Seusstastic Saturday Dr. Seuss Play House Playroom and Baby Shower

Saturday, January 29, 2011

I came across this whimsical Dr. Seuss play room with a custom DIY play house. Then I realized the same person did this incredible Dr. Seuss baby shower. Jill is the creative mastermind behind all this Dr. Seuss themed decor. More of her ideas can be seen on her blog The Bird and the Berry. I'm featuring a few of my favorite pieces here.
She found a play house at Pottery Barn that inspired her to make her own Dr. Seuss version.
See how they made the frame here. Then she did a sneak peak with some additional details.

This looks magnificent and I'm sure kids will love playing in it.
Here are some other views of the Dr. Seuss Playroom

I love the white furniture with all the bright colors. Jill plans to do some custom murals, artwork and a Dr. Seuss lamp that she will blog about in the coming months.

We love those bags from Target. She turned button pins into magnets.

Her Dr. Seuss baby shower has very festive decorations, treats and games.

Custom invitations and cupcakes.  The red dots are for guests to write advice on, then put in the hat. The Marvin K. Mooney hand tells us we "should go now" to the food.

Fly over to The Bird and the Berry for more details on these Seusstastic ideas.

Pay it Forward, Teaching Your Kids to Share

Monday, January 24, 2011


Welcome to any new visitors from the Mom It Forward site.

Today I'm sharing a book my daughter checked out from her school library a few weeks ago that I think must have been written about Jyl Johnson Pattee (founder of Mom It Forward) when she was a little girl.

Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed, by Mary Pearson, is about an ordinary girl who does a simple act of kindness (sharing blueberries) but each person passes a kindness on and it grows to help billions of people. My 7-year-old loved this book and read it by herself then got excited to explain to me what Mary did. She "got it." It even has a chart at the back showing how the kindness spreads.

Jyl started the Mom It Forward social media community to help other women, their families and community.  In connection with this, she hosts weekly Twitter Girls' Night Out (#GNO) parties that make a positive impact world wide. She is also co-founder of the EVO Social Media Conference which I attended last summer in Park City, Utah. It was there that I made the decision to blog about my passion for children's books.

Today I'm guest posting on the Mom It Forward site featuring a craft that goes with the Rainbow Fish book. Stop by Mom It Forward to see how to teach your kids to give and share with the Rainbow Fish craft below. Get the FREE PDF printable of the fish I created while you are there.

If you've just discovered obSEUSSed, take a look around and come back again. Thanks for stopping by.
 
Remember to "Pay it Forward"
Linking to:
Today's Creative Blog

handmade projects

Wizard of Oz Yellow Brick Road Sequence Game

Saturday, January 22, 2011

"We're off to see the Wizard."

Grandma invited our kids to go see the Wizard of Oz theater production this past month. I've tried to get my 7-year-old to watch the movie several times but the first time she tried watching it a few years ago she got too scared of the witch, never finished watching, and subsequently refuses to watch it anytime I offer.  At first she did not want to go to the theater with Grandma either thinking it would be too scary. 

I decided to pull out some books to explain the story so she would be familiar with it before hand.
We bought this 3-D book before we even had children. We pulled it out and did an overview of the story as the kids searched for the characters and put on a play on the little pop-out stage. You turn the pages for different backdrops.

My son loved it and my daughter finally understood the story and was relieved to find out the witch melted at the end.
Reading and playing with this book helped her overcome her fear of the Wizard of Oz.

We also pulled up some stage productions of the show on YouTube that let her get a feel for what to expect at the theatre. I'm happy to report that both our kids went to the show, enjoyed it (daughter admitted closing her eyes several times which I told her was totally fine) and they have been whistling and humming the songs ever since.

The Wizard of Oz story is by L. Frank Baum. This 3-D Playset is illustrated by Phil Wilson.

Try this Sequencing Activity to create your own Yellow Brick Road:

1. Get a few pieces of yellow construction paper.
2. Find some pictures of the characters from the Wizard of Oz. I found some great coloring pages from the movie on the Educational Coloring Pages site. And some simple line drawings with a witch and tornado on DLTK's site. Nick-Magic has some great story pictures. I like this pic of the Emerald City and rainbow. Some great pics of the witch and munchkins.
3. Print and color the pics you like, then glue onto a 1/2 sheet or full sheet of construction paper.
4. Have your child place them in a row (in sequential order) across the room or down the hallway, creating a path (or yellow brick road).  Then let your child step on each one and tell you a little bit about the story as they remember it.



Our kids also like this book with sound buttons from the Play-a-sound series. I have to admit the witch and wizard sounds freaked me out everyonce in a while when the kids have left it on the floor and something sets it off accidentally. 






Here is a fabulous pop-up version illustrated by Robert Sabuda.





I found an amazing compilation and review on more pop-up books over at Squidoo this week. I love the Alice and Wonderland and Star Wars versions.
Linking to:
Today's Creative Blog

Have any of you ever use books to help children reduce their fear of something?

Musical and Modern Valentine Crafts

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Free Printable: right click, copy and paste
This Post includes:
A Musical Valentine Mailbox
A Vintage Phone Valentine Mailbox
An MP3 Player Valentine Candy Box
A Cell Phone Text & Treat (i just called 2 say i luv u)


Musical Valentine Mailbox:
Go to your local greeting card shop and find the musical cards, the ones that play a song when you open it.
I found one that played "She's a Brick House" and I thought, "I can make a brick house out of a box and make the card into a door."  So I had my kids help me put it together. This was for my husband to take to work for a Valentine Box contest. Go find a cute card and make your own mailbox with a door.



See the video of how the music plays when you open the door to put a valentine note inside.

Vintage Phone Valentine Mailbox:
My Prize Winning Box. When I was in 3rd grade my mom helped me make a valentine box that won first place in my grade and got my picture in the school district paper. Woot! I'll always remember that box. It was designed like an old fashioned phone and said "I Just Called to Say I Love You," the words of the famous song by Stevie Wonder.  Here it is (ignore my hair, it was the 80's):

MP3 Player Valentine Candy Box:
I found this super cute idea to make MP3 players out of candy boxes from Erin who blogs at Making Memories. She posted a tutorial to make them with a link to Family Fun where you can print off a play list of more modern songs or type in your own play list.  I decided to type in some children's church songs for our Primary.  I also used bell shaped chocolate candy instead of the mini Reeses for the ear phones. This was super quick and easy to make.  Click here for more details on the Valentine MP3 Player. 


Cell Phone Text & Treat (Valentine Candy Box):
After seeing the ipod Valentine Candy Box I was inspired to create a more modern phone version of my 3rd grade Valentine Box. I found the clipart for the cell phone at Clker. Then I made several changes and added the text message "i just called 2 say i luv u". 


I put these in a pdf document so you can print your own and cut it as a strip to wrap around a candy heart box or cut just the phone area and glue to the top of a candy box. I also included one with a blank screen so you could make your own text message, and I left space for you to sign your name.
PDF of Valentine Cell Phone Text Message from ObSEUSSed. Or try this PDF link.
New Heart Cell Phone added 2/8/11


FREE PRINTABLE TO ATTACH TO CANDY BOX


iPHONE VERSION:
If you want an iPhone wrap for the candy box check out Living Locurto's Free Valentine iPhone Printable. It looks just like an iPhone with special Valentine graphics!

Valentine Books:
Here are a few of our favorite Valentine books to share with your kids. Find them at the library, then if you like them, grab a copy at your local book shop or online.  Our kids love the Froggy's First Kiss by Jonathan London.  He is so funny falling for Frogilina.  Happy Valentine's Day (next month)!




Linking to:
Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap-up Party
A Few of My Favorite Things, Valentine Freebie Festival
Craft Envy, Saturday Spotlight
Red Ted Art, Kid Crafts
monogramhandmade projectsPhotobucket

Get Your Craft On Tuesday
BCD 125Visit thecsiproject.com
 

Puzzle Books & Storage

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My kids love puzzles. We have too many but the kids love doing them so instead of tossing them I am condensing them. The boxes are always falling apart and they take up so much shelf space.

I took this pile of puzzle boxes and put them all into one shoe box.





My kids love the Melissa & Doug floor puzzles. My son pulls out the firetruck puzzle at least once a week and they love the barn and alphabet train puzzle too.  Check out these fun books that have jigsaw puzzles in them too.


Linking to:
handmade projectsKatie's Nesting Spot
giveaways

The Mitten, author Jan Brett to visit School, Facebook Contest

Monday, January 3, 2011

Chances are you've probably read one of Jan Brett's children's books. She has authored/illustrated over 30 books with 36 Million books in print.  I am amazed by Brett's beautiful illustrations and appreciate her kindness to share her talent with her readers through her books as well as hundreds of FREE printables on her website.  She has coloring pages, printable activities, calendars and more.  

SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS CONTEST!

HAVE JAN BRETT VISIT YOUR SCHOOL IN 2011
"Starting Monday, January 3, 2011 "like" Jan Brett on Facebook and win a free Jan Brett visit to your school or library. The school or library that has the most parents, teachers, librarians, friends, or supporters who "like" Jan Brett on Facebook (closes April 2, 2011) will win a free school or library visit from Jan in the 2011 - 2012 school year." Click here for more details on the author's contest.

This would be so fun to have the kids meet the author of the books they love to read. I'm going to spread the word at my school, and point them to Jan Brett's website for a variety of printable resources.

One of our family's favorite books by Brett is "The Mitten." The tale of a little boy who loses one of his mittens and a group of animals find it and snuggle inside. (Our second favorite is the "Gingerbread Baby.")

Brett has clipart of the animals from "The Mitten" that you can print and put inside a mitten as you read the story. I decided to print two copies. My 5 year old colored them, I cut them, then we put one set inside his mitten as we read the story. 

Next, we gathered 8 pair of mittens around the house and I had my son hide an animal in each mitten (the mittens didn't necessarily match).  Then we took turns trying to find the matching animals, just like a matching card game.


He loved the Mitten Match Game and kept wanting to hide the animals from me to see if he could trick me.



 The Mitten by Jan Brett 

 You can go to Barnes and Noble right now to hear Jan Brett read The Mitten for online storytime.

Teaching Heart Mom Blog has a variety of activities that go with The Mitten too.

If you want to try using mitten clipart, PreKinders has a cute Mitten Match game you can print.

Jan Brett recently published a new book fall 2010 called "The 3 Little Dassies." She created a Free 2011 calendar you can print with artwork from the book. I need to find a copy of this book, it looks darling. It is a South African telling of the 3 Little Pigs.

Remember to go visit Jan Brett on Facebook to enter to win a visit to your school or library.
Linking to:
Hope is the Word, Read Aloud Thursdays (See Amy's post on reading owl books & disecting Owl pellets)

Shibley Smiles
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