Chew on This Idea

 

School’s out but reading goes on.

A reluctant reader at your house? Chew on this idea!

Have your small person pop a gumball into their mouth and chew, chew, read, read away…….

Another brilliant idea discovered at 30 handmade which was guest posted there by Everyday Chaos, both great blogs that are packed full of ideas.

 

Here are other ways you can help your child develop a love of reading.

Read to them. As children are growing up, try to make reading aloud part of your daily routine. Children will make positive associations with reading and spending time with family.

Keep books in the house. Children who grow up in homes with lots of books read more. If your family has an e-reader, keep it stocked with interesting books. You can even check out ebooks from the public library.

Set aside time daily for your child to read. Prioritizing reading by making time for it, even as children get older you will find this has a huge impact.

Read! Parents who read more have children who read more. Don’t save your reading time for after your child is in bed. Read in front of them, and make going to the library a fun routine for both you and your children.

Wordless Wednesday

National Library Week

National Library Week is April 14-20, 2013!

During NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK and throughout April, libraries of all types host special events to highlight the unique role libraries play in people’s lives. Today’s libraries can help you and your family discover a new and exciting world through collections, digital resources and more. Whether you come for homework or job searches, help with citizenship issues or finances, adult education classes or to find the best books for young readers, libraries are a great place to spend quality time and connect with loved ones and friends.

For more information about National Library Week please visit:

ala.org

atyourlibrary.org

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Who hasn’t eaten some green eggs and ham? Have you ever put a cat on your hat, or a hat on your cat?

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!  He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts on this day way back in the year of 1904.

With 46 published picture books, Dr. Seuss is considered one of the greatest children’s book writers and illustrators of all time. How many of his books have you read over and over and over? I remember knowing  my son at age 2 was a genius when he “read” his first Dr.Seuss book aloud, over and over and over.

These are some of our favorite Seuss-isms, what are yours?

1.  “You have  brains in your head.  you have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.”

2.  “Today you are you, that is truer than true.  there is no one alive, who  is you-er than you.”

3.  “From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.”

4.  “Don’t cry because it’s over.  Smile because it happened.”

5.  “Today is your day!  You’re mountain is waiting.  So…get on your way.”

6.  “If you never did, you should.  These things are fun,  and fun is good.”

7.  “I meant what I said, and said what I meant.  An elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent.”

8.  “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”

9.  “And you will succeed?  Yes indeed, yes indeed!  Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.”

10.  “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

Celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss today at Totally Kids fun furniture & toys! You will receive 10% OFF your entire order! All you must do is share with us your favorite Dr. Seuss quote. This must be done at the time of placing your order, not valid on prior purchases, with gift cards or other offers. So…“Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky!”

Upstairs for Reading

Do you remember when you were a child and picked up a chapter book for the first time, one that you just couldn’t put down?  There were  books that transported us to magical places and ones with mysteries to be solved solve.

Which books were your childhood favorites? Were authors like Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, C.S. Lewis, or titles like Charlotte’s Web, Harriet the Spy, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, A Wrinkle in Time ones you may have enjoyed.

Our Illustory allows kids to  write their own stories  about whatever they have in their heads waiting to be told. Once completed, you send it in and have it published for all to read.

This is actually a favorite gift for people of all ages actually. Grandparents, aunts and uncles can write their memoirs and illustrate wherever their creativity will take them.

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If you are looking for 50% OFF  toys deals,

with new ones added everyday… click on the Secret Sale!

Green Christmas Countdown

A favorite Christmas Countdown that is so green you hopefully will love it as much as we do.

If you are a hoarder, I mean saver, like some folks not to be named here, you can use wrapping paper that you tucked away  from Christmases way past.

Last year Betsy introduced us to her own eco-friendly BoBo wrapping concept, but first let’s talk about this wonderful  Christmas Countdown idea from Katherine Marie.

Round up  24 Christmas books that you already own. Keep it green, there is no need to go out and buy new books, as we all know half the fun is in the opening of a package.

Then each day as you countdown, your little ones get to choose a present  that will be read that day.

Betsy’s  worms eat her garbage and her Christmas gifts are BoBo or Bojagi wrapped. Now who loves Mother Earth and lives it?

Bohagi is a fabric wrapping tradition that originated centuries ago in Korea and Japan, as a way to wrap and transport items before the widespread use of paper and plastic.

Betsy chooses colorful pieces of colorful fabric for her BoBo that can be used over again for gift wrapping or up-cycled into a quilting or sewing project.

According to the Clean Air Council, in the United States alone, an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the winter holidays.  Four million tons of this waste is attributed to wrapping paper, shopping and gift bags.

The Stanford University Recycling Center states, “if every American family wrapped just three presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover nearly 50k football fields.”

Please share any earth friendly gift wrapping solutions that you may have.

Photos by KatherineMaries.com

Dinosaurs and Yellow Pages

Do you, or do you know of anyone today who actually runs to get a Yellow Pages when searching for a telephone number?

Last night in the entrance of Annie’s condo,  we had to walk past 2 mountains of plastic bags housing new Yellow Page Telephone Books. It appeared that residents were ignoring their existence all together.

If you’re not going to let your fingers do the walking, what do you do with your Yellow Pages?

If you are stumped, here are a few suggestions:

• Child booster seats which can created by covering them with fabric remnants.
• Tear out pages to use with kindling to light fires for stoves, BBQ’s or bonfires.
• Door stops.
• Make a pencil holder.
• Window wipes which are ideal for cleaning windows with a simple mixture of vinegar and water.
• Yellow Pages step aerobics, duct tape books together to use in stair-stepping exercises.
• Make paper mache.
• Fire starters for fireplace, grill or woodstove.
• Recycle – Less than 10% of all phone books printed are recycled, even though they can be recycled into everything from ceiling tiles to cereal boxes. Visit  Earth911.com to find your nearest phone book recycling center.
• Garden mulch – shred a few pages at a time as they’re great biodegradable weed blockers.
• Make several hundred paper airplanes.
• Perfect origami paper.  Instead of buying expensive craft paper to make paper cranes or flowers, use the pages of the Yellow Pages. The words and see-through pages give the origami a interesting look.

• Make your voice heard. Sign a petition to the Yellow Pages Association insisting that they move to an “on-demand system” of distributing directories.

• Save them, they could become collectibles?
  

These bows could be standard fare for a very long at Totally Kid fun furniture & toys with our supply of Yellow Pages. At least I find it to be a good idea. We will see what Megan thinks about them.

How About Orange has a perfect pictorial for this bow making project if you too would like to put your Yellow Pages to good use.

Merriment Designs shows us how to up-cycle the yellow pages into wrapping paper.

Un-Boxing Day

Two Truck Loads of Toys…..

Are We There Yet? aka traveling with kids

How to Beat Backseat Boredom….

With Spring Break and holiday travel happening there is always the question of how to keep young travelers happy and occupied on their journey. Whether you travel by air, land or sea, here are some super toy ideas to entertain the kiddos and help prevent the dreaded backseat boredom.

Flip To Win Hangman
Classic word game with a twist! Think of a word and try to
stump your opponent. Includes one game board with erasable
whiteboard, self-storing dry-erase marker and eraser. No loose
pieces! For 2 or more players. Ages 6 and up.

Backseat Travel Books Set
Four great travel books make for hours of fun on the road! This  series is your source
for fighting those boredom blues. With this Kids’ Travel Activity Pack you get all four
books for hours and hours of travel fun. Are We There Yet? features great on-the-road
games, trip-tracking tools (including travel journal pages), mini mysteries, crossword
puzzles, road games, and much, much more. An answer key is also included in the
back of the book. Best Travel Activity Book Ever! features hundreds of coloring activities,
dozens of dot-to-dots, lots of mazes, and a ton of other fun games and activities.
Kids’ Road Atlas features real road maps, great travel games, state-by-state puzzles,
state facts (including the nickname, capital, flower, tree, and bird), an index, and much,
much more. An answer key is also included in the back of the book. Coast-to-Coast
Games travels around the United States by region through National Park puzzles, city
games and activities, fun facts and trivia, and much, much more. An answer key is also
included in the back of the book. These fun-filled books are perfect for keeping the kids
busy at home or during those long stretches.  Ages 6 and up.

Travel Bingo
Great for travel! Both players select a Travel Bingo board, insert matching game
cards into the slot at the top of their boards, and flip open all of the doors so that
the pictures on the cards are exposed. Players close the doors as they spot objects
along their journey. Includes 4 double-sided, laminated, themed game cards.
No loose pieces! For 2 or more players. Ages 4 years and older.

Find these and many more great toys visit http://www.shoptotallykids.com or call a Totally Kids
personal shopper at 952-881-2425 to help you find just what you are looking for.

Totally Kids ships worldwide and offers FREE gift wrapping on most toys.

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Have Family Will Travel offers: Top 10 Tips for Flying with Kids.

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Be certain everyone gets plenty of rest before you travel. Hydrate especially before air travel. Remember to keep washing hands so you will return home happy and healthy. Do not forget to have fun and take lots of pictures.

My Life So Far

Now that your tree is down, the mantle is de-stockinged and bare,  all the decorations are safely packed away until next year leaving no hints of Christmas; some of us are feeling a post holiday void.

Here is a winter project idea to try.

Everyone has a story to tell and there is no  better time than right now to put the pen (or crayon) to paper. Get all  family members from grandparents to little ones writing their very own books titled:  My Life So Far or Christmas Memories Past.  Illustrations can be added as the stories unfold.

The original stories and drawings are made into typeset, professionally produced hardback keepsake books for your family to treasure forever.

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