Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars: Book Review & Giveaway

Are you like me?  Do you love finding great new ways to help your kids learn and explore?  We especially love helping our boys learn in nature.  A few weeks ago, on a trip to the mall, we accidentally discovered this wonderful book at one of the big bookstores.  (Really, it was an accident).

I picked it up and flipped through it while Crackers played with the train table.  I loved the illustrations, but more than that, I loved all the GREAT ideas for learning with my kids.  Okay, so it says it is Grandma's Bag of Tricks.  The truth is, I have plenty to learn from this grandma.  In fact, I would love her to come spend a week with us and play with my boys.  Or maybe I should send them to her! 

Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars is not a book for grandmas.  Well, yes it actually is - but we all need some help to come up with great new ways to spend quality time with our families.  I highly recommend exploring this book with your children.  There are so many projects that we adore, it was hard to pick out a favorite to start with.

We chose to make a solar oven with our boys - the materials are easy to get cheaply, and the project is simple enough that our 3 year old can help.  What's best is that there is an edible reward in the end!  Our 

choice of foods - mini pizzas!  Yum!

WIN IT:

One of my readers will win a copy of Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars of their own.  This contest will end Friday, June 17.  This contest is limited to residents of the US and Canada.

HOW TO ENTER:

You may enter using any or all of the following methods.  Please leave 1 comment for each entry and include your email address in each comment.

1) Visit Sharon Lovejoy's website, tell me something you learned.

2) Look around the Workman Publishing site and tell me about another interesting book.

3) Follow Crum's This N That via GFC.

4) Subscribe to Crum's This N That via email newsfeed.

5) Tell me why you want this book and who you would share it with.

Nursery Favorites

Okay, so the truth is, these are some of MY nursery favorites that I made sure were on our bookshelf in the boy's room.  There is one more that I was sure we had, The Best Nest, I guess that I mistaken, or maybe my boys have misplaced it.

The first book is A Colt Named Mischief by Sandy Rabinowitz.  This was one of my very favorites as a kid.  It is about a naughty horse (thus his name).  Dad wants to get rid of him, until he proves himself to be a hero.  A fantastic book that reminds us that sometimes a little mischief is what we need to take care of ourselves.

My second choice is The Monster at the End of This Book.  This is a Sesame Street book written by Jon Stone.  Grover is terribly afraid of the monster at the end of the book and will do anything he can think of to stop the reader from turning pages so the reader does not unveil the scary monster.
 

Next I have Are You My Mother.  This is an "I can read it all by myself beginner book"  by P.D. Eastman.  I loved P.D. Eastman's books and have several from this series.  In this book a baby bird is born and in search for his mother.  Why do I love it?  I suppose I love it because my grandparents used to have it in their library and I remember reading this book frequently on trips to their house.  It brings back great memories for me and I want my kids to love this book too.

 

 My final book is Tell Me Some More.. by Crosby Bonsall.  This is also an I Can Read book.  In this book Andres tells his friend Tim about a place filled with adventure.  On page 8 he says, "I know a place... where I can hold an elephant under my arm... the trunk and all."  We used to read this one at my Nonnie's house and it has sentimental value as well.  But I think I love it because it helps kids learn about this magical land of adventure, and I am not going to tell you where it is, but I am sure you can get to it within half an hour of anywhere in the US.  

Leave a comment, what books do you love in your nursery?  What are your favorite childhood books?