January Highlights Fun

HIGHLIGHTS magazine online has tons of fun of kids this month. You can download the Hidden Picture, "First Snow," and try to find all the hidden items. 

At HighlightsKids.com 

there are crafts, puzzles, stories, poetry and more. 

Or you may want to try a couple of the puzzles on my website.

Analog Puzzle 1 and Analog Puzzle 2 are word puzzles similar to crossword puzzles.

After you try these two, see if you can make up one of your own!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Matt!!!

Free Online Games and Crafts for Kids

This site provides fun online games for you to try: POP CAP GAMES. You can download them or play them online.

Author illustrator Eric Carle has a cool craft activity for you to try at his website. Make a collage  

like he sometimes uses for his illustrations. To see examples of his art work, read THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR or one of his other books.  

I hope you are able to find time for fun this holiday season--and the best fun is always shared with family and friends.

How to Make Gingerbread Houses Online

This is the perfect time of year to create a tasty gingerbread house. HIGHLIGHTSKIDS.COM has this cool online site. Now gingerbread house fans can make one without any of the mess.

 

Jan Brett also has an online GINGERBREAD BABY HOUSE. You can design your very own. And a GINGERBREAD BABY COLORING PAGE you can print. Then you'll want to find a copy of Ms. Brett's newest book, GINGERBREAD FRIENDS, and discover all the adventures the Gingerbread Boy has when he sets out to find some friends.

Or you might want to read some other gingerbread tales. For a new twist on the story, try THE GINGERBREAD COWBOY by Janet Squire. You can probably find a copy at your local library or bookstore.

But if you are ready to make a real gingerbread house, find a book like Jennifer A. Ericsson's GINGERBREAD HOUSES FOR KIDS and start creating.

Craft Activites for Autumn

HIGHLIGHTS magazine offers some online craft activities designed especially for right now.

Try this easy autumn leaf wrapping paper.

You can make this a "green" project by using newsprint or other paper for recycling.

Or try this stamped Rosh Hashanah card. It's made with an apple for a delightfully different design.

For another craft of the season, try making a SPIDER from my website in the KIDS section. Or one of the Halloween games.

Or if you want more fun and games, visit HIGHLIGHTS Games and Giggles.

Kyra, age 8, from Florida sent in this joke:

What's green and oinks?

Kermit the Hog!

Send me your favorite joke, and I'll share it here. Have a hoppy day!

Review of RAINBOW SHEEP

RAINBOW SHEEP by Kim Chatel.
Guardian Angel Publishing, 2008.
ISBN: 1933090847/ 978-1933090849

REVIEW by Cynthia Reeg

Genevieve, a shepherdess with a knack for “nonsense stories,” leads a herd of disgruntled but lovable “grey and dirty brown” sheep. When the rain persists for too long, Genevieve tickles one cloud after another until the sun shines through. It is then the sad, pale, bored rainbow comes into view. After a few of Genevieve’s silly stories, the rainbow sees the joy in the world all around and is no longer sad. Instead, it cries happy, colorful tears which drip onto the sheep huddled below—creating rainbow sheep.

Ms. Chatel has woven a truly colorful and unique story with RAINBOW SHEEP. Her original wool fiber art scenes capture the story’s warmth. This children’s tale with its rich language will beckon readers and listeners back again and again to revel in its soft, sweet words and magical visions.

RAINBOW SHEEP offers bonus pages which explain the art of needle felting with instructions on how to make your own rainbow sheep and felted soap. A glossary is included as well. This book seems like a perfect summertime (or anytime) read to delight and entertain young readers.

A story CONTEST is in the works right now, sponsored by Ms. Chatel. She is encouraging young writers to create their own colorful stories and submit them to her website. To find out more about the contest, click on the link above.

Spring Craft & Book Time

The bugs featured on today's blog
are courtesy of Nikki Schaefer
http://www.nikkischaefer.com/ from her illustrations for my poem
BUGGY ALPHABETICS.

http://www.cynthiareeg.com/writings/alphabetics.html

Have a fun time with your little critters and help them celebrate the arrival of spring using Eric Carle's book, THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. This book is filled with one brilliantly colored page after another. An insatiable caterpillar literally eats his way through a week and almost everything else. In end, of course, he changes into a beautiful butterfly.

After reading the book through a time or two with your child, help him create a caterpillar puppet using a white tube sock and permanent markers. Slip a piece of construction paper or tag board inside the sock so the markings don't go through to the other side.
To make the butterfly, use a clothes pin and tissue paper and chenille wire. Here's a link to the San Diego Zoo's Crafts for Kids to show you how: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/craft_butterfly.html

The Zoo Crafts also has another caterpillar craft: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/craft_caterpillar2.html

Or your child might like to make a string of food (that the caterpillar could eat) by clipping photos from magazines or newspaper ads. Punch holes in the foods and then string them up with days-of-the-week name tags interspersed through the pictures.

Other books by Eric Carle that you can share with your child are
THE GROUCHY LADYBUG
THE MIXED UP CHAMELEON
THE VERY BUSY SPIDER

Happy reading and crafting!

Every Day Can Be A Snowy Day!

A PAPER snowflake day, I mean!


Here's a link to Paper Snowflakes for Children where there are directions for making all types of paper snowflakes: http://www.papersnowflakes.com/


This next link takes you to a page with the photograph of Snowflake Bentley, the first man to photograph snowflakes. http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3aproject=firstgov-noaa-images&v%3afile=viv_898%4024%3aoFpMHb&v%3aframe=viewimage&v%3astate=%28root%29%7croot&id=Ndoc0&rpaid=&

Here at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration you'll find page after page of Snowflake Bentley's snowflake photographs. You won't believe your eyes at all the different designs. http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3Aproject=firstgov-noaa-images&query=snowflake+bentley


You can also check out my speedy snowflake directions here on my website: http://www.cynthiareeg.com/kids/snowflake.html


Two great books to go along with your paper snowflakes are The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.


Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!