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, August 28, 2009

Me With You (book review)



This short rhyming story is about a young girl and her grandpa and the things they like to do together. It is a very sweet story that makes you want to call your grandpa! The colorful pictures are beautiful and perfectly match the gentleness of the story.

Story by Kristy Dempsey and art (pictured here) by Christopher Denise

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Wall of Wisdom

Today is Wednesday so I will tell you about one of my favorite clippings on our family wall of wisdom. It shows a Harley Davidson motorcycle with a biker dude sitting on it. He is 59 years old and has a beard and long hair. He's wearing jeans, sunglasses and a Harley Davidson t-shirt and skull cap. He is also holding a quilt he made. Yes, that's right, a quilt. I tore this story out of my quilting magazine because I like the way this biker dude, nicknamed Biker-Dude, is also an artist.
His real name is Butch Myers and he learned quilting to help him quit smoking. This is different picture of Biker-Dude.

There are many things I like about Biker-Dude's story. Not only did he learn how to quilt, but he also designs his own. He didn't give up on his goal. He was in really poor health and found a way to get better. His story shows that you are never too old to learn something new. You might find yourself learning something totally different than what you thought. He had the courage to do something that others might make fun of him for. It is even cool that quilt has almost the same letters as quit.
What I like best, the biggest reason Biker-Dude is on our wall of wisdom, is that it shows you can't judge a book by its cover. Would you see a rough-looking Harley rider and guess that he designs quilts? You don't know a person just by looking at them.

go to www.allpeoplequilt.com/206 to read about Butch.
go to www.lilcountryshoppe.com to see his designs (click on the Biker-Dude link)
photo from allpeoplequilt.com

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Build-Your-Brain: Word of the Week

CACOPHONY

pronounced: "kuh-KOF-uh-nee"
or
"kah-KOF-uh-nee"

loud, unpleasant, confusing sounds

The cacophony in the crowded lunchroom at school gave me a headache. I was glad when Mr. Jones asked everyone to quiet down.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Meet Maddie

This is Maddie.
She is one (and a half).

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Picking Yellow (fiction)

Dad parked the van in the Home Depot parking lot and we all climbed out and dashed through the rain to get inside before we got soaked.
I lifted Annie and Charlie, my four-year-old twin sister and brother, into the double seat section of the big orange racing car cart. My seven-year-old brother, Ethan, climbed into the merchandise section.
“Stay on your bottom,” I reminded him.
He answered back, “You’re not the boss of me, Hannah Banana!” I ignored that.
“Orange!” said Annie, “Let’s paint your room orange!”
“Ugh, no!” said Dad and I. We laughed. She sure likes those carts.
“Hannah, you can go look at the paint. We’ll be in the garden area,” said Dad.
I was glad to go look at paint alone. It had been raining for five days straight and I was really tired of my siblings. I was also glad mom stayed home while we went out. She was tired from being sick so much.
I always liked looking at the little colored cards, all neatly arranged, that showed the paint color choices. So many choices.
I studied the cards for a while. I could never decide. Dad said whatever I picked, I would have to like it for the next six years, until I left for college. I finally took a card with ‘clear sky blue’ and a card with ‘fresh cut grass’ then went to find my family.
It wasn’t hard to find them. I could hear Annie and Charlie chanting, “Yell-ow, yell-ow, yell-ow!” from three isles away.
Dad was putting yellow potted lilies into the cart and the twins cheered. “Ethan,” he said, “You need to get out of the cart now. What color flowers do you want to get mom?”
“I want yellow, too,” he mumbled, climbing out of the cart.
Annie called him a copy cat, but Dad put some yellow marigolds into the cart. I knew I wanted to get mom some miniature roses. Since it looked like the thing to do, I picked yellow.
On the way to the checkout lanes I showed everyone my paint color cards. Dad said green walls would probably not be a good idea, since my carpet is green. “Clear sky blue sure sounds good, though!” he said.
“Does color have a sound?” asked Charlie.
“No, stupid!” said Ethan.
We all just looked at him. He stared at the flowers, scowling like it was our fault he was grumpy.
Suddenly Ethan’s eyes widened. He picked a rose right off one of the plants. “Oh!” he said.
I was about to scold him, but Dad said, “What is it, Ethan?”
“Hannah should paint her walls blue, and paint yellow flowers all around, like a garden. Then it will be like her carpet is grass, and we could go look at her room when we get tired of too much rain, and in the winter we can remember mom’s birthday garden.”
Annie and Charlie chanted “gar-den, gar-den, gar-den!”
I liked his idea so much I gave him a big bear hug. He smiled.
We bought enough blue to paint my ceiling blue too, a small can of green for the stems, and a can of sunshine yellow for the flowers.
The rain had stopped. As we walked to the van, the sun began to poke through the clouds. My heart felt warm and happy and I knew we made the right choice.

by Dawn Bonnevie copyright 2009

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wall of Wisdom



The Wall of Wisdom is in my laundry room.
When someone finds a saying or story that is wise, we hang it up there for everyone to read.

Come back next Wednesday to read something from our family wall of wisdom!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Build-Your-Brain: Word of the Week

ALGOLOGY

pronounced: "al-GOLL-uh-jee"

Do you know that green slimy stuff on rocks at the beach or on the sides of a dirty fish tank? It's a plant called algae.
Learning about algae is called algology.

Jim said, "Hey, this rock has more algae than that rock."
Sara said, "Boy, Jim, you sure are good at algology."

Monday, August 17, 2009

Meet Maddie

This is Maddie.
She likes cats.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Go Play!


Maybe you can't have a snowball fight in summer, but if you use your pretending skills, you could try. You don't need mittens, either! Well, you could wear mittens if you want, to make the pretending more real. If it is just way too hot to play outside today where you are, or if it has been raining for days, here is a fun, easy, cheap game.
Get a stack of newspapers and give each person an equal share. Each person also needs a large shopping bag that can stand open.
Crumple each sheet of newspaper into a tight ball and fill your bag with paper 'snowballs'.
When everyone is ready....snowball fight!

What else can you do with your snowballs?
Bury each other!
Here is another idea:
Pile them on a towel, have each person hold a corner, and on the count of three throw the snowballs up into the air.
When you are done playing, make the cleanup a game too. First person to fill their bag is champion.
If you used paper shopping bags, you can roll the top down and make a paper snowman!
Decorate you 'paperman' and enjoy his company as long as you'd like, he won't melt!
Happy playing!
(Remember to put all your snow into the recycling when you are done.)

Friday, August 14, 2009

Perfectly Arugula (book review)


Arugula is a hedgehog who likes everything to be perfect. But she finds out perfect isn't always much fun. Find out how Arugula learns her lesson!
This is a fun book to read, with lots of speech bubbles. Look for it at your bookstore or library.

Story and artwork (pictured here)by Sarah Diller

Mother Goose Character Riddle (poetry)

Now it's time to go to sleep,
Tomorrow I will find my sheep.

If home if where they want to be,
I guess they will come back to me.

Which Mother Goose character is this?

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Kids Can Do It Update


Happy Thursday!
Time for a Kids Can Do It update:

**Sam (age 7) can swim in the deep end of the pool without help or a float/ lifejacket**

Way to go Sam! Let's hear a cheer for Sam!

Would you like to be on a Kids Can Do It update?
Send an email to dawnbonnevie@gmail.com telling about what you can do.
Remember to get your parents okay first and use your first name and age only.
(no last name, address, phone numbers, etc.)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Wall of Wisdom


Come back next Wednesday to find out more about the Wall of Wisdom!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Build-your-Brain: Word of the Week

FARCEUR

pronounced: "far-SIR"

A person who is funny, likes to tell jokes, or writes funny stories. Sometimes called 'a class clown'.

Mr. Wilson said that Jack could be a farceur during recess, but not in the middle of math class.

A comedian needs to be a good farceur (writer of jokes).

Are you a farceur?