Silly Eagle Books

Coral reef in a box

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:09:00 +0000

Juliet has been working hard on her "coral reef in a box" project and I think she is finished now. Just the classic shoebox diorama, but she had fun cutting out all the pieces to go inside.

Lucia helped paint the inside blue, so even she got in on the fun.

I noticed that Insect Lore is on zulily.com today if you are looking for Ladybug Land or the Butterfly pavilion.

raising ladybugs and a ladybug booklist

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

Juliet received this Insect Lore Ladybug Land for Christmas and has been patiently waiting to get her larva in the mail. They arrived two weeks ago and we have been enjoying observing them as they go through their life cycle.

They emerged from their pupa stage a few day ago and we released them this morning into our garden.

We've read a few ladybug books including this one that was sent by Tiger Tales as a review copy. Juliet thought it was especially funny.

We tried out hand at ladybug rocks for the garden and did some water color paintings as well. Juliet has been keeping a ladybug observation journal where she writes down a sentence each day of what she is observing in ladybug land. Sometimes she draws pictures to go along with it, but mostly it has just been a sentence or two.

My favorite thing was when she got down a baby naming book and named all her larva the first day.

We checked out Are You a Ladybug? from the library and read our copy of Ed Emberly's Lady Bug, Ladybug Fly away Home. We also love Eric Carle's Very Grouchy Ladybug. There is a ladybug book by Ruth Brown that I am hoping to find a copy of also.

This is not educational, but I have to say that Cloud b Twilight Constellation Night Light, Lady Bug has been a favorite toy around here for years. Juliet got it when she was three and it became a nighttime staple for several years. Then Lucia hijacked it and now MUST have it in her bed every night. It shines stars on the ceiling and it's quite beautiful--I love it as a nightlight. I also saw a ladybug swimsuit at Gymboree the other day and have not been able to stop thinking about it for Lucia. I cannot resist costumes on kids....

Have you ever raised ladybugs? Do you have any favorite lady bug books or crafts to recommend?

embroidered dresses from south america

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Whenever Ben travels to Central or South America, he usually brings back a few of these embroidered dresses for the girls. People are always asking me where I get them and I always have to say, "some faraway market in Ecuador or Bolivia or Guatemala." Which is usually followed by a great sigh because that person has no immediate plans to travel to any of those locations.

I got pretty excited today when I saw they were on sale at zulily.com. They are far more expensive than what Ben pays at the little markets, but still a pretty good price for something handmade and beautiful.

We actually have that pink one on the right! I think Lucia has just outgrown it, though, so Ben might be adding it to his list of things to get on his next trip! :)

So, not your typical book post, but I thought I should share. There are books on zulily also--someday I'll write a post about how I use their booksales as a source for my library book hold list.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for zuilly--all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Tiger tales review books

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

I recently got a box of review books from Tiger Tales and I wanted to share some of our favorites with you!

I've had this pile sitting next to my computer desk for a week now and the girls have been playing "library" with them all week. Every time I come downstairs, they are either having story time with one of these books (Juliet loves to sit in a chair and read the books to Lucia who must sit on the floor) or "checking" out the books by pretending to scan them and then putting them in their backpacks and walking around the house.

Farmers' Market Day is probably my favorite. It's just the story of a Saturday morning spent at the farmers market. The little girl is looking for just the right thing to buy. There are so many good choices from kittens to honey, to wind chimes--so many possibilities, but she finally settles on the perfect thing.

Snack Time for Confetti is probably Juliet's favorite. She loves this sequel to Roly Poly Egg.

Soo's Boo-Boos If you have a toddler who is obsessed with boo-boos and band-aids, then this is a perfect book. Lucia must have two bandaids on her knees at all times--whether she needs them or not, so she loves this one.

Red Riding Hood and the Sweet Little Wolf Are you looking for a version of Little Red Riding Hood where the wolf does not eat the girl? This is a sweet retelling of the tale in a more toddler friendly format. No eating of children, and no butchering of wolves.

Read any good books lately? Leave me a comment and tell me about them!

Disclosure: These books were sent to me for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own. Amazon links are affiliate links--thanks so much for using them!

educational place mats

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Our ocean studies have come to an end (for now), but I wanted to share this Ocean Life Placemat that I found for Lucia.

Over the years, I've always had a few map placemats for the kids, but this is the first animal one I've picked up.

Both girls love it and fight over who gets to use it for mealtime. I like how it looks like a page out of a storybook. It just pulls you right in and the kids get lost in looking at all the creatures on the sea floor.

Do you make use of educational placemats? Any favorites to recommend to me? I've always liked the crocodile creek placemats--like this Under the Sea Placemat.

(Disclosure: All amazon links are affiliate links--thanks so much for using them!)

upcoming babylit books

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:34:00 +0000

Well, sorry for being MIA this week. While not blogging, I threw myself into a bit of spring cleaning. My clean house thanks you for your patience. :)

Every so often I like to do a search for babylit to see what new titles may have magically appeared and today I was pleasantly surprised to see that these three are coming this fall!

Right now, Anna Karenina has caught my eye....that cover is stunning!

What do you think? Are any of these ones you've been hoping to see in a BabyLit version? I'm thinking a version of the Odyssey would be perfect.

Have a happy weekend!

books for young naturalists: inspiring biographies for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian

The discovery of this book was the highlight of my week. In the middle ages, the thought of the time was that butterflies (or summer birds) sprang to life from the mud. Because people did not understand them, they considered them evil.

Enter thirteen year old Maria Merian who challenges this idea--despite the fact that she is a girl and the risk of being accused of witchcraft if others found out what she was doing.

She collects larva, watches them throughout their life cycle and makes careful drawings of what she sees. She discovers that they don't spring forth from the mud and she does not believe they are evil or something to be feared.

Looking for more inspiring biographies? Try these:

In the Belly of an Ox: The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton

Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau

Sea sponge

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

In our ocean study, we found a non-ficiton book about sponges. I can't remember exactly what it was called, but if you go to the ocean section at the library, you will probably find something sponge-related that would work!

We cut up some sponges and used them to stamp designs on these "sponge shapes." The kids thought it was great fun--which led us to using the sponges to paint underwater seascapes as well.

You can paint anything with sponges--and it was easy to set up and fun for the kids.

Have you tried it before? Did your kids like it?

book-a-day instagram game via My Little Bookcase

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:56:00 +0000

My Little Bookcase is hosting a fun game for the month of may on Instagram. If you are on there, this might be fun to join in on!

All you need is your phone and your bookshelf and you can play along! If you aren't on instagram, there is a way to play along on twitter and/or facebook.

I'm very bad at keeping up with things like this, (as in I might not post a photo every day), but I will try to hit most of them and will for sure be following along and checking out other people's photos. Sounds like a great way to discover some new books!

If you aren't already following me on instagram you can find me @sillyeaglebooks!

Also, for more details, check out the explanation post on My Little Bookcase.

In the Belly of an Ox

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:25:00 +0000

I really hope your library has this one! We discovered In the Belly of an Ox: The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton last week and just fell in love with the story.

If you've got a child who is really into nature or photography or both, this is an inspiring story.

A true story of the first nature photographers--Richard and Cherry Kearton--the book details their adventures as they built blinds so they could get as close to their subjects as possible--mostly birds! When I saw this illustration of the ladder in the tree, I was skeptical, but in the back of the book they have their real photographs and there is an almost identical picture of them in a tree with a ladder!

You can also see the actual ox that they hollowed out to use as a blind when photographing birds. These two men were so innovative and resourceful--doing something that had never previously been done. They paved the way for all the nature photographers and books to come.

Juliet really enjoyed this story and so did I as I had never heard of these two before.

Have you read this or heard their story? What did you think? Makes me want to head out into the woods and photography some birds!

more great ocean books for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Stella, Star of the Sea

Do you like the Stella series? I think they are fun and sweet. They are just stories--no real scientific information, but my girls enjoyed seeing Stella and Sam's adventures by the sea. The illustrations are charming--I think you'll love this one.

ocean birds: books for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Flamingos, Loons & Pelicans (Take Along Guides)

You know how much we love this series, so you won't be surprised that we enjoyed this one as well.

I love that there is good information about each bird, but not too much to be overwhelming. Also, there are clever activities suggested to help kids learn more in a hands-on way.

We tried out the beak activity one morning. We filled two pans with water and some marbles and compared the beaks of a spoonbill and a flamingo. The girls had fun trying to scoop up the marbles with their "beaks."

Decorator crab camouflage craft

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Inspired by How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures, Juliet took it upon herself to make a decorator crab. I love the final product and the fact that this was all her idea instead of mine.

shell books for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

After reading some shell books, I had the girls go to our garden and gather up our shell collection. (It lives in the garden.) And they brought them inside, washed them off, and tried to identify them.

Juliet really got into this and did a great job of classifying and identifying them.

What Lives in a Shell?

This is a great starter book for beginning a shell study. Both girls enjoyed reading this book.

Seashells by the Seashore

This story takes you on a journey down the beach as a little girl picks up shells along the way. We learned the names of many shells and are excited about our upcoming trip to the beach.

Okay, now for the book that just blew me away and I ended up ordering a copy for our personal library. It's an old book, so amazon doesn't have an image for me to share, but the link is below.
A First Look at Seashells

This book is probably not for everyone, but it gave the most information about how to classify shells and what defining characteristics to look for to help you identify them. I love this approach and am fast falling in love with all the books in this series. I'll share more images in an upcoming post about this series.

Do you have any favorite shell books or shell projects to share?

Last year we saved our favorite shells as wall art. I'm trying to think of something different for this year's collection.

ocean books for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Seashore (One Small Square)

If you just get one book before your upcoming trip to the beach, this is a great one. It has so much information about everything you could be interested in: tide pools, sea creatures, plants, shells, and birds.

I'd love to add this one to our home library.

Seahorse craft for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Inspired by Mister Seahorse, I cut out some seashores and let the girls decorate them. They loved this activity and we hung them up in our kitchen.

We also watched some baby seahorses emerging from their father's pouch on youtube. Pretty amazing.

manfish: a story of jacques cousteau

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau

A friend gave him a pair of goggles as a gift. He wore them into the ocean....

"Beneath the water he was surrounded by silvery green forests of sea plants and fish he had never seen before. Everything was silent and shimmering. It was a whole new world.

When he came up he saw cars, people, buildings, and telephone poles. Once again, he went below into the magical underwater world. At that moment Jacques knew his life was changed forever. His eyes had been opened to the wonders of the sea."

Gorgeously illustrated and the story itself is completely inspirational. We loved this book and set Juliet off on a week of wearing her goggles around the house!

I love hearing how people are initiated into their life's passion and work. I hope my kids have an equally inspiring moment where they see so very clearly what they want to spend the rest of their lives pursuing.

Have you read this one? Or another Cousteau book? Any ones we should check out?

octopus craft for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures

Not just about octopi, this book is more about ocean creatures that employ camouflage as a special defense mechanism. Juliet was inspired by the description of the decorator crab and made her own instead of the toilet paper tube octopus craft I had planned.

I should mention that both girls loved this book. There's not too much text, so a 2 year old can enjoy it as much as a 6 year old.

Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea

For a little more depth (no pun intended), this one is great for older kids with a longer attention span. The illustrations are so amazing and I even learned some new things about the bottom of the sea. I also learned that I hope to never go to the bottom of the sea because it looks terrifying. Juliet on the other hand, has added it to places she would like to visit.

coral reef books for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

With an upcoming beach trip in our near future, we decided to do an ocean unit for the month of March. The kids had so much fun reading about the ocean and the animals that live in it.

We pretty much raided our library of all the ocean-related books. As a result, I have some good booklists to share with you.

This will sort of be like the bird unit--at the end of it, you may just be sick of the ocean, but hopefully, you'll find some good book and activity ideas along the way.

(I got the dolphin printable from Learn Create Love. If you like printables, this site has a ton of great ones.)

We started our ocean unit by making a list of questions--questions we wanted to find out answers to in our studies.

One of the questions Juliet came up with had to do with coral reefs. This is the best one we found. I like this series and the artful way the information is portrayed.

Life in a Coral Reef

Steve Jenkins does a beautiful job and provides the perfect amount of information for the kindergarten audience.

Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef

Robyn recommended this one a few weeks ago and luckily, I found a copy at our library. This one was perfect for Lucia because she is really into books you can sing. She was already familiar with the "Over in the Meadow" tune, so she loved hearing this ocean version. Juliet loved it as well.

We checked out several dolphin books, but didn't really fall in love with any of them. Mostly, we spent time watching National Geographic footage of dolphins. The kids are very excited to see dolphins at the beach--I hope they show up!

best butterfly books for kids: a butterfly reading list

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:32:00 +0000

After our viewing of Flight of the Butterflies last week, we raided our library for as many butterfly books as we could find.

Here are some more to check out this spring!

Butterfly House is the perfect storybook companion for raising painted lady butterflies (which we did last spring with our Insect Lore Live Butterfly Garden. It was probably the highlight of the year for Juliet and she has been talking about the experience ever since.

This story is about a little girl and her grandpa who raise a painted lady from larva to butterfly together. When she has to let it go, she cries--which really resonated with Juliet because she was completely heartbroken to let her butterflies go last spring.

For more monarch books, we liked the following:

Becoming Butterflies is fun because it presents the scientific information in the form of a story. A teacher brings some caterpillars to class and the kids get to observe and watch the change take place. I love how the kids paint each stage of the life cycle and you can see their artwork in the background. I think we might try doing that when we raise some more painted ladies later this year.

For a more straight-up non-fiction choice, we liked The Life Cycle of a Butterfly. Bright photographs and just enough information for early elementary school-aged kids. It also provides tips for raising your own monarch. If we can ever get some milkweed in our garden, we might try this out! (It's been on my list ever since Robyn shared this post last year!)

For the extremely monarch-crazed of you among us (myself included), An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly is FULL of a ton of information and beautiful illustrations. It's kind of like watching the movie, but in book form. I'd say this is for older students, but Juliet wanted me to read it to her, so we spent several days reading a few pages at a time. We haven't finished it yet, but she's still into it, so we'll keep going.

The Prince of Butterflies is a nice mix of fantasy and biography. The story of John Farrington who became fascinated with butterflies as a boy (the story tells of him hearing the butterflies asking for help and then he becomes one and flies them to safety.) Later, as an adult, he persuades Congress to pass "the Butterfly Road Bill" which set aside "a string of places to be kept forever wild and free so the monarchs could make their yearly migration in peace. Most researches agreed it was John Farrington's law that saved the monarch's from extinction."

I had no idea, but this book was perfect--easy to read and inspiring at the same time. It also opened up the topic of environments and how human development and actions can threaten and harm wildlife. I also loved that it showed how the things you fall in love and the experiences you have as a kid can shape your future as an adult.

Endangered Butterflies was a great follow up for our "endangered species" discussion. Good straight-forward information from Bobbie Kalman again--nice bright photos and at a simple level for kids to digest and understand.

What butterfly books do you recommend for us?

flight of the butterflies

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, we went to The Fernbank Museum in Atlanta to see the film Flight of the Butterflies. We didn't see it in 3D, but it was the IMAX version, so it was pretty incredible.

As I've mentioned before, Juliet is really interested in butterflies and we planted our own butterfly garden last spring. It was a huge success and we had so many butterfly visitors. We can't wait to get started this year--if the weather would ever turn warm!

The monarch migration is fascinating on its own, but the story of the man who dedicated his life to figuring out the mystery of the monarchs is just as wonderful. I loved watching this film and we all learned so much.

Through the movie's website, I found a link to Monarch Watch which offers a seed kit to get your yard set up for hosting Monarchs. I think we are going to do this soon. After leaving the theater, Juliet said, "Mom! We have to get some milkweed for our butterfly garden!"

There is helpful information on how to start your own butterfly garden or you can read our post about what we did here.

Oh, and if you are in Atlanta, Fernbank is a great place to take your kids! They have a huge indoor playground that is probably the coolest learning/playing space I've ever seen. (I had no idea--we just went because the butterfly move lured us there.)

We were lucky enough to find a used copy of this one at our local goodwill. The Travels of Monarch X imagines the journey of a tagged monarch. We had read this before the film, so Juliet already knew about tagging butterflies. However, we both learned about the process of how the tags were developed. It took a lot of time to get the adhesive right so that it would stick on the wings. The invention of the price tags in grocery stores made the butterfly tagging process possible!

Although not about Monarchs, we also enjoyed learning about another butterfly visitor to our backyard garden in Wings of Light: The Migration of the Yellow Butterfly.

Butterfly Count is another great one to read this spring.

Any good butterfly books to recommend to us?

backyard bird Egg project for kids

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:30:00 +0000

We've been keeping a list of the birds we've seen in our backyard this winter and decided it would be fun to do an egg identification project.

We cut out eggs from water color paper and spent an afternoon researching the different eggs an then attempting to paint them.

After they dried, we mounted them on some black construction paper and labeled them. These were then placed in Juliet's bird notebook.

This is not all of the eggs, but you get the idea. I think our favorite part was painting the eggs. We used Birds, Nests and Eggs and the internet to get images of the eggs we were looking for.

classic lit peg toys for kids (and adults!)

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, I shared about one of Baby Lit's newest board books for kids: Wuthering Heights. At the same time, I was searching through etsy for wooden peg people and I came across these amazing objects of desire by Makings from MommyLand. Can you stand how cute they are? It's Cathy and Heathcliff.....

What about a Little Women set? I am putting these on my list of ideas for Juliet's Christmas stocking next year. This with a copy of the illustrated edition would be perfect!

Wait, we're not done yet--Sense and Sensibility!! (Paired with baby lit's version for Lucia's stocking)

And for the boys--Tom and Huck. All they need is a little river raft and they are set for adventure! I think Baby lit should do Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn next.

What do you think? Do you love the idea of these as much as I do?

Baby lit Wuthering heights weather primer

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

If you follow me on instagram or facebook, you might have seen this photo last week. The much-anticpated baby lit Wuthering Heights arrived on my doorstep at long last.

As always, I was curious as to how they would make the story kid-friendly--as it is a pretty dark love story. But never fear, this book is totally child-friendly and classic-lit-obsessed-parent-friendly as well.

Each spread shows the manor in a different weather state. There is also a descriptive piece of text from the book about that type of weather. For the "sunny" page it reads, "The place was filled with sunshine." A perfect day for Cathy to hang out the wash to dry.

As always, I find the illustrations to be charming and Lucia loves reading it with me. We just talk about the different weather and see what is going on in the tree with the bird and its nest.

Even if you are not as obsessed with Wuthering Heights as I am, I think the weather primer concept is a great addition to a little one's library. I've not come across another weather book for toddlers yet, so this fit a nice gap in our collection.

You can get a copy for yourself here.

I will probably buy Moby Dick with my amazon affiliate earnings next. Many thanks to all of you who use my affiliate links! I appreciate it so much!

new books

noreply@blogger.com (silly eagle books) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

I went into a big bookstore this weekend and looked at some of the children's book displays. I hardly ever do this because I never can afford to buy all the books that appeal to me when I walk into one of those places! With my book budget, I have to stick to thrift shops and goodwill if I am to be able to come home with a load of books.

However, I did see some lovely books and I thought I'd share one with you.

Flora and the Flamingo is a wordless book. I was drawn to it because Juliet is currently obsessed with flamingos. I was hoping for a story, but it was beautifully illustrated and I think she'd probably love it. It's one of those book covers that you would want to display as art in a nursery in an open front shelf. It was really hard to walk out without this one in my hands.

You can watch an animated trailer for it here.

Have you discovered any beautiful books lately? I'd love to hear about them!