Two New Mama Blogger Books, A Sneak Peak Inside

A peak inside two newly released books

Look what released yesterday!

A peak inside two newly released books
A peak inside two newly released books
A peak inside two newly released books

The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasonsicon by Amanda Blake Soule and her husband Stephen Soule of SouleMama.

A peak inside two newly released books
A peak inside two newly released books
A peak inside two newly released books

Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wondericon by Mariah Bruehl of Playful Learning.

I love when my favorite bloggers write books.

The Only Downside to Being Avid Readers…

Piles of books

All those books really pile up.

Piles of books

Some recent reads…

David has been rereading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin (that HBO recently adapted as the Game of Thrones) in anticipation of this week’s release of A Dance With Dragons.

Piles of books

I recently reread the Dragonriders of Pern series in chronological order, continue to plow through nonfiction books like Nurtureshock (in the same vein of amazing as Punished By Rewards), and remain a magazine junkie (favs include Country Living, Sunset and Living Crafts).

Piles of books

Our daughter has been reading her way through the Biscuit series on her own, and devouring any Henry and Mudge books that we read to her.

I doubt you find it surprising that we max out our library cards each week.

What can I say? We love to read.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings

Our family tends to collect art appreciation books written for kids.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

Our latest discovery is Alphab’art, a book about finding letters hidden in paintings.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids
Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

This wonderful book presents a wide variety of art styles and subject matter with paintings by some of the masters of western art including Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, Matisse, Giotto, Chagall, Mondrian, and Klee. Many of the paintings in the book came from French museums and private collections (the book was originally published in France) and were unfamiliar to me.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

We found that looking for letters in the paintings jump started our conversation about the many other interesting things hidden away in the works of art.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids
Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

Our daughter felt proud that she spotted three letter O’s in this painting by Henri Matisse. I love the idea that we can find shapes and letters all around us, in pictures, photos, bookshelves, toy bins, doorways, if we really look. We’re surrounded by beautiful, interesting and educational things.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

The book has inspired us to go on an alphabet adventure! I feel a photography project coming on…

Curious about other art appreciation books for kids that we love?
Read all of our previous posts on the subject here.

Beach Trip and Field Guidebooks

Last week we traveled around wine country sharing our beautiful home with my parents who were visiting from the East Coast.

Beach Trip, cuddles with the grandparents

One day to beat the heat wave sweeping Sonoma County, which I guess could technically be called summer, we headed to the shore hoping to see interesting sea birds and a colony of harbor seals with their pups at Goat Rock Beach.

Beach Trip, harbor seals basking in the sun

This beach is particularly interesting because it’s where the Russian River intersects the ocean. Below you can see the river on the right flowing westward into the sea on the left.

Beach Trip where the Russian River meets the sea
Beach Trip where the Russian River meets the sea

The two sides are distinctly different not just in the salt content of the water, but also in the clarity, color and turbidity. During the summer months a sandbar builds up along the beach, separating the Russian River from the Pacific Ocean, making an idea location for harbor seal pupping.

Beach Trip, running in the sand

The smooth sand and interesting driftwood also make for a fun place to explore.

Beach Trip, playing in the sand

Any time we travel to the beach we bring several field guides so we can identify the animals and plants that we encounter. Here are the best ones we’ve found, our favorite beach field guides:

Favorite Beach Field Guidebooks
California Seashore Life: An Introduction to Familiar Plants and Animals (A Pocket Naturalist Guide). If you’re going to buy just one California beach guide, this is the one to get. Laminated and pocket-sized, this is our most used guide. (Evidently they have hundreds of guides in this series, so you’re likely to find one specific to your area.)

Favorite Beach Field Guidebooks
Pacific Coast Bird Finder: A Pocket Guide to Some Frequently Seen Birds and Pacific Intertidal Life: A Guide to Organisms of Rocky Reefs and Tide Pools of the Pacific Coast are inexpensive, pocket-sized guides with great picture and interesting factoids (shown on the top row, above). There are many books in this series focusing on trees, tracks, flowers, and wildlife across the United States and Canada. Check them out!

Favorite Beach Field Guidebooks
Pacific Coastal Birds (Peterson Flash Guide). Evidently this laminated field guide is out of print, although there are several others in the series that are still available (including the Atlantic Coastal Birds). An alternative to this guide is the Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists: Shorebirds that contains more in depth information about commonly found shorebirds for elementary and middle-school students.

To ensure that we always have these guides with us on impromptu beach trips, I try to keep them packed away in our trunk all summer long (along with our picnic blanket and sand toys). With the beach just a half-hour away, we find the cool ocean breeze to be a needed reprieve on hot summer days. We want to be able to hit the beach in a moments notice. We love California Living!

A Toddler’s Interpretation of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

I’ve written before about our daughter’s Very Hungry Caterpillar obsession. (Don’t all toddlers love Eric Carle books?)

Several months ago we started working on our own version of the book.

Toddler's Version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

This week we finally devoted some time to finish up the project.

Toddler's Version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

We cut out food items featured in the book (from Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity Pad) and drew caterpillars on each page of our blank board book.

Toddler's Version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

We added Eric Carle’s text from his original book.

Toddler's Version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

We made a cover for our book.

Toddler's Version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

Since completing our version, we’ve read it time and time again.

Toddler's Version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

A simple, fun, literary project!

Materials:
– Blank board book from Bare Books
– Stencils and decorated tissue paper (evidently called artwork sheets) part of the Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity Pad