Blog Archives

May the Fork Be With You!

4/29/2020

*Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts.

May; A time of flowers blooming and thoughts of summer planting. In addition, the month of May reserves a special day for the foods BBQ, Egg, Hamburger, Salad, Salsa and Strawberry, as well as celebrating National Herb Week during the first week of the month. We suggest you plant an herb garden, even if it’s in a container or on the deck, to enjoy all summer long. You might even consider having the child in your life give mom or grandma an herb plant for Mother‘s Day along with a favorite recipe filled with herbs. Have dad or another family member help kids make mom a special dinner and dessert featuring favorite herbs. A prime day to learn about another culture is Cinco de Mayo. Consider sharing a bilingual storybook. Since National Chocolate Chip, Walnut and Devil‘s Food Cake Day fall during the week of World Baking Day, find a new recipe to try out with your child(ren) and let the flour flow!

The month of May is also Get Caught Reading Month. It’s a time for you and your children to go on an adventure and lose yourself in another world. This is not just for kids but for all people to take the time to get out a favorite book or a new one and just read! Check out the Get Caught Reading site and look at all the celebrities who got caught reading and take photos of your own family members reading and share them on your Facebook page or even ours. Don’t forget that reading can include cookbooks. Consider including some classics and then cook your way through the classics with The Storybook Cookbook by Carol MacGregor or Fairy Tale Feasts by Jane Yolen.

“Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.”
C.S. Lewis

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May
National BBQ, Egg, Hamburger, Salad, Salsa & Strawberry Month &
Get Caught Reading Month

National Strawberry Month

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

Get Caught Reading Month

Get caught reading whatever tickles your fancy all month long and share your photos with us!

2nd: National Truffle Day

4th - 10th: Children's Book Week - Get in on the fun by reading your favorite children's books aloud and visit Every Child a Reader's website for celebration ideas and resources. #BookWeek2020atHome

4th: Star Wars Day - May the Fourth Be With You!

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown

4th: National Orange Juice Day

5th: Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo by Carlson Berne

Cinco de Mouse-O! by Judy Cox

Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel by Adam Rubin

First Saturday: National Herb Day

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together With Kids by Sharon Lovejoy

Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden - A Book for Children and Their Grown Ups by Sharon Lovejoy

13th: National Apple Pie Day

A Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson

Annie the Apple Pie Fairy by Tim Bugbird

2nd Sunday: Mother‘s Day

The Night Before Mother's Day by Natasha Wing

Mother's Day Mice by Eve Bunting

I Love My Mommy Because... by Laurel Porter Gaylord

Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman

Me and My Mom! by Alison Ritchie

15th: National Chocolate Chip Day

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

The 1st American Cookie Lady by Barbara Swell

The Cookie Fiasco (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!) by Dan Santat

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems

The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson

17th: World Baking Day

Alpha-Bakery by Gold Medal Flour

Dough Knights and Dragons by Dee Leone

Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven

Mommy & Me Bake by DK

The Great Fairy Baking Competition by Thomas Nelson

Hear a spectacular read aloud of How to Bake a Book (known as Recipe for a Story in the UK) on YouTube here.

17th: National Walnut Day

Let's Go Nuts!: Seeds We Eat by April Pulley Sayre

19th: National Devil‘s Food Cake Day

Let's Bake a Cake! by Anne-Sophie Bauman

Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake by Eileen Christelow

The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake by Joanna Cole

Bunny Cakes (Max & Ruby) by Rosemary Wells

Froggy Bakes a Cake by Jonathan London

Marigold Bakes a Cake by Mike Malbrough

Jake Baked the Cake by B. G. Hennessy

Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

The Fairytale Cake by Mark Sperring

Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson and Will Hillenbrand

Bake the world a better place!

Happy baking and reading!

-Kate @ BTBL

Author

We are three generations that seek a way to get back to basics. It’s not that we eschew technology, but sometimes simpler is better, especially in raising our children. Mom was a reading teacher, Amanda is an early childhood educator and Kate a children’s literature specialist and former school librarian along with the latest additions, a daughter (now 4) for Kate, and two sons (now 1 and a newborn) for Amanda. We advocate reading aloud, the simple toys that use imagination and encourage creativity and learning in the kitchen, which can be a fun mess but also teaches life skills. Join us in raising healthy, happy, inquisitive and intelligent children.

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Hap-pea Peas in a Pod

4/26/2020

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*Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts.

The humble pea has never seemed to be a child’s vegetable of choice but when it comes to The Peas Series by Keith Baker, peas stand out in a big way and are adored, complete with rhythmic text and humorous illustrations filled with engaging details.

These are not identical peas in a pod. No, these little green peas are unique and have diverse interests, hobbies and jobs. Their distinctness is highlighted in a colorful animated way as they roll through the alphabet. Not only do they take a child on a fun exploration of the ABC’s in LMNO Peas, they are also featured in a book of numbers (1-2-3 Peas), colors (Little Green Peas) and months (Hap-pea All Year). LMNO Pea-quel finds the little green peas bouncing through the lowercase letters with new jobs, activities, hobbies and roles. Though the series is simple and appeals to the younger crowd, older children might find their humor appealing and the books can be used to further build and expand skills. Again, if you don’t have the books, check on YouTube for a read aloud.

When we looked up LMNO Peas activities online, the first entry was worksheets. Not an activity we wanted to start with so we came up with our own. Here is a list of some of our ideas to use with Baker’s books to have fun and build skills:

Letter Jar – Get a glass jar and fill it with dried peas and letter beads. Have your child shake it up and identify the letters they see and then think of a word that starts with that letter or have them look around the house for objects that start with that letter. For older kids you can have them write down words that start with that letter or change it up and have them write down words that end with that letter.

Pea Pod – Have your child paint a paper plate green and then fold it in half to make a pea pod. You can either staple it or to work on small motor skills, punch a few holes at the ends and have your child sew it shut with yarn and a plastic yarn needle and tie it off. Then find an ABC letter chart and print it off on card stock (we used green.) Have your child cut the letters out and place them in their pod. Have your child then pull letters out of their pod for identification and then you can continue with the theme of the book and have your child come up with jobs, interests or descriptive adjectives. Add extra letters for a pea-gram spelling game ala Bananagrams.

Counting Carton – Take a cardboard egg carton and have your child paint it green. Place numbers in the bottom of each cup and then have your child count out marbles, beads, peas or anything green for each. Use it for simple math by asking if you combined the 2 cup with the 3 cup, how many would you have altogether? Using a manipulative helps children learn math because it gives them a visual.

Color Wheel – Take a paper plate, section it off like a pie and have your child color in each section with markers, crayons or colored pencils using the colors from the book. Use a round head fastener or a paper clip to create a spinner and have your child spin to see what color it will land on. Identify the color and then come up with all the things they can think of that are that color. You can even have them think of what foods from the farm or garden are that color. Turn it into an I Spy game looking around the house for objects in that color.

Celebrate the Months & Seasons – Print off a blank calendar page for each month and help your child to fill in the days. Then use colored pencils, markers, crayons or stickers to decorate each month for events, holidays and seasons. Refer to the book for additional creative ideas and see if your child can find the pea of the month (holding the number of the month) on each page. Mark off the day each morning, helping to teach your child the days of the week, and discuss the month and the season, perhaps including the weather.

With literacy and math scores being such a concern, especially in Michigan, and with the coronavirus making the school year so short, it never hurts to play letter and number games, making their learning fun. The more you work with something, the better it will be absorbed and working with letters and their sounds will only enhance literacy skills. Reading books aloud to your child leads to better concentration, an increased attention span, greater empathy, increased vocabulary and background knowledge that can be drawn upon when needed. A total win-win situation. So, get out those magnetic letters, foamy letters and letter tiles or make them yourself and see how many imaginative ways you can use them to increase your child’s literacy skills.

Happy reading and learning!

-Kate @ BTBL

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Don't let the Pigeon leave the house!

4/19/2020

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*Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts.

We have found that often it’s easier to choose an author and take a trip through their characters, books and/or series. Educators call this an author study and if you Google the author’s name and “author study” you will get a plethora of activities to engage your child in from Scholastic to teachers to individual blogs. With this in mind, we have chosen to browse through the books of Mo Willems.

You may not recognize the name Mo Willems, but if you have kids, you’ve most likely heard of Elephant and Piggie and their adventures as well as Knuffle Bunny and Pigeon, who you shouldn’t let drive the bus. Willems’ books are fun, offer lessons and lend themselves well to discussions and extended activities.

If you don’t have any of Willems’s books, many are available to be heard as a read aloud on YouTube. Book activities can be found on Pigeon Presents as well as information and ideas for parents on the books, the characters and how best to utilize the activities. You can also have your child join Willems on his Lunch Doodles for more fun and creative activities.

Introduce your child to Willems’s characters through:

A simple craft to introduce Pigeon. Use a paper plate and some construction paper to make Pigeon and then read one of Pigeon's stories. We were inspired by The Pigeon Needs a Bath! and put a dirty pigeon in a bath made from paper plates my daughter painted blue.

An Elephant and Piggie puppet made using a lunch bag. Have your child come up with their own Elephant and Piggie adventure and present it to you and your family or to friends. If they are old enough, have them write down the adventure and if not just have them use their puppets to act out the adventure. This will help build imagination, creativity and dialogue. (The templates can be found on Pigeon Presents.)

A cautionary tale with a nod to the silent film, That is Not a Good Idea is a fun interactive story with a surprise ending. For ideas to further enhance the reading experience take a look at this guide from HarperCollins Publishers.

Individual expression. Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed is a fun book for those who like to dress up and express themselves. Go to Pigeon Presents to find ideas for helping Wilbur dress and to bring out your child’s inner expressiveness.

In addition to Mo Willems’s books, author/illustrators have teamed up with Willems to offer the ELEPHANT & PIGGIE LIKE READING! early-reader series, where Elephant & Piggie introduce kids to the books they like to read. These books feature original stories and all new characters along with Elephant & Piggie story bumpers from Willems. Though recommended for grades 1-3, my four-year-old daughter enjoys these books, especially The Cookie Fiasco.

Happy reading and crafting!

-Kate @ BTBL

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If You Give a Child a Book...

4/12/2020

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*Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts.

We’re back with a week filled with yummy book suggestions and ideas. This week we are featuring the works of Laura Numeroff. You may not recognize her name right off but we are sure that you will know her books or at least their titles. This week we are specifically featuring:

There are several more fantastic books in this series. We have chosen to focus on certain of the food related titles as part of our Bookworm Bakers division.

**If you don’t have the actual book at home, read alouds can be found on YouTube**

These books are always a fun read and what we like to do with them is to actually make the food that the book features. Books and baking seem to go together and getting kids in the kitchen is not only educational but also builds life skills. Cooking with young children aids in hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Cooking can also be used for patterning, sequencing and basic math skills. Children who help with cooking and baking also gain confidence, a sense of pride and accomplishment and learn about responsibility, not to mention the social and creative aspect of cooking together. If you aren’t prepared or into cooking and baking, have kids make the featured food from paper, felt or other craft supplies. You can also include math skills by having your child(ren) count out chocolate chips, sprinkles etc., double or half a real recipe or figure out how many cookies, cupcakes etc. each member of your family will get to make it even.

To make things even easier on yourself and to offer more fun options to your child, visit Mouse’s website. There you can be introduced to all the characters, see a list of all the books and find related activities and games. You can even watch the animated series on Amazon Prime Video, which my daughter absolutely fell in love with since she is already familiar with the characters. Read the books or watch a read aloud online and then check out the animated series. It will be a fun addition to the books.

Other titles in the series:

Happy reading and baking!

-Kate @ BTBL

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Good Evening, Parents & Children! Today is Monday!

4/6/2020

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*Note: this post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Any purchases made via the links provided go to support our literacy efforts.

Bored yet? Pulling your hair out looking for ideas to keep those young kiddo’s engaged? We thought that we would try to help by offering up a few book suggestions with ideas for extended activities to promote learning during this time of sheltering in place.

We have always promoted reading aloud and using picture books can take a child out of their world and send them on an adventure stimulating curiosity and imagination and also offers a smooth transition to extended activities. Studies have shown that hands-on-learning improves retention of information and offers a sense of empowerment when children take ownership of learning through real experience. It also offers up experiences that can be applied to real life and gives background knowledge that can be recalled when needed.

Our first suggestion is a book that you can utilize for the entire week: Today is Monday. It’s actually a traditional folk song used to teach children the days of the week that celebrated artist, Eric Carle revived with his unique artwork. If you don’t have a copy of the book, look for a read aloud on YouTube and also look for the poem along with the song on-line to share with your child(ren). Start each day with the song.

Have a calendar at the ready or the days of the week cards and then read the story each morning and discuss what day it is and where it falls in the week. If you have cards, have children place them in order to reinforce sequencing. Other ideas include:

Each day, have children create a menu for dinner that includes the featured food. Older children can write out a menu and younger ones can draw pictures of their menu.
Look for coloring pages for each food or even search on-line for activities for Today is Monday.
Each day use the featured food in a different way. For instance, young children can count the number of letters or draw a picture of that food. Come up with other foods that are the same color or start with the same letter.
Older children can come up with an acrostic poem using the letters of the food for that day, use the letters of the food to see how many new words they can make or just use the first letter of the food and come up with other foods that start with that letter.
Look and discuss Eric Carle’s unique way of using collage for his artwork and each day have children come up with their own unique illustrations for that day of the week. Let them unleash their inner creative spirit even trying Carle’s collage technique.
On Monday, cut out some string beans and string them up.
On Tuesday, sacrifice a box of spaghetti and have children count how many noodles are in a box. Play a game of pick up sticks or use the spaghetti for artwork.
Be creative with Wednesday’s ZOOOOP. Actually make soup that day or pretend to make a soup. Name it and decide what will go in it. My daughter made a letter soup with magnetic letters, cardboard letters and pasta letters all mixed in a Tupperware bowl and then we used them to spell simple words.
For the next three days, create outdoor scenes of where this meat and fish is found or find coloring pages of each.
Sunday, Ice Cream! Make your own ice cream in a bag or cut a cone out of construction paper and then scoops of ice cream and sprinkles to top it off.
You can always have your child make one large illustration and add each food to the picture every day. Let them use their imagination and be creative.

Enjoy your week and just keep reading! And be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, so you don't miss any book suggestions or activity ideas!

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Back to Basics

May the Fork Be With You!

Bake the world a better place!

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Hap-pea Peas in a Pod

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Don't let the Pigeon leave the house!

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If You Give a Child a Book...

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Good Evening, Parents & Children! Today is Monday!

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