ABC ROAR is here!

It’s an animal and alphabet adventure!
Creating the illustrations and design for ABC ROAR was such a joy,
with so much inspiration from my animal-loving family.

Kids will learn animal names and write the letter of the alphabet in this
colorful and interactive novelty.  Each spread with cut-out layers
and glossy paths feature a different creature living in their
environment for a hands-on exploration of letters and animals.

Kids can touch and trace letters from A to Z, whether it’s
a bear fishing in the stream, dolphins splashing in the ocean, 
or a leopard roaring from the trees above!

ABC ROAR is now available and I’ve updated my website
to include a fun, book-themed stick puppet activity to pair with storytime.

Happy Book-Birthday 123 ZOOM!

 

 It's publication day for 123 ZOOM and I'm excited to share

with you this colorful, interactive novelty board book!

Each spread with cut-out layers and glossy paths features

a different mode of transportation for a hands-on 

exploration of numbers and vehicles.

Count, touch, and trace from one to eleven,

whether it's one plane on the runway, two dump trucks

on the construction site, or ten bicycles on a bike path.

Then fly, sail, race, and count backwards through
clouds, ocean, and land to find hidden surprises.

 

 

It's companion book, ABC ROAR releases in July.

This hands-on novelty introduces the alphabet and animals in their habitats.

123 ZOOM is available now, at Barnes & Noble and fine stores.

If you'd like to read about my journey and process creating

123 ZOOM, please swing by Tara Lazar's blog,

Writing For Kids (While Raising Them).

Happy Lunar New Year!

Roar, it’s the Year of the Tiger! 

If someone you know was born in 2022, 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962,
1950, 1938... (you get the pattern), their zodiac sign is the tiger.

Tigers are known to be brave, confident, and strong.
Lunar New Year is on February 1st.

As someone who creates children’s books for the youngest readers,

I’m all about drawing adorable tigers over fierce ones!

Click here to print this coloring activity

to add to your festive Lunar New Year celebration.

Wishing you and all tigers out there good health, fortune, and happiness!

Happy Fall!

In all my years, I’ve barely paid much attention

to these skittish critters.  This year has been different,

with worries about the pandemic and safety of

our families and community; I appreciate my everyday life.

Sitting by my office window, I’m amazed at how productive 

the squirrels are.  One in particular, whom I’ve named Licorice,

has been storing nuts inside the corner of my backyard fence.

He puts a smile on my face with every trip to and from 

his secret hiding stash.  I’ve even collected acorns and left a pile for

him by my house.  Why?  In a nutshell, I’m thankful for 

these little snippets of happiness, which have made a big impact

on my optimism and hope for the future.

 

 

And with that, Halloween is still happening,

with a safe and creative celebration in the works!

In preparation, I made these little magnets/pins.  These Perler Beads are 

my latest craft obsession, and a fun activity to make with the kids.  

By glueing magnets to the back, they serve two purposes.

I decorate my refrigerator with them, and wear them like pins - by placing

another magnet to the back side of clothing.  No sharp pricks to worry about!

I prefer to create my own designs, but there are templates as well.

 

Check out my Baby Yoda, although my 

daughter thinks he looks more like a baby Shrek.

Have a safe and spooktacular fall season!

Mixing Colors - A Colorful Spring Visit!

I had the pleasure of kicking-off the spring season
with these preschool cuties.

We flapped, stomped, cheered, buzzed, and wiggled through
storytime with our spring bug friends from

Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

A spring book about color-mixing lends itself to 

a fun and colorful experiment! 

Next, I handed each child a spring egg filled with Playdoh™

that I had cut into flowers.  Each egg contained two of

each primary colors: red, yellow, and blue.

As you can imagine, the kids were excited to begin blending colors.

We kneaded the red and yellow flowers to make orange.

The blue and red flowers made purple.

And the blue and yellow flowers made green.

To prepare for this activity, be sure the depth of the yellow

flowers are twice as thick as the red and blue ones.

The children were thrilled to see the colors blend!

Lastly, we made stick puppets of the book characters.

We colored ladybugs, grasshoppers, bees, caterpillars, butterflies and crickets,

and decorated them with flower stickers.

Click here to print out the coloring templates for this activity.

We had a great time celebrating the spring season!

For more spring and color activities, visit:

Fun Rainbow Color Activities for Kids!

Color Wonder: Hooray for Spring! Book Launch Party

Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

Hooray!  Color Wonder makes its debut with the first book

in the color-mixing novelty series - Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

I’m a big fan of fun-learning and interactive books.
That in mind, I designed a unique format to compliment

playful reading, and provide some fun story time for the children.

Join the romp with lively bug characters as they frolic through colorful
spring flowers.  Kids will enjoy reading, experimenting, and turning the

layered wheels to mix and match primary colors (red, blue, yellow), 

and blend them to make secondary ones (orange, green, purple).

I hope you and the children enjoy Color Wonder Hooray for Spring!

Be on the look out for Color Wonder: Winter is Here!,

coming this October, 2017!

Available in fine stores everywhere, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Away We Go! Book Trailer

I'm delighted to present this awesome book trailer for Away We Go!

My talented friend, Dave Swain with Cream Studio did a shapetastic job

on this fun and playful animation.  Please share with your little ones.

Like me, I think they'll be tickled silly!

You may also like: Away We Go! Activities and Party Printables

A Wintry Valentine's Celebration

To kick off Valentine's week, 

we celebrated the holiday of love with sweet friends, 

sweet treats, and a sweet book and craft.

Penguin in Love by Salina Yoon is a charming story and one of our 

favorite books this season.  Penguin is loveable, and the girls enjoyed

having him at our Valentine's celebration.  After a chatty lunch, 

we read the book and each made our own Penguin.

How adorable are these back-pack clips?  The kids did a great job!

I love playing with Crayola Model Magic.

It air dries nicely and is easy for the kids to work with.  

To make Penguin, you need:

Black Model Magic for the body.

Orange Model Magic for the scarf.

White Model Magic for the belly and nose.

Two black beads for the eyes

Yellow pipe cleaners for the feet.

Back pack clips

After molding Penguin with model magic, fold a six inch pipe cleaner 

in half and string it through the ring of a back-pack clip, with the folded

part centered in the ring.  Pierce both ends of the pipe cleaner through the top 

of Penguin's head and out the bottom.  There will be two ends sticking out.

Bend each end in half to form the feet; this will secure Penguin to the clip.

 While our Penguins were left to dry, we celebrated with wintry treats.

I'm still practicing my chocolate piping skills.  

The girls were tickled with the Penguin and bill cozy cupcakes. 

You'll have to read the book to learn what a bill cozy is. :)

 The iceberg jigglers were a big hit.  Kids love these silly, jiggly treats.

To make the blue icy water layer, combine two 6 oz boxes of blue jello with

two and a half cups of boiling water.  Stir until dissolved and pour 

into a greased 9 x 13 dish.  I sprayed the dish with a light layer of PAM oil.

Place the jello in the refrigerator until it sets, about 20 minutes.

To make the creamy snow layer, dissolve two envelopes of unflavored gelatin 

with a quarter cup of boiling water.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, mix

a can of condensed milk with a cup of boiling water.  Add the gelatin mixture 

into the creamy mixture, and stir in another half a cup of boiling water.  

Pour the white jello mixture onto the set blue layer, 

and allow the jello to completely chill in the refrigerator before cutting.

These snow ball goodies are powdered donut holes.

The girls enjoyed drinking milk from the frosted icicle glasses.

Okay, sugar sprinkles. :)

Author/Illustrator Salina Yoon offers these wonderful free 

Valentine's printables on Penguin's Face Book page.

The children were happy to take home Penguin in Love Valentines.

I'm so happy the kids got a chance to get together this weekend.

They had a lot of fun hanging out and celebrating Valentine's.

Before bedtime, I helped my daughter clip her new friend

onto her back-pack.  She is all set for school.  Happy Valentine's week!

More parties: Despicable Me Party, Mermaid Surprise Party, 

Book Launch Celebration

Snowmen Smores

It's so cold outside, and I'm ready to start thinking about Valentine's crafts.

Although, last week we had three snow days off from school, 

so in the spirit of winter, the snowmen will stick around a bit longer.

 

When my kids come in from the cold, they crave hot chocolate and smores.

These snowmen smores are really fun and simple to make. 

You need:

Marshmallows for the head

Fruit roll-ups for the scarf

White chocolate wafers for the melted snow

Assorted candies and chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons.

Hershey chocolate bars

Graham crackers

Assembling the smores is easy.  Start with a graham cracker square 

and place some chocolate bars on top of it.  

Melt the white chocolate and spoon some over the milk chocolate.

Quickly attach the marshmallow on top of the white chocolate 

before it cools.  Dip the eyes, nose, and buttons in some melted white 

chocolate and decorate the snowmen.

The melted chocolate will harden and keep the candies in place.

Add the scarf to the base of the marshmallow and

 you have the cutest smores ever.  Enjoy!

Snowmen Winter Craft

Our first week in the new year and we are welcoming snow and

wintery weather.  Here's a warm and fun snowmen building activity the 

girls and I enjoyed, and it does not require any glue.  We used Model Magic, 

which air dries the same day and the results are adorable!

You will need:

White Crayola Model Magic to build the snowmen

Orange Crayola Model Magic for the nose

Color felt for the scarf

Pipe cleaners and matching color pom poms to make earmuffs 
(roll the ends of pipe cleaner around pom poms to form the ear pieces)
Twigs for the arms

Black beans for the eyes and buttons

It's as easy as it looks. Have fun making snowmen!

Happy Holidays with a Magic Greeting!

Season's greetings friends!  Do you make your own holiday card?

Every year, I make a special card for the children's publishing editors.

It's great fun, but a lot of work hand crafting twenty cards.

For now, I'm keeping this year's card under wrap, 

but here's my "magic" card from last year.

After creating my preschool shapes book, Away We Go!, 

I was inspired to design letters using shapes.

When you pull the insert, a special greeting appears.

Here it is!  Each image represents the letter.

Try to guess what they are before reading the answers below.

Warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

W - Winter

A - Angel

R - Reindeer

M - Mouse

E - Elf

S - Snowman

T - Tree

W - Wreath

I - Icicle

S - Star

H - House

E - Egg Nog

S - Santa

A Round-Up of Fun Shapes Activities!

I love seeing creative, clever ways for kids to explore shapes.

This Reading Mama has nicely tied-in fun learning 

with shape pictures and writing.

Swing by her amazing blog and check out the activities and details.

Over at Creative Connections for Kids, this wonderful blogger 

rounded-up a great collection of playful shape ideas.  

I enjoyed discovering new ways to introduce shapes. 

Visit Creative Connections for Kids for the many 

play-and-learn shape ideas shared by creative bloggers.

How cute is this little fella?  I was tickled with the adorable 

pictures and sweet write-up by The Eyes of a Boy.  

I'm so thankful for our wonderful children's community and their 

kind efforts to spread the love and enrich our youngest readers.

Many thanks to the lovely bloggers for checking out Away We Go! and 

sharing their wonderful creative ideas!

You may also like: Away We Go! Shapes and Transportation Activities
and Away We Go! Activities by Toddler Approved!