This is Owl & Free Printable Craft

Yesterday I held a story + craft with the ADORABLE book This is Owl! This is an interactive books that asks kids to clap, tap, blow, even "twit-twoo" to help tell the story! The kids LOVE that they get to really participate in the story, and who doesn't love a cute little owl!?

I really like to include a craft at the end of my story times, so for this week I decided to draw an Owl for each of the kids to color, glue onto a half sheet of black construction paper, and then "build a nest" with more construction paper cut into tiny strips.

After a little thought, I decided to make a printable Owl that was very basic, so that kids could make each one their own by adding different colors, patterns, etc. Watching each child customize his/her artwork always amazes me, it's like a tiny glimpse into what's going on in their heads.


I love how my almost three year old only wanted yellow strips, and added "Q's" in her sky (her name is Quinn).

I also love how my five year old thought her picture needed a branch :p.

You can order the book for your family  here (it would also make a great gift!). And download the printable owls here! I have two per page, since I was making it for my story time. I figure many of you might have more than one child, or maybe you want to color an owl of your own ;).

Enjoy!!

What's in a name?

 Name recognition is one of the first steps in letter awareness and literacy. It makes sense that kids would initially be interested in the letters that make up their names. I know my youngest daughter has taken extreme ownership of "her" letter Q. And for younger preschoolers and toddler's the first letter is a great place to start! With the first letter. You can change up the "C is for Cookie" song by adding in their names (and then other familiar names if you like). My daughters both love singing along as we name all of our family members and the first letters of their names.

After they master "their" letter, you can move to their whole name. One of my favorite easy activities is making a puzzle with letter magnets that you probably already have. Just trace the letters on a piece of paper and have them match them up (you can put the piece of paper on a cookie tin so the letters don't slip). If you have foam letters or stickers you could also just write the name and have them put the stickers or glue foam letters on to the top of the words.

Another simple DIY is to write their name on a Popsicle stick and then also on some clothespins. They will squeeze the clothespins to match the letters, and which is a practice of dexterity and fine motor control as well.

Another one of my favorite kids song's is Maya Angelou's name song!  It's the perfect song to go along with these activities and I love how it fosters a strong sense of self-esteem. I've even added the lyrics below for you to print off and sing whenever you want <3.

Paper Straw Butterflies!

Attention butterfly lovers!! Check out these gorgeous books that would make the perfect addition to an Easter basket!! 😍 And if you want an easy butterfly craft look no further than these paper straw butterflies!

I made 100 of these little paper straw butterflies for an event at my daughter's school this weekend and Thank God they are so simple to make! Print out the wing template and cut them out! Hot glue the wings on a paper straw and add some pipe cleaner antennas . You can color the wings however you choose! We did crayons at the school for less mess, but the preferred way at home became drawing a "secret design" with white crayon and then revealing it with water colors! The paper straw really does give them a nice flutter 🦋

Kitty Kat, Kitty Kat, Where Have you Been?

I'm sure you have all heard this well loved nursery rhyme before, but have you read the travel series published by Kane Miller books!?

Find the books here.

We love them in this house because:
 1) they rhyme so they are fun to read
 2) they are so colorful and gorgeously illustrated and
 3) we love to learn about different countries and cities around the world!
So, to make these reading adventures even more fun, I decided to make some sweet little guides go along with them!

The PDF for the guides can be downloaded here: London, Paris, New York, Rome

To see live readings of the books, more crafts and lots fun with other topics join Little Book Learners facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1085919208207912

I also made a printable passport! I designed it as a cut and paste activity but it is totally customizable. If you have kids who are starting with scissors you can make cutting strips for your child to cut on the four thick lines and then paste in the pictures to each city in the passport. If your kids are more advanced they can cut the whole thing themselves or draw a picture representing each city (if they are scissor pros and don't need anymore practice).  Or if you have younger kids who you aren't comfortable letting used scissors, just let them scribble away!

These passports stick in perfectly to the front pouch of these adorable paper suitcases we made to keep all of our coloring pages in!

I made this design by mixing the following ideas I found on pinterest:
http://dotellanabel.blogspot.com/2014/12/do-it-yourself-paper-suitcases.html?m=1
https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/10/in-art-room-packing-our-bags.html?spref=pi

Happy travels!! If you use any of the above ideas with the books, I would love for you to tag me on instagram @little.book.learners or hashtag #littlebooklearners so I can see!!

Wishing I had more time to blog! I just wish I could write down all the everyday moments that make me smile.

Like Kylie, when you wanted to wear your swim suite all day today, even under your clothes to target . 😅 Or when you were sad last night that you "did something bad and lost your temper". Or when Grammie said she was old and decrepit and you said "someday you'll die". So maybe that one made my mouth drop rather than smile!

Or that other thing Kylie did but I can't even remember what it was now.

Or that Quinn you now lick the drips off your  bib if I take too long to feed you.

Or that I just listened to you, Travis, get emotional telling the sweetest stories to Kylie about finding out she was going to be a girl and when she was born.

Funny stories

While I am reminiscing on adorable moments, I have another good one I never want to forget. The other day I couldn't decide if I wanted to put a pull up on Kylie while we did errands. I was helping her get dressed while she was telling me something and I did slip it on. When we got to the pants she realized she didn't want to wear the pull up. It was mid afternoon so she was getting a bit grumpy. She started demanding that I rip the sides of the pull up to get it off, as I do in the morning when it is wet from sleeping. I was doing pretty good staying calm (which I don't always do), and explained that  this pull up was dry so I didn't want to waste it because we could use it that night. She looks at me silently for a few seconds and then says, "do you hear that tinkle tinkle?". She was peeing in the pull up just so I would rip it!

Oh the things she says....

Ky's vocabulary has been increasing even more for the last few months, she has been marries ting her play with words like scampered. The other day she was saying "and she was tramping on the roof". When I told Travis this story he told me that wasn't the word it was "trampling". I said, "no, they are two different words with similar meanings. One means to stamp/march and one means to run over". He of course didn't believe me so I looked it up. My 3 year old daughter has a better vocabulary than my 29 year old husband. (Travis if one day you ever read this, I'm sorry honey and you know I love you).