Creating a Family Travel Guide

When Michael and I were in college we spent many weekends at the Red River Gorge, and even after we got married we still went camping pretty regularly.  But once we started having kids camping got a bit complicated, and we started staying in cabins and not tent camping as much as we used to "back in the day".  Now that the kids are getting older we've decided it's time to start tent camping again.  Last Fall we decided that we are going to take the kids to our favorite place to camp, the Red River Gorge at least once a year for a camping trip.  Read all about our first camping trip with all four kids in this post.

The Gorge is breathtakingly beautiful, and there are more paths, trails, and sites to see than one can count.  We have several trail guides for the Red River Gorge that we use when we go camping and hiking, but we decided to make our own family Guide Book for the Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge area for our future trips.  This book is something that we can continue to add to over the years, and take with us each year to remember the paths we hiked, the places we camped, and the sites we saw.  I'm hoping this book will end up being a family treasure as we add to it each year.

Here's a bit more about how we made our book:
I bought a simple (large) journal at Michael's Craft store, and printed out many pictures from our trips, along with labels to label each hike/page.  Then we decided how to organize the book.  We have sections for hikes we take, places we stay, and what we ate.  I started each page with a title and a few pictures, then we all write notes about the hike.  It was interesting to see what the kids had to say about our trip.  And I can't wait to add to this each year and see how it evolves as the kids get older!

Here are some pictures of our Red River Gorge Travel Guide:
**Click on photos to see larger versions of them.

For some of the pages I copied text from our official trail guide books, just so we could remember exactly which trail we took on each trip. 

Do you have a place your family likes to travel to on a regular basis?  Or perhaps you take a different road trip or vacation each year?  You should consider making a family travel guide with your kids, it's a great learning experience!

And if you are looking for things to cook on your camping trip see this Menu Planning Post

Book Review :: Wonder

While I was at the library a few weeks back the bright blue cover of the book Wonder caught my eye.  I had heard friends say that this was a must-read, but hadn't had the

chance to read it yet, so I grabbed it.  It is a young adult book, by R.J. Palacio.  As soon as I opened the book I was sucked in.  When I got about halfway through I came to the conclusion that this book should be a required read for all middle schoolers.  And so I "made" Ella start reading the book too.  Ahem, I use the word "made" lightly.  I just suggested it and she readily agreed.  So we both read it at the same time.  Which was awesome because we could discuss the book and any questions that came up.  I don't want to tell you too much about this book or give anything away, so I'm going to keep my review brief.  The book is about a boy named August who has some major facial deformities who has been home-schooled his whole life but is preparing to enter middle school for the first time.  Aside from his physical appearance he is just a normal boy.  Scratch that, he's not normal...he's Extraordinary.  He's wise beyond his years, and has an old soul in my opinion.  The book is written beautifully and from the perspective of several different characters so you really do get a chance to get into everyone's mind and see what they are really thinking.  I say that this should be required reading because it is a hard thing to teach a child empathy & kindness, but I think this book would teach young children to consider other people more compassionately.  This book is about enduring friendships, dealing with bullies, family dynamics, and figuring out the rocky terrain of middle school and high school.  It is both painful & beautiful all at once.  

Ella really enjoyed this book too, and I loved hearing her emotional and caring thoughts as she read the book.  I have to note...we were both disappointed that they depicted 5th graders as of the age for dating (boo!  hiss!  too young!).  I was glad to hear her agree with me on that one ;)   
You can find this book at your local library, or in our Amazon Shop.  Happy Reading!

Please note, this post may contain an affiliate link.  If you make a purchase on Amazon.com using the links on this blog then the Little Things Mama will get a small percentage.  ANY purchase you make counts towards our blog if you simply follow the Amazon link found here.  Your purchase does not need to include something from my store, anything you purchase on Amazon is eligible.  Your support by shopping via this blog is much appreciated!  I was not paid for this review...we just love this product so much that I had to share!

Dude Diary

At our school's book fair last fall Max stumbled upon a book that he declared he simply

must have.    Usually for book fairs the kids are given a certain amount of money and told that they must buy books...not other "stuff" like erasers, posters, gimmicky junk kind of stuff.  So he knew the diary was off limits.  He talked on and on so much about this "Dude Diary"  that I felt like I should at least check it out.  I went to the book fair, saw that it looked kind of cool and decided it would make a good stocking stuffer for the holidays.  I was RIGHT.  Max flipped his lid when he found the Dude Diary in his stocking.  

 This diary is like a national secret treasure.  It has it's own lock and key and for the first week or so after he got it I wasn't allowed to even think about looking at it.  But then I asked if I could just see a few pages to see how cool it was.  The following are pictures from the book that Max agreed to share with the public.  Most pages are still off limits ;)  I wanted to give you a glimpse of how cool this book is.  

You have to start with the Security page - this way nobody can get into your book if their handprint does not match.  Or so he thinks. 
 

Then you move on to all of the wild and crazy pages....

 I absolutely love this WARNING at the beginning of the book:

 
 I love this book for several reasons:  it gives him his own personal space to express himself, it encourages him to think creatively and use his imagination, and it makes him giggle nonstop.

You can find the Dude Diary in our Amazon Shop (remember every time you shop on Amazon and use my links a few pennies goes into our penny bank!).  I highly recommend this book as a gift for young boys, Max is in 2nd grade, but I'd say it'd be good for grades 1-5.  

 Please note, this post may contain an affiliate link.  If you make a purchase on Amazon.com using the links on this blog then the Little Things Mama will get a small percentage.  ANY purchase you make counts towards our blog if you simply follow the Amazon link found here.  Your purchase does not need to include something from my store, anything you purchase on Amazon is eligible.  Your support by shopping via this blog is much appreciated!  I was not paid for this review...we just love this product so much that I had to share!

The books I've been reading...

This post was inspired by Ella Bella Princess of Kentucky, my sweet nine year old daughter.  She wrote a blog post a few weeks back listing all of her favorite books and books she had been reading over the summer.  After reading her post, and helping her take a picture of her favorite books I was itching to do the same!  I wanted to share some of the fabulous books I've been reading lately.  I finished up the Game of Thrones series a few months ago after reading them for almost a year.  I was absolutely enthralled with this series, and the show that HBO created.  I felt so empty and sad when I finished the last book.  Especially know that the author, George R.R. Martin takes YEARS to write each book, so who knows when I'll get another GOT fix.  I needed a good book STAT to fill that hole in my heart, so I took to Facebook and collected ideas from friends.  Here's what I've been reading:

Food Rules by Michael Pollan - I'm actually reading this for the second time, and sharing the rules with my family this time around.  I'm not going to lie, we don't follow all of the rules, but this book sure has changed the way I look at food and eating.  And by sharing it with the kids and Michael we are engaging in some great discussions about healthy eating and healthy living and hopefully teaching the kids how to make good choices about foods they eat.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - This book was chilling.  I loved it.  I read this book while watching the Walking Dead, so I was left with so many fears of what could come of this nation/world.  They both made me want to come up with some emergency plans for a complete societal downfall.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I'm not quite sure how to describe this book, except to say it's magical and captivating.  I could not put it down, I felt pulled into this wonderland of a circus. 

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - I am reading this book to the children in anticipation of the movie coming out in December.  We are all enjoying reading this book as a family, and cannot wait to see it on the big screen. 

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Camelot, Avalon, Knights of the Round Table, and more...all seen through the eyes of the ladies of the time.  I'm almost halfway through this book, and really like it so far!

Moosewood Restaurant New Classics - I love leafing through cookbooks! I'm trying to find some new recipes to try out.  Pinterest is fun, but there's nothing like reading through actual cookbooks.

What are YOU reading?

ps...If you are interested in buying any of these books, I have many of them in my Amazon Shop.  You can click on the link HERE or on the right side of this blog page to get to my shop.  If you do ANY shopping on Amazon using my link, I will get credit for your purchases and perhaps even earn myself a little mula ;)  Happy Shopping!

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

the "special" book box

in our home we have a bookshelf or container to store reading materials in every single room.  sometimes two shelves in one room.  we have ALOT of books...books of all sorts.  in our living room, even though we have two bookshelves we also have a "special" book basket that holds the kids' library books, and any seasonal books we might have.  i like to pull out special books throughout the year, or go to the library to get special books pertaining to the season, holiday, or any other special event going on in our lives.  right now we have a big wooden box under the tree filled with all of our christmas books.  the kids get so excited about whatever seasonal books we have out, and it encourages them to pick them up and read because they are right there at their level in plain sight, and often times they are new titles that they have not read before, or haven't read in a long time.

this isn't just a handy thing to do for seasons & holidays, but for any special topic of interest that your kids are curious about.  this summer we took the kids to see the cleopatra exhibit at the cincinnati museum center, and it kindled an obsession with all things egyptian for a while, so our box was full of books about mummies, pyramids, etc.  and then after egypt their focus was on severe weather, so we stocked up on books about tornadoes, lightning and storms at our local library. 

i came up with this idea when i was teaching preschool, because we would rotate the books we had on our shelves and the kids seemed to love the variety and new titles.  

so get out to your local library and stock up on books that will satisfy your children's curiosities or tell them more about the celebrations you are attending.  and consider a book box of your own, the novelty of the book box might get your kids more excited about reading! 

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama:  A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

making books with children :: all about me

Recently I taught a course for children entitled "Beyond Books".  Each week I selected several books in the same category/theme/area of interest and planned activities based upon these books.  I tried to come up with fun, engaging & hands-on learning activities for the children.  My hope in this class was to encourage a love of reading, and an appreciation for books. 

For the topic "All About Me" we read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood and On The Day you Were Born by Debra Frasier.  We talked about qualities that made each of us unique, and on the board I wrote each child's name (vertically) and we came up with a word for each letter, for example, using Ella's name:  E is for Enchanting, L is for Loving, L is for Laughing, A is for Artistic.  The kids had fun coming up with the words to describe themselves.  It was a perfect activity to boost self-confidence. 

Then we set about to make books of our own.  Before class I made books for each child using copy paper for the inside, cardstock for the front & back covers, and staples & masking tape to bind.  Here's what I came up with:

For the inside pages I printed out some that had to be filled out by the students with writing, and some that gave a title and then asked them to illustrate (ie: the "My Family" page).  I also left some blank pages at the end for them to draw/write what they wished. 

The kids had a great time working on these books, and in the end they were so proud of their work.  I think that they were extra excited about the projects because they were so personal, and also because working on a book made them feel like authors. The children loved being authors and illustrators of books all about themselves...Ella is still looking for a publisher. 

This is a wonderful project to encourage self-awareness, an appreciation for oneself as a unique individual, good practice with reading & writing skills, and also find motor skills.  Another great thing about this project is it's versatility.  I did it in a classroom with first and second graders, and I also did it at home with my 5 year old and my 7 year old.  I think you could also modify the project for older students or younger children (illustrations only).  You can do the project with materials you have on hand at home...paper & pencil, crayons, markers, or you can get fancy with the illustrations and make collages, or use real photos.   The possibilities are endless. 

monster mayhem

many small tots are afraid of monsters...this project might be just the ticket to help make monsters a little less scary.  it's also a great opportunity to talk to kids about reality vs. make believe.  and it's just downright fun.
to begin,  i collected several books about monsters that weren't so scary and read them to the kids before starting our monster craft:

all of these books are favorites in our house.  especially Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems, it's such a cute story!  And of course Max loves Where the Wild Things Are!
After we read the stories (some of them more than once), I collected our monster making materials.

we used pieces of colored foam (large and small), puff balls, eyeballs, pipe cleaners (we actually ended up ditching these because they were tricky to glue down), scissors, rainbow colored sharpies, tacky glue, and feathers.  the beauty of this particular project though is that you don't need these exact materials.  you can create monsters out of anything you have on hand...construction paper, crayons, empty boxes, empty toilet paper rolls, recycled materials, and the list goes on.  anything goes with monster mayhem!

so i threw all of these materials out on the table and told them to make their own monsters...and encouraged them to be as creative as they could...and they were creative indeed!  that's it, just one direction:  make a monster.

max took a few minutes to think about his monster plans before starting the project.

ella jumped right in and started cutting out body parts for her monster.

sam hardly spoke at all while working on his monster...he was so intent!  and he did not want any help or ideas from anyone.  which is just how it should be when letting the creative juices flow.

monster body

then add a monster head...and other various monster body parts and eyeballs.

and the end result is monster mayhem!

(l-r: ella, sam & max)

making books with children :: create your own ABC book

I am teaching a course right now, to children ages 4-6, called Beyond Books.  In the class we read stories and then do projects based on the books we have read.  I love teaching this class, and I have some fun projects prepared for my students.  My own children do not want to miss out on the fun, so I have promised them that each week will have our own activity time at home based on the projects I did with my class.

This past weekend the theme for the day was Alphabet Books.  I went to the library and checked out a whole stack of ABC books to read to the children.  I love that our library puts a sticker on the spine of the books that says "ABC" so I can scan the aisles and grab a variety of books all about letters.  I did not read all of them during the class, there just wasn't enough time, but my favorite was The Hidden Alphabet by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.  The illustrations were fantastic.  All of the students and my kids loved this one. 

After reading a few of the ABC books and talking to them about the different parts of a book I gave the children their task:  to create their own alphabet book.  I had a great time watching their work develop.  It was interesting to see what approaches they took, and what words they came up with for each letter.  The students in my class weren't able to finish the books in the time allotted, so they took them home to work on, but my kids finished theirs up in a few hours.  I think this is a perfect hands-on learning experience for young kids, anywhere from age 2 (with help) to age 10.  I think the most important thing you can do is to let them write and illustrate this book on their own.  When the kids asked for ideas I was very careful to suggest LOTS of words, or to direct them to magazines to look for ideas.  I hope that you try this project at home with your own children, and if you do, let me know how it goes!

Here's how we created alphabet books:



First I made books out of 2 pieces of card stock, 15 pages of copy paper, three staples and a strip of colored masking tape. 

Then I gathered a bunch of supplies, magazines to cut, construction paper, scissors, glue sticks, tape, crayons and colored paper.

I gave the kids their blank books and instructed them to make and alphabet book, starting with A and ending with Z.  I also made sure they knew that they had to use the front and back of each page to fit all 26 letters in (with a page or two to spare).  These are all the instructions I gave them, aside from the request to think creatively and use their imaginations.

The end products were very cool indeed.  I made extra books so that I can keep a few in the art cabinet, and Ella has been authoring books all week long.  This was a great way for the kids to express themselves creatively, practice fine motor skills (writing, drawing & cutting), become more familiar with their ABC's, and gain confidence in themselves as writers, artists & creators.  This is a perfect project for classrooms and home alike.  And the possibilities with the book is endless...one week it can be the alphabet, the next week it can be fairy tales.  Or it can be a nature journal.  So many options!

This sweet note was written by Ella on the last page of her book, because Mary Pope Osborne puts "A note from the Author" in the back of her Magic Treehouse Books.  Ella is currently seeking publishers to read her work.

**UPDATE to this post:  we have done this project over and over again at our house, the kids get more creative each time!  See this post for more alphabet book ideas to read to the kids!

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama:   A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

books + crafts

You know by now that our family loves loves loves our local library.  We spend alot of time there, and take advantage of so many of their wonderful resources.  One of Ella's favorite sections is the arts & crafts section in the children's library.  Recently she borrowed several drawing books and set to work drawing pictures.  The boys tried their hand at it too.  While I love for the kids to use their imagination when drawing or doing art projects, sometimes it's fun for them to have some guidance and to have new ideas provided.  And the library is the perfect place to find ideas for projects!  So if you are looking for something fun & new for your kids to do, or a craft project related to a certain subject or holiday you should check out some books from your local library!  Or if you have a hard time coming up with ideas that are age appropriate or are having a day where you aren't feeling very crafty or creative, be sure to check out how your library can help you. 

What is your favorite resource at the library?  What kind of projects are you doing at your house right now?