Not Quite Snow White: Just Enough of All The Right Stuff

You guys. You need to stop what you're doing this instant and go pick up a copy of Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin and Ebony Glenn. It is stellar. It is more than stellar. It is just. so. good. Please. Run to your nearest bookstore or library and grab this book immediately. Not Quite Snow White follows Tameika, an acting and singing sensation who dreams of playing a princess one day. But when the other kids think she might be too tall, too chubby, and too brown, Tameika must learn that she is "just enough of all the right stuff." The book has such a timely and perfect message in a world where kids need to know now more than ever that they are perfect just the way they are. And anyone can be a princess. My girls ate this one up. We read it multiple times a day. We played princesses and talked about the things that make us special. And we talked a whole lot about kindness and love.

For this book, we obviously needed to do a princess activity. We could have easily run to the dollar store to grab some cheap crowns, and they would have worked great. But we're always in the mood for an art project. And any time I can fit reading, art, and imagination into one day, I love it! So we decided to make tiaras and crowns.

Click the images below to download the printables you'll need for this week. Just download, print on a heavy cardstock, cut out, decorate, and glue together (in the case of the crown), or add some elastic (for the tiaras). We printed some tiaras on colored cardstock and some on white so that we could color them ourselves. We added some fancy sequin stickers we had on hand, and had a great time!

Now for some fun imaginative play ideas:

- Take turns being the queen/king/ruler and come up with new laws. (My four year old decreed that Peter Piper Pizza shall have gluten free pizza--she has celiac disease).

- Talk about what it is that makes a princess (kindness, love, etc. rather than body type etc.), and play princess.

- Have princess play. My girls loved performing like Tameika and being "Just enough of all the right stuff."

In all, this was a fantastic picture book. I hope you will all pick up a copy and know that you, too, are "just enough of all the right stuff."

Moon's First Friends and Astronaut Helmet

I'm absolutely thrilled to be kicking off this blog! If you missed my welcome post, you should know that every week I will be sharing a picture book and a pretend play activity to go with it. I hope this is as exciting for you as it is for me! Because we love books and imagination around here. This week, we were very excited to read Moon's First Friends by Susanna Leonard Hill, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli. This one has been on my read list since its release, and I was thrilled to finally pick up a copy. I was not at all disappointed. Moon's First Friends was a stellar telling of the Apollo 11 visit to the moon, told from the moon's perspective. It was fun and fresh, while still providing facts and history. Narrative nonfiction is pretty great, friends. The illustrations are gorgeous and you close the book feeling like you yourself have a new friend in the moon. My four year old was completely mesmerized. And of course, we had to play astronauts for days.

And a good game of astronaut needs a proper space helmet. We had a blast making these super easy helmets. All you need is a large brown paper sack, some colored paper, and these templates for the face cutout, buttons, antenna, and star. Unless of course you, unlike me, have art skills and can just freehand a great star. Then obviously, go for that!

Just download the templates, print, trace the star, antenna, and buttons onto different colors, and cut out.

Trace the large circle onto the brown paper sack and cut out.

Glue on the buttons, start, and antenna.

Blast off!

Some ideas that can expand this activity:

Build a rocket ship out of old boxes and let the kids color and design it any way they like.

Pretend that you are walking on the moon by taking long, slow steps/jumps.

Pretend to be floating in outer space.

Pretend that you are Mission Control while the kids play astronaut. You can send commands and instructions to your crew.

My girls especially loved when I pretended to be their Mission Control. We had so much fun sending them to the moon and various planets to complete different missions. My favorite was when I sent my 4 year old to Venus and she came back reporting that there is no life on Venus, and no water on Venus. So you have to buy water bottles at a vending machine for $7. haha! I sure love her imagination. And I love this simple activity and how easy it is to throw together.

So go on and pick up a copy of Moon's First Friends and blast off on a great adventure with your little ones!

Let me know about your outer space adventure in the comments below!

I'm also extending the window for our blog kick off giveaway, so just follow and retweet this post for a chance to win my entire set of Book quotes, including this fun quote from Alice In Wonderland about imagination. Enter by next Wednesday, September 18th.

Welcome to For Little Readers!

Hello! Welcome! I'm so glad that you're stopping by my little corner of the internet. Thanks so much for taking the time to drop in. For Little Readers is the blog section of my website dedicated to our young readers and their imaginations. I hope that you'll find fun and inspiration here. Each Wednesday beginning September 11, I will feature a new picture book along with a fun activity that you can easily do at home with your little readers.

I adore reading. From the first day I brought my oldest daughter home from the hospital, I read her a bedtime story. And we never stopped reading. Now we go to the library and pick up 20-30 books each week and devour them. She loves to read and it does my momma heart good to see the joy in her eyes with each new book. Truth be told, my two year old doesn't hold *quite* the same passion, but she is slowly becoming more and more interested in the stories. She is most interested in playing. Which is also incredible! I adore imaginative play. I love to see my girls become princesses, astronauts, pirates, and more... often all in a single day! And I love to get involved and play by their side. Often, we throw our two passions for books and imaginative play together and create something really special. I believe that when books and imagination meet, magic happens. And I hope to share some of that magic with you and your little readers. Please pop on by each Wednesday and see what fun things we're up to this week. Chances are, you'll discover a great new book along the way!

We'll be kicking things off on Wednesday with my first book review and activity: Moon's First Friends and a DIY Astronaut Helmet.

*GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY*

To celebrate the kick off of my blog, I'd love to offer one of you lovely first readers all twelve of my book quote printables found in my shop for FREE.

To enter, subscribe to my mailing list at the bottom of this page and retweet or share this post on Facebook. For additional entries (one entry per task completed):

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Good luck to everyone!! Giveaways runs through Tuesday, September 10th at midnight PDT.

Hi! I'm Kailei 

I write picture books and am in the process of seeking representation.

I believe in books. I believe in imaginative play. I believe in having fun, getting messy, and being silly with my kids. Thus FOR LITTLE READERS was born. I hope you'll jump into the fun with your kids and be inspired by something I share here. 

Why books? I believe that books open up a world of possibilities to young kids. In a book, anything is possible. Kids can find themselves in the pages and get completely lost in the story. The day we brought our first baby home from the hospital, we read her a bedtime story and never looked back. Now we can read for hours every day. I'll never tire of the wonder in her eyes with each new story. 

Why imaginative play? Kids need to be silly. They need to go on adventures. They need to navigate their world in a fun, safe place. I could go on and on about the benefits of imaginative play, but I'll spare you. Just know this: it's SO important in a child's development. 

I believe that when reading and imagination meet, magic happens. I hope to help you make that happen for your child.