By Ariel In which Ariel admits to openly weeping over a picture book. Love is by Diane Adams and illustrated by Claire Keane is simply that poignant. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you keep Busy Nest News open. Thank you for your continued support! Love is by Diane Adams and illustrated by Claire Keane This book made me cry. And no. I was not hormonal at the time. Love Is written by Diane Adams and illustrated by Claire Keane is simply one of the simplest, most poignant descriptions of love you will ever read.
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By Brianna In which Brianna reviews yet another book great for Valentine's Day. Or for teaching children about love and empathy generally. This article contains affiliate links, so you can help support Busy Nest News with your purchase of this and other great books. Thanks! Plant a Kiss, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Peter H. ReynoldsI can’t let February slip by without one more sweet book about love. This one is Plant a Kiss, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds.
“It goes like this. Little Miss planted a kiss.” Those are the words on the first three pages. Rosenthal and Reynolds have interpreted this action in the most literal sense. The illustrations depict a girl literally planting a kiss in the ground. In the following pages she nurtures the kiss with love, water, and sunshine- just like a plant! At last her kiss grows into a glowing, sparkling vine, which kids from all around come to wonder at. Against their advice, she chooses to share her twinkling harvest with people everywhere, and learns that sharing love only produces more. By Ariel In which Ariel admits a rookie parenting mistake and a major parenting win: the Cook's Corner Play Kitchen from Melissa and Doug. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. We truly appreciate your continued support! Cook's Corner Wooden Pretend Play Kitchen from Melissa & Doug I was on the fence about purchasing a play kitchen. Did I have one as a kid? Yes. Did I love mine as a kid? Absolutely. But – and it’s a big but – I live in a small apartment at the moment. Where was I going to put it? So when Nana Bear and Aunt Titi offered to buy one for Christmas my first question was “But where is it going to go?” At Nana’s house of course! With that crisis averted, my next question was “Oh boy. Oh boy! Which one?” Melissa and Doug’s Cook's Corner Wooden Pretend Play Toy Kitchen.
By Ariel In which Ariel goes on and on (and on) about how awesome Lego's Duplos are. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News going strong. Thank you for your continued support! Duplo: Everyone's Favorite Building BlockDuplos! Where do I even start?! They are everyone’s favorite building block for a reason. Many reasons in fact. For those unfamiliar with Duplos, they are Legos more robust cousin. Legos - the tiny building blocks always featured in parental editions of the floor is lava videos on youtube. And yes – if you haven’t experienced it – stepping on Legos is roughly equivalent to walking across a field of hot coals. Are you picturing a Lego? Enlarge that image to five times it’s normal size. Now you are picturing a Duplo. Duplos are designed to be the ideal building material for young hands still learning fine motor skills. Also, they are too large to be swallowed. Though I swear Bean tests this every time she plays with them.
By Brianna We've found board games for kids under three! Are they any fun? Can littles really follow the instructions and have a good time? Read on to learn Brianna and Monkey's experience with one of these introductory games. This post contains affiliate links. If you use one of these links to buy the game, we get paid, and that helps keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks! Monkey Around gameWe are a family of gamers. Monkey’s daddy grew up playing his friends’ GameBoys, and later sharing consoles with his siblings. While he was rescuing princesses, I was learning to play strategy games from around the world, restoring the brain of a mad scientist, and apprehending Carmen Sandiego (I vow that when I’m wealthy, I will pool my resources with others who grew up being called “Gumshoe,” and together we will give a new generation a chance to prove their smarts and win an Encyclopedia Britannica of their very own! Or, a Macintosh computer(?) whatever the contemporary equivalent is.) Some of our greatest friendships were forged over tabletop battles. Gaming can be a fun, social activity, even for the naturally hermitty, like us. So we couldn’t wait to start playing games with Monkey. But all of our favorites are best enjoyed by someone over three or five. Even educational games are aimed at preschoolers, not two year olds. I figured we’d just have to resign ourselves to not playing any tabletop games with Monkey for a couple more years. Then, Monkey’s grandma came through with this delightful game that even a two year old can play.
By Brianna Or "Brianna loves the Love Monster and everything that goes with it!" Read why this series is a favorite, and meet the not-at-all scary monster that will steal your heart, too. This post contains affiliate links. If you use one of these links to buy the products mentioned, we get paid, and that helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks! Love Monster, by Rachel BrightSome books manage to be sweet, adorable, silly, and profound, all at once. It’s a lot to ask of 32 pages, but when you find a book like that, you find that you cherish it and want to share it with the world.
By Brianna In which Brianna and Ariel discuss the pros and cons of the parenting book UnSelfie, which touts "9 Essential Habits that Provide the Empathy Advantage." Should you read this book? Could being kind really help your kid get ahead? Or is it so much touchy-feely fluff? Read on to find the answers. If you decide you'd like to purchase this book, the links in this article are affiliate links. Buying this book will result in a payout to us, which helps keep Busy Nest News going. Thanks! UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, by Michel Borba, Ed. D.By Brianna In which Brianna takes absurd delight in the plight of a former Commander in Chief of these United States. Though the story is probably apocryphal, it nevertheless makes for a silly and charming picture book. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase anything using those links, we get paid, which helps keep Busy Nest News running. Thanks! President Taft is Stuck in the Bath, by Mac Barnett and Chris Van DusenOne of my favorite kinds of humor involves taking a very silly or trivial matter, and coloring it with such seriousness and hyperbole, that it becomes absurd. I tell my husband that his cookies will be ready in 10 minutes, and he says he’s appalled that he’ll have to wait 15. I remind him the number was 10, and now he moans about the 20 minute wait. By the time the cookies are done, he is dramatically moping about having waited three hours for them. Then he grins, says “thanks” as he gives me a kiss, and takes a cookie.
By Ariel In which Ariel delights in Boon's whimsical bath toys. This post contains affiliate links. By using them you help keep Busy Nest News up and running. Thank you for you support! Boon's Jellies, Cogs and Pipes Bean is an aquatic baby. She is happiest surrounded by water. Whether she is in the pool, the bath, the shower or even the occasional puddle – it doesn’t matter – she is in her element! So, here in the Bean household, we are serious about bath toys. Some of our favorites are made by Boon. Boon makes innovative and interesting products, but they excel when it comes to bath time fun! In particular, we love Boon’s Jellies, Cogs and Pipes.
By Brianna In which Brianna presents Mo Willems' beloved Pigeon, at it again. If you use our links to purchase this fun bathtime saga for your little, a portion of the sale will come back to us, and help keep Busy Nest News going. Thank you. The Pigeon Needs a Bath, by Mo Willems |
AuthorsAriel and Brianna are friends who met while working in a library. Now they collaborate to develop life-enhancing book club experiences. Archives
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