Summer Reads: Paying attention to our lives and more

Get a copy of this book, "Your second life begins when you realize you only have one" by Raphaëlle Giordano and think a little deeper on the little things you can change to live fuller and happier. This is a wonderful book that has strategies we can adapt for the betterment of our lives after all we only have one life to live.

Learning about Saber-Tooth Tigers and stories from Berenstain Bears

The following two Berenstain Bear digital books teach our children good life lessons. The Berenstain Bears and the Tooth Fairy is about Sister Bear losing a tooth and gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy. She finds out that her best friend Lizzy got more money than her from the Tooth Fairy. It was neat to see and read how Mama Bear explain about the different funds Tooth Fairy gives.

InnoTab® 3 Opens a World of Learning

The InnoTab® 3 by VTech opens a world of learning. There is a wealth of age-appropriate educational games, apps and more that expands our children's minds, creativity and learning. 

Both my 4 and 8 year old enjoy using the 180° 2 megapixel rotating camera and video recorder to capture images and videos. They like using the WonderCam with over 55 photo effects, funny faces and frames to create fun images with the pictures they took. 

Summer Reading Adventures with DK Readers

I have always found DK Readers to be very useful in encouraging and teaching my children to read in English. I like that the DK Readers have stunning photographs and illustrations, which make the context in the books interesting. We enjoy the engaging, age appropriate stories and information found in these books. The DK Readers are separated into five different levels that enable children to progress in their reading skills. 

My Children's Fondness for Geronimo Stilton

My children are very fond of Geronimo Stilton. I introduced the fun stories of Geronimo Stilton to my children through the comic collection by papercutz. Both my children enjoy listening to and looking through the colourful images of these graphic novels, which allow them to imagine the story more easily. 

Fun to Read Digital Books for Children

Dr. Seuss's Short Story Collection has eight classic titles all in one digital book app. Each of these stories entertain in classic Seuss style and provides timeless moral lessons for readers young and old. 

Collection of Dr. Seuss digital media books for Children

I believe we must embrace new technology when we are teaching our children.  From a very young age even before my children turned one I have allowed them to use our smart devices such as the iPad and iPod for entertaining and learning purposes.  However, I do put restrictions on how much time they get to use it because smart devices can be addictive :)
As parents, we all know that sometimes it is difficult to find the time to sit and read, so having useful educational apps make it easier for us to teach our children in a fun way.

We have all heard of and know how educating Dr. Seuss's books are for children.  Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1 and #2* and McElligot's Pool* digital book apps are fabulous for children who are learning to read and well as those who have started to read.  It will also benefit people who are learning English.  

The original books written by Dr. Seuss have become livelier through these digital books and technology.  Our children will be more interested and motivated to read these books using the digital book app in smart devices.  Giving a book and asking to read doesn't always work, however I know that when we get them involved and teach them through play is very likely to keep our young ones engaged.  The collections of these Dr. Seuss digital books are interactive so my children are more willing to read.   

The books are full of beautiful drawings and graphics, which are an important part of reading and learning for young children.  The original artwork from Dr. Seuss's books can be panned and zoomed through these digital books.  I like this interactive touch based learning that helps curious minds.  

When children touch the pictures and words on the digital books it reads it to them.  This helps my son who is learning to recognize letters and sounds by relating it to pictures.  My daughter clicks on the words that she has trouble pronouncing, so she can continue the story without getting frustrated by one word that she has trouble with.

These digital book apps are not only geared for visual learners but also to auditory learners.  Children who like learning by listening will enjoy the sound effects and the stories read to them.  

In addition to the professional narration of the stories, these digital books allow us to record our own voice and share.  I thought that this is very neat, and is one of the features that we enjoy using.  Young children love when they hear their favourite story being read by a familiar voice i.e. parents or siblings.  A familiar voice tends to soothe little ones and as parents we all have a few stories memorized because we had to repeat it a few hundred times :)  My daughter is also encouraged to read because of this recording feature by inputting expression into the stores so she can hear back her voice or allow her brother to listen to.

We can buy the collections and keep adding new digital book titles as they become available through iTunes.  We can download the free Dr. Seuss Bookshelf app to keep our self organized because once a few books are downloaded it could make the iPad look cluttered.  This bookshelf app helps us rearrange and organize the way we prefer by type, price or age so we can easily find the specific books we are looking to read.  

This Dr. Seuss Bookshelf has made it easy for my little ones and us to browse all the Dr. Seuss apps and keep up-to-date when new books are released.  Keeping up-to-date will help us to take advantage of free books, introductory pricing and sales.  

Parents can either lock or unlock the app store so the little ones will do not download the books and apps without our permission.
These digital books are valuable for children who are learning to read and will benefit having it easy to access when we are at home, travelling, in schools, Montessori's and day cares.

A closer look at some Dr. Seuss book titles:
*McElligot's Pool by Dr. Seuss is about young Marco casting his fishing line deep into McElligot's pool and imagining curious sea creatures that might bite.  This book appeals for readers of all ages.

*The Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1, will help young children to enjoy reading.  The 5 titles in this collection are recommended for children age 2 to 6.  The book titles are (this list is from iTunes)

1. The Cat in the Hat stars a cheerful and exotic Cat that brings chaos to the house of two young kids on a rainy day while their mother is out.
2. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a freewheeling plot about a boy and a girl and the many amazing creatures they meet.
3. The FOOT Book introduces the concept of opposites through funny and creative depictions of different kinds of feet!
4. Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You? is Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises and explores with children the sounds they hear everyday, and how to mimic them!

5. Fox In Socks features two delightful characters Fox and Knox, who converse almost entirely in rhyming tongue-twisters. "A tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in sox, sir!"

*The book titles in Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #2 are (this list is from iTunes)

1. Green Eggs and Ham: One of the best-selling children's book of all time. Sam-I-Am is determined to share the tasty treat of green eggs and ham with his doubtful companion. Containing just 50 unique words, this title is a must-have for beginner readers.
2. Dr. Seuss's ABC: From Aunt Annie riding an Alligator to the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, Dr. Seuss teaches children the ABC's through whimsical Seussian words and illustrations, guaranteed to entertain as much as it educates!
3. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back!: The behatted and bow-tied cat is back and stirring up his own brand of mischief. This time he enlists Little Cats A through Z to help him clean up the mess. But will they be a help or a hindrance?
4. There's a Wocket in my Pocket!: This charming, light-hearted story follows a young boy around his house as he introduces the reader to the amusing imaginary creatures that live with him.
5. Hop on Pop: Known as "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use," Hop on Pop offers simple, delightfully entertaining rhymes to inspire children to read on their own. "Pat. Cat. Pat sat on cat. No Pat No. Don't sit on that."

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Reading rocks CD

Reading Rocks from Johnette Downing will be released in November 2012.  The songs are from an award-winning New Orleans children's musician and author.  This CD is for children ages 2 to 8 years.  The CD interweaves reading from five of Johnette's picture books.  Reading Rocks is an album that combines spoken words with music that has a mix of jazz, cajun, creole etc.  This CD has eleven songs that range in style from bluegrass to rock, finger plays and limericks.  This motivating CD is fun to listen to.

Here are some of the tracks
Reading Rocks
Open a book finger play
Today is Monday in Kentucky
Why the Oyster has the pearl
Oyster limerick

Here is a book trailer Why the Possum Has a Large Grin with Johnette's song.

  All rights reserved on opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

DK LEGO books and contest

This LEGO DK ultimate sticker collection book was really enjoyed by my little one.  It is better to paste the stickers with the young children instead of them doing the book by themselves.  This way we can ask questions and talk about which stickers belong where i.e. which sticker should we put in the farm or the zoo etc.  

This LEGO DK Brickmaster brings reading and play together.  It helps children follow instructions and build creative toys.  This set allows children to recreate the story that they have read.  It was fun to build the LEGO pieces with my children and see the lego characters from the book in action as the children played with them.  

I liked that the book has five chapters so we can read and build one chapter at a time.  With each progressing chapter the amount of building increases.  Children can also get creative to make their own structures and tell their own story.  This LEGO DK book is for children over the age of 5 years although with supervision 3 1/2 to 4 year old children can participate.  

My daughter enjoyed reading this DK reader about Friends. She liked the pictures throughout the book and related the story to the LEGO characters. 

The story in the reader was interesting so she didn't mind sitting to read the whole book :) These types of DK readers are encouraging for the children to read. The books have fun stories with reading levels. The stories are not too long to finish reading from beginning to end for young children.

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Ambition’s Not An Awful Word Giveaway

Ambition’s Not An Awful Word is a funny children's book written by the author Zack Zage.  Zack uses himself as the boy in the story that is starting grade four.  
This story starts conversation of "who I want to be when I grow up" and "what I want to do".  The rhyming words add to the fun of reading this story.  My daughter liked the references of places and people in the sentences that she was able to infer and remember from other conversations.  
Ambition is one of the most important trait that we should encourage in our children, so they can explore different things they like from a young age.  As the book says, ambition is the beginning of everything we accomplish in life.

The beautiful illustrations done by Adam Watkins sparks curiosity in children and opens conversations.  Children will laugh at the pictures and even think about it.  The pictures go in hand with the written words.  
We liked the detail in the pictures and the drawings of the characters.  I got lots of questions from my 3 1/2 year old about the pictures i.e. "how come the lady looks so different with big teeth," "why is the boy's eyes so big."

Although this book is intended for children over the age of 6, my little one loved listening to this story and appreciated the pictures and flipped through the book several times.  
I like the layout of the book, in which Zack says his ambition in one side and the reality of real life on the other side.  The meanings of unusual words, people mentioned in the story are in the glossary; parents and older children will appreciate this.  Adults will enjoy reading this book as well.

The book ends beautifully as Zack's mother says the moon left a message that "It's OK to dream."
This book is available in stores and amazon.
Giveaway
If you would like to win this fabulous book, please leave a comment on this post and enter through the rafflecopter below.  Giveaway is open to people in Canada and US, ends on September 15th.
Update: The winner is Jessica Mueck

"Dream it! Believe it! Work hard for it! Achieve it!"

a Rafflecopter giveaway
All rights reserved on opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Reading with children

As parents we can help our children read without tears by making reading a part of their everyday life and fun.  It is important to talk and discuss with children about what they read by asking related questions, to see if they have comprehended what they read or listened to.
Reading something fun everyday with the children brings lots of satisfaction that will become good memories.  Choose a book like this 365 Animal stories and rhymes or another book from the 365 stories and enjoy with your little ones.  This book has a variety of reading media such as folk stories, exciting long and short stories and poetry that will keep children entertained.  My children enjoyed listening to many of the stories and want to listen to some of them over and over.
I liked reading it with my children and was happy to see some stories I remember listening to as a child from my grandmas and mom.  

Another note on reading: Every summer Toronto Public library has a reading program that encourages children to have fun and read.  They provide posters and stickers free of charge; so do join this fun learning program.


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Flippity find board game at Kimmyshop

Kimmyshop is a good destination to find all the favourite hard to find character merchandise from games, arts and crafts to bagpacks and lunch boxes. Their products are shipped all over the world. All the products in the site are separated by catergories, age, characters and brands. This makes it easy to find products for children, especially if you are looking to buy gifts.

This simple memory and matching game is targeted for preschoolers. It teaches children to work within a given time, to take turns and helps with their fine motor skills. In this game, children learn to quickly recognize the matching pictures and find as many of their favourite disney character tiles, before the sand timer ends or until they find Mickey mouse. The game continues until all the tiles are flipped.

This Hasbro flippty find is a fabulous hands on game where the whole family can enjoy as it could be played with 1 to 4 players from age 3+.

January 27th is Family Literacy Day to raise national awareness in reading and engaging in Literacy related activities as a family. Teaching our children literacy and numeracy with games are always a fun way to teach in which they will learn faster and remember.

I got a chance to review this Hasbro flippity board game from their site. All rights reserved on opinion, photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First