All things FALL!!!

Oh Fall, beautiful Fall! You are my FAVORITE season! I know Fall is here when the air starts to get a little breezy and chilly, or when I start wearing a jacket or sweatshirt, or even when I suddenly start wanting some warm apple cider or hot cocoa. I love sitting around a campfire singing or roasting marshmallows with those I love dear. I love going on hay-rides and carving pumpkins! One of the things I love to do year round and not just in the Fall, is reading with my boys. This fall, I have bought some new Fall books that I cannot wait to read with them. I'm also excited to sit together with a flashlight and shine it on the pages of "The Secrets of the Apple Tree" and see what hidden wonders are revealed when we shine a light on it, as we learn all about the apple tree! We also just found a BIG toad tonight that has now become our pet, at least for the time being (eeek) and his name is Croaky. My 4 year old keeps thinking it is a frog, so now I am excited to read our book we have tomorrow with him that talks all about frogs, toads and tadpoles and the differences and similarities!

HOWEVER, when my husband thinks about Fall he thinks about football...so for all you FOOTBALL loving fans out there, here are some JUST for you!

 
 One more thing I wanted to share concerning Fall is actually a great, simple article I found on helping your kids "FALL" (ha ha get it) in love with reading! I am a BIG advocate for helping kids fall in love with reading MORE than just making sure they are top notch readers that can read 8 grades above their reading level. (Ok maybe that is exaggerating but seriously, I have had some parents that have said similar things). While it's great if our children can read wonderful and even a bit above their level, I also think if they get too far above their reading level, its just not going to be as fun of a read for them and more than likely, will be too mature for them also. So why not just let your kids have fun and fall in love with reading first! The rest will eventually come! :) 5 ways to help your child fall in love with reading!

At the end of the article, they shared their top 5 favorite kids books so I wanted to do the same! Here are my top 5 favorites right now that I LOVE reading with my boys!

1. Dan the Taxi man - Oh how I love this book. We really get into it and I almost sing it. We make noises and motions for each instrument too!


2. Big book of Little stories - This is a new title and a NEW favorite in our household. Isaac wants me to keep reading story after story. There are 15 stories combined in this one volume. Many new and old classics with beautiful and captivating illustrations!

3. Secrets of the Apple Tree - Our Shine a Light series is amazing and we LOVE shining a flashlight or our phone behind each page to reveal the hidden wonder. There is also a seashore one and a Rainforest one coming soon!

4. Look Inside the Airport - This book is so much fun! I got it for my boys this summer when I knew I was going to be flying on an airplane, so that daddy could read it with them while I was gone. Since then, my preschooler has also taken it in for show in tell when it was the letter A week! It has flaps that lift up and help explain every single aspect of an airport and what happens there!

5. Muddle and Match Adventure - I love this book! There is also a girl version called Imagine. Each page is a thick board book type page that is split up in three sections so you can mix and match the pages and either read along with each page as it is and learn all about each character or you can mix up the pages to make funny different characters and plots for the story!

Make READING Fun for your kids!

So many times we focus so much on making sure our kids learn how to read and become masters at it that we forget that FIRST we need to make them fall in love with reading. If you want to have a child that not only learns how to read well but reads FOR LIFE, you MUST....I repeat you must FIRST focus on helping them FALL IN LOVE with books and help them realize how fun reading can be!

Here are some tips:

• Pick a time to read during the DAY also, not just at bed time. Bed time reading is great and recommended. However, if you only ever read at bedtime your child will think reading is only for bedtime AND if they go through a stage where they do not like bedtime, they could also start to think negatively about reading since it comes right before bed time. So they think every time they have to read a book, that they have to go to bed next. So I encourage you to pick a time during the late morning (not right before nap time) and spend 15 minutes reading books together with your children.
• Your children are never too old to be read too! What happens between kindergarten and 4th grade where kids go from loving to read at home to not wanting to read anymore when they don't have to for school? What happens is when they start to learn how to read well themselves, we the parents think we don't need to read anymore with them and we send them off to read by themselves. Well, then that becomes HOMEWORK to them and not fun, quality time with mom/dad anymore. So even if you have a child in chapter books, pick a more challenging one that is a little harder for them and read that one together with them or encourage your older ones to help you read to your younger ones as a family activity. 
• Make a cute black and white page with lots of stars on it and have them color in a star for every 20 minutes that they read or are read to. They LOVE seeing a visual of their accomplishment and getting to color it in.
• Point out illustrations and ask them to tell you what is happening in the story just by looking at the illustrations. Make different voices for the characters and vary the tone of your voice to help make it more interesting for them to listen to. 
• Follow their lead! If they are into fairies or dinosaurs, pirates or princesses, find books that interest them!
• Keeps books in baskets throughout the house and make shelves (rain gutter shelves) where the book covers are facing out so the children can see what the book is and get excited about which one they want to choose!
• Create a fun reading NOOK area for your children. It doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive. Here is a picture below with some tips on creating a nice reading nook for your children at home.

It's a NEW month woohoo!

It's a NEW month with NEW HOSTESS SPECIALS, CUSTOMER SPECIALS AND CONSULTANT KIT! I LOVE the customer specials this month! Great hostess deals too...$50 extra FREE and I'm giving ALL my AUGUST hostesses the brand new Start to Read pack ($39.99) for $15! (Pictured below) Message me your party date today for an extra $20 on top of everything else! TODAY ONLY! To learn more about hostessing or joining, check out the pages click on the category link bar above!

Summer Travel!

Over the Summer, it is always so much fun to travel and go on a big vacation or even just a little weekend getaway or stay cation. No matter what you decide this Summer, one thing that is always a fact is you will be traveling by car, plane or some other type of transportation! Did you know that when they tested the gamma brain waves of children, sure enough when they were watching TV their brain waves were literally in a vegetative state. When the children were reading their brain waves went up significantly higher but you want to hear something AMAZING, when the children were doing some sort of activity like drawing, doodling or coloring their brain waves were even higher then when reading! CRAZY RIGHT!

Well here at Usborne Books & More, they realize that and they have made so many types of travel, activity, doodling, coloring, sticker and more books to help with this!

These activity books are engaging, fun, colorful and can bring your child hours of enjoyable and quiet entertainment while they are flying or in a car, or possibly at a siblings game or practice or even at church.

To shop all of our activity books click here: Activity books!