Happy Hat Day!

And an honorable mention the late, more than great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You humble me.

To add a little smile to your day and an activity or two just in case you need something to do, here are a few ideas for National Hat Day!

For nifty books with swell illustrations you can check this list I put together for you. For some nifty linkeroos and craft supplies, you can check out my Kaboodle page!

Last year, Mr. A-go-go & I made our hats out of newspaper and coffee filters, respectively. This year my hat was made from giftwrap and the Mister's from a brown paper grocery bag. You don't have to go out and get any supplies, use what you have, it's fun!

For the giftwrap hat, all you need is a large sheet of paper, masking tape and craft supplies.

To start, you plop the sheet of paper on top of your kidlets head. Use your hand to pseudo-shape a crown on yer wee one's head and then wrap a band of masking tape all the way around to secure. Take hat off head and roll excess paper into the crown to create the brim...tape into place with packing tape or colorful duct tape or whatever yer kidlet desires.

Now, let the decorating begin! I wasn't into a short crown so I taped together two pieces of black construction paper front to back but only tapeing at the sides to create a sort of tube. I then plopped the tube over my crwon and taped down for securiy. After adding a papercut feather and a packing tape button brooch I was ready for Hat Day!

Soupy reads!

Being National Soup Month and all, I thought I would introduce you to two of my favorite soup books. There are oh so many more and you can check out a list I put together here but for now I shall tell you about these two.



Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt
Published by Harcourt Brace in 1992

Mean Soup is the story of one young Horace's very bad day. From love notes, to foot stomping to almost poodle killing, Horace was having a very bad day. Not so bad that he wanted to move to Australia, but close. To make the day not so bad, Horace's mother whips him up a batch of Mean Soup that is so delightful how could anyone not smile. The illustrations are a technicolor delight and the crankiness of Horace is a tribute to us all. An interactive book if you read it right, Mean Soup will have yer kids in a frenzy of growling and giggles. I do both everytime I read it!



Alvie Eats Soup by Ross Collins
Published by Arthur A. Levine Books in 2002

With its cool graphic design and semi retro feel, Alvie Eats Soup is a delight to read and look at. The grandson of a world famous chef, Alvie only eats soup. Not only does he eat it but he is obsessed by it. Eating soup, talking soup, reading soup, it is all about the soup. Poor Alvie's parent's don't know what to do! When Granny Franny decides to visit they pull out all the stops to get aLvie to change his ways but nothing works. What will Granny say?

So there ya go, two fun soupy reads for Soup Month! Have a nice bowl today, won't ya?

January is Soup Month!

Are ya ready?

What better way to kick off soup month than by whipping up an excellent homemade soup. The niftiest thing about soup is it doesn't take much to make. If you are super adventurous you can make your own stock but if you aren't or don't have time, keep a few boxes of broth on hand or grab yourself a package of chicken, beef or vegetable cubes next time you are grocery shopping.I used to buy soup cookbooks left and right but found that my favorite soups were the ones where I would simply add whatever I had in the kitchen. Mr. A-Go-Go just made a soup like that last night and it is full of onion & potato goodness! Yum! So, pull out that pot, assess what you have and ask yer kidlets what they would want...have them help make the soup. What better way to get them involved? Starting at two years, your kids can help in the kitchen...or maybe the younger ones can sit at the table but you can have them cute soft produce with plastic utensils and they can wash, rinse & dry veggies also, in fact let them tell you what they want in the soup and cook up some warm savory goodness tonight!



While you're cooking yer fantabulous soup, pull out some fantabulous stories and have a read-around! There are soooo many fun soupy books out there that I made a list here for you to enjoy. Also, why not pull out some alphabet pasta and let the kidlets have a go at creating something personal. You can purchase dry alphabet pasta for less than a buck at most supermarkets. I find mine for .35 cents in the "International" food aisle. How dorky is that? Leave the pasta au natural if you like and the kids can glue away and paint to their hearts' content or you can dye up a batch yourself with the use of a few seal and lock baggies and some paint. Use what you have but if you are interested in the best paint in the world, check out the Liquid Watercolors from Discount School Supply! This paint is more awesome than awesome...and...it is non-toxic! Place 1/4 cup of pasta or rice in a baggie with a squirt of paint, seal. Shake up the bag and release the colored fun onto a cookie sheet prepped with wax paper. Spread to a single layer and let dry. Depending on how wet your paste/rice us this could take up to an hour to dry. Mine took 10 minutes! Young kids will have a blast shaking up their own pasta and you can of course turn this into a lesson of color mixing. Just remember, a little goes a long way, both with the paint AND the pasta. If using perfeclty edible food isn't your thing have the kids create collage art with other materials. You don't need a reason to make art!



Okee doke...yer making soup, yer making art, what next? Well, if your soup comes from a can, which is perfectly okay, why don't you make use of those cans? Wash them, sand that little sharp piece down and set out yer art supplies. Here's a list of ideas in case yer having a brain funk:

glue, glue stick, Yes! paste
construction paper, magazines, origami paper, tissue, fabric
scissors
markers, pens, crayons &/or paint
bits and baubles like felt, feathers, beads, pasta...etc.





Put your supplies out on a prepared surface (read, splat mat or newspaper) and let the kidlets go at. You can make pencil tins, art tins, toy containers...they can even turn their cans into creatures if you have all sorts of sizes. Don't limit this activity to soup cans...the possibilities are endless. My all time favorte tin can project was Stilts!

If your kids are older and of the eye rolling age or maybe you want to host a crafty tin can party, you can make beautiful tin can lanterns. For the lanterns you will need:

tin cans (not lined with plastic)
hammer and nails
a drill or two if ya like
sharpie
pattern if you have one to use & tape
tealights, small votive candles

It is easiest to hammer through the cans if you have them full of ice, so fill em up with water and freeze the night before so they will be ready for the crafting. Use a sharpie to dot a design over the can or find and image/design you like and print to the size of the can, wrap around, and secure with tape. Place nail on top of marked dot and hammer until it pokes through the can. Continue until finished and voila, a pretty lantern. Don't forget to use tealights. You can leave your lantern like it is and place it on the ground or you can hammer two holes at the top, across from each other, thread with a piece of wire and loop the ends to lock into place and hang for a pretty effect. If my instructions are too jumbly, check out the link up there...

And, last but not least, soup goes on sale all the time so why not purchase a dozen cans or so and donate them to your local food bank or shelter. Get the kids involved here also because giving is a cool thing. Not sure what else to do? Make up a batch of homemade soup for an ailing neighbor. Soup freezes well and if you find yourself with too much soup, freeze it for later, you can always find a use for it for you or for others.

salutations!

The idea for this blog started as an idea for a newsletter about ten years ago. I have long been a children's book afficionado, for seven years I ran a storytime/arts & crafts program through a major bookstore chain. I wrote Children's book recommendations for a Los Angeles area parenting magazine and did many hours as a volunteer story reader for various organizations.

My love for Children's books knows no bounds and if I had more spending money and more room for storage, I would have even more picture books than I do now. I would have more if I could stop giving them away also. Anyway, while I loved my job at the bookstore, I was really a bookstore employee and had other areas of responsibilty outside of my love for the stories and art. One of my favorite things to do was speak with parents about their kids, books and art. Through my schooling at almost every wee little college in L.A., I have amassed a wealth of knowledge on creativity and child development. I am once of those geeks who when she learns something that is just too too cool, she has to tell EVERYONE about it and frankly, children and their development is the coolest thing of all. Also, at that time, the people I surrounded myself with couldn't care less for kid's books and development (but not you bunny or you leets, not you!). I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I could get my act together to write out a monthly newsletter that included activity ideas and recommnedations and such? Yeah, it would be cool but my act was far from together.

Then, about six years ago I discovered the internet and blogging. It was also around this time that my bookstore career ended (which is another long story) and I was jonesing for storytime, activities and kid's stuff. I thought hey, I could someday do a website that modeled my old calendars of activities. I could recommend kid's books again, I could help plan birthday parties online! Yes, I also did children's book birthdays. However, me, being the computer inept that I am, never believed in myself enough to do it but then I met the husbandman and he has been extra special at encouraging me to do what I lurve so I have been thinking about it more and more but then sometime last year I discovered Kiddley. I thought "Oh No!" I can't do it now, Ms. Loobylu is doing it and I can't copy her. Kiddley is awesome! So I sat in a slump for the rest of 2006 but more and more I thought I could do it. scrumdilly-do would be different. It would be me as jek in the box presenting my love of activities and books for kids. So, I resolved to make it and many other things happen in 2007 and here I am. It won't be as fancy as the amazing Kiddley and you all may not even read this long long missive here but for me and my lurve I will do this. I will try.

I miss my stories, my art, my kidlets. Maybe this way I can help you give your kids a love for reading!