Board Books - not just for babies

 Board books are works of art in the hands of children.  Usually colorful illustrations accompany simple text.  This is what makes them perfect for early readers.

 Want to encourage a toddler or preschooler to get a bath? Read a book like this where different animals get different kinds of baths and pair with an animals.  Let them take the animals into the bath with them.  Clean the animals. Clean yourself.  It's a parent win!

 Board books are great for teaching early concepts like counting and letter sounds.  One Tiger is thee perfect counting book!

 Add animals to any book for kiddos to get excited about storytime and reading.  Someday, when I decide to go get a PhD, I am going to write about how making characters from a book tangible to children helps them to comprehend and retain the book more completely.  And, hey, how cute is this Schleich Bear?  When children have props, they can later act out or retell the story.

Make the story come alive.  Preschoolers love the book Dinosaur Roar!  let them retell it with their favorite dinosaurs.

Mouse (& a few hamsters) Tea Party

 In preparation for our Mouse Tea Party, we read "The Red, Ripe Strawberry) by Audrey Wood and watched Cinderella.  Big Blue Eyes looked at me and asked, "Can I wear my Cinderella dress, because Cinderella had mouse friends?"  How can I argue with that logic?  We sliced cheese and cut up strawberries.  It was the perfect morning for a front porch Mouse Tea Party.

 Big Blue Eyes wanted "pink flowers and a blue tablecloth".  Okay!  I found these gerber daisies at Kroger and picked some wild flowers - I think they are mustard - on my way in this am.  Yes, I was roadside picking flowers for a tea party at 7am.

 The table looked so cute.

 Of course, the cheese and crackers were the biggest hit with our mouse friends.

 Our guests include...The striped mouse is by JellyCat.  The white mice are by Schleich.  The mouse with the pink dress on is a Woodzeez.  The pink and blue mice are actually hamsters - Japanese erasers.  The mice from Cinderella were from a playset found at the Disney Store ages ago.

 HUGE strawberry!

 Gus, Gus, get down from there :)

I even added some ribbon to the back of the chair - just to make it "fancy".

Library Thank You Card

Little G completed the Summer Reading Program at the local library and received a really nice new book - a board book called "Clap Your Hands" valued at $7.99. I decided that we would rite a thank you note to the library for the book. Here is what I came up with. Little G signed her name!