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Displaying Children’s Books -Encouraging Young Readers
We are book lovers here at Our Little House in the Country. Our home is full to the brim with books. I recently donated about 10 large boxes of books, mostly novels, in order to make room for the rest. I have been collecting children’s books for over 15 years and we have hundreds. We have picture books, board books, children’s novels, non-fiction books, story anthologies, pop-up books, lift and flap books, you name it we probably have it! Both of my children love to read and look through their books. I have tried to encourage this by displaying the books in a way that is child friendly and accessible…
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Print Making – A Simple, Step by Step Introductory Guide to Print Making with Children
Over the years I have given several art courses for teachers, offering ideas for the classroom. I recently came across some of my old files and they got me thinking about some of the most successful and fun courses I have facilitated. One of them was a course I gave in Print making for teachers of Primary School children (ages 4-12). These activities are great for the classroom but they are also really easy to do at home with little ones. Here’s my step by step introductory guide to Print Making – Have Fun! Equipment: *items in bold are essentials O Acetate sheets O Masking tape O Rollers O Printing…
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Doodles’s Book of the Week – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Doodles’ is my 4 ½ year old boy and a serious book lover. His book of choice this week surprised me a little. Not that it’s not a great book as it truly is but because he loved this book when he was younger but seemed to have grown out of it. However, over the last week or so his preschool class have been working on this book, going on their own bear hunts, creating small worlds, painting and drawing their favourite parts of the story etc. So this probably explains his renewed interest in this book. I’m sure that you are familiar with this book but in case you…
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Our Big Blue Activity Box, aka “The What To Do When I’m Bored Box” – 15 activity ideas
Today, I have decided to share the contents of our “Big Blue Activity Box”. Back in early January I found that both of my children were grouchy and irritable and weren’t playing with toys or anything for that matter. They would not play independently and I was completely worn out plus we were battling colds and sore throats etc. I think they were “hung-over” after the festivities of the Christmas season – toys, gifts, sweets, lots of time with both Mr G and I. At the time I felt that I was spending my days separating the two of them, listening to howls and whinging, dealing with silly behaviour. Off…
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Our Top 5 Messy Play Ideas from Pinterest
When it comes to play in this house, the messier the better! I am constantly for new, fun and MESSY ideas for Doodles and Oodles to try. These are 5 of our favourite most recent finds from Pinterest! Check out my group board – Outdoor Fun and Messy Play ideas on Pinterest, follow it and I’ll send you an invite to pin on it if you want! Baking Soda and Vinegar Eruptions – this is a real favourite with Doodles. He never tires of creating these mini volcanic-like eruptions, great fun, easy to do, requires very little preparation. We got this idea from Live, Play, Imagine, a really brilliant…
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5 Gorgeous Books to Celebrate Mother’s Day
It is Mother’s Day here in Ireland on Sunday 30th March. These are 5 beautiful children’s books for you to read with your children to celebrate Mothers everywhere! I Love my Mum – a gorgeous, simple little picture book about the bond between mum and child – Ollie the Zebra and his mummy, by Anna Walker. Mummy and Me – a colourfully illustrated story about Humber and his mum and all the fun things they do together by Emma Chichester Clark I Want My Mum – this was one of our books of the week recently. A funny, rhyming toddler friendly book about Little Princess and her mum, by Tony…
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(Books for Children) Oodles’ Book of the Week – My Mummy by Paula Metcalf & Lucy Barnard
This week’s book is My Mummy, written by Paula Metcalf and illustrated by Lucy Barnard. I know this book inside out and off by heart. This is by far Oodles’ favourite book! I if you look closely at the photos you will see the tell-tale signs of a well-loved, well read, well-worn book – crinkly pages, dog eared cover, little milk stains, etc. Every night for almost 3 months solid I read this book to her. My hubby Mr G, used to laugh at me, “reading” this book in the pitch dark at 3am if she woke and needed help getting back to sleep– I know every last word of…
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(Kids) Rainy Day Survival Plan (and a little moan!)
Just when I thought Spring was well and truly under way, the storms returned. It is dark and dreary, very wet and windy outside! We got soaked running from the house to the car and car to school on the school run this morning! Doodles and Oodles were delighted as they got to use their Mickey Mouse and Peppa Pig umbrellas! I am dreading going out again shortly to take O to her “Mummy and Me” music class, but she loves it and I know that I’ll enjoy it too once we get there. To top it all off, I’m tired, very, very tired this week. All my plans to…
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(Books for Children) Our Top 5 “Story” Board Books for Toddlers
Board books are such an amazing way to introduce little ones to books. We have lots of them, I keep them in little baskets in each room for easy access as well as displaying some on our kitchen book rack and the book rack made from an old cot side in O’s room. Board books are so much easier for little hands to manipulate, allowing toddlers to turn pages with ease. Of course they are also so much more durable!!!! There is such a huge variety of board books available that I wasn’t sure which type to begin with. I decided to take a look at story books this week. …
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(Books for Children) Doodles’ Book of the Week – “The Great Recycling Adventure” by Jan McHarry, Illustrated by Edmond Davis & Piers Sandford
I mentioned yesterday that Doodles (4 ½) loves fact based books. I f it a detailed filled book about how something works or experiments to try or picture books of the solar system then that’s what you’ll find him reading. So, his book of choice this week is a lift and flap book called “The Great Recycling Adventure”, written by Jan McHarry and illustrated by Edmond Davis and Piers Sanford. Last Tuesday we visited our local public library. We have hundreds of books but I think that it’s a really good habit to get children interested in books and libraries. They both love our visits to the library. They browse…
