children's books Archives

Fall Crafts with Owls for Kids

September 14, 2015 By Deirdre

Fall Crafts with Owls for Kids
Who doesn’t like making fall crafts with owls! While we may have owls around our areas all year long , fall is the time of year we wait to do units and activities that focus on owls. I have previously shared two owl crafts. The first one featured an owl made of leaves. Second owl craft has an owl with cupcake liner eyes.

Along sharing my fall crafts with owls I want to share some awesome owls that have been created by others. After checking them out, I won’t be surprised if you didn’t have your children create a whole series of owl crafts.

At the end of this post you will find a number for children’s books with an owl theme.( I love tying together crafts and books.) The crafts can be used for story retelling or just as a story extension.

Fall Craft with Owls

Fall Crafts with Owls for Kids

Book Inspired Preschool Owl Craft from Fun-A-Day

Owl Halloween Crafts for Kids from Handmade Kids Art

Paper Plate Owl Craft from Crafts by Amanda

Printable Owl Craft from Kids Activities Blog

Fall Crafts with Owls for Kids

Easy Owl Craft for Kids from No Time for Flashcards

Celery Stamped Owl Craft for Kids from Crafty Morning

Fall Crafts with Owls for Kids

Paper Plate Owl Craft from Reading Confetti

Painting Owl Babies

Whootastic Pinecone Owls from Paging Fun Mums

Owl Crafts from Housing a Forest

Fall Crafts with Owls for Kids

Torn Paper Owl from JDaniel4’s Mom (That’s me!)

Cupcake Liner Owl Puppet from I Heart Crafty Things

Paper Plate Owls from Happy Hooligans

Shape Owl from B-Inspired Mama

Fall Crafts with Owls for KIds

Adorable CD Owl Ornaments from Happy Hooligans

Paper Plate Snowy Owl Kids Craft from ABC Creative Learning

Owl Bucket Craft from Meaningful Mama

Owl Themed Books That Will Go Well With Fall Crafts

Owls

If your children love to read about facts, they will love this Gail Gibbons book. It is filled with tons of facts about owls! Everything from their behavior to their anatomy is covered.

In My Tree

This book comes with a puppet that pokes through the pages. What fun it is to have puppet to share the book with. The owl in the book shares just why his tree is cozy!

Owl Babies

This story shares what three small owls think and feel when the awaken to find that their mom is not in their nest. The pictures in the book are gorgeous!

Owly

Owly is a fun graphic novel that contains two stories for kids. The first called ” The Way Home” shares how Owly helps his friend Wormy find his way home after a storm. The second “The Bittersweet Summer” shares how the two friends have to say goodbye to their hummingbird birds at the end of the summer. Kids are going to love these simple tales.

Little Owl’s Night

Little Owl spends the night visiting his friends who are awake at night. What fun he has! He can’t imagine why other animals would sleep through the night.

Peek-A Who?

This simple board book was passed down to us from my sister Kate’s kids. It is filled with simple rhymes and cut out that gives hints as to what is coming up next in the book.

Cock-A-Doodle-Hoooo!

After finding shelter in a hen house during a storm and wants to stay. The hens would rather have a rooster move in. Can he convince them that he should get to stay?

As you can see some of these are old favorites! Some a brand new to me! I think each of these would be great for story retelling.

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Reading Comprehension- This Mouse Needs a House

December 3, 2014 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post with affiliate links.

This House Needs A Mouse by C. Jeffrey Nunnally is a perfect tale for retelling and sequencing. Before I tell you about the reading comprehension activities we did with this book let me tell you about the book.

This House Needs A Mouse shares the tale of a mouse who needed a home. He didn’t want a cage type home he had at the pet store. He wanted a real home. When the mouse finds a real home, he helps keep it free of crumbs. The people who brought him to the real home love that he cleans up after them. Eventually, though they have to move. Their family is growing and they need a bigger house. The mouse stays in the home. This is his real home.

The family that moves into the house isn’t really mouse friendly. They don’t understand all that the mouse does to help them. They try to rid the house of the mouse. Don’t worry this tale has a happy ending! It turns out this house needs a mouse.

This story was such fun for JDaniel and me to read out loud. The words of the story have rhythm and flow. There is a lot of word s on each page so, we each took turns reading a page.

We love the simple pictures and fun fonts. The fonts really helped add to each page. The pictures are funky but overwhelming. Some kids find too many colors or elaborate pictures distracting. These were just right for my guy.

How did we use this book to work on reading comprehension?

We started by creating a story map using a printable I made that features a house like the one in the book. The map displays three houses. The map displays one house for a beginning event, one for a middle of the story event and one of an event from the end of the story.

There were a number of problems in the story. I decided it would be fun to have JDaniel pick out of a few of them and write about the solutions to the problem. That meant I needed to make another This House Needs a House- Story Map. Thankfully the houses from the story map were perfect for this printable too.

I did these activities with just my son at my side. I think it would be fun to do this with a class. It would be great to see what events they chose for their story maps and what problems they found solutions for.

Activities and Books for Kids- The Sunday Showcase

November 8, 2014 By Deirdre

When the weather gets colder, you may find your family spending more time inside. Snuggling up to share a book and then doing an activity based on it is a perfect indoor activity. Last week a number of activities and books for kids were linked up on The Sunday Showcase that featured book tie-in or activities that would be wonderful to tie into books.

If the post shared didn’t have books for kids tied to the activity, I searched for a book that would be great to use with it. I hope you will take a few minutes to look at each featured post and its book. When you are done, please add your posts to the link up. I am dying do see what you have been up to this week. You have probably been creating amazing activities and crafts for kids.

The some of the links below are affiliate links for your convenience.

Activities and Books for Kids

Rubberboots and Elf Shoes came up with several activities to go with the book Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes. I think the headband is adorable.

The corn husk turkey created by A Little Pinch of Perfect would be great to create after reading the book10 Fat Turkeys. The turkey A Little Pinch of Perfect looks like it is flying and so do the turkeys on the cover of this fun Thanksgiving book. There are a lot of books for kids about turkeys and Thanksgiving. You may have favorite you would like to read instead.

Mosswood Connections has created a fun visual game called Find the Mouse. I think it would pair well with a book around the bronze mice hidden downtown in Greenville, South Carolina. It is called the Mice on Main.

My son loves the Tiger Tales and Ben Mantle version of Five Little Pumpkins. It would be great to read it before doing The Natural Homeschool’s Five Little Pumpkins craft.

Life with Moore Babies created cloud dough moon craters after reading the books Skippyjon Jones, Lost in Spice and One Giant Leap. This looks like a fun way to explore the moon.

Wonderful hand print hens were created by Fun Hand Print Art to go with the book the The Little Red Hen (Paul Galdone Classics). The marker drawings are super cute. There are a number of books for kids about the Little Red Hen. This looks like a cute one.

For more book related activities you may want to check out my Read.Explore.Learn. posts.

The Sunday Showcase is hosted on the following blogs:

JDaniel4′s Mom

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Here Come the Girls

Inspiration Laboratories

We each feature different posts that have linked up, so be sure to check everyone out! We’ll also be pinning our favorites to our Pinterest board.

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas’ site for the full details. Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome! You are welcome to share more than one post. We don’t accept links for giveaways, shops, or downloads for purchase, etc. They will be deleted.

An InLinkz Link-up

Soccer Themed Books for Kids

May 14, 2014 By Deirdre

Soccer Themed Books for Kids

JDaniel has really enjoyed playing soccer this spring. He started playing last spring and has really liked getting onto the field to participate in drills and games. I thought it would be fun to look for children’s books with a soccer theme that might interest him. While searching I came across I wide variety of fiction and non-fiction books for kids with a soccer theme. For this post, I decided to focus on fiction books rather than books that highlight the fundamentals of the soccer or a particular athlete’s life.

Soccer Themed Books

Madlenka Soccer Star by Peter Sis shares how a little girl with a brand new ball hits objects like a parking meter she encounters outside her house including friends into playing soccer.

For the Love of Soccer! introduces children to Pele and his love of soccer. This fun book is co-authored by Pele himself. How cool is that!

Winners Never Quit! co-authored by Mia Hamm is a story that shared that winning isn’t everything or even the only thing when it comes to playing sports.

Soccer Themed Books for Kids

Soccer Sam (Step into Reading, Step 4)is a wonderful book about a boy and his cousin Marco from Mexico. They don’t speak the same language at the beginning. They don’t even play the same games outside. By the end of the book, Marco has taught Sam and his friends how to play his favorite sport and so much more.

The book Soccer Song shares how a little girl named Jill learns to find the right position on her team. Her friends work hard with her to find just the right spot.

The wonderful Franklin the turtle learns how to play soccer and how to play fair in the book Franklin Plays the Game. Children are really going to enjoy watching Franklin learn a new sport.

Soccer Themed Books for Kids

Froggy Plays Soccer is the tale of Froggy and the soccer team. Froggy prefers to pick flowers and do cartwheels. Will he come through when they need him to help with the city championship? Kids will love finding out if he does.

Magic Tree House #52: Soccer on Sunday takes Jack and Annie to Mexico where they meet a young man who would like to play like the great Pele. As with other Magic Tree House books Jack and Annie have traveled on a mission to find a secret for Merlin.

Maisy Plays Soccer explains to readers the fundamental aspects of soccer with one of their favorite characters Maisy. It also shares concepts like sportsmanship, friendship, and enjoying the game.

Soccer Themed Books for Kids

Dino-Soccer is a rhyming tale of the Biters(carnivores) and the Gazers (herbivores) in a soccer match. There is chaos and fun that ensues as the match goes on. My son loves soccer and dinosaurs! This was a big hit.

If you love reading books on a theme with your children, you may enjoy browsing through my Collections of Books by Theme Pinterest board.

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Stories for Kids and Moms for Mother’s Day

May 7, 2014 By Deirdre

There is something wonderful about curling up and reading stories for kids and moms with your own child or grandchild! There are dozens of stories that feature kids and their moms. While they can be read all year long, I think reading one of these stories for kids and mom on Mother’s Day makes Mother’s Day extra special.

This post contains affiliate links.

That’s How Much I Love You by Lisa Tawn Bergen shares the tale of a mother dog and her pup. They spend all day trying to so how much more they love each. They love each other more than the snowflakes in a blizzard and the bubble in a bubble bath. The illustrations in this book are gorgeous!

The Night Before Mother’s Day and all through the house the children are preparing special things to show their mom that she is special. Children and their moms will love reading this book by Natasha Wing. It may give some children ideas of what to do for Mother’s Day for their mom.

Anne Rockwell’s Mother’s Day looks at various ways students in a class share Mother’s Day with their moms. It includes are fun craft that the class makes and that you can make too.

Have you ever been given a bucket of worms for Mother’s Day? The children in What NOT to Give Your Mom on Mother’s Day by Martha Simpson have given worms and other very interesting gifts consideration. This is a book that will make you laugh.

The mice in The Mother’s Day Mice Gift Edition (Holiday Classics) end up skittering and scattering to find the perfect Mother’s Day gift. This fun book is written by Eve Bunting. It is filled with fun text and super cute pictures.

Sometimes it is the simple gifts that moms like the best. The snake in the book Mother’s Day Surpriseby Stephen Krensky finds that creating a Mother’s Day gift is a challenge without hands. Snake ends up having to use what they have to give mom a simply wonderful gift.

Mama Do You Love Me?: (Children’s Storytime Book, Arctic and Wild Animal Picture Book, Native American Books for Toddlers) (Mama, MAMA) by Barbara M. Joosse shares a mother’s unconditional love for her very busy daughter. The story is set in Alaska and shares activities that are a part of the Intuit culture. The title of this book is question children around the world have asked their moms.

Another wonderful Barbara M. Joose book is called I Love You the Purplest: (I Love Baby Books, Mother’s Love Book, Baby Books about Loving Life).This story is about a mother and her two sons each wants to know who mom loves the most. The words and pictures in this book share how the mom finds ways that each boy is special. You will love finding out just what the title of this book means.

Deborah Guarino’s Is Your Mama a Llama?is a fun book filled with rhymes and wonderful illustrations by Steven Kellogg. While a llama is searching for their mama they come across a variety of animals that share facts about their mamas. This is such a fun book to read.

No Matter What (Send A Story)by DebiGliori is a book I have given as a baby shower gift for years. I even have a copy of it in JDaniel’s room to read at bedtime. It is a wonderful tale of small and how his mother Large reassures him that he is loved no matter what. Be warned this book has been known to make me cry.

What are your favorite stories for kids and moms to read together?

Pause Life for a Moment- My Front Porch Swing

February 14, 2012 By Deirdre

I was blessed to meet Ashley of My Front Porch Swing at the Type A Conference and see her again at the SITS Bloggy Bootcamp in Atlanta last year. What an amazing lady!

Why do I say that she amazing? I could mean that she is amazing because she is a talented writer who writes not only for her own blog but for Business 2 Blogger. I could mean that she amazing because she can transfer blogs to WordPress! I could mean that she amazing because she also holds several other jobs that are blog related while also being a devoted wife and mom.

I could say the things I listed above but, what is really amazing is the grace with which she lives her life! Ashley is an wonderful mom, terrific friend to many in the blog world, a woman who knows how to live life to the fullest, and above all a women of grace.

I am truly honored that she is sharing here today. Please take a moment to pause after reading this post to visit her blog. I promise you will be blessed if you do.

A couple of weeks ago, I woke up a half hour later than I usually do. Have you ever noticed how this can set the tone for your entire day? I work from home, so between that and juggling school schedules and events, my days rely very much on a schedule. But this particular day? That schedule was off. So, I rushed.

I rushed through our morning routine- I rushed through my morning cup of coffee. I rushed my kids through breakfast.

I rushed my son onto the bus. I rushed my daughter to preschool drop off.

I rushed through my emails and more coffee. I spent the day spinning my wheels, so to speak, trying to get things done.

I rushed to get my daughter from school on time. I rushed home and through lunch and part of the afternoon. I rushed out the door to grab my son from the bus stop.

The bus was late. On a day where I had been nothing but behind, of course the bus was late. When my son finally arrived, he came bounding off of the bus in excitement. He had gotten a prize at school and he was so excited. He chattered away with my daughter excitedly chiming in to her big brother. She grabbed his hand and they walked down the sidewalk in front of me. As I followed behind, listening to their excited conversation, I had a memory of him holding her as a newborn- now, here they were, two siblings lost in conversation.

The time goes quickly and my how things change. But that moment stunned me into realizing just how much time I spend rushing.

I walked home a little slower. I put some things away. I gathered my kids in my arms and smothered them with kisses (much to my son’s chagrin). I put laundry aside, work on hold, and everything else in the background. That afternoon, I did nothing but enjoy being with my kids. And I’m so glad I did.

Life is busy. There are things to get done, deadlines to meet, places to be, and activities to attend. But you only get to live once and every so often, you have to remember to pause life. Because it won’t pause for you.

Please stop by and visit her blog letting her know how much you enjoyed this post.