Paint By Sticker Kids: Dinosaurs
Published July 21, 2020 by Workman Publishing Company
Summary: Create pictures of 10 awesome dinosaurs… with stickers!
Step 1: Find the sticker
Step 2: Peel the sticker
Step 3: Place the sticker
…and watch your dinosaur painting come to life!
Includes everything you need to create ten sticker paintings on sturdy stock––plus, all the pages are perforated, making it easy to tear out each finished work to frame and share.
Features fascinating dinosaur facts on the back of each painting!
Ricki’s Review: This book is a gift to parents. I mean…kids! My 6-year-old spent three hours (no lie) working on three of these. It teaches him to focus, and it is helping him improve his fine motor skills. My 3-year-old, who is almost 4, finds it a bit more difficult. He can place the stickers, but he has trouble with the numbers and peeling the stickers off. I would say the sweet spot for this book would start at about 4.5 years old and continue up through adulthood. I am tempted to buy the adult version for myself, but the kid version would bring just as much joy. As a child, I loved paint by number, and this is paint by number without the mess! I offered to buy paint by number for my 6-year-old, but he said he preferred this sticker version and that it was more fun.
Above, you can see the three pages that took my 6-year-old three hours to complete. He wanted to do a fourth, but I told him to take a break! We’ll definitely be buying the kids some of the other Paint by Sticker books for holidays. 😉
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This is a great book to teach numbers. There are about 60 stickers on each page, and finding the stickers allows children to look at the numerical order of the stickers. My 6-year-old chose to go in sequential, increasing order, so it reinforced his number sense. (My 3-year-old preferred to peel stickers at random, but he was still forced to think about how the numbers were structured.) I could easily see this book at a freetime station or in a fast finishers bin. The pages easily perforate!
Read This If You Love: Interactive activity books filled with fun and educational activities; paint by number
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Workman Publishing for providing a copy for review!**
Osmo is an add on for your tablet (iPad or Fire) that brings digital learning to life! The Osmo Genius Starter Kit (from Tangible Play, Inc.) comes with materials for 3 of their different apps and with the Osmo stand and reflector, there are 2 other apps availabe to play without any materials.
Osmo knows kids learn by doing, so each game uses physical action. Whether it’s arranging tangrams, zooming number tiles around, or even freehand drawing, Osmo sees and reacts to every real-live move. Users will receive real-time feedback which lets kids learn through experimentation in a stress-free environment.
To date Osmo has been named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions, is a Parents’ Choice award winner, a winner of the prestigious Oppenheim award, and a 2016 finalist for Toy of The Year.
Kellee’s Review: What I love about Osmo is that it takes technology and adds kinesthetic aspects to it. It is truly the best of both worlds. This combination of hands-on learning and technology is how we are going to prepare our students for their life journey.
Trent loves Osmo because he thinks everything about it is fun. Even when there is a challenge, he faces it, figures it out, and moves forward because of the engagement he has for the activities. And if it gets too tough, the app is intuitive and helps him out when needed.
It is hard to pick his favorites apps. I think Masterpiece and Newton would be what he picked first to play, but he wouldn’t argue about playing any of them.
Masterpiece shows his paper on the screen and an outline of what he wants to draw. It can be from their gallery, online, or even a picture he took. Then he can look at the screen and follow the lines. He loves drawing, so him loving Masterpiece makes so much sense.
As for Newton, which is a problem-solving physics platform. I found it to be extremely difficult, so I was pleasantly surprised that Trent loved it so much. He figured out so many creative ways to solve the puzzles, past the drawing that it initially instructs the user to do. It was fascinating watching him! (Please note: the Osmo whiteboard in the image is not from the Genius Starter Kit. Trent loved the starter kit so much, we bought other games and it came with another game; however, any white board or paper would work for Newton.)
Words is at this point a bit easy for him, but I know there are ways to up the difficulty, but he is really enjoying it and getting used to searching for the letters, so I don’t want to frustrate him.
Numbers starts with addition which is perfect for Trent and lets him practice his number skills in a low-stakes, fun environment. He is a math fan, so this is another favorite app.
Tangrams is probably the one he struggles with the most. When the tasks get more difficult and do not show which shapes go where, Trent has trouble visualizing which are correct (but I’m the same way, so maybe like mom, like son).
And like I mentioned above, we loved Osmo so much, we’ve purchased other kits which Trent have all enjoyed also! I highly recommend Osmo to parents and teachers as an extension to other learning.
Ricki’s Review:Kellee did an amazing overview of each of the games within the kit, so I will offer more of a holistic overview and perspective from two different kids’ age levels. We have been staying at home pretty much exclusively for three months. My kids are in need of something different. My 3yo is able to read simplistic books and words, and my 6yo is reading fairly fluently now. They are tired of workbooks, they are tired of any book that looks like an early reader, and they are looking for something more interactive. Osmo is the answer.
The kids beg me to play with it during the day. We are pretty strict about screentime in our house, but the Osmo is so interactive that it doesn’t feel like screentime to me. As a parent, it feels remarkably guilt-free as the kids cheer and play the games together.
What intrigues me the most is that Kellee’s son, who is the same age as Henry and has similar interests, has different favorite games than my son. (Although, truly, my kids love ALL of the games.) Tangrams is both of my kids’ favorites. It seems to come naturally to them (which surprises me because I am not very good at spatial recognition). Masterpiece is the hardest for them, and I wonder if they will progress more with it with some time. Regardless, all of the games are huge hits, and they want to play all of them every time they play with the Osmo.
Here, you see my 6yo cheering wildly for himself while he plays numbers. When he met his teacher for a small math group at the end of the school year, she spent a lot of time decomposing numbers. As a parent, I have been focused with addition, subtraction, and number sentences. I hadn’t realized how much decomposing numbers helps their math sense. Osmo’s Numbers does just this. My son is breaking down numbers and figuring out how they work. Using this game in repetition will surely help his math abilities.
Not pictured: the INTENSITY of this shot. Here, the boys are playing two-player Words. They are each tossing letters into the center and hoping to guess the spelling of the word. For the 6yo, it is conscientious. He is able to consider which vowels are the right fit. For the 3yo, it is a lot of guesswork. He focuses on the first and last vowels. The middle is still confusing, as is suspected. I stress here that despite the 3yo being outside of the age level, he is still able to have fun and try out words, which is fun and exciting for him (and for me!).
And lastly, I share a picture of the boys playing Newton together. (Kellee highlights Tangrams and Masterpiece above.) I said earlier that Tangrams is my kids’ favorite, but now I wonder if their favorite might also be Newton. Gosh this game is so fun. They are considering gravity and physics. The game forces them to problem solve. If they mess up, they might slide the paper a little bit.
If you are on the fence, we recommend the Osmo highly. The kids have been having a BLAST, and it makes learning really fun. As an educator who doesn’t believe much in worksheets, this is a phenomenal system that has brought a lot of joy to our house.
The kids have been making big plans for which kits they are going to put on their wishlists for birthdays and holidays! I am very intrigued by the Pizza kit, so that might be next!
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: We highly recommend Osmo for centers in classrooms. There are ways to set up multiple profiles which will make it so students can each have their own progress and with the hands-on + technology, students will have so much fun while learning!
Here are the subjects that the Genius Starter Kit compliments:
Math: Tangram and Numbers
Reading: Words
Handwriting: Masterpiece
Science: Newton
Basic geography (maps): Masterpiece
Spatial relationships: Tangram
and
**Thank you to Tangible Play, Inc. for providing starter kits for review!**
At 11pm, I had the idea to teach my 6-year-old stop animation. I watched countless YouTube videos and tried to tailor them to his skill level. The next day went fairly well, but I learned some things along the way that I thought I’d share with other caregivers or educators embarking on this adventure.
Create a Model, Show Examples/How-To Videos.
It is exceptionally hard to explain stop animation to a kindergartener. Thus, I showed many, many examples and then showed him my own example. I recommend pre-watching your examples because I found many inappropriate models that I was glad I ruled out in advance. I also found how-to videos that were way too intense for my kid. They would overwhelm him.
The first video I showed him was a LEGO animation (which I learned is called a brickfilm). The video I post below is very easy to follow and shows how it works:
Next, I showed a claymation, which is the clay form of stop animation. I watched many and found this one to be pretty clear:
And finally, I created my own (quick) model using clay. I left the clay model out, so I could explain how I did it. This was the quick model I made:
2. Use the “Stop Motion” App.
I learned (after watching many tutorials) that this app was not only very user-friendly but also very capable of advanced work (which we were not doing. The key to using the app is to avoid having to push the photo button. Every time you take a picture and touch the tablet/phone, it jiggles the camera a tiny bit. For the model above, I stacked five textbooks and hung the camera part of the tablet over the edge of the top book. This allowed me to set the automatic timer on the app and avoid touching the screen. I did everything flat on my table, as you will notice in the model.
Essentially, you set a timer for a certain length of time (I did five seconds for my model, but I set it to 15 seconds for my son.) In that time, you move your design slightly. If you miss the timer and don’t make the move, it is extremely easy to delete any of the frames in between.
My son chose to do a brick film with his legos, so I set up the tablet to lean against a chair leg. I had to remind him not to touch the chair, and I set the automatic timer. After that, he pretty much worked independently for an hour on his film.
3. Other Lessons Learned
There’s something that Stop Animators call “light flicker.” If you are close to a window, the changes in the sun (e.g. it goes behind a cloud) will make the light of your video flicker in each shot. Pros (my son and I not included), recommend doing your stop animation in a room with no sunlight or windows. You use two headlamps—one to put in front of your creation and one to put behind it for shadows. To remove the shine on the lego pieces, I learned that pros cover the front headlamp with parchment paper. This was way above our skill level. The pros also use professional cameras and not tablets/phones.
Stop animation takes time, but it takes far less time with this app. It is instantly rewarding to kids (at least, relatively to taking a lot of solo framed photos). It occupied my son for a good hour, and he got to play with his lego, so it was a fun time for him.
Don’t forget to add music. I got a bit lazy with mine, and I clicked the audio record option (which allows people to record their voices), and I just played a song through my cell phone to get it in the background. You can upload a song if you want better quality than mine.
Those are the basics. Kindergarteners are very capable of beginning stop animation films. My son’s ended up being a tray of his favorite minifigures. They appeared one-by-one, and then they disappeared one-by-one. It was a great first start for him!
My First Book of Colors Author: Robb Pearlman
Illustrator: Bob Ross
Published March 24th, 2020 by Running Press Kids
Summary: A titanium snowcapped mountain. A happy little tree made with Van Dyke Brown and Dark Sienna. A majestic, vibrant phthalo blue sky. Bob Ross: My First Book of Colors is an early concept board book featuring various Bob Ross paintings and some of Bob’s little quips about each of the thirteen colors he used on his palette in front of TV audiences. Full of real paintings from the iconic artist, this is sure to be a hit for any Bob Ross fan.
Colors include:
Alizarin Crimson
Bright Red
Cadmium Yellow Hue
Dark Sienna
Indian Yellow
Midnight Black
Phthalo Blue
Prussian Blue
Sap Green
Titanium White
Van Dyke Brown
Yellow Ochre
About the Creators:
Robb Pearlman is the author of many books, including Groundhog’s Day Off, Raggedy Ann and Andy: Leaf Dance, and Passover is Here! Today, his favorite color is blue, but it may be purple tomorrow! He grew up in New York City and now lives in a white and green house in New Jersey with his husband and Oscar, the butterscotch-colored best puppy in the world.
with art from Bob Ross — artist, painting instructor, and television personality — has for decades charmed and inspired the world with his matchless look, signature style, and words of wisdom and encouragement.
Review:This is a next-level color book! It takes the basics of color and shows that there are levels, hues, and specifics between different types of the “regular” colors we know. It also ties the colors directly into Ross’s artwork which is a fun touch! It is nice to see a color book that is unlike others.
One of the greatest appeals of Bob Ross is how he speaks about painting and color with his fun phrases and positive outlook, and this book definitely captures the essence of Ross.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Elementary art teachers take note! What a fun color book to use with primary kids!
The book can also be used to look at similarities and differences & descriptive words (see discussion questions).
Discussion Questions:
What are the differences between the different yellows? Blues?
How does Ross use a color that surprised you?
What is your favorite color in the book?
Pick one of the colors with a descriptive name. Why does is that work (sienna, midnight, prussian, etc.) used to describe that color?
Flagged Passages:
Read This If You Love: Bob Ross, Colors, Art
Recommended For:
**Thank you to Running Kids Press for providing a copy for review!**
The Day the Crayons Quit Author and Illustrator: Lindsay Ward
Published: December 1, 2019 by Two Lions
Goodreads Summary:Gray just wants to be included. But the other colors are always leaving him out. So he decides to create his own project: an all-gray book. Once upon a time, there lived a wolf, a kitten, and a hippo…
Gray just knows it’s going to be perfect. But as he adds page after page, the Primary and Secondary colors show up…and they aren’t quite so complimentary.
A book within a book, this colorful tale explores the ideas of fitting in, appreciating others, and looking at things from another perspective and also uses personality and wit to introduce basic color concepts.
Ricki’s Review: I adored this book. I love stories about the underdog, and gray is definitely an underdog color! Fans who love The Day the Crayons Quit will absolutely love this story. It is very funny and a fantastic read aloud. There are many themes for discussion within the book. Kids might consider whose stories are missing as they think about gray’s emotions. They might also think about the other colors and how they are rude to gray and what this might feel like. The characterization of all of the colors offers much for discussion, too. Teachers and parents will love to read this aloud to children.
Kellee’s Review: As a daughter of an art teacher and art museum director, art education has always been important to me. I think the lack of art classes in elementary and secondary school as well as the push away from imagination in schools is a detriment to our children, so books like this give me so much hope! This book celebrates color education, creative writing, word play, and mood. It even pulls in social emotional learning with a focus on friendship and cooperation. Lindsay Ward did such a fantastic job with all of the elements of the story, and I cannot wait to share this book far and wide. It will be a fantastic read aloud in classrooms when discussing primary/secondary colors, story telling and mood, or even just to talk about how to work together. I cannot tell you enough how much you, your teacher friends, your parent friends, and all the kids you know need this book 🙂
Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: The possibilities of this text are very exciting. Teachers might have students choose a story of a lesser known or lesser considered character and have students develop their own fiction! They can share these stories and have a discussion about the people and things we don’t often consider.
Discussion Questions: How does gray feel? How do the other crayons make him feel?; How might you apply gray’s experiences to your own life?; How does the author make the book funny? How does this add to your experience as a reader?
We Flagged: “They never let me color! Just one tiny bit of GRAY? Is that so much to ask?”
Read This If You Loved: The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall, Who Stole Mona Lisa? by Ruthie Knapp, The Dot and Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds, Chalk by Bill Thomson, Art & Max by David Weisner, Not a… series by Antoinette Portis, Art by Patrick McDonnell, Perfect Square by Michael Hall, Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
Recommended For:
and
**Thank you to Blue Slip Media for providing copies for review!!**
Bob Ross and Peapod the Squirrel Author: Robb Pearlman
Illustrator: Bob Ross with Jason Kayser
Published October 8th, 2019 by Running Press Kids
Summary: Bob Ross paints a stunning home for his squirrel friend, Peapod, in this delightful nod to a painter icon.
This is the sweet story of a painter (Bob Ross) who helps his squirrel friend, Peapod, find the perfect home to live in. Bob paints an actual Ross painting, “Meadow Lake,” in this charming tale about helping friends and embracing the serenity of life. Bob, along with Peapod, go through the various steps and processes to painting, including praising those “happy little accidents” that happen along the way.
About the Creators: Robb Pearlman is the author of many books, including Groundhog’s Day Off, Raggedy Ann and Andy: Leaf Dance, and Passover is Here! Today, his favorite color is blue, but it may be purple tomorrow! He grew up in New York City and now lives in a white and green house in New Jersey with his husband and Oscar, the butterscotch-colored best puppy in the world.
Bob Ross — artist, painting instructor, and television personality — has for decades charmed and inspired the world with his matchless look, signature style, and words of wisdom and encouragement.
Review:This picture book definitely captures the whimsy and gentleness of Bob Ross. Anyone who has ever watched his show knows that Bob just loves creating things and making something beautiful. He always continues even through (happy little) mistakes and other obstacles, and his work is always something that takes the viewers’ breath away. I think it was very smart of the publishers to use an actual Bob Ross painting in the text because it is like the cherry on top. That, with the addition of his fun pet Peapod, really brings Bob’s personality to the book.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This text would be a wonderful book to use to compare a written work with a televised work. Students could look at what ways the book captures Bob Ross’s personality, style, speech, etc.
Additionally, the book ends with instructions on paint and supplies for readers to recreate the painting made in the book.
Discussion Questions:
What Bob Ross phrases did the author include?
How did the inclusion of Peapod change what the story would have been without him?
What type of person do you think Bob Ross is based on how he instructs?
What do you think Bob Ross would tell you about accidents or mistakes?
How did Bob Ross create the image with only white, brown, green, blue, yellow, and crimson?
What words would you use to describe Peapod’s personality? Bob Ross’s?
Flagged Passages:
But don’t worry–Bob Ross always embraces happy little accidents! And it turns out beautifully:
Read This If You Love: Bob Ross, Art, The Masterpiece by Jay Miletsky, Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter, Paint Me a Picture by Emily Bannister
Recommended For:
**Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review**
AstroNuts Mission One: The Plant Planet
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator: Steven Weinberg
Published: September 10th, 2019 by Chronicle Books
Summary: AstroWolf, LaserShark, SmartHawk, and StinkBug are animals that have been hybridized to find other planets for humans to live on once we’ve ruined Earth. So off they rocket to the Plant Planet! Will that planet support human life? Or do Plant Planet’s inhabitants have a more sinister plan?
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation and Discussion Questions:
Please view and enjoy the teachers’ guide I created for AstroNuts Mission One:
