What we are reading: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin

See this book at Amazon.com

Halloween is coming up! Last year we checked out and shared a great collection of poems -- It's Halloween! This year, our family borrowed a copy of The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin from the library and want to share notes about this cute book.

Spookley is a cute little story with a basic message -- it's OK and even valuable to be different from everyone else. The plot is like a Fall version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer... Spookley is a pumpkin who is square. The round pumpkins make fun of him until one night during a storm, Spookley saves the day. The farmer realizes how special Spookley is, and decides to plant his seeds in his fields the following year, which leads to a magical kind of surprise -- pumpkins of all shapes, colors and sizes!

The book comes with a bonus CD, which we listened to and enjoyed as well. Spookely is a cute book that our kids enjoyed very much. My oldest talked about Spookley a lot after reading the book.

Mommy's Favorite Children's Books earns a commission on Amazon.com sales. Thanks for reading!

Cardboard Building Blocks

See this toy at Amazon.com

Sometimes the simplest toys are the most fun. This is true with one of our family's favorite toys, basic cardboard building blocks. I think these have been around forever, I remember playing with similar blocks waaay back when I was in preschool and kindergarten, and they are still in early childhood classrooms today.

We've owned our cardboard blocks for about two years now, and they have been the most played with blocks in our house. (We have three sets, the cardboard blocks, a set of very fine wooden unit blocks, and a set of wooden ABC cubes. I should probably also mention plastic peek-a-blocks, although those are separate in my mind as baby toys vs. building toys.)

What I like about our cardboard blocks:

1. They are lightweight, I do not have to worry about anyone getting hurt when they topple over
2. The boys are pretty good about cleaning up the large cardboard blocks -- we keep them in a not-so-attractive but very functional LARGE cardboard shipping box that sits in our living room. Clean up is often a game of toss-the-block-in-the-box. It's fun.
3. Everybody can play with them. The 5-year-old, 3 year-old and 1 year-old all play and everybody loves it. Dad and I play too, and we have a good time.
4. They are not made of plastic. Our family has many plastic toys, but it's nice to have something fun that's not plastic in the mix.
5. They are sturdy. They have been thrown, stepped on, kicked down and knocked over many, many times, and are still in good shape despite our rough handling.

What I don't like about our cardboard blocks:

1. They were spendy. Daddy purchased ours at a learning boutique store, and I remember saying -- you spent what on a bunch of cardboard?? cardboard??? The blocks come packed flat, and so it's very clear that what you have purchased is really not all that much in terms of material. Thankfully, the delightful experience of building big structures and the enduring play value of the blocks has made it seem like it was a good purchase vs. some of our other toys that have not gotten nearly as much use. (Frugal tip: a fun free alternative to purchasing cardboard blocks is to save up a lot of cardboard shoe boxes and let the kids play with them. This is what the boys' grandma has done, I walked into her house one day to an enormous tower of shoe boxes and it was also delightful. Grandmas are so smart!)
2. Storage. They take up a little room, so it may be useful to have a place in mind for keeping them. I am OK with a big shipping box full of cardboard blocks in the living room. These could fit in a closet if I were more organized.

What the kids love about the cardboard blocks:

1. They are large (comparatively). It does not take stacking many of the largest red blocks before my 3 year-old has a tower taller than he is, and that is just cool.
2. They are open-ended, and the boys get to be creative with them. We love building walls, and towers, and caves, we enjoy walling off a corner of the living room for a fort (and using the large storage box and couch cushions as additional building materials), we build statues... Most recently the boys have gotten into karate-chopping the blocks and kicking the blocks, which is a little rough on them, but it's been loads of fun.

I'm happy to share that these simple blocks are some of our favorite toys and recommend them for families with toddlers and preschoolers.

Mommy's Favorite Children's Books earns a small commission on Amazon.com sales.

Go Away Monster!

See this game at Amazon.com

In all honesty, we don't play many board games in our house. That is kind of sad for me as a mom, because I grew up loving all board games and playing them as often as I could wrangle a willing friend or adult into playing with me. Perhaps the boys are still too young to love board games (and still working on turn-taking skills). My oldest (now almost 5!) loves Candyland. (Our three year old does not play it yet.) But one game that both our 5 and 3 year olds play is.... Go Away Monster by Gamewright.

Go Away Monster is a cute and simple game. Each player (up to four players total) chooses a game board that looks like a bedroom. There is also a small sack with game pieces that fall into two categories -- items that belong in your bedroom and... MONSTERS! If you happen to draw a monster, you get to yell GO AWAY MONSTER!!!!, and in our house, you get to toss your little monster across the room.

This has been loads of fun. The boys like picking their rooms and selecting items for their rooms in the game. The game has gotten my older son acting a little bit like a decorator, wanting to coordinate his favorite room with the best matching room accessories. The boys also enjoy all the monsters, they like the surprise of pulling a monster from the sack, and they love yelling GO AWAY MONSTER!!!

My nearly-five-year-old also at times decides that some of the monsters are nice monsters and he has chosen to invite them to stay and hang out in his nicely decorated room.

Game play moves fairly quickly, and it works with our kids' attention spans. The set packs up nicely in it's container, and it's an easy way to have a little family fun. The kids have not grown bored with it.

Go Away Monster is a simple, fun, delightful game that our family enjoys very much. I recommend it and think it's a great game to share with preschoolers.

Mommy's Favorite Children's Books earns a small commission on Amazon.com sales.

I Spy... A Great Giveaway!

It's been about a year since I started Mommy's Favorite Children's Books last summer and when it started, I hoped someday to do a giveaway contest with a great prize.   Now I am happy to announce the first blog giveaway..... featuring I Spy books.  

I Spy books are favorites of my 4.5 year old son.  We have a few in our collection and he enjoys the photos so much.  I love how focused he is while working on searching for items within the pictures.  We love I Spy books for anytime, and they are very useful when kids need to sit a while while waiting or traveling. 

This giveaway celebrates a brand new I Spy book....  

I Spy A to Z!

Easy-to-read riddles by Jean Marzollo are paired with forty-six object-filled photographs by Walter Wick to create I Spy A to Z, the most engaging alphabet book ever! With more than thirty titles and 36 million books in print, the I Spy series continues to win the hearts and minds of parents and kids everywhere. 

 

This giveaway offers FIVE prizes!  Wow!

One very lucky reader will receive an awesome grand prize package valued at more than $80 with books AND games! 

• Wii Video Game ‘Ultimate I SPY’

• Board Game ‘I SPY Memory Game’

• I SPY A to Z: A Book of Picture Riddles

• I SPY Treasure Hunt

Four (4) runner-up winners receive a copy of the new book I SPY A to Z: A Book of Picture Riddles!  (Each book valued at $13.99)

HOW TO ENTER:  Leave a comment (with your email or a link with a way to contact you if you win) and include 1) the title of your favorite children's book and 2) why you love it.

We're doing this the old fashioned way, one entry per person, please. No duplicates or incomplete entries. Entries will be accepted through July 6.  US residents only, please. Winners will be chosen at random, announced and notified by email on Wednesday July 8.  

(Anonoymous commenters and new visitors -- thank you so much for visiting --please be sure to leave me a way to contact you if you win, otherwise your entry is invalid. If you forgot and want to fix it, post an identical comment with a way to reach you, thanks.) 

Thank you for reading and entering the I SPY giveaway at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books!  Good luck!

A sweet classic board game: Candyland

There are only two board games that get regular use at our house -- Candyland and Go Away Monster  (review to come).  

I wonder if there is anyone who is unfamiliar with Candyland -- this classic board game has been around for generations.

A (our oldest, 4.5 years), loves Candyland, he is willing to play it anytime. 

See this game at Amazon.com

As a child I remember being very bored with Candyland.  Perhaps it's because I was an early reader and I felt the color cards were too simple.  I much preferred Chutes and Ladders .  I think that may mean I'm unique.  My new brother-in-law has detailed memories of Candyland's Lord Licorice.....  uh, I thought, who is that?  

It is interesting to compare various versions of Candyland published over the years.   The current came has Princess Frostine instead of Queen Frostine.  The molasses swamp has become a chocolate swamp, and the gameplay has changed.  In the version of my childhood, a player would get stuck on a dot space until a certain color card was drawn, which made for a long, frustrating  time stuck.  The modern version has a photo of licorice on the sticky spaces and the unlucky player only loses one turn -- for a gentler and less frustrating wait. 

The Hasbro web site has a history of the game and neat slide show with photos of the different versions through the decades.  Which version do you remember playing as a child? 

Now that I have a child that loves Candyland, I'm just now experiencing the best of this game with him.  

I admit, I let my son cheat and win every time we play.  He does not like getting sent back to an earlier point in the game by one of the special cards.  For a little while the house rules were that pieces only go forward, but now I am sending my player back to try and model the correct way to play.  A seems to be innately competitive, and he wants to win Candyland every time we play, cheering for himself when he receives double color cards and expressing disappointment when his game piece advances only a space or two.  He sweetly invites me to join him in the Candy Castle as soon as he wins.

I have heard the new, electronic Candy Land Castle  game suits younger players (2 and 3 year olds) who aren't ready for the classic Candyland game.  Apparently the concepts are totally different, and Castle is about color and shape matching.  I am not a big fan of electronic games though, and they can be expensive.  Have you tried Candyland Castle?  Let us know what you think!

A book for Father's Day -- I Love My Daddy by Sebastien Braun

I've got to say, Infant Bibliophile is on top of things -- I visited today to find Father's Day books -- a topic that would very possibly have completely slipped my mind until the week of.  I so admire the organized!  

Anyway, I have a single addition to the Bibliophile's list.  It's a beautiful, beautiful picture book called I Love My Daddy by Sebastien Braun.  

See this book at Amazon.com

Just look at the gorgeous images! Beautiful color! Each spread depicts a father bear and baby bear spending time together in sweet everyday moments.

The boys have enjoyed this book, especially, "My daddy tickles me!"  

I discovered this great-looking book when it was sold at Pottery Barn Kids a couple years ago -- those home decor style-makers picked a winner!   Since this purchase I have perused the PBK book selections a few more times -- I didn't find anything that grabbed me as much,  but kudos to PBK for making shelf space in its stores for children's books.

Added:  When is Father's Day this year, anyway?  I went and looked it up -- June 21!  Mark your calendars!

(Also, yes, today is Memorial Day!  Yes, I have the holidays all mixed-up! We do not have any books about flags, the USA or patriotism!  It's a huge deficiency in our collection.    And my husband was an Army reserve tank commander.  I have one book about Abraham Lincoln, that's it!  Any suggestions?)

Sending gifts for a 2 year old's birthday

Today I sent birthday gifts for a charming little two-year-old relative blessed with gorgeous red hair (like mine).  You would think it's easy to choose books for gifts because I have this blog that is all about our recommended favorites, but it took a few minutes to think about what might be nice (and to remember what I've already given!)  I ended up choosing two of our family favorites:

In the Small, Small Pond 

Our family's paperback copy of In the Small Small Pond is tattered and taped.  It has been very much loved.  Honestly I'm not sure why the book is such a favorite.... perhaps it is the bold and beautiful warm colors, the wonderful and colorful animals (with a little frog that appears on every spread), or maybe especially the ear-pleasing phrases.  All good reasons to love this book, which was recognized as a Caldecott honor book.

See this book at Amazon.com

It's everything I think a perfect children's book should be -- very, very, colorful, beautiful, simple and engaging.  

Harold and the Purple Crayon DVD set

I may risk getting some hate mail from saying this, but here are my true feelings:  The Harold and the Purple Crayon DVD set of the complete HBO series is...  better than the books.  

See Harold and the Purple Crayon at Amazon.com

Yup.  These DVDs are awesome.  Sharon Stone does a fabulous read, the music is wonderful and the animation of Harold creating his many drawings adds a lot to the stories.  I found this series when I was searching for some family video entertainment that is age-appropriate, gently paced and not too scary.  It fit our need perfectly.  

I had not heard of Harold or experienced him in my own childhood.  Harold is a young boy with a fantastic imagination and great artistic ability.  He imagines things, and draws them, and they become real....  he has wonderful adventures, he experiences some dilemmas and challenges along the way and uses his trusty purple crayon to confidently take charge of things. 

We did not experience the book until I picked up a copy at a resale shop.  All I have to say is that after seeing the videos, the book was ho-hum.  We still read the book, and sometimes books are more convenient and appropriate than videos, but given the choice, the videos are the superior media.   And that's the truth.  Hmph! 

I hope baby B loves his gifts!  (Is it right to call a 2 y.o. a baby? He's really a toddler!)

New Kohl's Cares for Kids books - Dr. Seuss

The Kohl's Cares for Kids program is now featuring Dr. Seuss hardcover books and plush toys.

See all the merchandise at Kohl's com or visit your local Kohl's store to purchase items for $5 each.

The Dr. Seuss books available right now are:

• I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
• Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
• And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street
• If I Ran The Zoo

The Very Hungry Caterpillar's 40th Anniversary

See this book at Amazon

2009 marks the 40th anniversary of one of our favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  In honor of 40 years, there is a new pop-up edition available -- it looks very cute!

Amazon.com has a video segment featuring Eric Carle speaking about The Very Hungry Caterpillar and how he made the book. (The interview is delightful... don't miss it!) He says in the interview "I LOVE COLOR!"  which makes me smile.  Eric Carle turns 80 years old this year.   Happy birthday Mr. Carle, and thank you for this very wonderful children's book!

P.S.  Here's a link to Eric Carle's blog.

UPDATE April 6:  I ordered a copy of the pop-up book but unfortunately it is fragile and I'm afraid it won't survive our boys' love.  We prefer the board book version.

The Snowy Day

The Snowy Day

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is well-known as a classic book.  Like Caps for Sale, this is a book that I never got to experience in childhood.  That's sad, because The Snowy Day is wonderful!  I had heard of the title, and checked it out from the library.  Now having read it, I must get a copy for our family, urgently... I am clinging to our borrowed copy and don't want to give it back!

The Snowy Day tells a simple story about a boy's day exploring and playing after a snowfall.  He has wonderful experiences -- making footprints, dragging a stick, shaking snow off a tree, watching a snowball fight and putting a snowball in his pocket to save for later.  He goes home and tells his mom about his day, reflects on his experiences, and the next day, goes out in the snow again,  bringing a friend to join in. 

It's a lovely story.  What I love most about this book is that it captures so well how children explore and experiment with simple things. How interesting snow is!  How wonderful to make footprints and snowballs!  It's great to feel, explore and enjoy natural wonders like snow. Reading The Snowy Day brings back the wonder and simple pleasures of childhood. 

Peter, the main character in The Snowy Day, is black.  As Dr. Seuss says in The Sneetches, you would think such a thing wouldn't matter at all... but it is notable, even in 2009.  I was reminded if how hard it can be for black children to find examples of people who look like them at Christmas when I searched unsuccessfully in local stores for a black baby doll -- very frustrating!  Having a main character with dark skin makes this beautiful book even more special.  

Great Children's Book Recommendations

Here's a wonderful article by Mr. Sheehy at A Teacher's Writes about his children's top 20 favorite children's books, according to the kids.  

The 20 Best Children's Books ... according to my children, so far.

Great recommendations, I look forward to reading some of the titles mentioned that we have not yet read.  

Also, check out James Patterson's new web site:  Read, Kiddo, Read.  I was particularly pleased to see Dear Zoo included -- it's one of our very favorites!

Toot and Puddle (and Olivia!) on TV

My 2-year-old has been enjoying the Toot and Puddle shows on Noggin (my efforts to eliminate television are mostly a miserable failure, although we are increasing tour TV-off time and doing more reading together.)  

Next step (I realize we are doing this backwards) is to check out the Toot and Puddle books.

Toot and Puddle are a pair of best-friend pigs who like to travel and go on adventures around the world.  I love the theme, and the stories so far have been very cute and educational.  I can't wait to see the books.  

Another book is coming to TV soon... Olivia.  Here is a New York Post article about it. I have seen previews for Olivia, but can't find the schedule info, and I'm not sure which channel -- Nickelodepn, Nick Jr. or Noggin.  (UPDATE - it starts Jan. 26 on Nickelodeon, 11:30 EST.  Here's another article about it.) We have a copy of Olivia that was a resale shop find. Honestly, it's not among my most favorites (perhaps because we have all boys) but we should give it more tries and we will definitely check out the new show.  Perhaps like Toot and Puddle, the show will turn more families on to the book.

Olivia is also a pig, a precocious female pig that enjoys art and dancing, and wearing out her mama.  She's described in the Post article as "the piglet with a passion for fashion." 

It's all about pigs on TV!

This just in... Here's the Nickelodeon press release about the Olivia premiere, including channel and VOD info.

Caps for Sale

Oh, how we love Caps for Sale!  What a wonderful, funny, classic children's book!

This classic tale by Esphyr Slobodkina was first published in 1940.  The story is of a somewhat unusual peddler who has a very unusual encounter with a lot of monkeys.  

One of the things we love about this book is the repetition.  The peddler carries his caps on his head -- first his own black and white checkered cap, then the gray caps, the brown caps, the blue caps, and the red caps on the very top.  This sequence is repeated several times within the story, as is the peddler's chant -- "Caps!  Caps for sale!  Fifty cents a cap!"  

The best part of the story happens when the peddler takes an afternoon nap under a tree and his caps are stolen by a large group of monkeys.  The poor peddler has lost his caps and becomes quite frustrated, while the silly monkeys just tease the angry peddler by imitating him and saying "tsz, tsz, tsz!"

In the end, the peddler gets his caps back, thank goodness, and continues on his journey selling caps.  It's an absolutely wonderful story that is funny, fun to read, and it's fun for the kids to participate and imitate the angry peddler just as the silly moneys do.

I had never read Caps for Sale as a child, this is one of the many wonderful children's books that I missed... we discovered it at my mother-in-law's house with my children. (I adore her for keeping a small bookshelf full of great children's books.)  Thank you Grandma for introducing our family to this book -- we got our own copy for Christmas and I'm thrilled to have this in our collection.

Caps for Sale (paperback)

Machines at Work

Machines at Workis another one of Byron Barton's books that our family loves.  Like all Barton books, Machines at Work features bold and simple full-page illustrations with bright colors and straightforward, simple phrases.  Machines at Work is dedicated to construction equipment -- it's filled with bulldozers, steamrollers, cranes, excavators, dump trucks and a crew of male and female workers that put in a hard day's work building a building, from demolition to construction.  

At first I loved Barton's Trainsmore, and so did my kids, but Machines at Work will now always have a special place in my heart because my two-year-old started repeating the phrases after I would read to him, and hearing my little peanut say things like "Build that building" and "Dump that rubble" in the sweetest little child voice was heart-melting. I'm going to remember it every time I see this book.

Machines at Work will be a quick, classic favorite of any child who loves construction equipment and all things machines.  Our family has this in the hardcover format, it is also available as a board book.

Machines at Work

Machines at Work Board Book

Pirates!

My three year old nephew is very interested in pirates, so I'm searching out book options for his Christmas gift. Here's what I've found at Amazon that looks promising.

The thing about pirates is that I want to keep it age appropriate for a 3 year old. There is plenty of time to get into the more suspenseful adventures later.

Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC -- more than a regular ABC list book, the pirates go in search of the alphabet in an adventure story

How I Became a Pirate -- gorgeous illustrations and looks like a very cute longer adventure story that's appropriate for preschoolers

Do Pirates Take Baths? -- cute and rhyming tutorial about pirate life

The trouble with picking books for my young nephews is that I end up wanting copies for our family!

Turnips for Dinner

At 2 year old class, our teacher read a nice book, I think it is called Turnips for Dinner. If I'm finding the right copy, it is by Joy Cowley and out of print or hard to find. Too bad...... it has wonderful rhymes. The basic premise is that the zoo keeper has lots of tunips to feed to the animals, and almost no one likes them...... each animal's reaction to the turnips is written in a rhyming phrase, such as "the zebra whined and pined"...... in the end, the elephant "munched and crunched". I liked the book very much for the interesting rhyming words (lots of them!) and what I feel is a nice little message -- different people (and animals) like different things.

Has anyone seen this book?

The Apple Pie Tree

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall is another family favorite discovered at the resale shop.  I love this book!  It is a simple story told by a young girl about an apple tree at her home, how the tree changes throughout the seasons, (along with a family of birds that lives in the tree) and how in the fall, the apples are harvested and the family makes apple pie.  

The illustrations are beautiful, I love the angles and perspectives shown of the girl, her sister, the birds and the apple tree.  The back of the book includes a recipe for apple pie, which we have not tried yet.

This is a sweet, simple story that describes apples growing and the changing seasons.  It's a great read for harvest time, but I like it all year round. 

The Apple Pie Tree

Play nativity set for toddlers - preschool

My kids haven't used a play nativity set yet, but it is something I would like them to have. I didn't grow up with a religious Christmas, and this is something I would like to share with my family.  

When I discovered Playmobil toys, I purchased their nativity set which I felt was a good value. However, the set has very tiny pieces and it's not quite right for my 4 year old and 2 year old boys. I will save the Playmobil set for 2-3 years from now when it will be better suited for them.  In the meantime, I found a nativity set made by Schleich that looks beautiful -- we have several Schleich animals that the kids enjoy.  I think this may be a great set, and I am thinking of getting it and giving it to the kids for St. Nicholas (another tradition I did not grow up with -- my husband did, and while I'm not keen on tons and tons of presents at the holidays, I think we can keep our celebration modest and frugal.)

However, I am torn.....  at our 2 year old parent-child class at a local Christian school, the teacher has a lovely homemade nativity that has felt characters glued to wooden blocks -- super child friendly and it's homemade -- I love that.  Not that I need another craft project to add to my list -- I am already thinking about making felt play food, personalized ABC photo books, and curtains for the new baby's room....    But the homemade nativity would be neat.  I would need to search and see if I can find patterns for the people and animals.  I would love to find if anyone has made these on a crafting blog, but my searches from last year came up empty.  

Oooh, found via Google! A couple links -- a pattern for sale, and a project book with instructions.  Also on Etsy  -- patterns for felt dolls, very cute!

I'm not sure which path we'll take, but these are the current best ideas. 

Then, we should look for some great Christmas story books for the family.  So many projects, so little time!  Any recommendations? 

Lucky Ducks - lots of fun if you can stand the quacking

I hesitate to recommend Lucky Ducks. Play the video below and you'll understand quickly. It's not one of my favorites, but.... the kids enjoy it very much, and how can I not love a game that they love to play?

The problem is the quacking. Listen to the seven second demo below. The game is simple and easy to play -- there are 12 ducks, each with a shape/color on the bottom. There are four shapes to match. Each player tries to get all 3 of their matching ducks. 



My boys can almost play this game together alone -- a huge bonus, and, another -- there aren't that many pieces to pick up when the game is over. The box could be a little bigger for all the pieces to fit well -- it's a tight fit (which is very frustrating -- game makers should think about making clean up easy and not skimp on the package design).

Lucky Ducks is a nice game, a game that doesn't require reading, a game that holds toddlers' interest with cute, dimensional pieces and easy to follow rules...   But... the quacking! .....the quacking! Enjoy this game with your family if you dare!
 
Lucky Ducks