Book Baskets
Showing posts with label Book Baskets. Show all posts

Eggs Book Basket

Saturday, March 30, 2024

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Happy Easter! We had some beautifully illustrated books on display at the library and I just had to check them out and share them here. I've also been seeing a bunch of unique egg-dying techniques that I've been wanting to try with my kid, so I decided to make a day of it!

First I'm going to show you the books. You can find a printable .pdf of this list, plus a few extra goodies, at the link at the bottom of this post! I wasn't lying when I said these books were gorgeous. I picked a couple the are about the tradition of Easter eggs, one that is a really cute counting book and also a bit of an eye spy book, and a few that are just great non-fiction about eggs in general.





Now on to the activities! Ro and I had a lot of fun dying these eggs. I was trying to collect some more science and process-based ideas, because I knew we were going to do traditional dying with my family the night before Easter. These links were all a hit!


Rice Shaker Eggs from The Crafty Morning - These were the most satisfying eggs for getting vivid colors. The details did fade a bit when I rinsed them, but they still retained some color. Ro loved this one for the nearly instant gratification. (In the picture below these eggs are the red and blue speckled ones.)

Shaving Cream Eggs from The Crafty Morning - I've done this process before with paper, and it's always turned out surprisingly vivid. However, these eggs weren't nearly as colorful as I would have liked. That could have been our technique though, we only did two eggs with this method instead of perfecting the process. You can see the result on the egg that is in the lower left corner in the photo below!

Baking Soda Dyed Eggs from Better Homes and Gardens - I'm going to be honest, I didn't really care how these were going to turn out, I just knew we had to do it for the chemical reaction. I really ended up liking the subtle color shifts of these eggs, though. You can see my favorite of the bunch in the lower right corner of the photo below.




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Shadows Book Basket

Friday, February 2, 2024

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Happy Groundhog's Day! Let's be honest here, we talk about the groundhog, but the real star of the show is the shadow. So I put together a book basket all about shadows, just to celebrate! These books get into the myths, science, and fun of shadows. And I've included two books that directly tie into Groundhog's Day! Plus links to a bunch of fun shadow-related activities. If you'd like a PDF of the book list, plus a few extra goodies, scroll to the end of this post.


  


 





Once we figured out the best method, Ro had a lot of fun drawing shadows. You can find out more about this on the Emma Owl blog!


This Shadow Matching Activity from Hands On As We Grow is genius, and uses supplies you're sure to have around the house.

We made some very simple shadow puppets when we did our Flashlight Book Basket, and we had fun guessing what the shapes were when they were on our garage!


The great thing about having shadows as a theme is the activities are endless. Use your hands to make animal shadows. Play a shadow game where you are the shadow and have to copy what the other is doing. Set up a lamp and just have fun with shadows on the wall. And, best of all, if you get your books from the library this can be a free day full of fun!





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Rock Music Book Basket

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

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We are a rock music household. The kind that has amps in the basement and vintage vinyl on our shelves. So of course I wanted to introduce my kid to the world of rock as soon as possible. I made this book basket a while ago, when Ro was almost 2 (you can tell by the chubbiness of those adorable fingers that are trying to steal from one of the photos) and the books I picked were all SO cute.


In this basket:



 As for the activity, I think with any musical-themed basket the answer is obvious. Let them listen to music, or let them make music!

We loved Rockabye Baby! when Ro was younger. Rock music turned into lullabies? Yes, please!
Here is a baby guitar similar to the one pictured above! It's the Rock, Light, and Roll Guitar!

Linked below is a printable .pdf with the list of titles in this basket and some bonus bookmarks!
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Northern Lights Book Basket

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

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This world is astounding. I would even go so far as to say that are a few things on this planet that have been explained by science, but still might actually be magic. And the Northern Lights are definitely one of those phenomena. 




The books for this basket are some of the most beautifully illustrated ones I've shared. The colors are always deep and rich, as they should be. A lot of these books share the theme of seeking, and a journey with families, which I find comforting.




A Search for the Northern Lights by Elizabeth Rusch and Izzi Ruch, illustrated by Cedar Lee


Is your kid really into this theme and craving more? Here are a few activities I've found!



And I have a special surprise for you! From now on all Book Basket posts will include a printable book list! And some might have an extra surprise as well!




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Food Truck Book Basket

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

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I first picked food trucks as our book basket theme simply because it was a vehicle type that Ro hadn't obsessed over yet. But as we dove deeper into the books I realized that this theme was a marvelous way to introduce Ronan to a variety of foods from different cultures. Food, where we live, tends to be pizza,  hamburgers,  or hot dogs, so it was fun to read about falafel and shwarma! And the added bonus of everything having wheels kept my kid interested the whole time!


We actually had two activities for this book basket! For the first activity we just had some pretend fun with a Duplo truck we built and some food I printed out. I tried to include both food that was easily recognizable and some new food as well! I had him color the food so I could say "I want the yellow falafel." We took turns ordering and serving the food, and obviously pretending to eat it!


The second activity is something you can buy online! Adam and I are always on the hunt for age-appropriate games for Ronan that are enjoyable for the whole family. I had seen Frankie's Food Truck Fiasco before and considered buying it, so when I put together this basket I decided it was time. This game teaches shape matching and uses tongs to help develop little hand muscles! A round of this game also goes pretty quickly, which is a must-have when you are working with a short attention span! The added bonus of having a board book you can also purchase (or check out from your library!) is so nice. I was able to introduce him to the concepts of the game without forcing him to listen to the instructions!

Now on to my favorite part: books! As always I curated this collection to include the best stories with the yummiest looking food and the most beautiful illustrations. Links for the books are below the pictures!







 

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Lemon Book Basket

Monday, June 28, 2021

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I love lemons. A real, true love. The kind of love where you buy a lemon tree, kill it, then buy another one and keep it alive for three years and harvest multiple lemons off of it. I swear the lemons from my tree are better than others, but it could just be wishful thinking... 
Anyways, I knew that I would need to do a lemon book basket at some point. There's too many sweet books out there that feature the subject to not do it. I always try to include books that are well written, engaging, and have beautiful illustrations, and every book in this basket checked all of the boxes! I also included a simple little activity to practice some measuring that's perfect for a toddler or preschooler. It's an ideal book basket for the warm summer months!


For our activity I bought some cheap yellow sponges from the dollar aisle and cut them to look like lemons. Whenever we sat down to "make lemonade" I saturated the sponges and put them into a container. I also set out a glass, some sugar, and some measuring spoons. First he would squeeze the "lemons" to get all of the juice out, then we would add a measurement of sugar and stir it up. 


Books we read:







He had a ton of fun making his own "lemonade." In the end I think there was more sugar than water in the cup, and his hands were a sticky mess, but we had a great time and had a sneaky math lesson, too!

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Magical Creatures Book Basket

Friday, February 26, 2021

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This book basket comes from the bottom of my fantasy adoring heart. It's a love letter to Dungeons & Dragons but in book basket format. Because the theme of this book basket? It's all magical creatures. 
Each of the books I selected for this basket features imaginative creatures: either from folklore or just plain made up. There are stories for a wide age range, and a few non-fiction books thrown in that just have really pretty pictures. 


The activity we did with this basket was to change some of our animal toys into magical creatures. With paper, tape, and pipe cleaners we gave a hippo a scorpion tail and an alligator a lion's mane. We also turned this giraffe/zebra into a winged beast, but let's be honest that one was kind of a magical creature before we started. Why does this zebra have such a long neck!?!


Books I included in this basket:



Not Pictured:


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Knitting Book Basket

Monday, January 25, 2021

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Every January I question my choice to remain in Illinois. It's just so dang COLD. This year I told myself I would do everything I could to make my winter warmer. I bought slippers, a good coat, and tried to think of warm thoughts.



Keeping in the spirit of warm things and warm thoughts, when it was time to put together our next book basket I knew just what theme I wanted to use: knitting! I grabbed some props from around my house (knitting needles, yarn, small knitted objects) with the intent of giving Ronan some tactile examples of the things we were reading about.



For our activity, I put together a tp roll loom and made him a cute little bracelet! He liked watching the knitted cable come out the end of a tube. Here is a link to a tutorial so you can make your own!

I really loved the books I chose for this basket. They were sweet, silly, and inspirational. And they were especially beautiful. Jon Klassen, the illustrator for "Extra Yarn" is one of my favorite children's illustrators. Links for the books are below the pictures!

If you would like to find more book baskets check out the tag here!
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(Slightly) Scary Campfire Storytime

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

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It's the creepiest (and my favorite) time of the year! What better way to celebrate than by cuddling up in front of a fire and telling ghost stories? Well.... I guess if I'm being honest I don't actually like scary stories that much. But, luckily for me, I was able to find some children's books that are just scary enough to give you the heebie-jeebies, without being full-on terrifying! So if you have a child that isn't too fond of getting the pants scared off of them, this is a perfect list for you.

And to take this storytime to the next level (because that's what Halloween is all about!) I made a fake fire out of tissue paper and battery powered fairy lights. Add some comfy cushions and you have the perfect spot to read, and you don't even have to leave your living room!


So shine your flashlight under your face and let's read some (slightly) scary stories!







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Flashlight Book Basket

Monday, August 24, 2020

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This book basket is perfect for a late summer night, with crickets chirping and fireflies shining. We brought our basket outside, laid out a blanket, and had our storytime as late as we could, right before bedtime.



I used the flashlight theme for this basket, and I found some really cute books to include! You can find a complete list at the bottom of the page, but I will tell you right now that my two favorites were Flashlight by Liz Boyd and Flashlight Night by Matt Forrest Esenwine.



For our activity I grabbed some clear plastic packaging out of our recycling bin attached it to shapes I had cut out of paper. We used the flashlight to make shadows on the side of our garage. Ro loved it!






Here's the list of books I included in this basket. The interactive ones were amazing, and I think Ro would have played with them all night if I had let him!



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Rocks Book Basket

Friday, May 15, 2020

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This is the last book basket in our Spring series! This basket was all about rocks, and was chosen specifically with Ro's interests in mind. He loves rocks! He loves to pick them up, bring them home, and arrange them neatly. They don't have to be incredibly unique rocks, his favorite is our driveway gravel. We even have a special box we keep them in.


I wanted to teach Ro more about rocks, that they could be different colors and sizes and shapes. Obviously, I turned to books. I tried to get a few non-fiction books with clear pictures that showed a variety of rock types, the DK books are always a favorite for that. I was also looking for stories that could explain where rocks come from in an interesting way, and "How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World" was definitely entertaining. And finally, I was looking for a story that Ronan could identify with. "Rhoda's Rocks" was a sweet story that was simply about collecting rocks, which was exactly what I was looking for. 


For this basket, I included a rock cleaning kit, that just consisted of a brush, a notebook, and a measuring tape. We spent some time down at the river looking for rocks. We had read the "Baby Explorer: Rocks" book so I tried to link up some of the features of the different rocks with the names in the book. It was a bit too big of a concept for a 2-year-old, but I was able to get him to pay attention to whether it was porous or had stripes, or if it was a certain color. After we had selected a good collection we headed home and I added a bowl of soapy water, plain water, brushes, and a dropper to a tray. He had a blast cleaning his newest additions.


Finding a board book about rocks was a bit difficult, I ended up buying that baby explorer book. It was a good investment, though. Ro asks us to read it all the time. The rest of the books I was able to find or Inter-Library Loan from our local library.

Rocks Book List:


Other Spring Book Baskets:


All of these posts can be found under the tag "Book Baskets".
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