The Blog For Kids

This blog is for kids!
The posts you find here will be mostly for children ages 5 to 10, with some stuff for younger or older kids.
Happy reading!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Maddie Too (baby story)

Mommy cooks dinner,
Meg sets the table…
and Maddie, too.


Mommy washes the dishes,
Meg dries them…
and Maddie, too.



Mommy paints up high,
Meg paints down low…
and Maddie, too.



Mommy plants flowers,
Meg pulls weeds…
and Maddie, too.



Mommy knits,
Meg learns…
and Maddie, too.



Mommy reads,
Meg writes…
and Maddie, too.



Mommy kisses,
Meg hugs…
and Maddie, too.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Make a Good Luck/ Wishing Kit (project)


Making a wish on a birthday candle is a fun tradition. There are lots of other wishing tricks. Have you ever made a wish on a star, or when blowing dandelion seeds fluff? Other wishing traditions use things that you hold, such as a penny or a wishbone, to make the wish on.
There are many traditional good luck symbols as well. Some examples of good luck symbols are horseshoes, ladybugs, four-leaf clovers, pigs, goldfish, elephants, and acorns. The penny and star are used for both wishing and for good luck.

Here is a simple and fun project to celebrate wishing and good luck:
* Use a box of any kind. The size, and type of box, doesn’t matter. You could write on the box and decorate it if you want.
*Research wishing and good luck for more ideas of things to collect. Ask friends and family members about their favorite wishing and good luck traditions. There are even websites to search.
*Find items to represent as many wishing and good luck ideas as you’d like. You could find things such as little toy plastic pigs, ladybug necklaces, and four-leaf clover pins just about anywhere, but a good place to look is at discount stores and yard sales. The items do not need to be the real thing, either. For example, scrapbooking and craft stores have huge selections of stickers that might have the symbols you’d like to collect. You could simply print pictures from a website, or just draw them yourself.
*Put all your good luck and wishing symbols in your box.
*Since it is a collection (like rocks or shells), you could write the history and/ or directions for each symbol to put with the items.
*When you feel like you need a little extra luck, or need to make a wish, get out your collection! You could write your wish on a slip of paper and put it in the box to soak up all the good luck!

Of course, whether or not you believe your kit will really work is up to you. Either way, it is an easy, fun, and interesting collection to work on.
Good luck and best wishes!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Finding Purple (fiction)


“This apple is red. And juicy and sweet,” my friend Sara said.
“My banana is yellow, and mushy, and peels,” I answered.
“Keep going,” said my mom.
We were in the back seat of the car riding back from the beach.
Mom gave us the snacks because we were tired of the long drive.
“Keep going where?” I asked.
“Sara said three things about her apple, and she started with a color, then you did the same thing. Keep going! See how many things and colors you can say”
I looked out the window.
“The grass is green. And it’s growing and tickly,” I said. “Your turn, Sara!”
“The sky is blue and high, and empty,” she said.
Then I did brown for the telephone poles and she did yellow for the sun.
I did black for the road and she did white for a house.
Pretty soon we had named every color we could find except purple. It was my turn.
Sara asked my mom, “Are we almost home yet?”
I kept looking for purple.
Sara asked my mom if we there yet again.
Mom said, “Let’s all look for purple together. Are any of the beach toys purple?”
“No,” I said.
“How about the towels?”
“No,” Sara and I both said together, “Jinx!” we laughed.
We looked at signs, other cars and trucks, and even gardens. No purple.
We were so busy looking for purple that we didn’t even notice we were on my street.
When we pulled into the driveway, my mom said, “After you help unpack the car you can go look for purple in the house.” Sara and I groaned.
We all climbed out of the car and Mom started laughing.
“What’s funny?” I asked.
“Look,” she said, pointing to her purple flip-flops. “Purple helped us get home!”
“What do you mean?” Sara asked.
“Well,” explained Mom, “I told you to keep going. Your color game helped us handle the long drive, and my purple flip flops were on the gas pedal.”
She went into the house, laughing at her own joke.
“I don’t get it,” said Sara.
“It is funny that we looked so long for purple and it was right there the whole time,” I said, “But not ‘ha-ha’ funny.”
“Yeah, grown-ups,” Sara said rolling her eyes.
We brought the stuff in the house and Sara asked my mom, “Is it dinner yet?”

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Goodbye Barney (personal narrative, cats)

Barney was a skinny, tiny kitten. He was a soft tan color with lighter tan stripes. He was also a wild, naughty thing. Even as a teeny six-week-old kitten, people would take one look at his eyes and say, “Oh, he’s going to be trouble!”
And trouble he was. We only had Barney for one year, and in that one year he managed to destroy the wallpaper, shred seven or eight stuffed animals, leave tears down the window screens, and break all the Christmas ornaments. I didn’t want to let him be an outside cat; we lived too close to the road. But Barney had more energy than our little apartment could hold. So we let him outside where he could run and climb and be his wild self.
For all the trouble he was, he made up for it in love. He was a friendly, sociable cat, with people and other cats as well. Our landlords owned a house up front, by the road. Behind their house was a small yard with lots of huge old pine trees. Then our apartment was at the back end of the yard. Another family lived in an apartment in back of us. Everyone knew Barney, even the other cats.
The people laughed at Barney’s wild antics, but the cats did not find him amusing. The people living behind us had three cats that avoided Barney’s ploys for attention. Our landlords had two cats, Puddles and Duffy. Puddles would have nothing to do with Barney. Duffy was a big, old, cranky orange tom-cat. He was eighteen years old, preferred to be left alone, and was set in his ways. Duffy was the boss, and the other cats knew it.
Of all the cats to accept Barney, it was Duffy.
It was something to watch those two together. Old man Duffy would rest in the pine needles in the sunshine, with skinny, little crazy Barney pouncing on his tail. Not once did Duffy swat at Barney. In fact, the more Barney pounced on his tail, the more Duffy seemed to swing his tail around. Our landlords chuckled. “Barney follows Duffy everywhere!” they’d say. Barney was like the over-active young child, and Duffy was the tolerant, patient grampa.
One weekend in the summer that Barney turned one, my husband and I went camping. Our landlords took care of Barney while we were away. I enjoyed the trip, but was looking forward to seeing my Barney. On the way home I had an uneasy feeling.
When we pulled into the driveway our landlords were waiting in the driveway. I knew something was wrong. I started to go up our stairs to go into the apartment and turned around to look at my husband. The landlords were speaking to him. He walked toward me and I knew. Barney had been killed in the road.
I cried and cried. Everyone was kind, but I wanted to be alone. I went behind the back apartment where there was a picnic table and sat on the top and buried my head in my crossed arms on my knees. Suddenly I felt something soft rub up against me. It was Duffy. “Oh, Duffy,” I said, “You lost a friend, too.” He sat with me for only a minute, then walked away.
My landlords later told me an interesting thing about Duffy. They said he was afraid of the apartment buildings. They said there was a certain point in the yard between their house and our building that he would not cross. They said Duffy must have loved Barney, because in eighteen years they had only seen Duffy go anywhere near the apartments once. And that one time was the day he helped me say goodbye to Barney.
-------
We moved soon after, but not too far away. Every time I drove by, I would look for Duffy, sitting on his porch, all alone. I would whisper as I passed, “Thank you Duffy.”
Duffy has long since passed away, at the old cat-age of twenty two. I can’t think of Barney, or look at a picture of him, without also thinking of his friend. Some animals leave a special mark on your heart, no matter how short of a time you knew them. Goodbye doesn’t mean forgotten.

copyright 2009 Dawn Bonnevie

Monday, May 4, 2009

Otto Grows Down (Book Review)


Do you have a younger brother or sister? Sometimes it can be hard to share your parents' attention with a younger sibling. This story is about a boy who wishes he didn't have a little sister. Have you ever made a wish like that? Otto finds out what might happen if that wish came true. Even though it sounds like serious stuff, this is a very funny book! I hope that you agree with what Otto decides in the end. You will have to read it to find out!
To find out more about this story and its author go to
www.ottogrowsdown.com

Story by Michael Sussman, art (pictured here) by Scott Magoon

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Mother Goose Character Riddle (poetry)


Where is Thumbkin? Where is Thumbkin?
In my pie! In my pie!
I was good for Christmas,
I got lots of presents.
Who am I? Who am I?

Can you guess the Mother Goose character who is singing this riddle?