Books We Enjoy
Holiday
v The Golden Egg Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
v The Easter Egg Farm, by Mary Jane Auch
v Happy Easter, Little Critter, by Mercer Mayer
v Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk, by Gerald McDermott
v Leprechauns Never Lie, by Lorna & Lecia Balian
v A Leprechaun's St.Patrick's Day, by Sarah Kirwan Blasek
v A Valentine for Norman Noggs, by Valiska Gregory
v Will You be My Valentine, by Steven Kroll
v Snow Valentines, by Karen Gray Ruelle
Alphabet
Books
v
The Beetle Alphabet Book, by Jerry Pallotta and David Biedrzycki
v
Amazon Alphabet, by Martin and
v
Toot & Puddle: Puddle's ABC, by Holly Hobbie
v
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables
from A to Z, by Lois Ehlert
Animal Fiction
v
Yikes, by Robert Florczak
v
The Hat, by Jan Brett
v
The Mitten, by Jan Brett
v
The Rain Forest, by Alan Baker
v
Days with Frog and Toad, by
v Who Ate All the Cookie Dough?, by Karen Beaumont
v
Rhino Romp, by Jean Craighead George
v
A Porcupine Named Fluffy, by Helen Lester
v
Turtle Splash: Countdown at the Pond, by Cathryn Falwell
v
Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon
v
If You Give a Pig a Party, by Laura Numeroff
v
Dinosaurs Galore!, by Giles Andreae
and David Wojtowycz
v
Grandpa Toad's Secrets, by Keiko Kasza
v
Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk
v
Sleepyhead, by Karma Wilson & John Segal
v
Beetle Bop, by Denise Fleming
v
Scaredy Cat, by Joan
Rankin
v
v
Bunny's Noisy Book, by Margaret Wise Brown
v
One Frog Sang Ka-blu-urp!,
by Shirley Parenteau
v
Sitting Down to Eat, by Bill Harley
v
The Snail and the Whale, by Julia Donaldson
Poetry/ Rhymes
v
Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems, by
Judy Sierra
v
Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef, by Marianne Berkes
v
Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme, by
Marianne Berkes
v
Sailaway Home, by
Bruce Degen
v
The Seven Silly Eaters, by Mary Ann Hoberman
v
City Beats: A Hip-Hoppy Pigeon Poem, by S. Kelly
Rammell
v
The Animals' Lullaby, by Tom Paxton
v
Scoot!, by Cathryn Falwell
Spiritual or Moral Message
v
Give Me Grace: A Child's Daybook of Prayers, by
Cynthia Rylant
v
Zen Shorts, by Jon J Muth
v Uno's Garden, by Graeme Base
v Yes We Can!, by Sam McBratney
Diversity Appreciation
v
All the Colors of the Earth
School/ School-Prep
v
This is the Way We Go to School: A Book About
Children Around the World, by Edith Baer
v
Day Care Days, by Mary Brigid
Barrett
v
Countdown to Kindergarten, by Alison
McGhee
v
When Will I Read?, by Miriam Cohen
v
Tom Goes to Kindergarten, by Margaret Wild &
David Legge
v
My Preschool, by Anne Rockwell
Family Relationships
v
I Love You Always and Forever, by Jonathan
Emmett
v
Treasure Hunt, by Allan Ahlberg
v
The Giving Tree, by Shel
Silverstein
v
I'm Gonna Like Me:
Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem, by Jamie Lee Curtis & Laura Cornell
v
On the Day You Were Born, by Debra Frasier
v
Chicken Soup for Little Souls: The Best Night
Out with Dad, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
v
Octopus Hug, by Laurence Pringle
v
It's Hard to be Five, by Jamie Lee Curtis &
Laura Cornell
Other Fiction
v
Shine Moon Shine, by David Conway
v
Charlie Cook's Favorite Book, by Julia Donaldson
and Axel Scheffler
v
I Wanna Iguana, by
Karen Kaufman Orloff and David Catrow
v
Doodler Doodling, by Rita Golden Gelman
v
Night of the Moonjellies,
by Mark Shasha
v
Where the
v My Visit to the Aquarium, by Aliki Brandenberg
v Don't Be Silly Mrs. Millie!, by Judy Cox
v My Spring Robin, by Anne Rockwell
Non
Fiction
v Talk About: Water, publisher Franklin Watts
v Sea Stars, by Lola M. Schaefer
v Sea Anemones, by Lola M. Schaefer
v Octopuses, by Lola M. Schaefer
v What Happens in Spring?, by Sara L. Latta
v Learn About Values: Courage, by Cynthia A. Klingel
v Learn About Values: Honesty, by Cynthia Roberts
v Learn About Values: Respect, by Cynthia A. Klingel
v Henry's Colors, a FUNFAX Book
v Bats, Blue Whales & Other Mammals, by Steve Parker
v Birds: with Adventures, Projects, and Ideas for Exploring Your World, by Ellen Doris
v Cool Sites: Free Stuff for Kids on the Net, by Lisa Trumbauer
v Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition, by Lizzy Rockwell
v My Five Senses, by Margaret Miller
Homemade Valentine
Family and friends loved receiving this homemade Valentine! I started with a pink piece of construction paper folded in half. My 3 year old helped me create a personal message on the inside. I used a large piece of white paper to stamp as many handprints as I could. To make this easier, I quickly stamped my 8 month old's prints first (it's tough to keep a baby's hand open long enough to make these prints!) and then more carefully positioned my 3 year old's hand to create the heart shape. The prints were made by smearing a pink ink pad on my children's open palms and fingers. After the prints were done, I simply cut out the heart shapes and glued one on the folded pink construction paper.
Collage of Favorite Things
My
son loves animals, especially sea animals! I wanted to help him make something
to hang in his room. We made this collage from images we found online. It is a
great craft idea for little kids, in part because it teaches them computer
skills. In finding these images my 3 year old used the mouse and saw how I
searched for information online. We also had a nice time reading about the
animals at various sites. After printing out all the images I cut them
out and then let my son glue them to another sheet of paper.
Since doing this project several weeks ago, we have since made one with jungle animals, bugs, and dinosaurs, and now my son is asking to do one for trucks!
Pachelbel's Canon
You probably wouldn't guess that this is what Pachelbel's Canon looks like to a 3 1/2 year old... well, my 3 1/2 year old anyway. First I just played the song so he could hear it. I told him I wanted him to think about what the song might look like-- what shapes and colors he imagined when he listened to the song. The second time I played it I reminded him what I wanted him to think about, and this is what he came up with. This project seemed to relax him a bit and it was just a fun little experiment. It's fun to try to get children to think abstractly, but even more fun to see what they can come up with!
Last
Spring we had some unexpected but welcome visitors in our window boxes. The
picture on the left is of some dove eggs that, unfortunately, didn't hatch. The
picture on the right, however, is a picture of some newly hatched robins. The
mother laid her nest in my son's window box just a couple months before I was
due to have another baby-- a wonderful educational experience for my son
to learn about new life. My son loved checking on the pretty blue robin eggs
every day. It was especially fun while the mom was still laying the eggs. I got
a genuine rush of excitement when I went to the window and saw another egg
nestled in her little nest of mud and twigs. When they hatched the wonders only
multiplied! You really must try this. We put up the window boxes in late
March (in
Children love to hear stories and even more so when the story is about them or by them! I wrote this fill-in-the-blank-story and then as I read it to my son I had him fill in the gaps with whatever word(s) he chose. I think this sort of craft/game helps kids better understand the parts of a story and even gets them thinking about problem solving. You will see that the child is the one who must decide how the conflict in this story will be resolved. The story can be done more than once and you may even have your little one try illustrating it! In the story below you insert your own words where there is underlining. The underlined words are guides to help you and your child select an appropriate word for the story.
Once upon a time there was a boy or girl named Name1. Name1 had a list family/parents/siblings. One day Name1's family member, Name2, said, Name1, I have a surprise for you! We are going to spend the entire day doing all of your favorite things!
Exclamation-what do you say when you're excited! said Name1.
To start, said family member, what would you like for breakfast?
food, said Name1.
After gobbling up all his/her food, family member said, now, where would you like to go for the day?
place, shouted Name1. Name1 and his/her family member jumped on their mode of transportation (because that was Name1's favorite way to travel) and travelled all the way to place.
Now that we're here, what do you want to play? asked his family member.
I want to play game/toy/sport/activity, said Name1. They played game/toy/sport/activity until the sun went down.
Uh-oh, said family member. Its too dark to ride our mode of transportation home now. What should we do?
Name1 thought for a while. Here's what we should do! Have your child think of a solution.
What a great idea! said family member.
When they got home, Name1 got to choose what they had for dinner. Of course he/she chose food. To top off the day, Name1 got to choose one TV show or movie to watch with his/her family. They all watched movie/show until it was time for bed, and then family member read Name1 his/her favorite book, favorite book.
Name1 wished everyday could be as fun as this day!
Nature Art
Gather leaves, flowers, twigs, or anything you find outside. Note: going on the nature hunt is part of the fun of the art project. We used a dry leaf to make leaf rubbings by placing the leaf under the paper and rubbing the paper with the side of a crayon. We painted dried hydrangea flowers and leaves and blotted them on the paper. By dipping some pine needles into paint we were able to make some fun shapes and patters. Just get creative and have fun. Our final product did not turn out super spectacular, but the process was really fun and it was neat to experiment with different textures and materials.
