We love you Mom! Here are seven favorite children’s books to read to young children about moms and Mother’s Day. Reading several books about Mother’s Day will give kids some ideas about special things they can do and say to express how much they love their mom.
Great Books for Mother’s Day for Young Children:
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman (ages 4 to
What Moms Can’t Do by Douglas and Doug Cushman (ages 4 to
Happy Mother’s Day Mami! by Leslie Valdez (ages 4 to
This one features kids’ favorite explorer, Dora the Explorer, and some Spanish as well.
I like Noisy, Mom Likes Quiet: A Mother’s Day Story by Eileen Spinelli (ages 4 to
The Mother’s Day Mice by Eve Bunting (ages 4 to
Clifford’s Happy Mother’s Day by Norman Bridwell (ages 4 to
I kept trying to figure out what to do when I lost my job because I was totally in over my head when it came to cash. I had all these student loans to pay off and I also had to figure out how to keep afloat when it came to my mortgage (I don’t know what I was thinking buying mycondo at such a young age.) But anyway, I went online to Shop electricty rates TEXAS which helped me line up my utilities and I also had to talk to my loan officer about lowering my interest rates so I wouldn’t get in over my head. I actually got really lucky and found someone to buy the condo and I found another place to rent for far less than my mortgage and now I’m actually able to save a couple hundred bucks a month which is a totally new sensation for me. I just wish I had something to do with all that saved up money but I guess that’s the point!
AtoZLearningTree and Money Saving Parent are moving in together! We’ve always considered ourselves to be sister sites. We both share common family values. Many of our money saving ideas are for DIY, crafty people and many of our crafts and make your own teaching tools ideas are perfect for people who want to save money. At both places we’re all about family first and we learned that we had more in common than just values. We also had a lot of the same fans. Now you can find money saving tips as well as family fun ideas all under one new roof. We’re having a house warming party to celebrate moving in together and some lucky readers will get a nice housewarming gift, on the house.
Our grand prize winner will receive a Cuisinart TOB-60 Convection Toaster Oven Broiler (Valued at $235.00) and our second place winner will receive a $25.00 Amazon.com Gift Card.
Four and five year olds are getting ready for or just starting school. It’s a big time in their lives. Developmentally they have a growing vocabulary, increased fine motor skills and a little, or in some cases, a lot more of an attention span than when they were toddlers. Four and five year olds are extremely curious and absorbing new concepts like little sponges. This can make buying gifts for four and five year olds fun but also challenging. Many toys that say for ages three and up already seem too babyish and yet many of the cool toys seem to say that they are for ages six and up. Don’t worry. This list of the best gifts for four and five year olds is teacher recommended and kid approved.
B. Pop Arty Beads get an A plus.
Let’s start with the adorable container that has a seal tight lid and handle. Kids love to make and wear their own jewelry. These are not your grandmother’s beads. These beads are wild and wacky. They are very kid-attractive but they also have lots of nice chunky beads and good-sized holes for young hands. Here’s what’s really cool. There are over 500 snap-together pieces so kids can make bracelets, rings and necklaces. These B. Pop Arty Beads are around $30.00 at Amazon.com but I can attest that they give hours of fun for years.
The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That Game; you really should try it!
Everything Dr. Seuss is an awesome gift idea for this age group but I really love this game. Why? It’s active. Can you jump three times? It focuses on what kids ages four and up can do. The I Can Do That Game has one three toy awards. It’s available for Christmas 2011 from Amazon.com for under $20.00.
Imaginets magnetizes imaginations.
Imaginets aren’t new but they are a three-time toy award winner and remain a hot toy for good reason. Imaginets are colorful magnets varied in geometric shapes that come inside of a sturdy wooden case with a handle. I love toys that have their own storage system. The inside reveals two magnetic panels that mean pieces can be stored on one panel and imaginations can develop creations on the other. Imaginets also has 50 color cards to get kids started on copying patterns. Consider this your child’s first fun geometry lesson. This is a great gift for four year olds and I can attest that kids will keep playing with it well passed the age of eight. It’s a perfect toy for travel too and it’s available for Christmas 2011 from Amazon.com for around $27.00.
Pizza Mania is math smart and new for Christmas 2011.
Pizza Mania is a fun early math game for kids ages 4 to 8. While they create their own pizzas they’ll be “adding two peppers” and “taking away one pepperoni” and the fun and math learning will be multiplying through out this fun math game. Pizza Mania comes with pizzas for four, 48 fun toppings and an (adorable) talking pizza man. It does take three AA batteries but pizza man has volume control. There are two levels of play so the learning and fun can continue for years to come. Pizza Mania is a great gift for four and five year olds and it’s at Amazon.com for under $25.00 for Christmas 2011.
Young children learn best through play and creating and these games and manipulatives make for fun and smart gifts for four and five year olds. This winter when the it starts getting dark earlier and kids will spend less evening time outdoors, kids will enjoy having these games and creative toys to keep minds running, even when their bodies can’t.
This chandelier that girls will make and decorate is right out of a fairy tale but right on target skill wise for eight and nine year old girls. I can attest that even girls up to 12 years old enjoy making and displaying this Charming Chandelier. This is my hands down favorite creative gift for girls for Christmas 2012. This unique gift is going to light up the life of many young girls at only $17.00 at Amazon.com for 1200 plus crafty pieces.
Are you looking for gifts for kids ages eight and up? It’s adios to Diego and Dora. These tweens have new skills, longer attention spans and they are ready for some new games, toys and books to challenge and entertain them and our list is totally “unplugged.”
Qwirkle wins for best family game.
Qwirkle comes with 108 wooden tiles wearing colorful shapes to match up. It’s like cards and dominoes rolled into one and on steroids. It’s a four-time toy award winner and the best selling game of all time for Mindware.
Why I like it:
Ages seven and up can be successful. It’s easy to make some kind of match but with some added strategy players can really challenge themselves and rake up the points.
In our house, parents and kids a like vote for Qwirkle for family game night.
Why kids like it:
It’s super easy to set up and the rules are easy to learn so everyone can start play right away.
Science Kits from Educational Explorer give kids a taste explosion.
These fun science kits from Educational Explorer include instructions and basic ingredients to create tasty rewards for learning science. There are a variety of kits from
Disgusting Science: The Science of Revolting Thing, the Ice Cream Kit, the Candy Kit and Tasty Science kit. These three time award winners are perfect for ages eight and up.
Why I like them:
Kids are learning science concepts but they just think they are having fun. Buying these as Christmas gifts, gives kids something fun and educational to do over winter break.
Why kids like them:
They are growing up and ready to experiment. They love the “I made it myself” factor and the taste factor too.
In this tough economic climate, improving or increasing your IT skills is imperative. Taking IT training is a great thing to add to your list of New Year’s Resolutions. IT training courses are an investment in time that will pay off and give you a leg up on getting a new job, promotion or staying secure in your current IT job.
What’s the latest in IT training?
Technology is constantly expanding the way the way we learn, work and play. Programming, networking, data, operating systems and program management continue to be IT needs but there are also training modules available for Cloud, Mac, Microsoft, Unix, Oracle and VMware. Since technology changes so fast, recent training is more imperative in the IT field others.
For businesses, organizations, colleges, universities and especially the health care industry, IT security is in huge demand and is no doubt the number one priority in the IT field today.
How can I fit in more IT training?
The good news is that leading IT trainers like CBT Planet offer IT training options in formats that fit your needs and busy lifestyle. You can get IT training through video courses, online courses or even concentrated boot camps.
Thinking about buying SillyBandz as stocking stuffers this year? There not just trendy jewelry if you use these ideas for Using SillyBandz to teach writing.
SillyBandz, those little rubber band like bracelets that hold their shapes after you wear them, may seem really silly but kids are crazy about them. Some schools banned Silly Bandz, arguing that they are a distraction. The biggest thing I don’t like about Silly Bandz is the same thing I dislike about Barney the purple dinosaur; that I didn’t think of it myself.
My kids have fallen into the SillyBandz craze too. I decided if there were going to be hundreds of them in my house and on my children’s wrists, they might as well make themselves useful.
Reading aloud to my children is one of my favorite things to do and buying them books for Christmas are gifts I can really feel good about. While there are just hundreds of runners up, here are ten of my favorite books to read to kids.
Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? was the first book I read to each of my children. This Dr. Seuss book (written as Theodor Geisel) went into the hospital bag. We wanted to start reading to our children as soon as they were born. Toddlers really enjoy Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
Fancy Nancy books are a lot of fun to read and a great way to build vocabulary. Nancy has a fancy name for everything. This series by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser is fun for kids three and up. There’s always a family friendly message along as lots of “stupendous” vocabulary.
There’s a reason Eloise books by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight are so popular. Eloise is such a fun character and it is exciting to follow Eloise from Paris to New York City. Kids love her mischief from pouring milk down the hotel mail drop to overflowing the bathtub. Our favorite Eloise book is Eloise Takes a Bath. Eloise is six and kids four and up will enjoy her stories.
Are You My Mother? has been a favorite selection of both of my children during the preschool years. This classic by P.D. Eastman follows a little bird in search of his mother. It’s fun for kids to shake their heads no when the little bird asks everyone from a cow to a kitten “Are you my Mother?”
Horton Hatches an Egg is so fun to read, yes “100%” fun for readers and audiences. My kids always enjoyed Horton Hears a Who and they were thrilled to learn there was more Horton. Horton Hatches an Egg is an excellent choice for preschoolers and new readers.
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born is a sweet and also humorous story about adoption by adoptive Mom Jamie Lee Curtis. My kids love the pictures and the dialogue in this fun adoption book and after we read it they love to say, “Tell ME again about the night I was born.” This book is fun for all ages.
The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers is really perfect for sharing Bible stories with young children with short attention spans. We have several good Bible storybooks but this one by Crystal Bowman is a favorite for reading Bible stories everyday. This is a great Christmas gift to begin reading New Year’s Day and all year long.
How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms? and other Jane Yolen and Mark Teague dinosaur books are New York Times bestsellers for good reason. While the characters are dinosaurs the messages of positive behavior from taking your medicine to picking up toys are for your own little monsters. These books are short and sweet and rhyming, which makes them nice bedtime books. Dinosaur lovers from toddler to new readers will enjoy this series.
We are a family of outdoor adventurers. We love to hike, fish, kayak, camp and play outdoors in general. The Buck Wilder books for kids are great for nature loving families. There’s the Small Fry Fishing Guide and the Small Twig Hiking and Camping Guide. Buck Wilder shares in-depth information about animals and adventures but in a kid-attractive way with fun illustrations and plenty of humor. I’ve learned a lot from these books myself and I see my kids using the advice and when they are in the woods. The Buck Wilder books are great for five and up. My eleven year old still enjoys them.
We take turns reading chapter books aloud as well so my list could not be complete without our current family read aloud, Huck Finn by Mark Twain. I had forgotten how humorous this story is and since my son is “all boy,” it is fun to read about such lovable but mischievous boys.
Are you buying books as gifts for Christmas? What are your favorite books to read to children?
With one week to go before Christmas, the two questions this educator gets asked the most this time of year are what are the best chemistry sets for kids and what are the most educational board games for kids. We’ve got the answers here in Best Chemistry Sets for Kids and Most Educational Board Games- there are some really cool new educational board games available for Christmas 2010.
As an added bonus, we’re throwing in Best Toys for Your Money. Hear from parents who share the toys that get played with the most.
