show me a story: review and giveaway!

I've been so excited to tell you about this brand new book:  show me a STORY- 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children's Storytelling!  I first met the author, Emily Neuberger, online as a fellow crafter, and then was lucky enough to have her and her lovely mother in one of my Squam workshops. We've kept in touch over the years and shared our book writing adventures during late night emails. Yesterday began her book blog tour, and today it stops here for a peek inside and a giveaway below. Emily has created an AMAZING resource for parents, homeschoolers and educators.

Storytelling is an intrinsic part of child development and a wonderful way to encourage creativity and imagination, while building communication skills. The projects Emily has designed are simple, yet totally enticing... it arrived in the midst of my daughter having a playdate and both girls devoured it cover to cover. It not only got their stamp of approval, but my mother was still in town and was wowed by it, as well. She has been an early childhood educator and reading/language specialist for decades and has incredibly high standards... so that's saying a lot, folks!  We both loved this story wheel, which I'm keeping in the car to enhance any road trip or carpool commute.

 In fact, many of the story games and prompts are very portable, which make them perfect for incorporating into the little windows of time that our current culture seems to be be determined to fill up with plugged in technology.

I'm so thrilled to have a slew of new ideas for the coming cold, when we're looking for cozy activities around the fire... but tons of the projects incorporate outside time, too. Thank you, Emily!

And there are even wonderful group activities for engaging more than one or two children... parties, classrooms, homeschooling gatherings will be benefit from so many of these tools which foster play and working together! I'm gushing, I know...  but it's a good one. In fact, I was going to donate my copy to my daughter's little Montessori school, but I've ordered them a copy... so I can keep my own!

Are you ready to have a chance to win a free copy for your own home or classroom? Storey Publishing has a book with one of your names on it! Just leave a comment below before Thursday, the 27th, at 8pm EST. I'll announce the randomly selected winner on Friday. The publisher has requested this to be open to US residents only, please.  Here's a look at the rest of the tour calendar... follow along for more giveaways and inside peeks! Good luck, friends! Congratulations again, Emily... what a fabulous book you've created!
Week One 

9.24 Catherine Newman
9.25 maya*made
9.26 Crafty Crow
9.27 Average Jane Crafter
9.28 Zaa Berry

Week Two
10.1 Zakka Life
10.2 Small Measure
10.3 scrumdilly-do
10.4 One Golden Apple
10.5 Jane of All Trades

Week Three
10.8 Mommy Coddle
10.9 Whip Up
10.10 Wise Craft
10.11 Bird and Little Bird

******

counting down with a december map

Since 2008, I've had a blast creating count down/advent calendars out of the unassuming, and quite humble, toilet paper tube. This year we will "roll" out one the three sets to revisit. I'm thinking 2010 strung as a garland. If you'd like to try your hand at one, they're quite fun to make and easy to adapt for plenty of child participation.
2010
2009
2008

The t.p. tubes I've been saving all year will definitely take on some holiday transformations, perhaps as ornaments... I'm in the very fun experimental stage, but will share soon.

Every year we count down to Christmas with a combination of treats, time tickets, and clues. I will be completely honest, I often don't know what it will be until the night before. Sometimes it feels like a mad scramble. This year we're switching things up to simplify life as well as to appreciate living simply during this busy season. Each night and weekend morning my children will find a slip of paper with an activity that celebrates the magic of this month. I am working on my list right now and making sure that each one corresponds accordingly with what I already know of our calendar. For instance, building ginger bread houses will happen on a Sunday vs. a school day with piano lessons. Just common sense, but I'm finding that the process is a bit like mapping out this month that has the potential to overwhelm me. Here's what I've got going on so far... I'm still playing with the dates:

1. cut paper snowflakes and tape them to the windows
2. make hot cocoa with candy cane stirrers
3. bring in evergreen boughs
4. bake cookies
5. hang stockings
6. fold paper stars
7. string cranberries and popcorn
8. decorate sugar cookies
9. gather unused toys to share with others
10. go tree hunting
11. Make gingerbread houses
12. decorate the tree 
13. make edible decorations for the birds and squirrels
14. read Christmas stories
15. sing carols
16. make salt dough ornaments
17. make a card (or two) and send it to someone special
18. Daddy's birthday choice 
19. poach pears
20. roll beeswax candles
21. have a candlelit evening (and an unplugged night)
22. roast chestnuts and take a drive into the village to see the lights

So much of what has made it to the list are things we do every year. Much anticipated traditions. I've seen my share of activity advent calendars over the years, but I had no idea what a sense of comfort and rhythm they create for the organizer. My December map! (I can almost here the sound of trumpets!) Are you ready to transition into next month, yet? Here we go...

editor's note: I was waiting all day for my friend Sonia to put up her count down activity list... she has inspired me for years with her wonderful December projects.  It's up now, so got take a look here!

Alphabet Glue #3 and a giveaway!

My friend Annie, of Bird and Little Bird,  has just published Volume 3 of her e-zine Alphabet Glue. I've looked forward to each issue and am always delighted by how many well thought out activities, projects and printables are packed into one downloadable PDF. Annie's intention is to" inspire kids and their families to engage with the literary world around them."  As a mother, special ed. and literacy educator Annie pulls from her own experiences with children, as well as her love for nature, science and craft. Alphabet Glue is a wonderful addition to many different homeschooling paths and is a perfect companion for any family looking to expand their repertoire of "good stuff to do" on rainy days and slowed down weekends.

fabric covered center-stitched books

"There are bookmaking projects, of course, as well printable fiction and non-fiction reading lists to take along on your library adventures.  This issue also includes a fun activity to encourage the curiosity of aspiring scientists, and has a special feature on the geography of stories and story mapping as well."

Story buntings, three ways

"Build bridges, make a story graph, follow your favorite story character on the map.  Make stickers and beautiful buntings and plans for great writing. Ask questions and look for the answers. Fall is here at last, let's jump into the leaf pile."

Non-fiction question boxes

Inside Volume Three:

A Reading List for Fall

Year of Favorites Reading Calendar

Story Buntings

Question Boxes

Non-Fiction Reading Resources

Fabric Covered Center-Stitched Books

Inspiration Envelopes

Accordion-Fold Sticker Books

Toothpick Bridge Construction

The Geography of Stories:

"You are Here" Reading List

Ants Go Marching Story Map

Story Excitement Charts

Traditional Story Maps

I'm happy to announce that Annie would love to send some of you a free copy... because she's nice that way, and also because she feels that all of you are too! maya*made readers are bright, thoughtful and sensitive folks. Of course, I know this, but I felt proud  way when I heard her say it, too. Five of you bright, thoughtful and sensitive readers will receive a free copy of the latest issue of Alphabet Glue! Five! Thanks Annie! Now, if you can't wait or want to send a copy to a friend, they're only $4, so jump over and pick one up right here. To enter in the giveaway simply leave a comment with your email address before Sunday at 5pm EST. Perhaps share a favorite fall book... We love the Brambly Hedge series and just re-read Autumn Story the other day. Good luck friends! I'll announce the winners on Monday morning.
*all photos via Alphabet Glue

And the winners are:
-Ziezo said...Thanks for the give away! Would be great to do these activities with my 3 little 'readers'. 
  

-Emily Proudfoot said...
What a lovely 'zine! My kids would be delighted ~ and speaking of kids - my favorite fall children's book right now is "Zen Ghosts" by Jon Muth. His illustrations just put me over the moon every time...happy fall!

 

-Ms. Knitsalot said...
I just read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf today to 2nd grade students in the library. Thanks for the giveaway - sounds excellent!

- nest full of eggs said...oh, my children love books ~ so please enter me ! thanks !!

- PeaceMama said...
this is great! if i don't win, i most definitely want to check it out! we love so many fall books, but top on the list right now is The Apple Pie that Papa Baked. for me, i still love Go Down Moses, and The Bear in particular, by Faulkner for the description of hunting in the autumn.

Congratulations to all of you! 


 

review: Action Pack Great Outdoors

There will be more Squam related posts next week, but I thought I'd send you off with a camp experience we can all share... right now. I am so happy  thrilled to introduce Action Pack's latest issue: The Great Outdoors. Kathreen, superhero of WhipUp.net fame, has put together a wonderful collection of activities, crafts and recipes for each issue of her stellar kids E-zine Action Pack.

But this latest one...OH MY WORD! This issue is over the top, insanely GOOD! It's the MEGA issue for June/July and it's completely awesome. 



Maybe I'm biased... I grew up thinking summers were about cooking over fires you make by yourself, foraging for food and nature's treasures, and staying out all day under a canopy of trees. This issue is akin to a handbook for a wild nature/survival camp. With one issue, you'll have all you need for summer adventure.

*Disclaimer: Kathreen was generous enough to send me a copy to review, but this enthusiasm of mine is pure and genuine... I have not been this excited about anything in the child activity arena in memory. It's really that good. And to give you a taste, I've included  some details from Action Pack's site, and then I recommend just heading over and getting ready for summer fun. 
From Action Pack-

"In this pack you will find:

- Campfire cooking recipes, Weather science experiments and Outdoor art projects.

- This Action Pack also has a super great section on Boredom busting games for car trips and rainy days. And we know there are plenty of those at holiday time.

- This Action Pack has a lovely big section on crafts: Including detailed instructions on how to make a must-have utility belt and bag , flower press and nature journal to take along on your nature excursions with you, and nature jewels and a woven fly swat that you can make while camping or hiking, from materials you can find along the way.

- This Action Pack also has a whole section on adventure and survival. Including how to make your own fish trap, fishing rod, how to safely light a campfire and detailed illustrations on how to tie seven different knots that just might save your life!

And here's a freebie- a project excerpt: 
"Make your own Fish Trap using a juice bottle
Download the project excerpt on making your own Fish Trap using a juice bottle. Not only is this a great project for when you are camping, it’s a terrific weekend and holiday project too – if you live near a creek or pond, give this a try – it’s heaps of fun and you never know what you will catch when you come back the next day to check on your trap. The beauty of this trap is that the fish are not harmed – you can let them go if you like, or you can observe and study them for a while, or if you are keen on fishing you might catch some fishies perfect as bait to catch that next big fish!"

Kathreen, I am so grateful for your contribution to today's child. There is so much thought, ingenuity, wisdom, respect and creativity loaded into each issue. At a time when our older children are so vulnerable to the seduction of technology, you have created and intelligent and enticing alternative. Thank you!

Action Pack Great Outdoors
Past issues of Action Pack
Action Pack Philosophy

April and a new Action Pack

Can you believe it's April? Looking out my window, you'd never know it. Spring is definitely having some foolery with us. But here are some sure signs that it's a fresh month:

1. I turned all the calendars in the house.
2. New sponsors to welcome: Blarter and Big Dreams.Small Wonders.  More to come on both of these, and don't forget about the other wonders over on the left sidebar. They are each fantastic.
3. And last, but not least Kathreen  has launched the April issue of Action Pack! She's amazing, that Kathreen, and so is this issue.

 

If you need a bit of sunshine, and some awesome ideas for your independent and curious middles sized child... here you go! Kathreen is generously offering my readers (you lovely ones, you!) a 20% discount to either or both issues of Action Pack. There is a maximum of 50 coupons available or until Sunday, which ever comes first - so you gotta be quick! Here's your coupon code: ''APMayaMade0002'' 

Enjoy!

making and baking

We're keeping busy with our favorite activities: making and baking. There's been lots of making:  mini books, music, and hearts. The hearts were my attempt to steer my daughter into mass production mode while still maintaining the fun. No one wants Valentine burn out within the first few days of February! After wetting several sheets of water color paper with a sponge, she covered them in pink and purple. After they dried, we brought out our heart punch. It was her first time using it, and there was much enthusiasm. The excitement about the scraps almost topped the thrill of the "heart popper", as the puncher has now been fondly dubbed. I'm not sure how they will turn into Valentine's, but we're off to a good start.

Making an abundance of hearts is a definitely a sweet way to spend an afternoon...with the addition of my son serenading us on the piano (practice time is like a free concert these days... he's so good!), I was transported to one of those mothering moments. You know, the ones when you float out of your body and hover around the ceiling looking down at the scene thinking, "hold onto this memory... keep it safe... bottle it up... remember it when things aren't so smooth."

And so we baked. Baking is one of my favorite ways of saying "I love you" to (and with) my family. This gingerbread (via Laura) was perfect. Her daughter had baked and shared it last week  before ice skating lessons, and my kids were excited to make it themselves. The recipe is in the first Silver Palate if you have it, and I found it here, too. It's a good" throw everything in a bowl" kind of cake.  I love that there's no dairy (we avoid it when there are colds in the house), and the amount of sugar is fairly low. They ate it unadorned... no icing or dusting of powdered sugar... and begged for seconds thirds!

cat party! part two

On the morning of my daughter's cat party, she carefully hung gift bags up by the mantel as we cleaned and decorated the house. It's become a bit of a tradition. Guests always enjoy arriving and instantly seeing that something special is waiting for them. I used bits of fabric from one of my overflowing scrap buckets.  I sort my scraps by size and color. This makes it easy when I have a specific project in mind. Each bag is white, but not exactly matching. I carved a party cat, stamped it on the front, and added a quick drawstring with twill tape. On the back of each tag was the recipient's name. As you may have noticed, there was no real color scheme to the party- we used what he had. Fabric stamping ink in dusty purple- sure. Lots of extra twill tape in yellow- yup. Matching dishes and cups- nope.Various bunting and garlands from previous years- hang them up. It was eclectic. It was just right!

Back to the bags... they were empty- waiting to be filled with piñata prizes and little gray cats. I whipped these up the night before. Just gray paint, a sharpie, wool scraps and a glue gun. In retrospect, this might have been a fun craft for the children to make by themselves with me as the master gluer. Next year...

Do you ever get an idea in your head and can't stop thinking about it? That's how it was for my daughter and pin stick the hat on the cat. Poor girl, we didn't get to it until the morning of. But it ended up being fantastic to give her a focus for all that excited pre-party energy.She channeled it right into this sweet kitty!

We sketched the body together and then she painted it. I did a little outlining, but she truly created almost all of it and was so proud to show it off when her friends arrived.

 The hat is just a piece of cardboard with paper pasted on one side.Those eyelashes... my favorite part!

A donut of Duct tape is on the other side and stayed sticky for several rounds of playing. "Around and around goes the cat... then she stops just like THAT!" I chanted as I slowly turned each child in circles before pointing them in the right direction.

Other party details:

•  there was fishing for cat food (construction paper fish and paperclips) with magnetic fishing poles (dowels, string, and magnets)
• they made bagel cat faces
• chocolate cupcakes were served with all the fixings for more cat faces
• although there were other activities in the queue, masks invite dramatic play. Making sure there was plenty of time left for that was important, too.
• a piñata! That post will have to wait one more day, because I have some work I must get to and off I go... 

Thanks for coming to the party with us!

cat party! part one

I love throwing memorable birthday parties for my children.  This blog didn't exist for most of them, but I've hosted an insect, space, lego, Magic Tree House, fairy, and unicorn party to name a few of the early childhood ones. This year's request: a cat party.  My daughter had three wishes: a piñata, pin the party hat on the cat, and mask making. Some active tweeting gave me a few other great ideas, and we were off and running. Cat calls were made:) and on a brutally cold day... seven cats gathered for celebrating

We began with masks. After looking around the web for an interesting tutorial,  good ol' Martha pointed me in the direction of this Mardi Gras supply store in New Orleans. Just what we had had in mind... and one less thing for me to make. I ordered paper mache blanks for each child and set out paint for them. After doing a trial mask the the day before, I decided not to get too complicated with glue and whiskers. I knew the girls would want to wear them immediately... so we stuck with one medium (paint) for all of the decorating. This turned out to be a great move, because with the wood stove cranking, they dried in minutes. (There's daddy cat in the background adding more wood!)  They slipped them on as they made and ate a snack- mini bagels decorated as cat faces. Don't those cats look grand?! It's like a storybook come to life!

The girls took their "costumes" very seriously... masks have powerful transformational qualities. Suddenly, we had a house filled with very playful and animated cats. Perfect timing for some movement. We played musical cat beds for the longest time. How to play? Just like musical chairs, but folded towels acted as cat beds. My son is a wonderful pianist and entertainer, so he played as they crawled. When someone missed a bed, they got the lucky job of sitting on the couch to be fed a "cat treat" (a sunspire chocolate drop). The intention was to diminish any feelings of being "out" or losing. No none of that and it's amazing how effective a little bit of chocolate is.



They could have played this for hours, but I was concerned about little knees on our sisal rug. We moved right into freeze dance. While the music played everyone had to do their craziest cat dance... the photographer got in on the action too, so sorry no photos... but it was good fun. Tomorrow I'll share a few of the handmade items crafted for our cats friends.

improvisational collaborations

One of the goals for my mother's visit was to have some intergenerational studio time. My daughter doesn't take well to pre-conceived projects and crafts, preferring an open-ended process that she has complete control over. She's happiest making art that is inspired by the materials in front of her or by what she is currently passionate about. I've learned to never say "would you like to make such and such..."

Knowing this, my mother spread out bunches of material on the work table, turned up the music and invited us to dig into: 

• bowls of scrap paper: both found and leftover slices from her paper cutter
• colored pencils and oil pastels
• scissors of all kinds
• paste
• plastic animals and toys
• old photos
• little recycled white boxes 
• rubber stamps and ink

We all got busy. My mother and I both reached for the boxes, while the littlest in the group investigated the animals and small strips of paper.

When she saw the below box that her grandmother was working, the temptation to join in was too great. Can you blame her? We were PLAYING! There were no rules.

I had no idea where I was going, so when she jumped in to direct me... all of my answers were YES!

And then  "puppet pieces" were made for my mother to use in their shared box.


Collaborating with someone small is always satisfying. The inner-critic must remain silent. Before you know it your childlike tendencies are slipping between the cracks and fresh inspiration is generating freely. This is different "work" than an adult-lead making session, where the child helps and has input, but the outcome has already been determined. That is a valuable kind of collaborating in its own right, but today I'm talking about connecting with your child through play and spontaneity with varied materials resulting in an unknown outcome. Give it a try... I'm certain you'll be delighted.

double doodle

 

 I must share what I learned last night! My daughter's art teacher guided the children through some "double doodle" exercises and now she can't stop creating them. I gave it a try and it's mesmerizing.

Here are several different approaches:

• moving the markers along side one another going in the same direction 
• moving each hand in a different direction... at the same time
• mirror imaging one another

My daughter insists the ONLY way is the mirror image option. She's got her rules. I think any way  you do it, you're putting your non-dominant hand to work and exercising both sides of your brain. A good thing and quite captivating.  She started me off with a heart. I suggest the same. Go grab some markers and tell me what you think.

p.s. would you take a look at those snow peeps!
p.p.s. I'll be around a bit this weekend so stop back for a visit.

paperchains continued

It's amazing how much we ALL respond to newspaper and watercolors. I also think paper chains must  be part of our shared childhood memories... so I couldn't help but continue with the leaves. These are so little and delicate. I think I'll make several for hanging in the windows.

Next, I tried using an xacto knife and highly recommend it for adult paper-chainers. I discovered two newspaper tricks along the way:

1.  Pencil erasers work wonders on taking a little ink off for creating faces.
2. Glue sticks are indispensable for reattaching heads... ouch!

I also painted some new children for my daughter and created some "blanks"  for her to fill in when she gets home today. I miss not having her at my side constantly, and our afternoons are always about reconnecting. A gentle art project, as simple as watercolors or markers, facilitates talking. It gives her an opportunity to share her daily adventures and tell me all the little details I'm hungry for. When asked too many  questions of the "how was your day" variety, most young children can't respond with much more than one word answers. I find that joining my daughter in some good creative work increases her ability (and desire) to relive her day or any feelings that have come up... naturally and without pressure. She's quite happy and insanely in love with her friends, but don't you think paper dolls lend themselves perfectly to discussions about friendship. Just saying...