Learn To Sing – Sing To Learn...

As an educator I have always had two loves: music and literacy.  I majored in music, but could never bring myself to become a music specialist because I knew it would mean giving up the opportunity to help children fall in love with language!  As a mother, it naturally follows that there is much music in my kids’ world.  We sing as we work, we sing as we play, we sing during bath time and while we’re driving...

Raising Readers with Literacy Lava...

If you’re a parent with young kids, and you’re interested in raising readers – you’ll definitely want to check this out.  Literacy Lava is a FREE publication put together by Susan Stephensen (aka The Book Chook) and a bunch of teachers, writers, bloggers and literacy advocates.  I have contributed an article on Book Loving Boys to this issue, full of practical suggestions for reading aloud with...

Backyard Baking...

Backyard baking is so much fun.  Props required?  A bowl and maybe a large spoon.  Your child might need a little encouragement to get started, but after that they will run with the activity for quite some time.  If you have cooked with your child they will probably take to this activity more readily.  Here are some open ended questions you can use to help the activity along if necessary: What are you baking today? What...

Slimming Season...

January might as well be called Slimming Season.  Marketing campaigns for dieting companies and products go into overdrive, cashing in on our holiday guilt.  I for one feel NO guilt about enjoying special foods at Christmas or about taking the pressure off myself in the kitchen during the holidays.  This doesn’t mean my daughter is immune from the marketing messages though.  “New year, new you” type...

Little Kids, Big Words...

I think it’s so important that we choose appropriate books for our kids.  Appropriate in terms of content, length, language and more.  But I also believe it’s important to stretch our kids a little.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of only buying and borrowing “toddler” books right up until formal schooling starts!  Don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying we should read novels...

Wild Things...

On the weekend my kids and I went to a wild rumpus in the park hosted by Cradle Fables.  We roared our terrible roars and gnashed our terrible teeth and rolled our terrible eyes and showed our terrible claws. The wild rumpus was of course inspired by Maurice Sendak’s classic picture book Where The Wild Things Are.  The story which has enchanted generations of children is about to be released as a feature film,...

Leaf Learning...

Children learn so much from stories.  I love the way they take details from books that adults would likely skim over,and apply it to their world. I remember one night a few months ago my three year old came forlornly out of her bedroom at night and asked for some parsley.  My husband looked at me with raised eyebrows while my brain scrambled to make sense of my child’s request.  A light bulb flicked on in my...

How To Heal A Broken Wing...

Sometimes a book just captures your heart.  A couple of weeks ago we were delighted to find “How To Heal A Broken Wing” on the shelves at our local library.  This book was shortlisted by the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) this year, and went on to win Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category. Prominent Aussie author Bob Graham tells the story of Will, a young boy who nurses an...

Outdoor Stories (Mumblers)...

"Very Hungry Caterpillar" stones Mumblers launched this week!  It’s a melting pot of great online content relevant to Aussie mums.  I’m a regular blogger on the team, so I’d love you to follow me over there once a month or so. Here’s a snippet from my post about story stones.  My daughter and I have had a wonderful time in the garden with these simple stones, so I hope you give them...

Get A Spine...

"Ideal Bookshelf 1" print by Jane Mount I know that soft covers are cheaper, but I just can’t go past hard cover picture books.  I love that their hard exterior protects something special inside.  I love that they have a physical substance to match their literary one.  And I love that they have a spine. My three year old noticed that there were “words on the side of the book” we chose...