Greening Sam and Avery

toddler nature play

Sick. Does that sum up the last few days for you? Coughing, sneezing, headaches, and just overall awful feeling. But today Sam is back at school and I am starting to feel a little better. So I got out the colorful paper acorns and Avery had a busy morning being a busy little squirrel!

We read The Busy Little Squirrel book first. This is a really cute little board book that is perfect for Avery. There is repitition, colorful pictures, simple animals that she is familiar with and a great simple lesson; squirrels are very busy animals. 

Then Avery started hunting for her own acorns.

Little squirrels do sometimes stop to eat an acorn!

I love when we can combine a book and pretend play! Such a great learning combination for Avery. 

How have you expanded on books lately?

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The Nitty Gritty!

We did this a little while ago with both girls. Go here to see it the first time. So, yes this is a repeat but it is nice to do things again when Sam is not around. And we just found this book so that was a great addition to the activity.  

For an outdoor element consider going for a hike looking for squirrel leaf nests or tree cavity nests. If you still have snow you could also look for snow tracks from busy squirrels. 

winter is hanging on

We had to go to the library today and check out "Now it is Winter" by Eileen Spinelli. We have talked about this book before (and other's in the series) because they are great books for helping to remind us to live in the moment, enjoy the season that we are in and not be too anxious for the next season to get here.

So we read the book today. Again and again and again. To help remind us that winter can be fun. Winter can be great! And we need to continue to find ways to enjoy winter.

How are you enjoying the cold temps and snowy days?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Sorry not much of a post today and very few posts up here lately. My life seems to be getting taken over by volunteer stuff. I love all the different projects that I am working on, side jobs and organizations but it takes a lot out of me to stay motivated here at home. Especially when both girls would really love my attention and we would much rather be playing, doing puzzles or hiking than sitting around being quiet on conference calls.

So blogging is taking a back seat right now. A back seat because I have committed to certain organizations and refuse to let them down. So when I am not working on those projets I want to play with my kids. Any spare time I have I am giving to my kids and my husband, NOT to this computer. It makes me feel terribly guilty to leave this space sitting unattended for so many days but I just don't have a choice right now.

Sorry blog world.

snow books

We don't really have any snow here but we can still dream that more will be coming!

So, we got some more snow books from the library today. Here are a few that we are enjoying.

Stella, Queen of the Snow, Marie-Louise Gay

Another cute one from the Stella and Sam adventures. We love these books! This one is filled with lots of great snow play and outdoor fun. Not a lot of true science in this one but it can help to get kids excited about heading outside to play in the snow!

Blizzard, Carole Gerber

This cute book compares what is happening outside in nature, to the inside world of a little boy during a big snow storm. The pictures of the outside show what animals might do in the snow and some beautiful images of the snow falling down! The inside images of the little boy getting cozy are pretty cute too.

Sugar Snow, Laura Ingalls Wilder

This is a book from the "My First Little House Books" series. The story tells all about tapping trees for maple syrup. And it is based in Wisconsin. This book got the girls very curious about where their maple syrup came from and if they could see it coming out of the trees. I love when a book can inspire more investigation and learning!

What are you reading with your little ones right now?

few new preschool books

These are some of the new books that we have gotten for Christmas and for Avery's birthday. Love getting books as gifts for the kids. You just can't ever have too many books!

The "I Like Bugs" book, by Lorena Siminovich, is a super simple board book with bugs, touch and feel sections, shinny/bright colors and numbers/counting. All of this are perfect for Avery. Even though she is old enough to look through big kid books without ripping them, she is still really drawn to the durability and simplicity of board books.

"Rumble in the Jungle", by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz, is so fun! It is a rhyming book that talks all about the animals that live in the jungle. Some of the facts are pretty silly but not entirely inaccurate. The girls just love the bright colors, big pictures of the animals and the silly voices that I tend to use when I read it! I mean who doesn't love silly voices?!

"Octopus Oyster Hermit Crab Snail", by Sara Anderson, is a local author for the girl's aunt Lori in Seattle, WA. She found this book and was so sweet to send it to Avery for her birthday. This is our first poem-book and the girls are really intrigued by it. I think the "story" might be a bit over their head, but the pictures are SO fun. The first part of the poem just identifies different under the sea creatures and this is Sam's favorite part. She likes to point out the creatures and tell me what they are called.

"My Woodland Wish", by Kate Endle and Caspar Babypants, is such a cute book! This one came from Seattle too and it is adorable. This little girl goes on a walk in the woods and talks to all the animals that she sees. She wants so badly for the animals to stay and play with her, but they just keep running away. The questions that she asks the animals and the way the little girl talks to them is so sweet. The images are a sort of combination between cut paper and drawings which is very unique and beautiful. We love this one!

What are your little ones reading right now?

winter books

A few nights ago I created Christmas magic in this house by staying up late and getting the whole house decorated for Christmas. When the girls woke up there were santas, snowmen, nativity scences and other winter type decorations covering every room of the house! I loved getting it all done at one time like that and once everyone else was in bed I put on Christmas music and had some great alone time with my favorite decorations!

One thing that magically appeared when they woke up was a HUGE basket of Christmas and winter books. We have the traditional ones like "Grinch that Stole Christmas", "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and "Polar Express", and several bitrh of Jesus stories. And of course we have the "character" Christmas stories like Curious George, Max and Dora. But some of our favorites are the more general winter story books that we have.

Winter Friends, by Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick

This is an adorable board book that uses real photographs to show animals in winter feasting on a tasty snowmen. The pictures are awesome and the text is very sweet.

Two of our favorite snow themed books -

Here Come the Snow, by Angela Shelf Medearis

This book has very simple words and is great for the just starting to read age group. The kids in this book are waiting and waiting for the snow and when it finally comes it describes all the fun things that they enjoy doing in the snow. It is a great book to help kids get excited for the snow and prepared for the cold weather.

Snow, by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman

This one is a very typical P.D. Eastman style book with simple, rhyming text. The pictures are cute and it is a great book for showing the fun and excitement that can be had in the snow. If you little ones are hesitant about playing in the snow this book might be a good one to check out.

Two more Carl R. Sams books that are awesome and I have listed on the Must See Children's Book Page on the sidebar. You can find them under the General Nature Related category.

 

Lastly, this one is a new one for us as the girls got it just last year for Christmas so we only read it a few times.

The Mitten, By Jan Brett

This one is super cute. A little boy loses his brand new mitten and a whoel bunch of animals, one at a time, decide it looks like a cozy home. The animals continue to find reasons (like sharp teeth and long talons) to make more room in the mitten to let more and more animals move in. Though what happens in the story is not realistic at all it can lead to great conversations! And the pictures are very fun. There are "extra" pictures along the sides that add to the story and give kids more things to look at as they listen. We are really enjoying this story.

The winter season is SUPER long here so any suggestions you have for good preschool aged winter themed books would be great!

preparing for the ocean

We leave in just a few days for the beach! Woohoo!!!

So I have been doing a few things to get the girls ready for our trip and to help them be more comfortable with the ocean. 

We have been reading some of the books that we have that deal with the ocean and beach.

 

We have also been playing with and crafting with the seashells that we have. Sam and I have also been talking about walking the beach to find more shells.

The craft we did was super simple. I made some shapes on paper board, then gave Sam glue, shells and beans. I encouraged her to make her own shapes but she just really wanted to keep glueing on the shapes that I drew.

The shells that we used were a part of a necklace that broke and when we ran out of shells we just switched to beans.

And then we looked at some of the other shells that we have.
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They liked hearing about the shark's teeth too!

The girls have had some serious hesitations about the ocean in the past. I am hoping that talking about it, getting them excited for playing on the beach and knowing that there are other things we can do there besides just swimming will make them more willing to spend time on the beach. I will keep you posted on how it goes!

Back to packing...

is it green where you are

Then these books might be of interest to you!

I was in the plants and seeds non-fiction section of the library the other day and found these three books that intrigued me. If you are in your growing season still or heading into it these might be good ones to check out for your little ones or your classroom.

Seeds Travel, Elaine Pascoe 

Real photographs show kids all about how seeds grow, what they need to grow and how they might travel to get the things that they need. The pictures of the animals are great. There is not too much information for little ones but enough that it is a great learning book!

Seed to Sunflower, Camilla de la Bedoyere

Reading this book cover to cover may be a bit much for most preschoolers but the detailed pictures and photographs can be used to help show young children different phases and processes that plants go through. A parent or teacher could break the book up and use different pages along with other activities to further the learning. 

A Seed Is Sleepy, Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long

A non-fiction seed book that is poetic! Can you believe it? This one has lots of different reading levels to involve many readers and learners. For little ones you can read the biggest text and then expand on that simply in your own words by just talking about what is in the picture. For older kids reading the whole text will teach them a ton about plants and seeds. This book shows pictures of seeds from all over the world and in all kinds of climates.

 

Read any good seed or plant books lately from the non-fiction section?

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The Nitty Gritty!

I could see these books being paired with -

• making art out of seeds
• an outdoor seed hunt
• planting seeds
• hartvesting seeds
• dissecting fruits/vegetables to find seeds
• and much more!

What seed activities do you have posts about? Leave a comment I would love to read them!

winter books

Just wanted to share a few books we are reading right now to get us ready for colder temps and lots of snow. Because eventually the 40s and 50s that we are having will go away and the snow will start to fall!

Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons, Il Sung Na

This adorable book is all about how animals prepare and handle the cold temps and outside changes that happen in winter. A little rabbit is shown moving through scenes (that it would never be in, like sitting on top of an alligator!) to show all kinds of animals. The little rabbit then changes colors at the end to show how he handles the changes of the seasons. Very great book to start learning and talking about what animals are doing during the cold season.

Winter Is, by Ann Dixon

The descriptions in this book tell all the contradictory feelings and thoughts that people can have about winter. The darkness of shorter day and the brightness of fires and the northern lights. The cold temps and the warmth you feel while going up and down hills as you sled. Winter is white because of the snow but black because of the dark night skies. The book paints a beautiful and descriptive picture of winter.

Snip, Snip, Snow, by Nancy Poydar

Sometimes kids need help to get excited about playing in the snow, this book is perfect for that. The little girl is so excited about snow but it just won't come. The book talks all about the fun things that can happen in the snow. There is also great snowflake making at her school and even a how-to guide at the back for making paper snowflakes!

What are you reading right now? Do you read books that go with the seasons?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Loving the outdoor play link up right now! Have you checked it out?

I am getting tons of new ideas for things to do outside and connecting with a lot of new bloggers. So welcome to any new readers that might be stopping by! Leave me a comment and let me know that you are here!

 

greening, when all they want to do is be princesses

My girls are in LOVE with princesses. It is all they talk about, think about and want to do all day long is be princesses. It drives me crazy sometimes because it is foreign to me. Besides playing Cinderella in a church play YEARS ago and loving that movie even now I was never overly interested in princesses. But I don't think it is a "problem" with my kids because they do have balance. They love playing with other toys, being outside and get dirty better than most little kids I know! I think balance is important but also letting them enjoy what they like is important too.

So, I try to incorporate princesses into our nature play and nature learning. If you have princess loving little girls at your house here are some ways to show them that princess know about nature too!

Books are one place to start!

Even though Fancy Nancy isn't actually a princess for my girls she still falls into that category and they love hearing about her outdoor adventures and nature themed stories. Here are some that we enjoy.

 

Another great author that fits us perfectly right now is Carmeal LaVigna Coyle. I love how her books show little girls that you can be a princess but also do and enjoy other things as well!

Today, I had four little girls at my house that like dressing up. Then they found the giant bin of puppets and wanted a puppet show. But of course the show HAD to include a princess. So, I grabbed the priness puppet and told these little girls a whole story about how the princess had lost her best friend. While she was out looking for her best friend she ran into all kinds of people and animals. She would ask for their help to find her best friend and she would describe the friend she was looking for (eats acorns, lives in trees, brown, has fur, long tail, small hands, walks on four feet, etc.). Each friend would guess an animal that she was looking for but no one got it right. Finally the giraffe was able to help the princess find her best friend...the squirrel! They had all guessed which animal it was already but I just kept going with the story telling them they would have to wait for the princess to find her friend for them to find out. The kids loved the puppet show and asked me to do it again and again. We tried many different animals and had a great time with this game.

Other ways you can incorporate princesses into outdoor and nature play -

• Let your kids take their princess dolls or figurines outside to play or on a hike with them.
• Build an outdoor play area for your princess doll or figurine (buying a small, completely plastic doll may help make this easier and not ruin the doll).
• Let your kids wear their favorite piece of dress up while they are outside or on a hike.
• Buy princess themed outdoor gear; binoculars, gardening tools, water bottle, balls and other outdoor toys.
• When they are dressed up like princesses and playing pretend, encourage them to be princess explorers, hikers or other incorporating other outdoor adventure activities into their pretend play (the stairs can become a huge mountain for princesses to climb!).

What are your kiddos interested in? How do you encourage their interest but keep them balanced at the same time?

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The Nitty Gritty!
I strongly believe in balance for everything that my kids do. But sometimes it is just so easy to give in to their obsession. When they want a book to read, a toy to play with or I need an on the go activity it is always easiest to go with something princess themed. It takes more work for me to encourage something else, to be excited about something else so they will too. Maintaining balance in what they play with and love is something that I have to be aware of and think about all the time. I'm not perfect at it and I do give in but because I think it is important I continue to try my best.

Is there anything wrong with them loving princesses? I have no idea. I am sure some child pschologist somewhere could tell me all the ways the image of the princess is setting my daughter up for failure and there are probably others that would say the opposite. I have no idea. I just think that everything in their life from what they eat, watch, play with, read and do should all be balanced. Just my thoughts, with no real science to back that up!  

Do you try to maintain balance? Why do you feel it is (or isn't) important?

it's beginning to look a lot like

Nope. I am not going to say it. I am not going to say the name of the Holiday that we are all already thinking about. I can't say the name because it is too early to start thinking about it but I just can't help myself!

Presents have already been bought and hidden. Thought maybe there were some other moms out there as crazy as me and getting things ready already. So, I will share a few of the things I have set aside. Mostly books but a fun little treasure that I picked up for all the little girls in my life!

Books first because every little explorer needs new books for Christmas.

A Garden of Opposites, Nancy Davis

This one is for Avery and it is super cute! I love the simple pictures that are all related to the garden. The colors are bright and fun. And even though the opposites are simple, like same versus different, there is room to expand with your child and have them think even more about the opposites and the pictures. (Like why are these the same? What is different about these two? How do we know they are awake? etc.)

Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth, Mary McKenna Siddals

Super fun, cut paper images that clearly describe all the things you can put into a compost pile in alphabetical order! The long list of things that can be put in a compost pile is presented in a rhyming way that is fun to read. And then at the end it provides simple instructions for how to tend to your compost and what you will get in the end.

Bugs for Lunch, Margery Facklam

This is a great rhyming book that talks about all different kinds of animals that eat bugs. The animals are from all over the world and live in very different habitats so it is neat that they are all connected because of what they eat. Even adults might be surprised by some of the animals that commonly eat bugs!

Where Would I Be in an Evergreen Tree?, Jennifer Blomgren

This one is for Sam because she has recently learned to climb the evergreen tree in our backyard and thinks it is so cool to be up in the tree off the ground. This book talks about all the animals, birds, insects and even plants that live on and around a large evergreen tree. I think Sam is really going to like this one and there are a ton of new animals, words and plants for us to learn about in this book.

And then there are these awesome hairclips!

They are made by an amazing company called The Eco Purse Project. They make hairclips, purses, wallets, bracelets, bags, floormats, bibs and even laptop cases all out of recycled plastic bags and bottles! They upcycle to make some of the most beautiful stuff! And their hairclips really hold up to toddler hands! I bought one for Sam and she is loving it, so I got a few more to share with the other little girls in my life. (Sorry to spoil the surprise Aunt Jojo!)

So, I have bows for the girls and books for each of them! What have you bought already for the holiday that shall remain nameless until after Thanksgiving? And what are you getting your little explorer this year?