Guest Post: Benjamin's Mama

I'm swamped this week with family in town for my husband's grandmother's funeral, so I've asked a couple of my dearest friends to guest post for me. These women have encouraged me in blogging over the past year, and I'm so excited that they were willing to contribute to this blog! 


Michelle is a mother of two little boys, ages 4 and 8 months, and she also watches a delightful little girl part-time. She's highly respected among our circle of friends as a great mother. Take it away, Michelle!

It was 74 degrees here! There weren't any rainbows, but it was a beautiful day nonetheless and we made a fun 3-D rainbow mobile.  This project is easy and you can find the simple directions for making the mobile at DLTK-Kids.  Basically, you print the template and have the kids color a rainbow on both sides of each paper. Then you slide the pieces together to make a 3-D image.

In keeping with the tradition of Little Page Turners, no glitter was used, but if you wanted to make your rainbow sparkly, grab a paintbrush and give it a salt bath.

Look at that concentration!   (The sweet little girl isn't mine, but I'd claim her any day of the week.)


Over the Rainbow by Judy Collins, illustrated by Eric Puybaret

Admittedly so, this book was purchased for me as much as it was for my children! The illustrations are phenomenal, the writing has obviously stood the test of time, and to top it off, the autographed book comes with a soothing three song CD. My oldest child is autistic, so we are constantly trying to foster imagination. This is sometimes hard to achieve for concrete thinkers, so this book was just perfect for us. We have all sung this song to our children sometime or other, but have you ever read or thought about the lyrics? "Heaven opens a magic lane", "...there's a rainbow highway to be found", "...just a step beyond the rain", "and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true"... this is just a sampling of the lyrics that inspire you to dream, to create, and to inspire others to do the same. You see why this book is great for the parent as well?

Who says cars are just for boys?

I am the youngest of three girls. Our house was full of dress up clothes, dolls, and all-things-girly, but we also had tonka trucks, legos, and even remote-controlled race cars. I love that my parents didn't limit our play options simply because there weren't any boys in our house. Now that I'm the parent of all-girls, I'm attempting to do the same.

This fall, I bought A a set of Playskool Chuck cars having been inspired by a Busy Bag activity I saw on My Delicious Ambiguity. I started off creating roads for her cars using strips of masking tape on the carpet, but that got old quick. When I saw this great fabric at a local fabric store, I snatched it up and sewed a simple playmat for A's automotive adventures.

I also snipped squares of felt fabric in matching colors to create parking spots for the cars. A loves matching each car to its corresponding spot, and it provides an easy lesson on colors. It's such fun to see my little girly-girl vrooming and zooming her cars on the mat and off the mat and all over the house! Of course, she also occasionally wraps them in a pink blanket and rocks them to sleep.


My Car by Byron Barton

Barton is one of those author/illustrators that I fell in love with through my kids. I'll admit I'm not immediately drawn to his primary colored, block illustrations, but toddlers can't seem to get enough. Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs was our first introduction to Barton's simple drawings and sparse stories. After a few readings, each of my girls could easily tell the story themselves.

This book is much the same. Sam is a simple fellow who loves his car and follows the rules. He keeps his car clean and stops for pedestrians. If only all drivers were so courteous! The book makes good use of primary colors and will engage boys and girls alike.

Monsters! Monster Shapes

We're getting a lot of mileage out of our googly eyes this week. To make these cute (and oh so educational) shape monsters, all we needed was craft foam shapes, googly eyes, and lots and lots of glue.

A is never happier than when she's squeezing glue out onto something in copious amounts. Googly eyes were just a nice bonus.

With this one little activity we worked on our fine motor control, discussed the shapes and colors of the monsters, counted each of their eyes and talked about which eyes were bigger and smaller. Not bad for 50 cents worth of craft materials!

Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley

The Emberleys have a whole series of monster books out, but this was the one I could get my hands on. I'm so glad I did! Ingenious die cutting on each page makes this book such fun to read. As you turn each page a monster slowly appears, revealing his big yellow eyes and sharp white teeth through the die cuts on the page. Half way through the book you yell "You don't scare me!" and the subsequent pages hide each of the features until he's disappeared.

I fell in love with The Very Hungry Caterpillar at age 4 because of the die cuts in the book. I can only imagine how much I would have loved this one. My girls certainly do!

I'm linking up to:
- Play Academy @ Nurture Store
- Show & Tell @ ABC & 123
- Tot Tuesday @ My Delicious Ambiguity

Pirates: Treasure Chest Sensory Bin & Color Matching Game

Dig for buried treasure with this little game that combines sensory play, fine motor skills, color recognition and matching!

I filled a small bin with beach pebbles and added plastic jewels to the mix. Then I cut an egg carton in half and, using a hot glue gun, covered it in felt to create a treasure chest.

I asked A to pick out the jewels and put them in the compartment with the matching colored dot.

When she tired of the game, I handed her a couple measuring cups and a large spoon for free play in the fresh air and sunshine. Virginia is always gorgeous in September!

How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long

David Shannon's quirky artwork bring to life this clever tale of a little boy turned pirate. Jeremy Jacob is playing on the beach when Captain Braid Beard and his crew recruit the little boy to be their digger and help bury their treasure. Jeremy loves every minute of pirate life until it's time for bed. None of the pirates want to tuck him in or read him a story, and when a storm breaks the mast, Jeremy conceives a clever plan to get back home.

What can I say? The story is adorable. The illustrations are adorable. Your son or daughter is going to love it... and so are you!

I'm linking up to:
- Tot Tuesdays @ My Delicious Ambiguity
- Show & Tell @ ABC & 123

Shape Train

Our theme this week is TRAINS! Those of you with little boys would probably be happy if you never saw another toy train - let alone another episode of Thomas or Dinosaur Train - again. But I have girls and while we are drowning in princesses, trains are a rare treat.

This simple train craft is easy to make and reinforces both shapes and color recognition. Simply grab what you already have on-hand: a few sheets of construction paper, scissors, and God's gift to teachers and moms everywhere: a glue stick.

My glue-obsessed girls did a great job building their trains from three rectangles, one square, one triangle, and seven circles.

Of course, that's not the only thing A glued...

and no project of hers is complete without first being turned upside down, scribbled upon, and then torn apart.

My eldest independent-thinker used extra scraps to turn hers into a bustling train, puffing smoke as it races along.

Freight Train by Donald Crews

This Caldecott honor book is perfect for teaching colors to train-loving toddlers. The sparse text on each page describe one of the train cars: "Green cattle car," "blue gondola car," etc. The illustrations are simple, utilizing only six basic colors and shades of black.

This is a great one to buy as a board book for babies and younger toddlers. There are also Spanish editions, for those of you who wish to introduce a new language to your little ones.

I'm linking up to:
- Show & Tell at ABC & 123
- stART @ A Mommy's Adventures

We're back with a book for boats

We're back from the Great Page Road Trip of 2010 and I have vowed never to go on a vacation with a toddler again. Strange places, an uncomfortable pack-n-play, and a complete deviation from our normal schedule and diet transformed my sweet toddler into Jack Jack from The Incredibles. I seriously wouldn't have been surprised had she turned into a ball of fire.

In between the meltdowns and tantrums, we did manage to enjoy the trip. One of our favorite experiences was riding the Cape May - Lewes Ferry.

The ferry connects Cape May, NJ with Lewes, DE. Not only the girls, but my husband and I thought it was great to be able to drive our car right onto the boat, park, and enjoy an hour cruise. The ferry supplied coloring books and crayons to the girls, so when they weren't terrifying me by running along the deck, they could sit and color.

I (of course) checked out their gift shop for kids books but didn't see any boat-themed books I liked as much as:

Ship Shapes by Stella Blackstone

This book is perfect for 2-3 year olds who are learning their shapes and colors. The illustrations are fantastic fabric collages filled with colors, patterns, and textures that seem to pop off the page. The story is straightforward: two kids and a dalmatian set sail and meet up with many strange and wonderful creatures, all the while asking the reader to find and count the different shapes on the page. The rhyming and repetition is just right for little ones, although even your kindergartners will be entertained by finding and counting all the shapes. Heck, I was entertained!



Activities:

 Make these adorable Fruit Sailboats over at The Stories of A to Z (aka my sister!)

Print out this easy B is for boat printable and let your kids cut and color the different shapes.

Create this cute seashell sail boat with a few simple materials from Family Fun.

MYO (Free!) Color Book

We all have our tricks for getting our toddlers through the grocery store. A baggy of goldfish and a sippy of juice is my personal favorite. Today required a little extra creativity, so while looking for chalkboard paint in Walmart's paint aisle, I grabbed a handful of paint chips for A to gnaw on play with. She is just on the cusp of learning her colors and loved looking at these free pieces of paper. It got us through the paint aisle, diaper aisle, and nearly the entire grocery department!

The Dutchboy paint swatches at Walmart come with square cut-outs, so when we got home I ran a ribbon through the holes to create a simple and free color book. I might glue pictures of colored items to the back of the cards, but at the moment this 5-second swatch book is the new favorite toy.

I also found at Walmart this great color book: Flaptastic Colors

You gotta love a flap book that's impossible to rip off the flaps! Each page of this board book opens up (in a different direction) to reveal the answer to the question...

... and show more examples of that color.

It's got a great color scheme and a clean design; I even like their font choices. If you're looking for a simple board book to introduce colors, I'd recommend checking this one out.

Easy Peasy Color Game

I'll admit it. I have no clue what to do with my kids until they turn 2 and can talk. E was an early talker. Actually, she was an early everything, so I didn't have to wait long to start teaching letters, colors, shapes, etc. She learned to read at 3, and at 5 she's flying through chapter books. A is moving at a slower (if much more normal) pace.

Here is a simple activity that engaged both my girls. These Color Matching Eggs are a first introduction to colors. All you need is a 6-egg carton, some plastic eggs, and paint.  Paint the inside of the carton cups to match the eggs. E was happy to do this for me during A's nap.

When it's dry, stick the eggs in and close it up as a surprise for baby! (Yes, I know she looks like a boy in that outfit, but today is laundry day and this is what was clean. My poor girls don't grow long hair until they're nearly 3.)

A pulled the eggs out one by one and showed them to E who told her the color. It was seriously the cutest thing to witness. A loved hearing each egg's color name and rewarded E with big smiles. Honestly, it's moments like this that make those extra nine months of puking so worth it. I love watching the girls develop a friendship.

Later, E decided to dump out the eggs and try to let A put them in the right spot. The baby was happy to oblige her big sister and place each egg where she was told.

Speaking of eggs...


Good Egg by Barney Saltzberg

Here is a board book that won't bore you. Egg is as talented as any pet. He can stay, sit, and roll over (with a little help from your toddler and a few tricky pull-tabs.) The graphics are clean, simple, and while your baby won't understand the ironic humor of the story, he will love to make egg move. The end of the book gives little ones a surprise when you ask the egg to "speak".