaping on Leap Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:29:00 +0000

After seeing this idea on Teach Preschool, I thought I'd whip up some lily pads of our own this morning.
To make these lily pads, I simply cut the shapes out of construction paper, numbered and laminated them.

Using painter tape, I secured them to the ground and then the fun began! A is great at counting but she still struggles with number recognition, so we played "Quick, little froggy, find the... 1, 5, 8, etc." Then she had to jump on them in order... then backwards... then Mommy got to jump on the numbers A called out (silly Mommy was often wrong and had to be corrected).

Then we tried to teach the dog how to count... rather unsuccessfully.

Then while Mommy got back to work on Big Sister's birthday party preparation, A placed the correct number of "bubbles" on each lily pad.

Isn't she the cutest little frog ever? To go along with this activity, you might want to check out these froggy-themed books:

One Frog Too Many

by Marianna Mayer

read my review

City Dog, Country Frog

by Mo Willems

read my review

The Frog Prince, Continued

by Jon Sciezska

Rapunzel! Rapunzel!

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:43:00 +0000

She's been talking about her birthday for four months, and yet I wait until a week before to start preparing. Hello, my name is Christianne, and I'm a procrastinator.

We are having a Tangled-themed party this Saturday morning, and I am up to my eyeballs in yellow yarn, silk flowers, and purple pennants. I have no doubt it will all come together, but I'm not sure how much sleep I'm going to get between now and then.

To get ourselves in the right mood, I've wrangled up some retellings of our new favorite Disney princess:

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

Rapunzel was my favorite fairy tale as a child (all that blond hair!), and I've loved this particular version for a long time. The illustrations are luscious, although the text is lengthy and a little too mature for young children. I actually like the fact that this version follows the traditional plot of Rapunzel getting pregnant while in the tower. (It also, thankfully, includes a hasty marriage.)

Falling For Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox

If you're in the mood for a less traditional version of the long-locked princess, check out this funny little book. In the story the prince hopes to "fall" for Rapunzel, but being so far up, she can't understand what he's saying. Instead of her hair, she throws all sorts of objects down to him (each one cleverly rhyming with whatever the prince said before). But in the end she tosses something to the prince that does win him a "happily ever after."

Rapunzel by Rachel Isadora

Why should blonds have all the fun? These breathtaking collages set the fairy tale under an African sun. The prince rides a zebra and the sorceress climbs Rapunzel's black dreadlocks, but otherwise the tale follows the traditional plot.

SOS - Need Your Advice!

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:53:00 +0000

First a little background... My church was recently deeded the church building where we've been renting space. It was an older building in disrepair, so we are in the long process of renovating. Most of the renovations have been contracted out, of course, but we're doing some of the cosmetic repairs (like LOTS of painting) ourselves.

In the 3-4 year olds room (where I help teach the preschoolers Sunday School) is this giant framed-out bulletin board thing (94"x46"). Our guys added fresh drywall with the intent of covering it with chalkboard paint.

I have never had luck with chalkboard paint erasing well, and I suggested we didn't want to deal with the chalk dust on new carpet. Of course, that means I need to come up with alternate solutions. My thought at the moment is to turn it into a giant felt board. If I covered cork board with felt, it could be used as both a felt board and a bulletin board. But it's a very large surface, so there's the potential to divide it in half and create two separate spaces.

So what are your initial thoughts? Felt/bulletin board? Where do I even buy a cork board that big? What color felt do you think? Green on the bottom and blue on top, or something neutral?

What about other ideas? The board is at child-level, so we need something that the kids can safely interact with. The idea of a dry-erase surface has already been suggested and denied.

Thanks for your help!

Learning Lent

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:11:00 +0000

When I mentioned to my husband that all the Lenten devotionals I was finding were specifically Catholic, he just looked at me. As evangelicals, Lent has not been a traditional part of our family's Easter observance. But why not?
We celebrate the season of Advent; why not more so the season before Easter? So I was excited when I ran across this book:

The Lenten Tree

by Dean Lambert Smith

I was familiar with her earlier The Advent Jesse Tree, and this book follows a similar format. Each day gives a symbol, a Bible passage, a short kid-friendly devotional highlighting how the day's symbol relates to Jesus, questions, a prayer, and a suggested activity. Like with a Jesse tree, you can make ornaments for each symbol, or just use it to open up the devotional time.

Along with the book, we'll be using our Cradle to the Cross Wreath. Each day we'll move the candle and Christ closer to Calvary and remember all season long His sacrifice and our response.

How are you observing Lent as a family? (Oh, and I just found out today that Pancakes are a traditional Fat Tuesday food. Can anyone say breakfast for dinner?!? Woo hoo! :)

It goes like this, Plant A Kiss...

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:03:00 +0000

One of my favorite authors just released a new book in time for Valentines Day! Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is as adorable as you could hope for.

A little girl plants a kiss in the ground and when it sprouts into a fountain of sparkliness, she sets off to share the love around. The text is simple but clever and full of rhymes that skip off the tongue. The illustrations add just enough to the story without stealing the show. So happy to have another Rosenthal book to fall in love with! If you'd like to check it out virtually, view the unofficial trailer.

We planted our own "kiss" today. Found this tiny pot with mixing soil and seeds at Target for $.50. This Spring we'll reap a crop of flowers to share with someone we love.

Heart Crayon Valentines & a free printable

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

I'm finished with A's class valentines! Aren't they sweet? If you'd like to create your own, scroll to the bottom of this post to download the printable.

We've done our share of crayon molds over the years, but I think I've finally perfected my technique. That is, with the exception of removing the paper from the crayons. This time I attempted to make things easier on myself by soaking the crayons first. I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought it sounded foolproof.

Not so much.

Some did peel off in the water, but the rest needed to be scraped off with my fingernails and I was left with a gross, soggy mess. Next time I'm reverting to my tried-and-true method of child labor.

At least chopping up the crayons is fun.

For the heart molds, I used this mold from Target's dollar spot. It's an ice cube tray, but I was willing to gamble that it wouldn't melt at 200 degrees and filled it up with crayon bits.

Sure enough it held up well, although thanks to the crayon dye residue I don't think I'll ever be able to use it for ice cubes again. I cooked the crayons at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes, keeping a careful eye on them.

When they looked like this (melted but still slightly lumpy), I turned off the oven and opened the door for a few minutes. Only when they had begun to set did I remove the cookie sheet, so as to avoid over-mixing the colors. I pressed down the larger lumps while they were still warm.

Once cool, they popped right out.

If you'd like to make your own, feel free to download the printable!

With a little bit of love... and whipping cream

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:34:00 +0000

We made these sweet little cherry pies last night, but first, the book that inspired them!

A Little Bit of Love

by Cynthia Platt

(As a quick aside, can I just say I love the feel of Tiger Tales books? I mean literally the way they feel. They use high quality paper and little tactile embellishments, even on the paperback versions. On the cover of this one, the mice are actually fuzzy. Anyhoo...) This sweet little story is a perfect one to pull out for Valentine's Day. A small mouse asks her mama for something "sweet and new to nibble." Her mama knows just the thing made with "a little bit of love," and so they set off around the farm to gather the ingredients for little mouse's surprise. At each stop, mama mouse explains how each ingredient (honey from the bees, milk from the cows) has a little bit of love in it. They return to their home and bake huckleberry pies, filling them with the love of making something together.

I can't say I even know what huckleberries are, so we settled on making some mini cherry pies. I used my favorite pie crust recipe and the babycakes pie maker my sister bought me for Christmas.

It was my first attempt at cherry pies - and the pie maker - but I had high hopes. Oh these are going to turn out so cute!

Ummmm... not so much.

At least my helper was cute!

Surely there's a way to salvage these... ah, yes. Much better!

They were still very tasty and fairly easy to make. You could try them in muffin tins if your sister didn't buy you a babycakes pie maker for Christmas.

Mini Cherry Pie Filling
(adapted from this Food Network recipe)

2 cups fresh pitted cherries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoons cornstarch
zest from one lemon
a dash of lemon juice

Cook the pitted cherries and 1 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, stir the sugar and cornstarch together until lumps are removed. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and lemon zest to the pot. Bring to a rolling boil and cook one minute. Cool before adding to crusts.

Disclaimer: A Little Bit of Love was provided to me courtesy of Tiger Tales Books free of charge in exchange for a review. This does not in any way influence my review. I only share with you GOOD books! :)

Doodle Valentines (& a great activity book)

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:42:00 +0000

There are so many great Valentine's ideas out there, I had a hard time deciding on what to do for each of the girls' classes. But when I ran across this doodle valentine from Inchmark, I knew I'd found the perfect one for E.

Brooke provides a free pdf printable that includes the frame and a simple doodle-person shape. Give your kid a fine-tipped pen and let them fill in the features to draw portraits of each of their classmates. There's a place for the student's name on the front and your child's name on the back. She designed them to fold with a spine so you can place a small treat on the inside. I picked up a pack of little toys from Walmart and taped one inside. (C'mon, parents! Let's stop the candy-insanity!)

In the same post, Brooke mentioned a coloring/activity book that I instantly fell in love with and ended up ordering:

Doodles: A Really Giant Coloring and Doodling Book

by Taro Gomi

He's not joking when he calls it "really giant". It's big and THICK. Each page has the beginning of a doodle and some instructions for the kids to complete the picture. This one said "draw the water". I love that E added her own fireman who is bravely battling the blaze with what looks like a large coffee mug.

This one gave her a chance to design the flag of the country of rabbits.

Yes, they are all that random and wonderful. She's already spent a couple hours buried in the book, alone with her pen and imagination. I'm loving peeking in at the book occasionally and seeing what she's dreamed up.

cardinal in the forest painting

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:16:00 +0000

I love art teacher's blogs. Their projects are so darn cute, and now that E is school-aged she's able to do much of it. I found this lovely idea on ARTASTIC! via Pinterest and was thrilled with how it turned out.

The birch-bark effect was created using a comb and dabs of paint on white cardstock.

She then cut strips out of the paper for the tree trunks and glued them to the construction paper, trimming off the ends. The cardinal is made out of one red circle and the snowflakes from scrap paper hole punches.

A was appalled at the idea of NOT using a paintbrush, but I did convince her to use the comb to create patterns in her painting.

Footprints in the Snow by Michael Dahl

I have to admit this book is nothing particularly special. It's just a simple counting book. BUT it does count by twos, and I think the pictures are adorable. A loved flipping through the pages, and that cardinal is just the perfect little cousin to the one we made. If you run across it in the library, ignore the ho-hum narration and use the sweet pictures for your own learning purposes.

easy puff paint for "snow" paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:24:00 +0000

I was organizing my pantry yesterday (I do hope you live a more exciting life than me), when I came across some self-rising flour that expired when my eldest was still in diapers. Instead of tossing it, I set it aside for this puff paint recipe I found recently on Frugal Family Fun.

Mix equal parts salt and self-rising flour, adding enough water to make a pancake-batter consistency. Pour into a squeeze bottle. (We started with one of those 3 oz. travel bottles, but I ended up switching to an old rinse-aid bottle which worked much better.) I drew a simple snowman shape on blue construction paper and then asked A to trace the lines and fill in.

When you're done with your design, microwave the picture for around 30 seconds on high.

The "paint" puffs beautifully. A giggled her head off watching it puff up in the microwave. After it cools for a few seconds, it's ready to color. I was surprised at how well marker works on it. (And yes, she's aware her snowman has three eyes. She thinks it's hilarious.)

I tried to get A to draw snowflakes by intersecting three lines, but it was developmentally beyond her. So I handed over the bottle and let her experiment with the last of the paint. Again, she thought it was the neatest thing to microwave her art and make it puffy.

Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner

Have you read the latest in the "snowmen" books? This time a boy imagines what it would be like if his snowman could play with him all year round. I'm a huge fan of the previous snowmen books, and can't wait to get my hands on this most recent addition. (But with only one copy in our library system, I'm just going to have to!)

Snowflake Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Christianne @ Little Page Turners) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:55:00 +0000

I think this idea came from Frugal Family Fun (and even if it didn't Valerie is fabulous enough to deserve the credit in any case). All you'll need is masking or painters tape, cardstock, and paint.
Create a snowflake shape with strips of tape in the center of your paper, or let your older children design one themselves. (We took the opportunity to discuss how snowflakes always have six sides.) Then simply paint the entire surface of the paper.

Wait until the paint has completely dried before removing the tape, or it will tear the damp paper. E wanted to use purple paint, but I gave A dollops of blue and green and love the end result.

I'm so glad to finally have something wintery to hang in our art display! It's been looking empty and forlorn since I took down the Christmas art.

Snow by Cynthia Rylant

We picked this one up at the library today and A loved the illustrations while I enjoyed its descriptive language. Again, this one is not a story - there's no plot. Rather, it's a description of different kinds of snow. Rylant describes snow in sentimental terms focusing on its relationship with the world around it. There's the quiet snow that shyly falls in the middle of the night, and the cheerful snow that comes during school and takes you home. Then there's the light dusting of snow that let's you see bird tracks or the light of a streetlamp.

While my three year old may not have appreciated it, I enjoyed exposing her to a well-written book and enjoyed the memories it stirred in me of past snowfalls.

Snow Music by Lynne Rae Perkins

This is an interesting one. The story - such as there is - is about a boy looking for his dog who ran out of the house one snowy morning. The book itself is a description of the sounds through the snow as the dog, a boy, a girl, a deer, a rabbit, and a squirrel cross paths throughout the day. Each character makes different sounds through the snow, and this music is worked cleverly into the illustrations and moves the story along. It's one worth checking out.