preschool valentines

Avery is officially a preschooler and has many valentines to give out this year to new (and old) friends.  Her birthday falls right around Valentine's Day, so whatever she gives out usually serve as both birthday and Valentine's treats.  Her little Valentine's gifts are diamond ring erasers and pirate erasers (not pictured) from Target, encased in red vending capsules from Bake It Pretty.  Vending capsules are always a fun surprise for kids to open, and can be used to store little treasures later on.  I printed a simple Valentine's message on 1 1/4" round labels from Paper Source, stuck them to red hearts (made using this Marvy heart punch) and attached a little bit of red and white twine from Crate and Barrel.  The red paper was also from Paper Source (one of my go-to stores for paper goods).  Avery can't wait to give these out!

inside outside

You know those books that you come across every once in a long while--the ones whose pages you wish you could jump into and live in??  That's Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd.  I originally got it as a gift for Nate, my toddler, but the first time I read it was with Avery, my soon-to-be five-year-old.  We both fell in love with the book, and more so after each page.

Inside Outside is actually a wordless book which follows a boy and his activities through the seasons, with die-cut windows that allow you to take a peek at what's outside in his yard or what's inside his house.  The illustrations weave together his interior and exterior world and are simple yet overwhelmingly beautiful.  There are so many aspects of the boy's livelihoods and charming environment about which to talk, imagine and make inferences.  There are so many curious questions and interesting dialogues to be had--the kind that usually arise from well-executed wordless storybooks.  It just so happens that this engaging aspect of wordless storybooks is executed exceptionally well in Inside Outside.  I cannot wait to read Lizi Boyd's other works!

the land of puppies and unicorns

What color will it be?  Avery was so excited to find out which colors her puppy and unicorn would be--it was a total surprise since they each came sealed in a bag.  These glossy creatures are perfect for kids who love balloon animals because they never lose air or pop!  This bucket o' blocks provided a perfect whimsical terrain that these two new adventure-seeking best buds explored together before nap time.

Thanks to The Land of Nod for sending the Bucket O' Blocks and the Pop! Mini Series.

alice in wonderland party: the fun

The activities for Audrey's Alice in Wonderland party were so well planned with piles of amazing little details.  They included painting the roses red on individual rose bushes that the guests got to take home, a "pass the teapot" game, flamingo croquet complete with hedgehog balls and making jewelry with special sun-activated beads.  Cheshire Cat Tail push-up cakes were served with afternoon tea and colorful "eat me" cakes along with assorted Alice in Wonderland goods were given out as favors.  It was a curious and wonderful afternoon!

The first two posts about the party menu and decorations can be found here and here.

wave

Avery loved hearing the story of a little girl's exciting experience at the beach in Suzy Lee's stunningly illustrated wordless story book, Wave. 

From lectures, reading articles, collaborating with colleagues and working with children on improving their language skills, I've learned what invaluable tools wordless story books are.  Telling and retelling a story multiple times with a wordless story book helps children learn a variety of vocabulary words, synonyms and sentence structures.  It helps teach children the elements of a story--characters, setting, problem, resolution, etc.  When you revisit stories and retell them, you talk about different little aspects of a story that you didn't talk about the last time you read it because you might pick up on other details in the pictures or nuances in the story.  When different people tell a child the story, the child hears and is exposed to different narratives, points of view and different sets of vocabulary.  If anyone is interested in reading more on the subject, an article on wordless story books can be found here.  This is one enjoyable way for everyone to get involved in a child's education.   Happy storytelling!

Thanks to The Land of Nod for sending us a copy of Wave.