Book Rec: Evalina's Egg by Sarah & Rew Jones

"Evalina's Egg" by Sarah & Rew Jones is perfect for families who love adorable fiction with beautiful, classic language. Great photography gives each page a claymation feel that blends realism and fantasy. Evalina's egg serves a gentle bedtime or "any time" story to read to young children. Longer sentences help appeal to older elementary-aged children while still captivating younger siblings. My 6yo and 8yo love it.

Get your copy in English or in Spanish

Everyday, little ones depend on big people for everything they need, from love to a warm bed; and sometimes the little ones come into our lives in unexpected ways.Evalina's Egg is a beautifully written story, with charming illustrations, of a selfless, caring, young mouse who gives her all to take in an orphaned egg and lovingly care for it, in spite of risks and struggles for herself. When her community comes around her to support her, she is enveloped in the 

same care as she gives her egg, and the task becomes much more do-able. This story of love, community, and sacrifice teaches us about the value of caring for one another in our need, and is sure to appeal to anyone who has ever depended on someone bigger and stronger than them. Families of all different shapes and sizes, biological, adoptive, foster, etc, and the communities that surround them will appreciate this sweet story of what it means to risk and sacrifice yourself for someone you love, and come out the other side the one who was rewarded.

Watch the book trailer here

Help other parents find the book by leaving a review!

  

 Sarah & Rew Jones are creators of stories, films, and media for families. Find them on Facebook, and Instagram, and Goodreads for more family content! You can listen to or read Laurie Wright's interview with Sarah & Rew Jones on her podcast here. 

Egg Hunt: Math and Life Science

Every year we do an Easter egg scavenger hunt. Last year we had a blast doing two for our local homeschool group: Life Science and Math. The students answered questions and then went down the trail to find eggs with labels that matched the answers.

Tip - I find that washi tape works best. We had so many participants that I ran out of washi tape!

It's ten eggs per student, so we ended up preparing a lot of eggs. It was so worth it!

Since it was so successful, I've uploaded the activity to my TPT store for you to print out at home or for your classroom. Math covers up to early multiplication and Life Science includes riddles like "What mammal has wings and uses echolocation to find their food?"

Easter is April 1st this year. Find the STEM Egg Scavenger Hunt on TeachersPayTeachers now to get a head start:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plastic-Egg-Scavenger-Hunt-STEM-3121248

And if you're local, contact me to learn about the hunt we run.

Happy hunting!

Craft: Easter or Spring Equinox Painted Pinecones

Can you feel spring approaching? To me, spring means color, and actually crafting with my kids because we can do it outside where cleanup is easier.

March 20th (2017) is the spring equinox!

Easter Sunday will be April 16th (2017)!

This time of year I'm always picking up pine cones and raking (oh, joy...) and one year a friend asked me what I was going to do with them. Um, set them out for yard trash pickup? Obviously? We had tried to do some crafts with pine cones in the past and found that they were too, well, pokey! Peanut butter and bird seed works pretty well, but what else could you possibly...

Oh! Paint! My kids love to paint!

We picked up over a hundred pine cones and ended up painting them all between the "four" of us. I say "four" because one is a toddler and only painted parts of hers. As you do.

TIP: Wash and dry the pine cones to get rid of bugs and dirt. The pine cones will close up like this first:


Dry them in the oven or microwave to open them up again:

Cleanest Pine Cones in the Universe.

Our most successful method (pictured at the top of the post) uses tempera / whatever kid paint you have and sponges. Sponging was SO easy and we hardly noticed the sharp bits. Go ahead and glop that paint on if you're using tempera. For a quick project, you can skip washing and drying the pine cones and use washable paints. For a more crafty, durable project, wash, dry, and use acrylic paint and a finishing clear poly coat. (Did you know you are also supposed to wash and dry acorns before painting them?)

Sponging also worked best for "snow" pine cones!

They look even better in person!

If you want these to hang outside, you will want to use a spray sealer. When we did this, some of our paint dissolved -- disappeared right off the pine cone!

Now... you are probably wondering about spray painting the pine cones to begin with. That is actually what we did first because my oldest can operate spray cans and I thought that would be the best method. The spray paint then turned into "my" project to touch up what he had started, and another run to the store for more glitter paint. So, while the final product does look nice, it was a lot harder and cost 5 times as much because where we used only a little of the regular liquid paint, we used up four entire bottles of glitter spray paint. The pine cones kept moving around while I was trying to spray them and I felt more like I was attacking them than painting them.

They have a beautiful silver glitter finish ranging from a light dusting to "did you dip that?"

The red looks more impressive in person but not as nice as the silver.

If you do go with spray paint, I'd pick silver and maybe gold unless you are going to go really crazy and do a white coat underneath first. At that point you'll be spending several dollars a pine cone!

In hind sight, the sponges were more kid-friendly even though you hold the pine cones to do it. I'm happy with how all of them turned out but will probably never use spray paint on a pine cone ever again (except maybe to seal it).

To hang them as ornaments, hand-screw in eye screws and tie on ribbon. Or skip all that and lay them in a neat basket or bowl as a center piece.

Let's look at that finished product again...

Perfect for an Easter tree!

Book Release: Charlie Cat Does NOT Like Halloween

Here it is, just in time for Halloween!

Charlie Cat Does NOT Like Halloween!

Charlie Cat does not like scary monsters and ghosts. Charlie's friend Susie Dog loves to dress up for Halloween. When Susie Dog scares Charlie Cat, Charlie uses his strong voice to tell her STOP. Find out how these two friends get along on Halloween.

Charlie Cat is a rhyming picture book for ages 0-8

Pages: 27

Buy now on [Createspace]!

Buy the paperback on [Amazon] or the ebook.

If you are local to me, contact me about getting a signed copy around Halloween day!

Thank you for your support. Remember to leave a review - it doesn't have to be a long review. I love reader feedback, and so do other potential readers, and so does Amazon!

Charlie Cat also has his own facebook page.

The book can also be found on [Goodreads].

Charlie Cat picture book series explores challenging social situations through rhyme and fun illustrations. For ages 0-8 and special needs.

Join our author mailing list for free printables you can use at home or in the classroom.

Charlie Cat Draws His Personal Bubble on Easter

Susie Dog is so excited to hunt Easter Eggs, she forgets to look where she is going! When Susie Dog spills Charlie Cat's Easter basket, Charlie Cat teaches Susie Dog about personal space.

Charlie Cat Tries Earmuffs on Independence Day

When Momma Cat offers Charlie and Susie earmuffs for the loud fireworks, Susie Dog doesn’t need hers, but a new friend does! Learn about hearing protection and individual preferences in this rhyming picture book for ages 0-8 & special needs.

Charlie Cat Does NOT Like Halloween

Charlie Cat does not like scary monsters and ghosts. Charlie's friend Susie Dog loves to dress up for Halloween. When Susie Dog scares Charlie Cat, Charlie uses his strong voice to tell her STOP. Find out how these two friends get along on Halloween.

Charlie Cat Takes a Break on Thanksgiving

Charlie cat loves Thanksgiving, but when noisy guests arrive, Charlie needs a quiet room. Find out how Momma Cat helps Charlie enjoy Thanksgiving.

Charlie Cat Keeps His Paws Off at Christmas

Waiting to decorate the family Christmas tree is hard! Momma Cat helps Charlie Cat learn how to tell when he should keep his paws to himself, and Charlie is happy to find something he can play with safely.