Christmas Oranges by Linda Bethers

I love this heart-warming story of the true meaning of Christmas. When Rose gets in trouble at the orphanage for sneaking out of bed, Christmas is ruined for all the children! They soon discover what Christmas is really all about–friendship, sacrifice, sharing, and love.

I can’t get through this one without crying! Beautiful!

We like to read this story by candlelight while eating oranges.

Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold

The little doggie named Olive hears “all of the other reindeer” on the radio, but thinks the words are “Olive, the other reindeer.” She is determined to go to the North Pole to join Santa’s reindeer. Afterall, the song says she is another reindeer! Does she get her chance?

This is a cute book with fun pictures that kids love! You’ll find yourself laughing right along with them at Olive’s silly antics!

Activity: In the book, Olive receives her very own set of reindeer antlers. After reading the book, my son had the fun idea to make our own reindeer antlers. It was a fun, easy craft project! The kids enjoyed wearing them and pretending to be reindeer!

For more Christmas book picks, go here: http://kidztalk.wordpress.com/category/christmas/.

My worst book collection is my collection of Thanksgiving books. It’s pretty pathetic. That’s why I have nothing new to share this year…

So, check out these fun Thanksgiving books and activities that I’ve reviewed in the past!

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

We found this at the library this week. I forgot how much I love this book. My kids read it multiple times a day! There are seven blind mice who come upon something at the pond. Each mouse takes a turn feeling what it is and reporting back to the others. The problem? They each only feel on portion of it: one thinks it’s a pillar; another thinks it’s a rope. Only until the last blind mouse explores the whole thing do they discover that they are all right! You’ll have to read the book to see what it is though!

This book is just plain fun with amazing pictures (note the Caldecott award: award for pictures). The storyline is simple so it’s great for toddlers. It’s a good book for reinforcing counting and colors. It also teaches the days of the week, as well as first, second, third, etc. And I love that you can also discuss perspective.

CinderHazel: The Cinderella of Halloween 

by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

Summary:

From the back: “You’ve probably heard the story of Cinderella, that beautiful girl who hated being dirty and dressed in rags. Well, you won’t find her at the Witches’ Halloween Ball…” This story is about Hazel, the witch who loved to be dirty. But will the Prince fall in love with someone so filthy?!

Obviously, a twist on the classic story. I love exposing my children to different versions of stories. Great for comprehension: What is the same? What is different? Which do you like better? Why?

This one is really fun and cute! And even my son likes to read it!

For more Halloween books, click here.

Say Boo! by Lynda Graham-Barber

This is a really cute book about a little ghost who can say, “Whooo” and “Moo,” but not “Boo.” Will he get it right in time for Halloween?

My kids LOVE this book! It’s a fun one for them to read-along with saying the different tries at “Boo.”

For other Halloween book recommendations, click here.

As you know, I normally share children’s picture books with you. I try to stay away from my own opinions and such on parenting on this blog. But today, I wanted to share a fabulous book I read a couple of months ago that has helped us in our home in raising our children. I share it with the hopes that it may help one of you!

Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

Summary taken from back of book:

Newly revised, featuring the most up-to-date research, effective strategies, and real-life stories

The spirited child—often called “difficult” or “strong-willed”—possesses traits we value in adults yet find challenging in children. Research shows that spirited kids are wired to be “more”—by temperament, they are more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, and uncomfortable with change than the average child. In this revised edition of the award-winning classic, voted one of the top twenty books for parents, Kurcinka provides vivid examples and a refreshingly positive viewpoint. Raising Your Spirited Child will help you:

• understand your child’s­—and your own—temperamental traits
• discover the power of positive—rather than negative—labels
• cope with the tantrums and power struggles when they do occur
• plan for success with a simple four-step program
• develop strategies for handling mealtimes, sibling rivalry, bedtimes, holidays, and school, among other situations

My review:

I have a very passionate daughter. Ever since she was born, she has been high maintenance. Her cries are louder, more intense. She has some food intolerances. As an infant, she always had to be held. Bedtimes are difficult. She loves to be the center of attention. She fights me on every whim. She is very active–more like a boy than a girl. She is a doll, and of course, I love her to death, but she has definitely brought some challenges into our lives. Heck, I majored in Early Childhood Education and thus studied child development. I have dealt with many personalities in my years of teaching and felt pretty confident in my parenting skills. And then, along came my Sweet Pea, who has tested every theory I have ever had.

In talking with an acquaintance one day about my little one, she recommended this book. I thought, “Why not? I can use all the help I can get!” So, I put it on hold at the library. I loved it! It offered a lot of advice and more than anything, understanding about my child’s temperament and personality traits. I like that the author focuses on the positive aspects of “spirited child.” We have always called our daughter “passionate” instead of “high maintenance,” and I loved that the author had the same view.

Near the beginning, there is a little quiz you take with scenarios and reactions of children. You base your answers on how your child reacts and then get a score. Based on their scores, you can see how “spirited” your children are. Both my children (and myself) placed very high on the scale! At the end of each chapter is a summary of all that was discussed in that particular chapter, which brings it all back together (and if you own the book, would be a great reference). The author also gives specific ideas for different situations that are difficult, such as meals and bedtime.

While I didn’t agree with every philosophy in the book, I did get some new good ideas. And like I said previously, more than anything, this book helped me understand my child and her temperament better. If you have a more difficult child, I highly, highly, highly recommend this book!

As a side note, I realized that I am very spirited and my husband is very not. This has even helped improve our marriage, due to this new understanding of our temperaments!

I posted this on the Blissfully Domestic website, but it has never shown up, so I’m posting the activity here instead.

10 Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss

Summary:

The lion, dog, and tiger are having a contest to see who can put more apples on top of their heads. Once they all get ten, they get chased by some bears and birds. Pretty soon the whole town is after them! But just ahead is a slow truck full of apples. CRASH!

This story has great rhyming and easy sight words for beginning readers. Plus, it reinforces counting as the apples are added a couple at a time. This is a favorite in our home.

Activity:

completed by 2-year-old

1. Cut or print off some small apple patterns. Write (or have your children write) the numbers 1 to 10 on the apples. On a big piece of paper near the bottom, have your children draw a picture of themselves. Then, have them glue the apples up on top of their heads in numerical order.

(my paper was too short)

To reinforce writing, you could also have them write ________ (name) has 10 apples up on top.

2. If you’re doing this in a classroom, this makes a fun class book. Make a boys book and a girls book. Assign each child a number 1 through 10 (or however many you have in your class). They do the activity above, except with their number (Kelsey has one apple up on top; Brittany has two apples up on top; etc). Put the pages in order and bind.

 Hip, Hip, Hooray for Annie McRae by Brad Wilcox

I love this story! Every morning, Annie wakes up to hear the world cheering for her. It makes her feel so good about herself. Then, one morning, when she wakes up, her mom is in the shower and isn’t there to cheer. She goes through the whole, crazy, mixed-up day without one word of encouragement. The next morning, when she wakes up, she decides to cheer for herself. She realizes that she doesn’t need others to make herself feel good!

What a great story for building self-esteem! You can sense the spunkiness of this little girl just from the words on the page.

Other things I love:

1. In the very back of the book, the author describes how this book came to be. He explains his writing process using words like teachers use when describing the writing process to students. I loved to use this book to demonstrate to my students how a real author uses the same steps we did!

2. The author teaches literacy classes at Brigham Young University so he uses a lot of classroom techniques throughout the story, such as the “Word Wall.” Really cute!

3. On every page is a horseshoe your kids can search for.

This is one you will definitely want to check out from the library. I would say it caters from preschoolers through elementary-aged children.

Do you know any little monsters who love to create?! I have the perfect idea for you!! My friend, Marie, over at Make and Takes, just published her first ebook: Make & Takes Monster Mania: Crafts for Little Monsters!

Here’s a little summary of what you’ll get:

With 70 pages of 15 all new crafts for kids. Each craft comes with a supply list, learning objectives, step by step instructions, and detailed photos.

Once you’ve completed the crafts in this eBook, you’ll be ready to give a SCARE to all those around you. Using your imagination, you’ll be eating Monster Stew and wearing Hairy Monster Feet, or swim with a Sea Monster in the tub! These crafts give children the opportunity to cultivate creativity, learn to follow directions, and enrich imaginative play. It will be $7 well spent and will provide you with fabulous crafts and experiences.

Check it out!