Find it, Make it

Find it, Make it – Outdoor Green Crafts for Children
Written by Clare Young
Published at Cico Books

About the book

Keep kids entertained with Clare Youngs' brilliant collection of toys, jewellery, gifts and more that have been designed with the environment in mind. Every project incorporates some kind of recycled material, whether using a plastic bag as the sail for your orange peel ships or creating pretty fairies out of dried flowers. Wherever you are, there will be a project to make that includes the materials close to hand. If you fancy a day at the beach, make sure you gather a few shells for the shell mice, or pick up leaves and twigs on a walk in the forest to use on the leaf mobile. Even the back garden is home to materials that can be turned into a whole host of playtime essentials. Budding artists will love the ideas for natural dyes, bark rubbings and handmade paper, while junior gardeners won't be able to resist the cress heads that you can decorate with fun faces. Every project comes complete with easy-to-understand step-by-step instructions, plus all sorts of ideas for variations. So what are you waiting for? Get outside and get crafting!

My Thoughts

This book is simply a fabulous book to have to keep your kids busy during the spring, summer and fall season.   And having ideas to use outdoor items to create crafts is always a blessing in disguise when go camping.   This book will help you keep your kids busy when you don’t want to spend the whole day at the beach.  

Nothing is more natural for kids to explore their environment when they arrive at camping.    Now, before I dig into the book for you, please remember to make sure your kids are dress accordingly when going into the woods.   Why am I saying this?  Because in our family, I have one child that is prone to catch poison ivy every single time he gets in contact with it.   In about a year, I was exposed four times and every time it is worse than the previous reaction.    So if you know that your child is prone in catching such a thing, I strongly suggest that you have pants to cover the legs and socks in the feet for exploration in the forest.

Having said that, you might be wondering the type of crafts included in this book.    Well the book starts with a little introduction on how to collect materials and how to prepare yourself to make the crafts.   You might want to pack paint, glue, scissors and other items before leaving or simply go to the nearest dollar store to get what you need.  There are five chapters in this book – play and display, playtime, gift ideas and jewelry, colorful characters, and amazing animals.  Each chapter contains numerous ideas to keep your child busy while camping or at home.  

There are ideas to create letters with twigs, make a wind chime, create a seaside scene,  make boats, design your own pendant with seashells, create a woodland character or design a fairy garden.    These are simply a sample of all the ideas you can found in this book.   For each project, you will get complete instructions, step-by-step photos as well as a picture of the final product.  

With these fabulous ideas, you could have your kids decorate your home, your RV or simply your camping site.    Whether you need to find something to do on a rainy day or simply to occupy your kids during the afternoon while you have a quiet time to relax, this book is packed with wonderful ideas for them to create fun crafts.

Find it, Make it is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Allen for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Complete Language Pack Spanish

Complete Language Pack Spanish
From DK Canada

About the Product

Combining the solid grounding of a practical language teaching course with the instant accessibility of a phrasebook, each Complete Language Pack is structured around simple conversations used in everyday situations. The courses cover basic vocabulary and grammar in sixty fifteen-minute daily units. Pronunciation guides and the audio CDs make speaking easy, and "cover and test" flaps and flashcards reinforce learning and make testing yourself fun.

Teaching what you need to know fast — arranged thematically, with simple conversations based on real-life situations, Complete Language Pack Spanish includes the bestselling 15-Minute Language Course, Visual Phrase Book, and three audio CDs.

With a pronunciation guide for every word and phrase, a two-way dictionary that provides ready reference on the go, and a phrase book including useful cultural tips, Complete Language Pack Spanish is ideal for both business and vacation travelers.

My Thoughts

Here’s another great resource to learn a new language in your spare time.   Complete Language Pack Spanish will guide you – 15 minutes a day – to learn Spanish for your next trip in Spain.   The book teaches European Spanish, which differs in pronunciation from the various dialects spoken in Latin America.    But even though this is not Latin America, I think it could give you a nice stepping stones to learn Latin American Spanish.

The kit comes with numerous tools; cds, book to accompany the lessons, easy grammar booklet as well as a visual phrase book.  The first two CDs contains the lessons you will find in the book.  In twelve weeks, you can covered all the basics conversational phrases to help you communicate with the people.   It only takes you five minutes a day for five days in a row to complete a lesson. In each lesson, you will get some warm ups, some say it exercises, introductory paragraphs as well as cultural or conversational tips.   You will also go through a review and repeat section for each lesson. 

The third CD is an audio guide to the Spanish Visual Phrase Book.   You can either listen to the CD alone or with the book.   This will help you to improve your pronunciation and build your vocabulary in the language.

The reason why I am interested in us learning Spanish is because we might have the opportunity to go back on mission trip in Dominican Republic and meet our three sponsored children from Compassion Canada.   Having the ability to converse with them would mean a lot for me.   Back in 2005, we went to visit the child we were sponsoring then.    We also had the privilege to visit his home and meet his parents.    He was five years old and was a delight to meet.   I sincerely hope that we could go back and meet him again as well as the two girls we are sponsoring.

 

I find learning another language to be a great skill to develop.  Not only you can have the opportunity to converse with others but you can feel more independent in venturing in the city you are visiting.    As homeschoolers, I think we need to expose our kids to other languages as much as possible.   Spanish being a language based on Latin I think it would be easy for us to pick it up as French is also based on Latin.  

I know that there is other products out there to help you learn Spanish but most often the price is ridiculously high.   This specific product is quite reasonable in price and the quality attached to it is impressive.   You can listen and repeat with the “teachers” without worrying about not being able to go back in the lesson.  Anytime you want you can listen again the lesson to practice or revise it.

I was able to upload the lessons without problem on my iPod.   Then you can take the book with you wherever you go and do a lesson when you have about five minutes.    I would not suggest to do it while you are driving unless you have gone through the lesson once already.   I find it beneficial to do the lesson once with the book so you can see the phonetic of the words at the same time.    Then you can redo the lesson multiple times during the day if you want to.

Complete Language Pack Spanish is great tool to help you learn a new language.   All you will need is to find a friend to practice with.    Once you know the basics, you can continue practicing with books or television if you want to.

Complete Language Pack Spanish is available at  your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned products for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Lego Book – and a contest for young Lego fans

Lego Book
From DK Canada

About the book

Discover all there is to know about one of the world's most beloved toy companies.

Beautiful pages reveal, explore, and celebrate the fascinating story of LEGO® bricks and the history behind them in this newly updated edition of The LEGO® Book. Along with 56 new pages, a timeline highlights key moments in LEGO history, and special features spotlight numerous groundbreaking and momentous achievements. Includes new and updated information about LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Friends, and much more.

Explore all the main LEGO toy systems, the LEGOLAND® theme parks with their amazing animated models, and the LEGO Group's spectacular diversification into films, video games, and the visual arts. Incorporating clear instruction panels on how to create great models from just a few simple bricks, The LEGO® Book is truly a treasure perfect for any LEGO fan!

The LEGO® Book Q&A with author Daniel Lipkowitz

What made you want to become an author?

I've always been an avid reader. As a kid, I read whenever and wherever I could, especially adventure, sci-fi and fantasy stories. Sometimes I would devour six or seven books a week! Although I originally planned to work in the sciences, reading and writing were always big passions of mine, and when the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance to start writing stories for (and about) LEGO characters and sets.

When did your fascination with LEGO® first start?

I've been a fan of toys that you can interact with and change around all my life, too. I got my first LEGO sets when I was four or five (I think they were #709 Police Boat and #897 Mobile Rocket Launcher) and would spend hours taking them apart and building new things out of the pieces. I must not have been very good at sharing, though, because my dad and I had to have our own separate collections of LEGO bricks.

How did you get your start writing comic and animation scripts for LEGO® bricks and minifigures?

When I first joined the LEGO Group in 2001, I started out testing and proofreading the website at LEGO.com, but what I really wanted to do was create stories. I was eventually able to start writing some episodes and character bios for the BIONICLE theme, and that led to story work on Knights' Kingdom and EXO-FORCE. Pretty soon, people at the company were asking me to write books, comics, TV spots and short animations, which was incredibly cool for me!

What has been your favorite storyline that you've developed for LEGO?

I liked working on EXO-FORCE and Knights' Kingdom (though I didn't develop the original story for either theme), and I've got a soft spot for Pharaoh's Quest. And of course I've gotten to write for some of my favorite licensed themes, like Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Lord of the Rings – the big "Search for R2-D2" storyline that ran in LEGO Club Magazine comics and online animations throughout 2009 is definitely one of my favorites. But the very top was the story that I wrote for the Adventure Designer level of LEGO Master Builder Academy. It was created to inspire members to make up their own stories and build them out of their LEGO bricks, and I really enjoyed putting it all together.

What was your favorite part of the The LEGO® Book to work on?

Although it was also the toughest part to write, what I really liked the most was researching and writing about the history of the company and its earliest toys. I learned a lot of new things!

Do you have a favorite LEGO® character?

I think the character that I'm fondest of is Ryo, the eccentric inventor and pilot from EXO-FORCE. His habit of treating his battle machines like they're real people was a lot of fun to write. Second to him would be the minifigure battle droids from LEGO Star Wars – those poor little guys are hilarious!

The LEGO® Book has a fascinating timeline of LEGO® history running throughout it. What do you think is the most groundbreaking achievement in LEGO® history?

I can't think of anything more important than the development of the original plastic "Automatic Binding Bricks" in 1949, and the patenting of the stud-and-tube connection system in 1958. Everything that the company is about today comes directly from there!

What is the most remarkable LEGO® Super Model you've seen in person?

One of the LEGO Master Builders here at the office built an enormous Republic Attack Cruiser from the Star Wars prequels some years ago. It was an incredible model, full of secret details like an upside-down lightsaber battle and a movie theater hidden inside. I swore I'd find a way to bring it home someday...but I never managed it. I don't think it would have fit in my car, anyway.

After all this time why do you think LEGO® is still such a popular, sought-after toy?

Because no matter how many special pieces and themes we may create, at the end of the day a LEGO set is a toy that you can take apart and turn into anything else that you can possibly imagine. What could be more perfect and enduring than that?

Our Thoughts

As soon as I took out this book, one of my kids jumped on it.    All of them loves Lego and can build for hours when motivated especially when there is a contest (see below for more details!).    When I got this book, I seriously thought that it would contain step-by-step ideas for the kids to explore and develop their Lego skills.   Ah!  I was so wrong.  This book is not an idea book but more like a book that unfolds the story of Lego as a company and the brick itself! 

Literally  it is a  trip down memory lane…   As soon as I skipped through the pages, I could identify some of the Lego package I have received when I was younger in the 70s (and I still have the blocks and instructions believe it or not!) Now my own kids plays with them!  *grin*  Here’s two of the boxes I had received.   The box on the left with the characters on it, I received when I was in France while my dad was training in Lyon.    I was five years old then.

  

The book starts with how it is a family business and how Lego became a trademark toy over the years.   Back in 1974, I believe that it wasn’t easy to find Lego toys in Canada but in the years that followed the famous boxes found their way on the Canadian market.   You will also get a timeline to discover what major products were developed in what year.     You will also have the opportunity to read more about the patent and the brick itself, learn when the first of some of the elements came out on the market and discover how the Lego bricks are made. 

Once you have gone through history and discover how they are made, you will explore the pages where the various play themes are presented.  Then you will discover the amazing creativity of the people who helped to put Legoland together.   These pages have brought major reactions from my kids.   Now my dream is to bring my kids to LegoLand in Florida and even to the one in Denmark where everything started.  

In the book, you will also get to learn about the Lego Master Builders which has definitively picked the interest of Dominic.  

Lego fans will love to learn more about the history of the famous brick as well as discover the play sets that were created through the years.    I am pleased to have this book in the house because it motivates my child to read more. 

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A CONTEST FOR LEGO FANS!

DK Celebrates LEGO and the love of creativity!

As the world's bestselling publisher of LEGO books we want to celebrate our joy of the brick with a month-long photo contest – with a fabulous prize of an amazing collection of DK’s LEGO books worth over $200!

We want to see what creative kids ages 14 and under can make with their LEGO.   Simple send us a photo and at the end of the month our Canadian LEGO Fan Builder extraordinaire Deborah Higdon ( featured in the LEGO Ideas Book ) will select a winning creation. Your kids can enter as often as they like with different creations.  Throughout the month we will be posting the photos on cn.dk.com/legopix as well as on our Facebook page and Twitter feed @DKCanada. 

TO ENTER:

Send a photo of your LEGO creation ( don’t forget that you can enter as many times as you like with different creations ) to us at general@tourmaline.ca (jpgs only, no larger than 5 mb). Please include the headline For the Love of LEGO in your email. One lucky entrant will win a DK LEGO Book collection worth over $200!

Deadline for submissions is October 31st, 2012 6 EDT

For more details check out the Lego Boutique at DK Canada.

Good luck everyone!  

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In the meantime, to discover the whole history of Lego and learn more about the famous bricks, don’t forget to grab a copy of the Lego Book (revised edition) at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned book for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.