Secrets of the Apple Tree by Carron Brown (An Usborne Book)

Secrets of the Apple Tree by Carron Brown

Today we read the most unique book, Secrets of the Apple Tree by Carron Brown and Alyssa Nassner.  It’s called a Shine-A-Light Book.  The pages are designed so that your child reads a page and then shines a light on the page to reveal “hidden” animals and critters.  No flash light?  No problem.  You can just hold the book up so that light shines on the pages.

Secrets of the Apple Tree is all about life surrounding a tree.  While reading this book, your child will learn how roots soak up water to help trees grow.  They will also learn about worms which wriggle around those roots.  Your child will read about how fallen tree branches provide homes and food for tiny creatures.  Larger creatures like rabbits live around trees too and they burrow tunnels and build nests under the ground.  Other animals and insects also make trees their homes, like flies, bees, moths, spiders, caterpillars, squirrels, and birds.  Your child will learn that some trees provide food for humans, like apples from the apple tree.

The last couple of pages provide your little readers with a little more information about how all the critters around the tree make trees their home.

Secrets of the Apple Tree is filled with 36 pages of discovery.  It is intended for children ages 4-8.  The children in my care are between 2 and 5.  They all loved it, even without a flashlight.  The light makes the book more interesting but it is not necessary to enjoy the book.  Once the child turns the page, he or she can see the mystery.  A few times, instead of shining a light on the page, I asked the kids to guess the hidden secret.  Then, the secret was revealed when we turned the page.

You may also like Volcanoes by Stephanie Turnbull.

Volcanoes by Stephanie Turnbull

DIY Gift Basket (How to Put Together a Great Gift Basket)

DIY Gift Basket

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

I'm not known for my craftiness but my daughter can take a few dollars and a few basic supplies and create beautiful and thoughtful gifts.  Today, she was in the process of making a DIY gift basket for one of her college sorority sisters.  I noticed how creative and thoughtful it was so I grabbed my phone and started taking pictures.

She started out with a cute black basket.   She purchased it at our local Walmart for a few dollars.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

She wanted to include a homemade hand scrub.  She obtained a small jelly jar, sugar, Dawn dish detergent, the hand renewal kind which includes ingredients from Olay.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 First, she filled the jelly jar with sugar.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 Then, she mixed in the detergent.

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 My daughter also wanted to include a jelly jar filled with bath salts.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The hand scrub and bath salts above would later fit inside a larger Mason jar along with a bath fizzy ball.

Next, my daughter needed to add a little sparkle to her regular 'ole jars.  On the bottom of the jar and up the sides about 2 inches, she painted on an adhesive.

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She started sprinkling on the glitter at first, but then we thought of a much faster way to do this.  We poured gold glitter into a large bowl and then my daughter painted the bottom and sides of the jars with the adhesive.  Then, she rolled the jars around in the glitter.

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 Isn't it pretty?

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Now she is ready to fill her gift jars!

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Remember those bath salts and the hand scrub?  They were placed in the first jar along with face mask treatments and a bath fizzy ball.

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 In the second gift jar, she placed items suitable for a self manicure.

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 In the third jar, she placed two pair of socks and a gift card.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

My daughter placed a few other items in the basket as well:  A candle, a tube of lotion, and candy.

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The next and final item for the gift basket is my favorite.  My daughter purchased a white canvas.  On the canvas, she drew the outline of a squirrel.  She painted the outline black to create this pretty black and white silhouette.  She signed it in red for a little splash of color.  I love it.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 Here is her finished product!

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Not only is this a great gift idea for her to give to her friend but it is also a great idea for family and friends on special occasions too.  Something similar to this will make a perfect Mother's Day gift.

I think making this gift (or in my case, watching someone make it) was almost as much fun as receiving it.  I love that you can personalize it and change it up to fit different themes.

You may also like:

Birthday Basket Gift Idea for Candle, Soap, and Lotion Lovers

Birthday Basket Gift Idea

I'm a Dirty Dinosaur by Janeen Brian and Ann James (An Usborne Book)

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

My preschoolers are loving our new books from Usborne Books.  I’ve already told you how much we loved Volcanoes by Stephanie Turnbull.  You can find that review here along with a few free printables to go with it.  Today, we want you to know how much we loved I’m a Dirty Dinosaur by Janeen Brian and Ann James.

I'm A Dirty Dinosaur

This book is a great combination of two childhood obsessions, dirt and dinosaurs.  Kids love to play outside and get dirty and they love dinosaurs so they will enjoy reading about a dinosaur who loves to get as dirty as they do.  The book has a colorful and appealing cover which is one of the reasons I chose it as one of our first reads.  It looked like a book my preschoolers would love.

Kids will read about a dinosaur who gets a dirty snout, a dirty face – dirty pretty much everywhere – and he doesn’t wash it off.  He shakes it off.  The already dirty dinosaur enjoys splattering mud too.  He sniffs, snuffs, stomps, shakes, and slides through out his journey from the first page til the last.

My preschoolers loved it.

One of the things I love about Usborne Books besides the great stories is the quality of their books.  The pages are thick and durable so they will last through many, many reads.  Usborne Books are great quality – colorful, appealing, durable, and educational.  You can’t beat them.

If you would like to watch a teacher read this book to her class, enjoy this video.  You will enjoy her Australian accent too!

I made a few counting printables to enhance my preschoolers reading experience with this book.

The following photo shows you the counting and coloring pages.  For the page on the left, kids count the dinosaurs in each row and then right the number in the square at the end of each row.  For kids who need a visual model, I have included the numbers 1 – 10 at the bottom of the page.  The page on the right is a simple coloring page.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The following photo shows dinosaur counting cards.  Kids look at each dinosaur and learn to recognize numbers.  They count the dirty spots on each dinosaur which corresponds to the number.

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The next photo shows another counting activity.  Kids identify the number on the dinosaur card.  Then, they count out the dirt clots and place the corresponding number of dirt clots on each number card.

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This last photo shows the smaller dinosaur images included in the printable.  After you cut out the dinosaur images, you can use them for color sorting activities or color graphing.  As I am typing this right now, I am thinking of other things you can do with these.  For example, you can laminate them and then write numbers on them.  Arrange the numbers in numerical order.  Write letters on them.  Arrange them in ABC order or arrange them to make words from the I’m A Dirty Dinosaur story.  You can make simple patterns with them.  You can probably think of all sorts of activities to make and do with those.

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You can get a copy of my printable here:  Dirty Dinosaur Packet.