Two Book Give Away: Animalogy and Hey Diddle Diddle

Early elementary-aged children will enjoy this rhyming and catchy tale about the food chain. A beetle is eaten by a snake. The snake is eaten by a hawk: He snatched that snake right off the ground. Gobbled him up without a sound and sang, "Hey diddle diddle - I don't ask why I've got feathers to help me fly." The book has a "For Creative Minds" section in the back that includes 4 pages of additional activities such as "Herbivore or Carnivore," "Predator or Prey" and many more. Even more related activities and links are found at the Sylvan Dell Publishing Website.

Animalogy is a book of, what else? Animal analogies of course! Beaver is to build as spider is to spin. Reptile is to snake, as insect is to bee.  The detail in the illustrations is captivating. This is a great book to teach analogies as well as animal behavior. The book may also be helpful for young ESL students trying to learn the concept of analogies. The book concludes with a 6 page activity guide that extends the learning presented in the story. Sylvan Dell Publishing also has a free 48 page Teaching Guide available.

Here is how you enter to win these two books:

Go to this blog post, Literacy Challenges of At-Risk Boys, and answer one or both of the following questions by November 5, 2011.

1. What are your communities doing to address the specific needs of at-risk learners? 
2. What reading programs or other resources do you know of that cater to the interest of boys?

One winner will be randomly selected to win BOTH books using www.random.org.

Product Review: Create Your Own Pop Up Books from Growing Tree Toys

Welcome to my very first product review!

Anyone who has visited my little blog-home knows that I am passionate about children’s literacy and the role that it plays in a child’s overall development. Growing Tree Toys has a host of educational toys that promote literacy, learning, and creativity. The Create Your Own Pop Up Book (described below) is $19.95 and is suggested for “children” from ages 5 to 95!

“Little writers and artists can use their imaginations to create the “next big” book series with the Create Your Own Pop-Up Books Kit from Creativity for Kids. While anyone may be able write a story, the Create Your Own Pop-up Books Kit gives kids the tools that, when combined with their imaginations, bring their stories to life with pop-up fun. The Create Your Own Pop-Up Books Kit features 2 high quality, hardcover pop-up books – one that measures 8.5”x8.5” and the other 6.25”x6.25” – and supplies to make their stories, including stickers, 8 markers, pop-up designs, illustrated instructions with story starter ideas, and step-by-step pop-up ideas. When kids use their imaginations to add their own drawings and photos, they will be amazed as their brilliant story comes to life and literally pops off the page with the Create Your Own Pop-Up Books Kit from Creativity for Kids.” [text from Growing Tree Toys]

The product arrived exactly as described above. Children receiving such a great product will want to jump in right away, but planning is needed. After carefully and thoughtfully planning out the story, it will take some additional strategizing to plan the illustrations as well.

Potential skills children can learn from this kit:

• Parts of a book (cover, spine, etc..) 
• Parts of a story (beginning, middle, ending)
• The role of authors and illustrators
• Thinking and planning skills
• Creativity and language skills
• Logic, problem solving, and concentration skills

There really aren’t any “cons.” For $19.95, the kit comes with everything you need (except for personal photographs that you might want to add) to create 2 books. The only “warning” I have is that if you are buying this product for a young child (under the age of 8), be prepared to provide lots of guidance and assistance.

For more products that boost creativity, visit Growing Tree Toys’ Creativity for Kids product page.

Would you like to enter my give-a-way of this GREAT product*? Comment below by September 30th and a random winner will be selected by October 1st.

*The box has been opened (for the purpose of this review) but not used. Markers and stickers are in their original unopened packaging.