I had the opportunity to review the five bilingual board books that form part of the Arte Kids Books collection: Black & Blanco!, Colors Everywhere, 1,2,3 Sí. Animal Amigos! Hello Círculos!  are colorful and full of learning opportunities! The sturdy board books provide colorful images, text in English and Spanish and at the end of each book, an explanation of the artwork that is included on each page. The artwork in the books are quite diverse, coming from all over the world.

One of the things I loved about this series is that it provides learning opportunities for younger and older children. For a younger child that is not very verbal yet, the books are great because of the great colorful pictures, and simplicity of the text. With older children, a parent can talk about the artwork, where the artists are from in the world, etc. The books also provide questions that create an interactive experience. For example, “Can you walk like an elephant?/Puedes caminar como un elefante?”

These books will open a world of color, art and fun to your little one. Make sure you check them out!

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one set of the entire Arte Kids collection (5 books) to FIVE lucky winners! All you have to do is visit the Arte Kids site and come back here to leave us a comment letting us know which of the five books you’re the most excited about reading to your child. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My son starts kindergarten this year! We received a letter from his teacher  excited to welcome him to class and his face lit up!

He immediately wanted to write back with a picture much like what he does with his snail mail pal but instead I told him how about we make her something super special.

We came up with these cute potato stamped bilingual art tea towels. Each stamp means something to my son. The apple is his favorite fruit. The ABC stamp shows he knows his alphabet and the Hola is to share with his teacher that he is bilingual.  He can’t wait to hand it over to his new teacher.

To make some bilingual Art Tea Towels too here is what you’ll need:

1-Brown paper bag- to cover your area and use for pain mixing

2-Fabric Medium to mix with paint

3-Acrylic paint in your favorite colors

4-potatoes you can carve 2 stamps out of 1 potato

5-a napkin or tea towel to use as your canvas

6-Knife, Carving tools* and paint brushes. (dull pencils, wooden craft sticks, craft knife, piercing tool, etc.)

* parents, please help children with the carving and always handle carving tools with caution.

Cut potato in half and start carving your shape. Use a dull pencil to trace or sketch your image on potato.

 Continue cutting potatoes and carving until you have created all the shapes you would like to use.

If you are carving words, there are two ways to do so — you can carve directly into the potato and not shave any thing surround letters or you can create actual letters be sure to shave down at least half an inch.

Also, all words must be spelled and written backwards.  It helps to write it out first, write out again backwards, and then carve.

 Mix your paints with medium. For every quarter size blob of pain add 3-4 drops of medium you want your paint to be thinner but not runny.

 Apply paint onto the potato stamp and have your kids go wild!

We only stamped once for every time we applied paint. If you want a washed look you can definitely get two stamps out of one application of paint.

 Let them dry. All done!

Fold and attach a cute note with some ribbon for your child’s teacher!

Greet this year’s teacher with a big ¡HOLA! May your kids have a great school year!

I love helping my kids think outside of the box particular one of my kids who has a really hard time doing that.  Encourage creative play by giving them flowers and other natural elements to serve as their paintbrush.

“Me gusta pintar. Me gusta pintar, mami,”  my little man says this with a big smile on his face.  I respond, “Yes, I know you love to paint.”  My 2 year old is so very happy when he gets to make a mess with paint. Remember to buy paint that is washable if you have little excited painters.

I remember when one of my boys’ teachers came to me with a concern, “Your son keeps painting the trees blue, orange… and I can’t put his picture up on the bulletin board because he’s not following directions.”  She showed me his picture. I looked at it, and this artistic mama couldn’t have been prouder.  It was absolutely lovely.  ¡Lindísimo!

I looked at her and I said, “I am sorry, it’s really hard for me to be upset at him for not following directions when the picture in your  hand is absolutely amazing for a little 5-year-old. I will talk to him about learning to follow directions, but there is nothing wrong with his picture.  A tree doesn’t have to be brown and green it can be blue, orange, yellow… and his sun can be purple.”  Unfortunately for my son, he had two teachers back to back when he was younger discourage his creativity — his artistic side. He is now nine and his trees are verde and café. It makes me sad.

I still haven’t given up though and I continue to give my boys opportunities to be creative with their hands. Sometimes they would rather run around pretending they are policemen and super cowboys shooting at each other, but I must say any kind of imaginative play makes me happy.

So before trashing your wilted flowers, give them another use!

Painting with Flowers

What you will need:

• paint in different colors
• flowers (I used my flowers that were wilting)
• paper

1. Place paint on a surface that is big enough to cover the flowers in paint.

2. Start painting away. Let them make flower prints or paint houses, cars, abstract art… whatever their little minds take them.

Note: When painting with kids it’s good to have something under the painting project to protect the surface; also wipes for quick clean up.

To make the collage you need a piece of cardboard or poster board, contact paper, pictures cut from magazines and any other lightweight material your child would like to put in her collage. Tape the contact paper to the cardboard with the removable backing facing up. Peel off the backing to expose the sticky surface. Then, make a collage by putting pictures onto the sticky paper.

Before you begin to put on the pictures, it is a good idea to let kids touch the surface to see how sticky it is. ¡Es muy pegajoso! I also warn them that the pictures are going to stay where they put them. They are not going to be able to move them at all: Las fotos se pegan. No las podemos mover después.

If your niños are learning Spanish, you may want to focus the collage around a theme like los Juegos Olímpicos, los animales, los colores, or los vehículos. Kids can also collect leaves, twigs, grasses, flowers, seeds, and feathers to add to the collage. They may want to fill the empty spaces with glitter or confetti.

As you can see, we were using pictures of animals.

Here are a few suggestions for making the most of the collage as a language activity.

First, as you find and cut out pictures, talk about them with your child. If some of the words are new, this will give her a chance to hear them and start to learn them.

Regardless of your child’s level of Spanish, use language that expands her vocabulary. This is a simple activity, but the language you use does not have to be simple. For example, if you are making an animal collage with beginners, you can focus on the names of the animals as you cut them out. If your child speaks more Spanish, you can describe the animals and talk about where they live and what they eat. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce words like mamífero, reptil, anfibio, carnívoro, herbívoro, omnívoro, nocturno, and diurno.

As your child makes the collage, repeat new words and talk about key concepts again. If she is beginning to learn Spanish, you can do this by describing what she is doing: Pusiste el caballo al lado de la vaca. ¿Qué vas a poner ahora?

When your child has finished her collage, hang it at her eye level in a place where you can talk about it together. You can comment on pictures you like, ask her questions or take turns describing a picture and guessing which one it is.

Special thanks to Spanish Playground for providing this activity. Visit their site for more activities to teach Spanish to kids.

If I could choose the one thing my husband and my father have the most in common it is definitely grilling. That is why when I was thinking of something the kids could create for dad and grandpa this super cute mini grill “Grilled Love”  keepsake tin was the perfect idea. Amor a la Parilla can’t get any cuter than this!

To create this Father’s Day craft here is what you need:

1-Toilet paper rolls(2- cut in half. You will only be using 3 of the halves)

2- Two Pie tins

3-Paint preferably acrylic paint

4- Foil Paper

5-Adhesive- We used glue dots

6-Paint sponge to apply your paint

7-scissors

Let’s get started!

1-Prepare your tins by painting them.

2-Do another coat of paint to make sure the color covers your tin completely

3-Let your freshly painted tins dry

4- Cut out pieces of foil paper long and wide enough to cover your roll. Secure it with your adhesive.

5-Make sure one side of your roll is closed off with foil. This will be the end that will adhere to your pie tin. To create legs

6- Using a strip of Foil folded a couple of times create a handle for your lid. Adhere it to the lid.

7-Using the same method for the handle, adhere handles to the bottom tin one on each side.

8-Adhere your legs to the bottom in a triangular form.

And flip it over and your’re ready to fill it up with dad’s favorites!

We used peanuts to create the illusion of coals and Marshmallows on a stick to create grilling kabobs!

All Done! Enjoy Father’s Day with your lucky guy!

Tip: This can also be a great table top piece for your next summer get together filled with condiments or silverware!

This is the perfect summer craft for kids!

El Día del Padre / Father’s Day is coming up this June 17 and I’ve been a little stumped at what creative gift Sofía will give her Papi.  Recently I read an article about how people who received gifts in fancy wrapping tended to like the gifts considerably more than people who received the same gift but not wrapped as nicely.  I think this is super-true and certainly applies to children’s art as well.  I think any piece of art, well framed or mounted, makes more of a difference than merely giving a piece of construction paper with gems and glitter (or screws and bolts) glued on!

It has been a while since Sofía has given her framed art to Papi as a present, and so we put on our Thinking Sombreros and thus, Toolbox Treasure Art was born!

Get ready to make your own personalized Toolbox Treasure Art!  Gather up your toolbox extras, some glue, a permanent marcador and a framed canvas.  (The framed canvas is by far the most expensive item in this activity.

The first two steps I recommend doing are things that I learned after our project was complete.  First, I recommend assisting your Little Picasso to creatively craft a visual “frame” on the canvas with something.  We used plastic cord ties, but I think that colored electrical or painter’s tape would work well also.

In step 2, decide where the byline and Felicidades will be written so that it will be seen amongst the treasures that will soon be glued on.

Next, place all the treasures from the tool box in a container.  I used a veggie tray container not only for easy access for Sofía’s little manos, but for its aesthetic properties as well!  Add another dimension to your craft by reviewing the material names en Español! (Planning ahead of time is really important for this step because, for example, some of the items I used, I didn’t know the name of in any language!)

Providing glue nearby, (I like to place the glue right on a small paper plate.) allow your Angelito to choose whichever tool box treasure she or he wishes to glue on the canvas.  And Mamás….resist the urge to direct your Angelito as to where to put the treasures on the canvass.   Everything doesn’t need to be perfect, straight, in-line, or balanced. Once your glue has dried, you may have to secure a few things here and there with a hot glue gun or more liquid glue.

The end result is a fabuloso piece of art that your Little Picasso will be so proud to give to Papi and Papi will be sure to show off and proudly display!

¡Feliz Día del Padre!

********************

********************

********************

********************

********************

********************

********************

********************

Update:  I just found this also wonderful photo tutorial on how to make paper marigolds over at Latina-ish blog. Check it out.

Gabrielle Marie Lopez lives and works in Harlem, New York City. She, along with her boyfriend, Alex Uballez, run the blog Gabriela’s Kitchen that focuses on traditional Mexican Home Cooking and Contemporary Interpretations of Latino Cuisine. Gabrielle’s passion for cooking was spawned by her mother, grandmother and madrina and has been nurtured by her mentor and friend, chef and cookbook author extrordinaire Zarela Martinez. Gabrielle is also the Harlem correspondent on Top Chef Master Marcus Samuelsson’s blog.

The Smart Projector was definitely the winner during a meetup I recently hosted for some of the kids from our bilingual playgroup to check out the toys and games Ingenio sent us to review.

At first, I had been a little worried about how it was going to turn out because none of the kids are older than 4 and even though this company’s toys are recommended for those 3 years and older and Vanessa had already played with some of them, she didn’t really do it the intended way, if that’s even possible to say about children and toys… I guess, though, that’s the whole idea behind Ingenio’s toys–something we’ve been mentioning all along–that they actually grow with your children.

The Smart Projector is another clever idea by the creators over at Ingenio and these are some of the reason why I liked it:

• it’s definitely sturdy, which means Vanessa can lug it around without worries that it will break apart in pieces
• the actual projection of the different animals and letters can be really intriguing for the kids, which means–at least in Vanessa’s case–it keeps her entertained longer than other toys
• variety of options for kids to trace: 24 animals (with their names in both English + Spanish) and the alphabet in lower and capital letters
• it’s ease of use. Not too many buttons and the disks go in and come out of their slots fairly easily. Anything that Vanessa can do on her own, gets a plus in my book!

Although my daughter only recently started showing an interest in drawing and coloring, if your kids like these activities already, I believe this toy will be a hit. Once again, they’ll be learning without even realizing it.

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to our winner: Amy B.!
Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win the Smart Projector, winner of the 2009 Preferred Choice Award by Creative Child Magazine, simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Monday, August 31, at midnight EST.

Remember, we still have four more days of giveaways of Ingenio’s toys + games, so please come back tomorrow and the rest of the week!

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.