Virtual book club for kids

I love reading and I want my daughter to share the same feeling. So when I read about virtual book club for kids, I knew I would follow along.

I discovered it at the end of September, so I didn’t have much time to do the September book suggestions. The author was Mo Willems and because I live in a small (ish) town, my local library didn’t have a huge selection. And of course half of the Mo Willems books they did have were already out.

I was able to find 3 books, but not ones that were suggested.
I set up the reading experience as an indoor reading picnic ( idea from The Pinterested Parent).
I set out a blanket, fun snacks and our three books.

We ate our snacks and read the books. Chloe was interested, but not overly.

The books were ok, but I was disappointed I wasn’t able to find the suggested books.
Now that it’s October, there is a new author and new books. I will have more time to find books and do activities. Which I’m looking forward to.

What are your favorite kid books?

All about the north

Around our house, we have a lot of different things from the north. Matt is half Inuvialuit, making Chloe a quarter Inuvialuit. She was born in Yellowknife, NWT, and we lived there for a year.

I got an idea for a northern theme from a recent gift for Chloe.
I set up anything I could find. Books, a colouring book, figurines, art, stuffed animals and ice box.

The first thing Chloe did was start colouring the inukshuk page in her colouring book. During this time, I read to her from a book about polar bears.

Next, I read a book about animals that live on the land and a book about animals that live in the water. For each animal in the book, I would ask her to find the same animal out of her stuffies and figurines.

Caribou

Beluga whale (Chloe’s favorite- she sleeps with that stuffie every night!)

After that, she started reading the books on her own, while I read different books out loud to her.

The first day we did this, we ended by looking at the different artwork she had. We discussed what it was and looked at each piece together.

A few days later, I pulled out ice I had put a bit of food colouring into and had left in the freezer. I put it into a bigger bin and added some water. It had a neat effect.

I also added a bunch of ice cubes to the bin and put it outside. I put out the arctic animals and started placing them in the bin to show Chloe.

While Chloe played with the animals, ice and water, I talked about how certain animals live in the water and how others would go in the water and on land.

Then I noticed Chloe was trying to eat the ice cubes.

So instead, we started talking about ice. We talked about how it felt: rough and smooth, slippery, cold.

I think Chloe enjoyed all of the activities we did. It was educational, fun and important.
And the ice/water bin has inspired a new idea for Chloe and me to try. Stay tuned for another ice/water blog in the near future!

Gotta love garage sales

One of my favorite things about summer is garage sales. The town I live in has lots of young families, so the garage sales are usually pretty good (for me, anyway).
There are a couple reasons I really like garage sales.
1) I can buy things in perfectly good condition for my daughter at a fraction of the cost of new. No guilt on how much I spent.
2) because things are so cheap, if she doesn’t like them right away, I can store them in a closet until she’s older, even if only by a month. Or, I can store some items for trips etc. I did that for our last trip, and will do it for the next as well.
3) most garage sales have books. I’m a book lover. My daughter has several books. Ok, shelves full. And I’m always happy when more is added. So $0.25 and $0.50 books can’t be argued with! To the collection they go!

Some of you, especially those who know me, might be thinking that it was Chloe’s birthday only last week, and she got ridiculously spoiled. Well, you’re right. But I can’t help myself with garage sales. And like I previously stated, some will end up being put away for future use.
And on that point, some of her birthday gifts are put away for future use as well.

Here is my latest garage sale haul:

A Dora tent for $2. It’s small but it’s also awesome.
A Dora pillow that turns into a blanket $5
A Cinderella Barbie $0.50
A sleeping beauty Barbie $0.50
And a lot of books $8.50
For a total of $16.50

Now this haul isn’t typical. I usually get just a couple items totally a few dollars. And I definitely don’t garage sale every weekend. We would need a bigger house if I did…

Do you like garage sales? What kinds of things do you typically look for or buy?

I’m all about the kid stuff. I usually look for clothes and books. In the past, we’ve gotten patio furniture (whole set for $60), Chloe’s snow suit ($15), water table ($5), clothes for Chloe, pjs for Chloe, and of course toys and books. I love it!