Some books are just fun.  This is one of those books.  I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve already read it and how many times Caroline has recited just the title.

She’s also memorized quite a bit of the inside text.  I suspected this would be a winner because funny animals are all the rage right now. 

We’re using this book this year and enjoying it quite a bit.

It is a cute board book with a padded cover with a short little reading, an activity idea, a verse and a prayer.  The illustrations are colorful and cute.  The language is simple and it covers many different aspects of Christmas in an easy to understand way.  Most of the activities are simple little ideas so they are easy to implement.

The first activity in the book is to make a paper chain to count down the days until Christmas. Each day we cut off a piece of the chain and then read the book.

I’m also using this as a way to get us in the habit of doing a little devotional each day with Caroline.  After we finish this Christmas book, we’ll start on this one:

It is a child’s version of My Utmost for His Highest, one of my favorite devotionals. I’m looking forward to getting started with this as well. 

I can officially call this a big hit with Caroline.

Now that I know she likes it, I’ll look into the other related ones as well.  Thanks very much for the recommendations! I’ll be checking out some of the others soon!

I also purchased the LeapFrog Word Whammer Fridge Phonics today.

We already had the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set and it helped Caroline learn her letters very early on.  But she has shown such an interest in words and spellings lately that I knew it was time to move her along to something more challenging.

Caroline has thoroughly enjoyed watching Baby Einstein DVDs for the past year.  We didn’t allow her to watch DVDs until she was almost two.  She definitely likes DVDs, but I am at a bit of a loss where to go next.  She has an animal video from the Creation Museum that my friend, Katherine, sent her.  She likes that with the singing and animals.  She likes A Charlie Brown Christmas (Remastered Deluxe Edition) and has watched it off and on all year.  But that’s about it.

I know there have to be lots of good DVDs out there that I’m just not aware of.  We’re not interested in going the Dora, Elmo, Sesame Street, etc. route.  I’d especially be interested in high quality DVDs with Bible themes, Bible verses, singing, etc. but am open to anything that is solid and well done.

Suggestions?

I have four Thanksgiving articles over on Suite101 that have lots of simple ideas for Thanksgiving.  If you are looking for something quick or a new tradition, you should check these out!

Thanksgiving Ideas, Projects and Writing Prompts

Creative Thanksgiving Ideas for Children

Create Meaningful Family Thanksgiving Traditions

Classic Thanksgiving Children’s Picture Books

Let me know if you find something you really enjoy.  I always like to hear the ideas that people find most helpful or inspiring.

Enjoy!