Hey, everyone! You all know that I’m always talking about encouraging kids to tap into their creative side and express themselves, whether through their words, art, crafts, or other means. Well, today I decided to let you hear from one of my own creative kids. My daughter, Brie, was tasked with the school assignment this week to compare and contrast two things. Guess what she chose to write about? She compared and contrasted her dad and me. There’s just nothing like seeing yourself through the eyes of your own child — so accurate, honest, and humbling. And it was just too awesome and amusing to not share with the masses! So, with Brie’s permission, here are her unedited words (except for the name of our town):

Photo courtesy of: Jo Brielyn

My parents have many differences but yet many likenesses. They both are honest to my family and to each other too. They are both very smart and are successful in life. Both are pretty patient with my sister and I, which is good because (I admit) we are hard to live with some days. They are both funny and fun to be with. My parents are both very caring and unselfish with everyone, not just family and friends.

My mom is usually shy at first when you meet her but then becomes comfortable and tries not to show that she is shy. She works at home. She writes books for kids and adults and is happy with her job. My mom is very busy because she tries to juggle being a mom and work all at the same time. She also always tries to look her best even when she doesn’t have to. She will only be strict if she needs to. She loves coffee and usually is in a pretty bad mood until she gets her coffee! She likes to go to the mall, the bookstore, and clothing stores. Also, lots of other stores because she likes to shop!

My dad, on the other hand, is very outgoing and not shy at all! My dad doesn’t try to look fancy usually, unless it’s for work. My mom just works at home, but my dad works at a huge company in —. My dad is in a bad mood if he doesn’t get his sleep! My dad’s favorite food is pasta, he loves his pasta (just like my mom and coffee). My dad doesn’t really have a favorite store or anything. He just goes to whatever store has what he wants to get.

So, as you can see, my parents have many likenesses and many differences.

In addition to being a talented young writer, she is also an award-winning artist! If you enjoyed this post from Brie, leave her a comment below and then go check out her blog, Paper and Crayons.

Photo courtesy: Allyn Stotz

The Pea in Peanut Butter
Paperback: 36 pages (large print)
ISBN-13: 978-0984589050

The Pea in Peanut Butter Coloring Book Edition

Paperback: 54 pages (large print)
ISBN-13: 978-0615558981

Written by Allyn Stotz
Illustrated by Valerie Bouthyette
Target Age: 3 to 6 year old kids

The Pea in Peanut Butter,  the debut children’s picture book for author Allyn Stotz, features the adorable little Kailee. Kailee loves “the super duper, gummy yummy, sticky lickin’, and belly rubbin’ taste of peanut butter.” Of course, it’s no wonder she loves it. Peanut butter is tasty stuff! Unfortunately, Kailee loves it so much that many other foods, especially green ones like peas, get bypassed in favor of her beloved peanut butter. Until…

Kailee’s hungry tummy wakes her and she heads to the pantry for a snack. Instead of the fruit roll-up her mommy suggested, Kailee reaches for a jar of that dreamy creamy peanut butter. While she struggles to open the jar, the door slams, and Kailee is trapped in the pantry. A squeaky voice lets her know she’s not alone.  Who is talking? All Kailee sees is a pantry full of food. Young readers will find themselves pulled into a magical world where foods of all colors come to life and teach Kailee (and them) that it’s fun, tasty, and good for your health to eat a variety of foods.

Check out this fun video trailer for a sneak peek inside the book:

Note from Jo: I always test my toy and book reviews on my two kids to get an accurate reading on how well children respond to the product. I have a 10-year-old and 6-year-old, and The Pea in Peanut Butter was a hit with both of them! When I asked each of the girls separately to share a favorite part of the story, the answer was the same. The scene in the pantry when the food comes to life was magical, fun, and got their attention. Whether your kids are picky eaters or not, this book is one they will want to read time and time again! The well-written and imaginative story by Allyn Stotz and the vivid and attention-getting drawings by Valerie Bouthyette are a perfect pairing.

 

How can I get a copy of The Pea in Peanut Butter?

We’re glad you asked! There are a few different ways you can get this book for kids.

1. Visit Allyn’s blog to purchase it. You can even get an autographed copy of The Pea in Peanut Butter if you contact her via her blog and ask for it!
2. Click one of the Amazon widgets below and go directly to the purchase page.
3. Keep an eye out on Creative Kids Ideas for your chance to win a FREE copy of The Pea in Peanut Butter! Once we get to the 400 fans mark on the Creative Kids Ideas Facebook Fan Page, we’ll be hosting a giveaway for a copy of The Pea in Peanut Butter Coloring Book Edition (with the story in the front and pages for kids to color in the back). Want to make that giveaway come sooner? Send your friends and family to our FB page and help us reach 400+ likes!

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
Creative Kids Ideas received a copy of The Pea in Peanut Butter in exchange for this honest book review.

Setting savings goals with your kids

Creative Kids Ideas readers are familiar with our philosophy that kids learn best by doing, not merely listening. This is true in all aspects of life, whether in the classroom or at home.  In her upcoming book, Piggy Banks to Paychecks: Helping Kids Understand the Value of a Dollar, author Angie Mohr, CA, CMA offers practical advice to adults and encourages that same hands-on approach to teaching kids about money. Today, Angie shares one of her tips with our Creative Kids Ideas readers:

Raising Money Smart Kids Tip #5- Setting Savings Goals

Every family has different savings philosophies. Each has its benefits and one is not necessarily better than another. Families need to start the process by looking at what is important to them in teaching their kids to save.

The first step in setting savings goals with your kids is deciding what they are going to be responsible for buying.  Will you pay for a new bike every year or are your kids responsible for that?  Will they participate in saving for college or will you fund that for them?  Kids need to know this kind of information in order to make reasonable savings goals.

Once kids are clear on what they need to save for, they can make more informed choices.  The easiest way to get kids to save without a fight is to set ground rules with them.  For example, the rule could be that every time your child comes into money, at least 10 percent goes to the college fund and 40 percent goes to other long term savings.  The rest can be spent or saved as the child chooses.  This accomplishes two goals: it sets them on the path to having disciplined savings deposits and it also allows them some freedom to decide if they want to spend or save a portion of their “income”.  When they are adults, they will be making these same choices on a daily basis and will be setting aside a fixed, recurring amount every month to fund their retirement plans or emergency fund.

Changing Savings Goals
Like adults, kids will likely change their wants and needs many times and will want to re-adjust their savings goals.  Walking them through the process of deciding whether new goals are more appropriate will help them to make these types of decisions in the future.  If you instead hold them to their original plans (“you wanted the iPod so you have to keep saving for it”), kids can lose interest in savings.  That doesn’t mean that they should change their goals every few days when something new and cool comes on the market.  Help them to put some real thought into why the new goals make more sense now than the current goals and help them figure out how much more or less they will have to save on a regular basis to adjust to the new goal.

For more great Raising Money Smart Kids Tips and excerpts from my new book, Piggy Banks to Paychecks: Helping Kids Understand the Value of a Dollar, come and join us on our March book blog tour here.

© Angie Mohr 2012

Drop by Angie Mohr’s blog to offer your support, grab your copy of her new book, or learn more about her other publications.

You said what to your kids?

“After I stop this car, I’m going to lick both of you, and then pick my nose and wipe it on you!” Yes, I confess that I said this to my kids recently! The worst part? We had a guest in our car that day, our new pastor’s wife. Yes, I went there. Fortunately, she is also a parent and a grandmother and understood that my comment was in jest and out of frustration. Her only response was, “I think I’ll sit at the other end of the table when we eat lunch then.”

Don’t judge. You know you’ve said something equally crazy and marveled to yourself — or someone else — that you couldn’t believe you had actually spoken those words to a child. We’ve all been there… numerous times. We at Creative Kids Ideas believe that a healthy dose of laughter and the ability to not take ourselves too seriously are important ingredients for parents, teachers, youth workers, and anyone else who spends more than 5 minutes a day around kids!

So, it’s confession time. Creative Kids Ideas wants to hear from our readers on this one! Share with us the wackiest story or phrase you’ve uttered to your kids, grandkids, or students. The ones that tickle our funny bone will be featured in a Creative Kids Ideas post, and possibly in a humorous e-book our owner, Jo Brielyn, is writing (with your permission and credit, of course)!

How do I share my funny story with Creative Kids Ideas?

You can share your humorous story or phrase with us by leaving a comment in the section below this post. If you’d rather, you can also send your response to our email account at admin@CreativeKidsIdeas.com and type “Funny Story” in the subject line so we don’t miss it.

Entries must be submitted before 11:59 PM on March 25, 2012 to be considered for inclusion in the feature post on CKI or in the future e-book.

We’re looking forward to reading your funny stories and responses to this one. Don’t be shy! We won’t judge. We can’t promise there won’t be laughter, though, but we’ll be laughing with you not at you.

Photo Courtesy of: Angie Mohr

I’m happy to introduce you to my friend and fellow writer Angie Mohr. Angie is a Chartered Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and financial consultant. She’s also the author of a new book, Piggy Banks to Paychecks: Helping Kids Understand the Value of a Dollar (by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012). Piggy Banks to Paychecks offers easy-to-understand and practical advice for parents, grandparents, and teachers on how to teach children of all ages about money. You can learn more about the book and get other great financial advice from Angie by visiting her Piggy Banks to Paychecks blog or by following the Piggy Banks to Paychecks Facebook page. And don’t forget to order your copy of her book!

Angie has agreed to stop by today and share a few words of wisdom with Creative Kids Ideas readers about how to be a financial mentor to your kids’ friends. Now, here’s Angie!

Creative Kids Ideas has graciously asked me to guest post today as part of my March Piggy Banks to Paychecks blog tour. Thanks, Jo!

As adults, we affect not only our own children but also our children’s friends. Just by being who you are and allowing your kids’ friends to be around you, you provide them with new experiences and potentially with different ways of seeing the world.

With that in mind, what better gift can you give their friends than financial education? Most families do not discuss money at home, much less teach their children how to handle it. If you are already teaching your own children how to handle money, doing it in front of their friends can help them as well. It doesn’t have to be any kind of formal training but talking about your kids’ savings plans, the household rules about earning money for allowance and saving it, and rules about spending, help other kids handle their own money better.

Most importantly, be there for your kids’ friends if they have questions about money. They may have little concept of how finances work or they may even have a warped and dysfunctional view of how it works by observing what goes on in their own home. Take the time to answer their questions but don’t lecture them. You’re there as a resource, not an instructor.

Whether you’re conscious of it or not, you are a mentor to and an influence on not only your own kids but their friends, too. Give them a solid foundation in money management and they’ll have those skills for a lifetime.

© Angie Mohr 2012

Fun ways to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss and promote reading

March 2 is the birthday of the late, great children’s author, Dr. Seuss. In honor of this favorite icon in literature, we’ve come up with a few fun ways to celebrate his birthday and promote reading and creativity in kids.

Schools, libraries and other organizations all across America are hosting Read Across America Day and many are celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday with week long events. The National Education Association offers excellent information on Read Across America events happening in local areas throughout the nation.

How you can celebrate Seuss with kids

1. Whether you are a teacher searching for new methods to reach your students and turn them on the joys of reading or a parent looking for fun ways to bond with your children, these activities to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss with children of all ages are sure to do the trick.

2. AtoZteacherstuff also offers a comprehensive list of Dr. Seuss themed activities, lesson plans, games and printable craft ideas that we love.

3. You simply can’t forget to visit Seussville. This fun site is loaded with online and printable games and activities for children of all ages. Children can do everything from attempting to catch a Thing, to playing a Fox in Socks matching game, all the way to creating their own stories with the Seussville Storymaker section using Dr. Seuss characters and scenery.

Keep the Seuss attitude

However you choose to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss with your children, remember what his writing was all about – creativity and fun. The stories of Dr. Seuss represent those traits to millions of fans, both young and old. Today is a great day for adults to recapture a small portion of that and share it with the children they love.

Have a fun and creative time together!

Do you know a child who is a gifted writer or artist? Are you looking for ways to encourage him or her to use those skills?

If so, you might want to check out the Kids Are Authors competition sponsored by Scholastic Book Fairs. It is a yearly contest for all students in Kindergarten to 8th grade (in American and U.S. international schools). Since the goal of the contest is to also teach kids how to work better in groups, the rules stipulate that students must work in teams of three or more kids with an adult project coordinator to write and illustrate their own book. The Kids Are Authors competition encourages kids to use their writing and artistic skills, as well as creativity, teamwork, social skills, and communication skills.

Important Dates:

All entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2012 in order to be eligible for the 2012 Kids Are Authors Competition. The winners will be announced by May 31, 2012.

Contest Prizes:

Grand Prizes — The two grand-prize winning books will be published by Scholastic and sold at Book Fairs all over the United States. There will be one fiction and one nonfiction book chosen. Each winning team will also receive $5,000 in merchandise from the Scholastic Book Fairs School Resource Catalog to be awarded to the public/private school or non-profit organization of their choice and 100 copies of their published book. Each student will also earn a gold medal and a framed award certificate.

Honeorable Mentions — In addition to the big prizes, there will also be 25 honorable mentions selected. Each winning team will earn $500 in merchandise from the Scholastic Book Fairs School Resource Catalog to be awarded to the public/private school or non-profit organization of their choice. Each participating kid in the winning groups will also receive an award certificate.

Guidelines and Rules:

Learn more about Kids Are Authors by visiting the Scholastic website. You can also find the full contest guidelines and offical rules and specifics on how to enter the contest there.

Good luck to all the kids who enter!

Calling all authors and businesses! We want your help. Creative Kids Ideas is interested in connecting with authors and companies interested in sponsoring contests and giveaways for our Creative Kids Ideas readers in 2012. CKI’s readers are awesome and really deserve some cool goodies! Plus, we promise to give you lots of great publicity. (We’re also willing to provide reviews of your books and products.)

Please keep in mind that Creative Kids Ideas features content about kids, children’s crafts, parenting, teaching, and other kid-related topics. Those are also the types of products we are interested in reviewing and giving away.

Anyone interested can reach us at admin@CreativeKidsIdeas.com, use the Contact form on our site, or reply in the comments section below.

Creative Kids Ideas Readers: We’d also appreciate your help in spreading the word! Thanks and a Happy 2012 to all of you.

Photo courtesy of: The Big Bang Theory and Stylin Online

“Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr!”

Fans of the CBS TV comedy, The Big Bang Theory, will recognize the “Soft Kitty” song that an ill Sheldon teaches to Penny and convinces her to sing to make him feel better. This cute and snuggly plush kitty sings the soothing song (in Penny’s voice) when the paw is pressed, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your child’s face, whether she is sick or not!

Parents who may be concerned about giving their child a collectible item from The Big Bang Theory, which is a show that sometimes contains more “adult content”, can rest assured that there is nothing inappropriate for kids with the song or the plush toy. But you don’t just have to take my word for it. Here’s a short video to give you a better idea:

Photo courtesy of: The Big Bang Theory and Stylin Online

Here are the details you’ll need to know about the Soft Kitty Singing Plush Toy:

• This plush is a trademark The Big Bang Theory product.

• The kitty is 10-inches long.

• The plush toy is gray and pink.

• It requires three 1.5V button-cell batteries (included with the toy).

• It plays “Soft Kitty” when the button on the paw is pressed.

• The kitty is made of polyester fiber and is all new material.

• The plush is not machine washable. Surface cleaning should be done with a damp cloth.

• The toy is recommended for children (and adults) over the age of 3.

• The Soft Kitty plush is now available on Stylin Online for $29.99.

**I received no payment for this review, but did receive a free Soft Kitty Plush toy in exchange for an honest review on Creative Kids Ideas.**

1. Crafty fall projects: Check out this article by Linda Ann Nickerson. It’s packed with creative and functional fall crafts projects you can make with kids with fun ideas like corn husk dolls,harvest treasure box, leaf etchings, pine cone wreath, and autumn wrapping paper.

2. Practical fall activities with life applications  for kids: Fall is an ideal time to teach kids more about nature and the environment, and to incorporate natural elements associated with the season into your lessons. Andrea Coventry offers some great tips in Montesorri practical life activities for fall.

3. Make tasty harvest foods with kids: Who can forget about the yummy foods harvesttime foods, like apples and pumpkins? Certainly not kids (or Creative Kids Ideas!). Preparing and cooking food with children is an excellent way to give them hands-on lessons about nutrition, measurements and math, kitchen safety, and more. It’s also a great opportunity to have fun getting messy in the kitchen together! Below are a couple suggestions for healthy and tasty recipes kids can help make:

• Here are tips for making three easy apple recipes for kids brought to us by Kay Whittenhauer.

• Try Debbie Henthorn’s recipe for making homemade pumpkin puree.

4. Fall leaves activities for small kids: Toddlers and young children learn best when they’re allowed to use their senses freely to discover. Autumn is the perfect time to take them outdoors and let them experience nature and learn about the seasons by using their senses. Read Fall Toddler Activities with Autumn Leaves to find a variety of creative ways to help them learn.

5. Paper bag scarecrow craft and party treat bag: If you and your family are planning a harvest celebration or Halloween party this year, this adorable paper bag scarecrow is one craft project you won’t want to miss. Not only is it fun to make, the scarecrow craft also serves a purpose by doubling as a treat bag for party guests at your harvest or Halloween celebration. Kids will enjoy making this project and, even more, they’ll love seeing their artwork displayed and shared with others at the party.

6. Pumpkin art projects for kids: Pumpkins are plentiful this time of year. Ever wonder what you can do with them all? Tania Cowling gives some excellent kids’ project ideas for using them in Pumpkin Art Projects for Kids of All Ages. She also includes great pumpkin themed activities and crafts that don’t involve real pumpkins, like making pumpkin mosaic, milk jug pumpkins, and coffee filter pumpkins.

7. Party games with a fall or harvest theme: Planning a harvest party or fall festival this season? Events like this are a great way to gather with your community, friends, and family to celebrate the autumn season. The kids’ party games you choose are an important element for a successful harvest party or fall festival. Once Upon a Time offers a great list of fun and easy to organize game ideas for a fall festival or harvest party.

How ever you choose to celebrate, take time to enjoy the autumn season and many natural lessons and inspirations it provides with your kids. Happy Autumn!