Favorite apple activities for kids: apple picking, cider mills and fun STEM ideas!
Fall is apple season!
Trees are blooming with ripe apples, ready for the picking.
There are a number of fun apple activities & outings that your kids will really enjoy during autumn.
Great back to school books for kids in preschool, elementary or middle school!
I know many kids have mixed feelings about starting a new school year and some are a little anxious about heading back to school and moving up a grade.
As a parent and educator, I can tell you that most kids don't just come out and tell you about their back to school fears and concerns.
Kids tend to hold things in and then the first week of school you might notice them losing sleep, being more anxious or showing signs of nervouseness.
Try reading a few books (or having older kids read themselves) about the grade they are about to enter.
Inspiration for Summer reading with fun reading logs & rewards for kids!
As parents, we know that connecting the kids with books throughout the summer months is SUCH a good thing.
Summer reading helps them to keep their vocab and comprehension skills strong so those first weeks back to school are much easier!
But honestly, keeping them reading can be a challenge with all the other fun activities they have going on -- like the pool and friends and s'mores by the fire ... not to mention the availability of technology and the desire to get sticky, dirty and wet any chance they get ;)
Which is why this first post in our 105 Days of Free Summer Fun includes awesome ideas & freebies that will not only inspire your kids to read but also allow us to retain our 'cool Mom/Dad' status without constantly bugging them to pick up a book!
Activiites & books about that teach our children about water conservation and the water cycle!
March 22nd is World Water Day.
It's a day for all of us to remember that water is an important resource in our life and clean water is a limited resource for many around the world.
Everyone can make a difference in preserving this natural resource, even the youngest among us!
In fact, our kids might even teach us adults a thing or two.
Join us as we explore some great books, learn about the water cycle and share tips for easy ways to conserve water.
Use The Lorax and these fun outdoor activities to teach ecology and inspire your kids to change the world!
Today we're combining a few of our favorite things -- books & nature -- to kick off some early Spring exploring.
In honor of Read Across America Day (celebrated on Dr. Seuss' birthday), let's take a look at how books and outdoor activities can teach our kids more about the environment.
Enjoy these Dr. Seuss activities that include Wacky Wednesday ideas, a Create Your Own Zoo Game and learning about idioms.
Earlier this month, we shared some fun facts and resources about Dr. Seuss .
Being such a fan of Seuss books, I had a difficult time choosing only one for this post. In fact, on our library visit this week, I found a newly published story that I never read as a child which was a treat!
So explore some fun ways to turn these awesome Dr. Seuss books into hands-on activities. Plus, you'll find 165 more activities that pair with Dr. Seuss books!
Explore measurement with these fun math books & tools for kids!
One of the most popular book requests I receive comes in the form of "Do you know of any good books that can help my child enjoy math?"
This request is not at all foreign to me as I've shared before that my child-who-can't-read-books-fast-enough is also the same kid that does not gravitate toward math.
However, put a math concept in the pages of a great book and presto!
So let's just say that my newest 'talent' is finding wonderfully engaging books that also highlight math concepts :)
And the second trick I've learned when it comes to math -- "It's all about the gear!"
Kids LOVE using math tools and are more likely to ask questions and want to explore various concepts if they can do something other than just pencil & paper math.
Today's book list will focus specifically on stories & fun math manipulatives (tools) that explore different types of measurement plus some great hands-on activities and challenges your kids can try too!
Upcycle items from around the house for this easy tornado in a bottle science experiment!
Sometimes an activity can introduce us to something that we aren't able to experience in real life and today's science project does just that!
Spring brings all kinds of weather across the country and one of the worst types of storms are tornadoes.
Living in Kansas, we've had to duck-and-cover quite a few times, huddled in the basement until the storm sirens sound the all clear but thankfully, we have never been caught in a tornado!
But kids will be kids and ask all those great questions -- 'how do tornadoes start?' and 'what makes them so dangerous?' so we thought we'd take a closer look at these storms by creating our own tornado in a bottle!
Got bookworms? Try giving these gift ideas that aren't books!
We have a LOT of books in our house as you might suspect from our numerous kids' book lists!
One of the things I did well as a parent was to raise readers -- I always found a way to tie books with a favorite project, vacation or any interest our kids have had over the years.
But when you have book lovers, you have to make a decision when it comes to gift buying -- either move into a library (we haven't found one for sale yet :) OR find some book-related gifts they'll love since your bookshelves are already chocked full.
I know that Fall inspires some popular tree activities for kids -- creating leaf rubbings, watching the leaves change color and heading out on a leaf hunt.
But if we look a little deeper, we'll also find that trees play a crucial role to many of our neighborhood animal friends. So today, let's head outside and be nature detectives as we look at the lives of trees!
This week's book list is a collection of great reads for kids about voting, service to our country and our capital city, Washington DC.
Every four years, we have the opportunity to introduce our kids to how the political system works in our country. And while I'm not at all thrilled with any of the candidates this year, I still feel that it's important for the next generation to understand the how's and why's of Election Day.
This can easily be done without actually discussing politics too -- Books are the perfect way to kick-start a discussion and introduce ideas such as voting, the party system, the various layers of our government and how it all fits together.
Enjoy these new kids' books about Fall & Autumn!
I love creating book lists and I think that some of my favorite are our Kids Books about the Fall & Autumn season!
There's just something about the gorgeous colors, seasonal changes and cozy text that make me want to cuddle up and keep reading (usually with a cup of tea for me a cocoa for the kids :)
Today's book list covers some of the newest reads you'll find out this season for your kids! Fall colors, animal friends and inspiration for outdoor adventures await in the pages of a book ...
Gorgeous children's books about the forest and woodland animals!
Fall is the perfect time to read these books about life in the forest & get out to explore!
You don't need a large area at all -- even a small wooded area will do -- in order to experience a whole new world hidden among the trees.
I especially love to introduce kids to the forest in the Fall because of the changing leaf colors and animal activity. So many of our woodland friends are preparing for winter at this time of the year.
So grab a few of these gorgeous books & let's go for a walk in the woods!
Many thanks to Hallmark for sponsoring this post and helping to create communities where all children have the chance to grow up as healthy, productive & caring persons. All book choices and thoughts are mine alone.
Today's book list was inspired by a young lady who fights for quality education for all children around the world.
Malala Yousafzai was 15 when she was shot by the Taliban for attending school in Pakistan. It was against the law for girls to go to school and yet, every morning Malala would get up and not only get herself to school but encourage other girls in her village to attend as well. She survived the attack and has since become the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient who now travels the world with her father to share their story.
In honor of both Malala & Ziauddin Yousafzai, I wanted to share a book list that will inspire kids to speak up for what they believe, to change the world and to appreciate the opportunity to get an education.
Sometimes sitting down with "just a book" can be a little overwhelming for kids. All those words and pages -- especially if they're just starting to read or not overly crazy about reading.
And then there's the whole sitting part of reading -- not something our kids EVER really did; they would constantly move and always enjoyed having something to do during reading time.
So over the next four weeks, we're going to feature a series of fun books for kids can read with their favorite STEM items!
Today's list includes favorite stories to read with a magnifying glass (think mysteries, nature detectives and hidden pictures!) -- because who can resist reading a book when you have a cool science tool in your hand, right?!
