Book Pick of the Week: Easy and Fun Paint Magic with Water

You can read it, you can paint in it!

A new children's activity book series called Easy and Fun Paint Magic with Water. In this series, just add water! These books provide a fun and mess-free painting activity. Using the provided paintbrush, simply wet with water and watch the colors magically appear on each black-and-white illustration within this kid's painting book as it comes to life.

There are four books in this series: Animals, Dinosaurs, Fairies and Friends, and Unicorns and Friends.

These would make lovely Easter basket gifts. Looking forward to checking them all out!

Here are two of the offerings:

https://bookshop.org/books/easy-and-fun-paint-magic-with-water-animals/9781641241724

https://bookshop.org/books/easy-and-fun-paint-magic-with-water-dinosaurs/9781641241731

A fun (and mess-free!) painting activity book for kids ages 3-6, Easy and Fun Paint Magic with Water: Animals features 12 simple and whimsical line art designs of awesome animals, from giraffes and kangaroos to iguanas, monkeys, camels, and more. Using the provided paintbrush, simply wet with water and watch the colors magically appear on each black-and-white illustration as it comes to life! With a stiff cardboard backing to prevent unwanted leaks, parents can rest assured while their children paint and have a blast using water to create stunning works of animal art! Each page within this kid's painting book comes with perforated edges so finished artwork can be easily removed and put on display.

Kindle Pick of the Week: Building Happier Kids

Between the frantic pace of pre-pandemic life and the isolation and screen-time overload of 2020, many kids are suffering from stress and other mental health issues. In Building Happier Kids, pediatrician Hansa Bhargava helps parents understand the impact of stress and shares concrete steps parents can take to reduce the pressure on their children and teens and increase their health and happiness. Dr. Bhargava prescribes taking a step back from today's non-stop pace and focusing on the basics of healthy eating, quality sleep, and unscheduled free time. Extracurricular commitments, homework, and ever-present electronic devices can make this seem easier said than done, but Dr. Bhargava offers realistic, balanced advice that will help prioritize health and restore the happiness of childhood.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSW9DL7/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Kindle Pick of the Week: When the World Stays Inside

In March 2020, the whole world retreated indoors, inspiring children’s book author Mikey Woz to create something to help kids everywhere find the silver lining.

The result, When the World Stays Inside, is a refreshingly positive, whimsical book that reminds us all of the importance of finding beauty in the seemingly mundane and uncovering the bright side of any situation.

Using clever, Seussian-style rhymes, When the World Stays Inside aims to empower children through gentle prompts that encourage them to be creative, move their bodies and find new ways to play when the weather or other external force causes them to stay indoors.

“Now and then there are times when the world must stay in. It might be the rain, or the snow, or the wind,” he writes.

Woz teamed up with illustrator and graphic designer Sara Panchaud to bring playful creatures and imaginative illustrations to life, creating a colorful world filled with friendly characters that children around the globe can relate to.                        

When the World Stays Inside may be a children’s book, but there’s a powerful message here for all ages: our moments at home needn’t be meaningless or idle. In fact, our time together is priceless and can help us all learn, grow and change for the better.

Mikey Woz is a first-time children's author based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where he lives with his wife and puppy. In his hometown, he also owns a floating pizza restaurant and helps small businesses with their local marketing. He loves trying new things and bringing fresh ideas to life, so when COVID-19 struck, he felt compelled to write a story that would speak to families all across the world. Woz hopes that people will remember this global event for the precious time it provided us to spend with the people we love. A portion of all sales will be donated to Children’s Wish Foundation to help kids live their dreams when the world returns to normal.

Sara Panchaud is a full-time designer and illustrator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Originally from Kitchener, Ontario, Sara moved out to the East Coast six years ago and has called it home ever since. She spends her spare time making earrings out of clay, finding new trails to hike and cooking for her friends. Sara's hope for When the World Stays Inside is that it will remind people that there is always an optimistic view to every situation, and that it may help those embrace the power of their imagination to help them through difficult times. When the World Stays Inside is her first picture book.

For more information, please visit www.whentheworldstaysinside.com.

Get in in the Kindle Store here: https://www.amazon.com/When-World-Stays-Inside-Mikey-ebook/dp/B089M92MNV/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1596978075&sr=1-1-catcorr

New Government Exercise Guidelines

For the first time since 2008, the federal government has updated its physical activity recommendations.

Link:

https://www.ketv.com/article/new-guidelines-for-children-and-fitness-starting-with-age-3/25027081

School-aged kids should get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day, while preschoolers need around three hours per day, according to the guidelines.

Adults need 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week.

Crowfunding Corner: Square Panda 2.0

Dedicated to improving the all-important literacy development process of young children, Square Panda, (https://squarepanda.com/), has introduced the second generation of its award-winning phonics system featuring a new meta-app learning adventure, SquareLand, and the new Square Panda Phonics Playset 2.0.

 

SquareLand is an exploratory adventure through a world of play where two primary characters, Panda and Cameo, guide children step-by-step through adaptive reading curriculum. Children explore worlds of learning as their fun friends help them learn letters, letter sounds, decode written words and develop skills in oral expression. With SquareLand, children experience playtime within a multisensory environment while learning valuable skills, such as letter-sound association, spelling, rhyming, word construction, and comprehension—with every child placed on an adaptive path and progressing at his or her own pace. A stream of cloud-based SquareLand content, developed by the Square Panda team in three international offices, is continuously expanding the learning experience. Accompanying the launch of SquareLand is the new Square Panda Phonics Playset 2.0, which supports the multisensory UI. The new playset is iPad and Android tablet compatible, with a library of free learning games available through the App store and Google Play.

According to Square Panda CEO and Co-Founder Andy Butler, SquareLand builds on Square Panda’s mission of empowering all children with the self-confidence gained through early fluency. “We are passionate about fixing the literacy problem because reading is about more than just reading, it’s about self-esteem,” said Butler. “Unfortunately, the ability to read is the first measure our society applies in judging a child’s potential, and the first step in fixing this is to realize that, especially for young learners, one size does not fit all. Square Panda personalizes the learning experience in real time to maximize both education and enjoyment.”

Butler was inspired to found Square Panda by his journey to find resources for his daughter, who has dyslexia. He discovered that most children, not only those struggling with dyslexia, need support when learning to read and that early intervention is essential.

Every child faces the critical task of moving from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” by the third grade. According to a 2016 U.S. Department of Education study, 64 percent of fourth graders in the U.S. perform below proficiency levels in reading. Incorporating the latest neurological research of unique circuitry development within young brains, SquareLand’s  personalized, data-centric system customizes the learning experience for each child, helping them master reading efficiently and painlessly. The Square Panda Parent portal lets users track their child’s progress and provides real-time analytics that identify areas of difficulty and next steps.


SquareLand and the Square Panda Phonics Playset 2.0 support early readers in multiple ways:

And as with most crowdfunding campaigns, there are different levels of pledges.

●       A unique land of educational play keeps children engaged through a world of games while collecting real-time data.

●       Interactive gameplay and engaging characters support increased attention and focus, including for children with learning differences.

●       Adaptive learning supports each child’s learning patterns and reinforces the curriculum in a playful way.

●       Multisensory play with Square Panda’s Smart Letters, which children touch, feel, and place on the playset. Preliminary results show 40 percent reduction in screen time while playing Square Panda multisensory games compared to digital only games.

●       Personalization customizes the experience to optimize learning.

●       Free downloadable games keep early readers in the optimal learning zone, challenged but not overwhelmed.

●       Built-in rest periods reduce any frustration or meltdowns.

●       Data collection and analytics keep track of progress and customize the games based on each child’s learning experience.

 Square Panda has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the SquareLand and the Phonics Playset 2.0.

The Square Panda™ team of parents, educators, professors of cognitive neuroscience, and game designers focuses on the development of language and literacy skills and solving the literacy problem. Square Panda is committed to helping children worldwide across skill sets and socioeconomic backgrounds learn to read, write, and communicate, with an adaptive system that creates a joyful learning experience based on innovative teaching practices. Please visit the Square Panda website for more information, https://squarepanda.com/.