Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

6/30/16

Summer Abroad with Kids :: Prepping Kids for Travel with Lonely Planet Books

In the summer of 2016 our family set off to spend 8 weeks in London. We would explore the city and live like locals, renting a flat in Westminster. This was a far cry from our beach home in Florida and took a little adjusting to. We thrived in our new home away from home and had a jolly good time with many adventures along the way. This post is one installment in my series: Summer Abroad {with Kids}.

Prepping Kids for Travel with Lonely Planet Books
When we started planning our summer abroad I immediately began to research books to help prepare our kids for the new places we'd be visiting. After asking some friends who travel regularly with their children I decided Lonely Planet would be the best source of books for our family.

So here are a few of our favorite Lonely Planet Books (links to books are affiliates).

Pop-Up London - London will come alive with this beautiful and colorful pop-up book from Lonely Planet Kids. With a set of six stunning pop-ups and gorgeous illustrations, this book is the perfect introduction to the magic of London for any age. Perfect for younger kids, ages 4-7.Not for Parents London: Everything You Ever Wanted to KnowThis is not a guidebook. And it is definitely 'not-for-parents'. It is the real, inside story about London. In this book you'll hear fascinating tales about famous and infamous people, creepy underground places, dark history and strange characters galore. Check out cool stories about graffiti artists, murdered princes and people from all over. You'll find royalty, punks and sleuths, and some amazingly weird food. Great for ages 8+.London City TrailsDiscover London's best-kept secrets, amazing stories and loads of other cool stuff from the comfort of your own home or while visiting the city! But, you don't have to be a visitor or armchair traveller to enjoy this--Londoners are sure to learn new things about their very own city too! Perfect for ages 7-12.Make My Day London - This was a unique guide that allows you to effortlessly plan your perfect day. Flip through the sections and mix and match your itinerary for morning, afternoon and evening. Start the day with a ride on the London Eye, spend the afternoon exploring art at Tate Modern before enjoying a West End show in the evening; all with your trusted travel companion. Planning your city adventure has never been so easy and fun. This book was not designed for kids, but my 9 year old loved planning out our adventures so I'm including it. Perfect for the older kids who think they're too cool to travel with the family.

In addition to the ones listed, we also enjoyed some books about Paris. My daughter loved the Paris City Trails. There's also a beautiful Pop-Up Paris, and a Not for Parents Paris book that we loved.

Thank you Lonely Planet for sending me some of these books so my kids could read up before out trip. All opinions are my own.


1/8/16

Books To Teach Gratitude {as seen on Jacksonville Moms Blog}


This is one from back in November, but there's really never a bad time to teach kids about being grateful. Hop on over to the Jacksonville Moms Blog to read about my 10 favorite books for teaching gratitude to kids.

9/25/11

Paper Towel Roll Leaf Man

Leaf Man Supply List: 1 paper towel roll, glue, collection of leaves, sticks, moss, acorns

Start by exploring your backyard or neighborhood and collecting lots of leaves, sticks, moss, acorns and other various natural debris.

Lay out all your items and arrange them to look like a leaf man.

Apply a ton of glue to your paper towel roll and add your leaf man parts to it.  You can't really see, but I put something heavy inside the paper towel roll to keep it from moving around.  

Allow a long time to dry and you'll have your very own leaf man!

Book Suggestion: In Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert there is a search for the Leaf Man who has recently been blown away by the wind.  This book is full of beautiful illustrations that your child will love.  I highly recommend reading through this book at least once, if not more before going on your leaf hunt. 

1/24/11

Chicka Chicka 1 2 3 Tree

So yesterday I showed you the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom alphabet tree that we made.  You could easily adapt it to be a number tree as well.  We used larger circles for our numbers and I let Cole use stickers so he could put the numbers on the tree by himself.


Book Suggestion: In Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 all the numbers race to the top of the apple tree.  It is a good way for kids to learn numbers and sequencing.  It is also a great way to introduce counting by 10s. The Chicka Chicka books are so much fun to read over and over and over again.

1/23/11

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Cardboard Tube Tree

 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree: 1 toilet paper roll, brown & green construction paper, glue stick, scissors, small construction paper circles
 Cut the brown construction paper and glue it to the toilet paper roll.  A lot of the time I use a hair rubber band to hold the paper in place while the glue dries.
 Write the letters of the alphabet on the small circles.
 Cut palm leaves out of the green construction paper and glue your letters onto them.
 Cut small slits into your toilet paper roll and slide the palm leaves down into the slits.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a great book that introduces children to all the letters of the alphabet as they climb up and fall back down the coconut tree.  We have a copy of the book that Cole uses with our LeapFrog® Tag Reading System.  Here is a little video of him reading with the Tag.