Dr. Seuss books

While strolling through Walmart the other day I came across a display of Dr. Seuss books.

Some of these were favorites of mine when I was little and we have kept the tradition going in our family on down the line. Fox in Socks is as much fun to read as it is to listen to! It can be quite the tongue twister, but that’s what makes it so fun!

The Cat in the Hat is an ornery guy but somehow he smoothes things over just in time!

Another favorite is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. (I think I still have half of that one memorized!) 😄

Dr. Seuss books make reading fun! But the best part about the books I saw at Walmart is the price!! Only $5.98 each! I compared that to Barnes & Noble online and their price is $8.49. So if you’re looking for something fun to read together and not break the bank, run to your nearest Walmart for some wonderful Dr. Seuss books! 😊

Favorite Kids Magazine

There is at least one kids magazine that has stood the test of time and that’s Highlights. I loved this magazine when I was a kid! (Yes, back in the dark ages!) My kids loved it and now my grand kids do too. 🙂

They still include some of the wonderful regular features that were there when I was little. The pictures look a bit different, but its fun to see some of the features I always looked for when I was a child. Such as…The Timbertoes…

Goofus and Gallant…one not-so-nice boy and one nice boy. For example, in the March 2019 issue Alexandra, age 8, from North Caroline wrote, “I felt like Goofus when I said something mean to my brother.” and Walter, age 6, from Minnesota said, “I felt like Gallant when I shoveled snow off my neighbor’s sidewalk.” There’s some Goofus and Gallant in each of us, isn’t there?

One very popular feature is Hidden Pictures! There are even individual books published that are entirely made up of Hidden Pictures. Its challenging to see if you can find all the little pictures hidden in the big picture. And I see from the front of the magazine that there is even a Hidden Pictures app! (Available from the Apple App Store and on Google Play)

There are always some fun stories to read together.

Another section that kids love is the “Your Own Pages”. Children can send in their own creative work such as pictures they have drawn or poems they’ve written to be included in an issue of Highlights. I’m always impressed by what I see there!

In the March 2019 issue, there is a cute Picture Puzzler to solve. A prankster is on the loose! Someone took an item from one of the shops and hid it. But they left some clues behind! Kids can enjoy playing detective while they figure out who the mischief-maker is, what was taken and where it was hidden.

The back of the magazine has a “What’s Wrong?” picture with things that are silly for you to find. Such as a monkey coming out of a lunch bag…whoa!

Did you love Highlights as a child? How about your kids or grand kids? Maybe you’ve never read one? Either way, check out your local library or bookstore for some wonderful reading fun with stories, puzzles, crafts and learning made fun! 🙂

Craft Stick Fun

Today let’s talk about another inexpensive but very versatile craft for kids! (Or big kids, say, like a grandma!) Wooden Craft sticks! They come with little notches cut out of them for interlocking or they come like a Popsicle stick. The package I bought are the ones with the notches cut into the sides.

I started out just hooking some together to make a square.

Then I added a few more…

Say, that looks like a great place to house a…dragon?! Sure, why not?

Or add a few sticks across the top to make a removable roof.

These can be glued so they stay connected or you can interlock them so you can take them back apart and make something else with them. How about making a magic wand?

Look what cute snowflakes you could make! I didn’t have any paint handy but think how pretty they would be painted white or blue with some sparkly glitter or fake jewels secured to the ends!

If you feel really ambitious, you could always try this barn. 🙂

The craft sticks make a quick and easy fence for those farm animals or an easy house for the farmer and his wife. 🙂 (I know…the horse and the sheep don’t have any ears…they used to but they have been well loved through the years!)

Here is an adorable idea of something to make if you have Popsicle sticks. This little box and lid were made by our youngest son when he was in kindergarten. (Isn’t he adorable?) It’s a treasured piece that sits on my dresser and holds little things that could easily be lost otherwise. It’s held up very well considering it was made about 23 years ago! Wow!

Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? I’m thinking Mother’s Day gifts! Here’s the side view so you can see how its glued together.

This is another one of those “give-the-kids-a-few-sticks-and-see-what-they-come-up-with” craft project. I’d love to see what you come up with! Please share your pictures with us! 🙂

Cute Book Alert

You’ve heard of “the dog ate my homework” or “the dog ate my library book”, right? Well, here’s a story with a little different twist on that! It’s called This book just ate my dog! by Richard Byrne.

Bella starts out taking her dog for a walk, buuuuuut…..! She needs your child’s help!

Yikes!! Where did he go??! It looks like he went into the middle of the book!

The book ate her dog?? Really?? How will she ever get him back? Things get more and more complicated and Bella really needs some kids to help her save her dog and put things back to normal! Or at least, almost normal! 😉 Great book that kids can really get into helping save those that get eaten by the book! 🙂

Quick After School Snack

Are your kids always hungry as they pour in the door after school? Are you always looking for a quick-and-easy-but-something-different kind of snack? Today’s blog is about a fun idea for you and your hungry kiddos to try. We’ll call it Pudding Snack Cups. You just need a few ingredients and a few utensils to make it and clean up is quick and easy too. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

1 Cup of graham cracker crumbs, 1 Tablespoon of sugar, 1/4 Cup butter, 1 – 3.4 oz box of INSTANT vanilla pudding mix and 2 Cups cold milk. Utensils you will need to use:

1 small mixing bowl, 1 medium mixing bowl, a large spoon, a whisk, 1 Cup size measuring cup, 1 Tablespoon size measuring spoon and 4 small dishes. My dishes are 1 Cup size. (And yes, there are only 3 dishes in the picture…one had gone AWOL when I was taking the picture.) 😉

There are a few extra ingredients that will make this snack tastier and more fun but you don’t have to use them if you’d rather not. The ones I used include a banana, Ovaltine Rich Chocolate drink mix, sprinkles, micro mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips.

Ok, let’s put this snack together! Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter together in the small bowl with the spoon. It should stick together for pressing into the bottom of the small dishes to make a crust.

And that’s the next step – divide the crumb mixture between the 4 small dishes and press down into the bottom.

Mix the cold milk and pudding mix together for 2 minutes in the medium bowl using the whisk.

Add the pudding to the 4 small dishes.

If you like, you can be done now or for more fun and a tastier treat you can try these options. Add slices of bananas on top of the graham cracker crust before you spoon the pudding in.

After the pudding is in each dish, try adding your favorite topping. Like…sprinkles…

Micro mini marshmallows…

Mini chocolate chips…

Or a sprinkling of chocolate Ovaltine powder.

Of course, there are MANY options for this recipe! Use a different flavored pudding (think chocolate!) and other toppings that your family enjoys such as butterscotch chips, chopped nuts, mini M&M’s, white chocolate chips, chopped fruit, crushed cookies, etc, etc. Now you have the basic idea and you can run with it however you like! 🙂 Enjoy! Let me know what combinations you try!

Corner Bookmarks

Greetings and Happy Friday! Today I’m going to review a product I bought from a Joann Fabrics store called Corner Creature Bookmarks. It comes with everything you need to make 10 simple origami creature bookmarks that fit on the corners of the page of your current book. Then I’ll give you a few tips for making some of your own corner bookmarks. 🙂

First you’ll start out with one of the square colored sheets of paper included in the kit. I chose to make the fox. 🙂

Fold the paper in half along the diagonal to make a triangle.

Then fold that in half along the fold just enough to make a little mark where the center is.

Center

Fold both sides up to meet in the center.

Open it up again and fold the single front layer down. Leave the bottom layer flat.



Now fold the side wings in to meet in the center…crease…and unfold them.

Fold the arms up again to make a diamond shape.

Tuck the flaps neatly into the pocket.

Ta dah! You did it! You made a corner bookmark! Now for the fun part…decorating it! To finish making the fox bookmark, you will glue on the enclosed pieces for the face, ears and tail and a sticker for the nose. The enclosed glue stick didn’t work too well in my opinion so I used some Elmer’s glue.

Isn’t he adorable?! 🙂 Just stick him on the top or bottom corner of the page of your book and he will keep your place marked for you.

There are 9 other cute creatures to make into corner bookmarks enclosed in the kit. But what if you want to make some of your own? 🙂 Excellent idea! Any fairly thin piece of paper will work. Scrap booking paper works great. Cut your paper into a square and you are ready to go! Follow the same folding instructions above and decorate as you like! You can also use different sizes of squares. These are a few that I made:

Here’s one made out of printer paper along with lots of stickers and markers for designing your own. You can add names to them like I did and make some for all your special friends and relatives. No more losing your place in your favorite book! Have fun making corner bookmarks and enjoy reading!! 🙂