This fun and easy project encourages small children to use their fine motor skills and creativity to make a small hanging to celebrate autumn. Small children can sort the leaves by color, shape or texture before attaching them to the paper wreath form. You may enjoy adding colorful leaves you find on a nature walk or tracing your child’s hand onto a piece of paper and adding it to your wreath. Finish your wreath off with a bow and enjoy the results!
What you’ll need
- hand-drawn leaves template
- 1 paper plate or cardboard circle
- scissors
- 1 length of yarn
- 12 leaves (more or less) cut out of paper or collected on a nature walk
- 1 ribbon
- glue or double stick tape
- hole puncher
Continue reading “Autumn Wreath Craft”
As adults, we don’t always understand things from a child’s perspective. This is particularly true when it comes to moving to a new home. We forget how hard it is to say goodbye to dear friends, familiar surroundings and comfortable routines. In the book, “Paper Planes,” by Jim Helmorea, Mia and Ben are best friends, who love to make paper airplanes. But when Ben and his family move away, Mia struggles with her feelings of sadness. At the same time, she wonders if Ben is lonely too. In “Bad Bye, Good Bye,” by Deborah Underwood, a young child uses rhyming words to express their feelings about moving: “Bad day, bad box, bad mop, bad blocks.”
How can we make moving easier on our kids? Continue reading “When It’s Time to Move”
Ahhh, fall!
The best time of the year for:
- cozy sweaters
- pretty leaves
- hot apple cider
- & drippy noses!
Maybe it’s a bad case of the sniffles, a runny nose, a scratchy throat or a dreaded short-term fairytale curse? Either way, we’ve got some great reads to help your young ones navigate their sick day woes.
Sick Day Picture Books
“A Bad Case of Stripes” written and illustrated by David Shannon
In this fun sick day classic from David Shannon, poor Camilla Cream is worried about pleasing everybody. Camilla loves lima beans, but she decides not to eat lima beans at school in case the other kids make fun of her. Once she makes this decision, Camilla suddenly comes down with a bad case of stripes. No one knows where it came from or how to cure it. As the case of stripes gets worse, Camilla is changing at every person’s suggestion. It cannot be stopped until Camilla decides to just be herself. Continue reading “Sick Day Picture Books”
Did you know that our state lies on the ancestral lands of the Chickasaw nation, the Otoe-Missouria tribe, the Illini tribe, the Osage nation, the Ioway tribe and the Quapaw tribe? Because the federal government does not formally recognize any Native American communities currently living in Missouri, we often forget about this part of our state’s history and culture. It’s important to remember that this is the direct result of forced removal and violence at the hands of the U.S. government. Entire thriving nations were forcefully confined to reservations in neighboring states like Kansas and Oklahoma and stripped of their land, language, culture and most basic rights. Continue reading “Honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2021”
October is here, and we’ve hit the ground running!
Spooky? Scary? Monsters with sharp teeth?
Monsters are nothing to be afraid of! In these picture books, tackle your fear of monsters and learn to say, “Go away, monster!”
“If You’re a Monster and You Know It” written by Rebecca Emberley, illustrated by Ed Emberley
Turn into a monster with this instant classic!
Based on the tune of, “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” this book invites kids to become monsters and snort / growl / smack / stomp / twitch / wiggle / roar with the other monsters! Continue reading “Not-So-Scary Monsters”
“Old MacDonald Had a Farm” was always a favorite with my kids, and now my grandkids like singing it too! Making animal sounds is so much fun. Want to learn all about farms and farm animals? Here are resources to share about the work it takes to run a farm. I’ve included some fun farm songs and hands-on activities too! Continue reading “Virtual Activity Bundle: Farms”
I’m just horn over hooves for all of the fabulous new unicorn books that are magically appearing at the library every day! Unicorns are one of the hot new trends in kids lit right now, and they are soaring off the shelves. Today, I want to take a moment to highlight some of my favorite unicorn books for fantasy lovers of all ages.
Best for Babes
“Uni Paints a Rainbow” written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Brigette Barrager
On a dreary, rainy day, Uni brightens things up with her magic horn. Littles can name the colors of the rainbow with Uni and then celebrate the rain disappearing with a big rainbow. Continue reading “Unicorn Magic!”
If you’ve read any of my blogs from the past couple of years, you probably have picked up on how much I love Grogu (a.k.a. The Child or Baby Yoda). When I saw the new Star Wars cookbook, “Star Wars Galactic Baking: The Official Cookbook of Sweet and Savory Treats From Tatooine, Hoth and Beyond” I knew we’d have to put on our aprons, get out the flour and start baking!
First we pored over the cookbook, which has a lot of great recipes with pictures! It was a hard decision since there were so many great recipes like TIE Fighter Ice Cream Sandwiches, Cloud City Marshmallows and Carbonite Cakes, but eventually we landed on Sith Cookies. (Because, while you can go wrong with the Dark Side, you can’t go wrong with cookies!) Continue reading “Cookbooks We Love: Star Wars Galactic Baking”
Kids love to watch construction equipment in action. My very active grandson stopped what he was doing to just stand and watch a backhoe at work right outside his house. There is something fascinating about big machines and their movements. Even my brother-in-law said he watched a machine working outside his window for at least 30 minutes. If your child loves big machines and trucks, here are some fun resources to enjoy. Continue reading “Virtual Activity Bundle: Construction Vehicles & Trucks”
I’ve got some exciting books for you all this month! I’m particularly looking forward to the chapter books, so make sure you read till the end. Even if your kiddo isn’t ready for chapter books yet, you just might enjoy reading them on your own—they look that good!
Picture Books
“Norman Didn’t Do It! (Yes, He Did)” by Ryan T. Higgins
Norman is a porcupine, and his best friend is a tree named Mildred. They do everything together, from chess to deep (though one-sided) conversations. One day, Norman notices a sapling has sprung up next to Mildred, and he is furious at this intrusion. As he watches Mildred and the sapling growing closer, he’s overcome by jealousy and insecurity and digs up the little tree in the dead of night. Norman takes the sapling far away and plants it on a tiny island where it can’t interfere with his friendship anymore. Soon enough he’s overcome with guilt and remorse and returns the sapling to its original home. I love that this book deals with so many big emotions! Toddlers and preschoolers will easily identify with Norman, and his change of heart models how to make things right when your feelings get out of control. Continue reading “Brianna’s Books: September Favorites 2021”
