Author Archives: Lauri Griffin

The Leaping Sliding Sprinting Riding Science Book – Bobby Mercer

The Leaping Sliding Sprinting Riding Science Book by Bobby Mercer has 50 sports related science activities. Even kids who aren’t great at sports can use this book to have fun and learn at the same time. Considering that the Olympics are coming up, I’m sure there will be extra interest in sports in the next few months. Each of the activities has a list of equipment you need. Most of the activities use sports equipment such as footballs, stopwatches, skateboards, and bicycles, and they may need things like pencils, calculator or rulers. Each activitiy also has instructions, followed by a … Continue reading →

Media week in Review

Author Janet Kay Jensen gave interview on her books and on Life, Writing, and Reading. Until the Dawn is a LDS historical novel by Gale Sears. And Tristi gives a thumbs up to Molly Mommy by Tamra Norton. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg is a classic children’s book about a brother and sister who run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Best Little Monkeys in the World by Natalie Standiford is an amusing picture book, great for beginning readers. Another favorite picture book is Guess How Much I Love You … Continue reading →

Week in Review

Summer isn’t over yet, and here are some ideas for enjoying the season. Did you know you can tell the temperature by counting cricket chirps, or how far a storm is by counting the time between the lightning and the thunder? Read how in Counting Cricket Chirps and Thunder. Animal Rummy Cards are a beautiful and versatile card deck to add you game shelf. Safety Pin Jewelry is a quick and easy bead project, perfect for rainy or too hot afternoons. Don’t miss these ideas for savoring the last of summer in Where Did the Summer Go?

Counting Cricket Chirps and Thunder

When I first heard about being able to tell the temperature by crickets I really thought people were trying to pull my leg. I grew up around plenty of crickets and plenty of high temperatures and had never heard of this. It turns out this chirp counting is not only true, but has been around since 1837. It’s called Dolbear’s Law after the scientist who figured out that the air temperature influenced the rate of cricket chirps. To experiment with this, count the number of cricket chirps in 15 seconds and then add 40. The number that you get will … Continue reading →

Animal Rummy Cards

I fell for the eeBoo Animal Rummy cards as soon as I saw them. The cards are a bit bigger than average so they are easier for small hands to hold. They are also laminated , and nice and thick so that they will hold up to those small hands. What is really so great though, are the illustrations on the cards. They are done by book illustrator Melissa Sweet. You can see of the books she has illustrated here. The pictures on the cards are of fish, giraffes, raccoons, foxes, lions, cats, birds, bats, dragonflies, elephants, and bears. All … Continue reading →

The Best Little Monkeys in the World – Natalie Standiford

The Best Little Monkeys in the World by Natalie Standiford is a “Step into Reading” book, recommended for 1st through 3rd graders. The charming plot and illustrations also make it a great book to read aloud. Marvin and Mary are too little monkeys who live in a house on stilts in the jungle. Their parents are going out and have asked a teenaged monkey named Judy to babysit for them. Mary and Marvin are excited because Judy lets them do anything they want. Their mother tells them to be good; Judy assures her that her children are “the best little … Continue reading →

Safety Pin Jewelry

Safety pin jewelry is a quick and easy to make. While it is not the most beautiful jewelry in the world, it is a great rainy afternoon project. There’s something very satisfying about how quickly you can make things. You do need to be cautious with the sharp point of the safety pin. And of course small children and sharp object and beads aren’t a good idea. You can experiment with different sizes of safety pins and beads. For this example I used a standard sized pin. As you can see from the picture it will hold two 6mm beads … Continue reading →

Extreme Pets! – Jane Harrington

If you have an animal lover in the family, or if your family is considering a new pet, pick up a copy of Extreme Pets! by Jane Harrington. The book is loaded with marvelous color photographs. While Extreme Pets! makes owning these unique pets look very exciting, it also deals with the realities of cage cleaning and costs. The book also emphasizes responsible pet ownership. The book starts with a pet pact – making sure that the owner knows they are responsible for special feeding, care, safety, potential allergies, and medical care. Extreme Pets! is wire bound, which makes the … Continue reading →

Where Did the Summer Go?

A week ago I complained to anyone who would listen that the local bargain store was clearing out sunscreen and no longer had the zinc oxide I wanted. I couldn’t believe they would pack away those products in the middle of July when the weather was still plenty hot and sunny. But there were boxes where they were packing up summer things and unopened boxes with school supplies. Yesterday I complained about all the back to school sales going on. I said things like “couldn’t they just let us enjoy our summer”, and “we’ll worry about that next month”, and … Continue reading →

Alter This! – Alena Hennessy

Alter This!: Radical Ideas for Transforming Books Into Art by Alena Hennessy is a great book for the altered book beginner because it explains so many techniques for transforming books, including projects for hardbacks, paperbacks, board books, and even phonebooks! Altered book pros will find inspiration for fun and creative projects and ideas for taking their artwork a step or two further. And scrapbookers will find many techniques that they can use in their own albums. With altered books, before you add too much to a paper page, you will need to make it sturdier so that the paper doesn’t … Continue reading →