A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Colorado Springs PBS Kids Fun Fest at Acacia Park

Posted on June 13, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Hundreds of happy children and their parents turned out for the Southern Colorado Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest on Saturday, June 11^th at Acacia Park in downtown Colorado Springs.

With music and entertainment on the bandstand and Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George in costume, Acacia Park came alive. It was also the official opening of the Uncle Wilbur Fountain that many children enjoy during the hot summer days.

I was thrilled to be partnering with PBS and even before the event got underway, early visitors stopped by to check out the SHOW ME HOW table. Almost 70 parents filled out an entry for the free craft supply kit…and the winner is…Dawn!!! I’ll be emailing her today to let her know she is the lucky winner!

Many of the participants at the Fun Fest offered activities for the children…at the Show Me How! table, we were crafting Curious George paper plate faces and Clifford the Big Red Dog headbands with doggy ears. Easy enough for a very young child to do and so much fun…using inexpensive materials that parents already have around the house…paper, crayons or markers, a paper plate, scissors and glue. Hundreds of happy children walked away proudly wearing their Clifford headbands and waving their Curious George paper plate faces.

It was amazing to see how much the children enjoyed these simple art activities. Even though my book is geared for children ages 2 to 5, many of the older children sat down and eagerly began decorating their headbands or paper plate faces. Just because the headband was for Clifford the Big Red Dog didn’t mean that the children had to color it red. In fact, there were many rainbow headbands and others with detailed designs. One child decided that his Curious George paper plate face needed to be a frog instead of a monkey and so he used green markers to color it in. Hurray for the uniqueness of every child!!!!

I was so happy to see the parents participating with their children because that’s what Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking is all about! The book is a road map for parents and teachers…open it to any page and you will find a picture book suggestion with summary and a simple craft project and an easy recipe.

Are you overwhelmed and tired at the end of the day? I know I was when my children were small. I would have loved to have a resource like Show Me How! In fact, that’s why I wrote the book, because I realized that many parents have so much on their plate these days, they often don’t have the time or the energy to plan fun-filled educational self-esteem-building activities for their little ones.

Please head over to my website where you can purchase a copy of this amazing award-winning book for only $22.50…that’s a 50% saving off the cover price! You can’t get much for under $25 these days when it comes to gifts and Father’s Day is right around the corner. Chris Singer @bookdads is doing a tribute to fathers and I did a guest post on his blog. You’ll have fresh ideas for the whole summer and beyond! And here’s a BONUS: if you purchase a copy from my website during the next 14 days, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free craft supply kit for your preschooler…safety scissors, glue stick, construction paper, and more!

I’d also like to remind anyone who is local to the Colorado Springs/Monument Colorado area that next Saturday, June 18^th from 11am to 2pm there will be a town-wide festival for children called the Summer Soul-Stice. I’ll be at the Covered Treasures Bookstore, crafting with children. There was an announcement in the Denver Post and other local papers about it…so I’m hoping there will be a big turnout! Please stop by and say hello.

Dollar Store Madness: Where’s Miss Vivian?

Posted on May 21, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Ad for St. Joachim Dollar Store, Boston. From:...

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I took the day off from work today.

I had several vacation days left that needed to be used before May 22.

I thought about turning over and going back to sleep, but then I would feel that I had “wasted” the day.

One of the most important things on my to-do list was to get over to one of our local dollars store to grab some stuff for the upcoming Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest on June 11.

The dollar stores are a take-off on the old discount stores like Woolworth’s 5 & 10 and John’s Bargain Stores. I remember fondly many afternoons spent combing the aisles in John’s Bargain Stores in New York City as a young girl…colorful scarves, pencils with fancy erasers, costume jewelry and more!

A plastic tablecloth and items for the bag of craft supplies giveaway were on the top of the list. After walking up and down the aisles several times and asking one of the women who worked there, I came away with 3 bags of stuff, most of which wasn’t on my list. Dollar stores are like that. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a lime green tablecloth, so I settled for red…but now that I think about it, I should have chosen the yellow. And they didn’t have the glue sticks or safety scissors they had last time. So I will probably have to go back tomorrow or head over to a different dollar store location to see if their shelves have what I need.

Do you shop at dollar stores? Are we really getting a bargain or does it just feel that way because everything is a dollar? I don’t know…maybe the same item is 50 cents at a regular store. 🙂

I wanted to pass along a wonderful post by blogger Kathryn of Kid Culture. She writes about a topic near and dear to my heart: Self-Esteem and Respecting Others and gives parents some great tips.

We all want our children to grow up with a positive self-image. There are many things we can do to ensure that…one of the most important is to spend positive time with them. Open Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking to any page and you will find a summary of a great picture book to read to your preschooler, a gentle parenting tip to help you use the story to build self-esteem, an easy eco-friendly craft and a simple healthful cooking activity. This great resource can definitely be a life-saver for busy parents. Grab a copy during our half-price sale and you will be ready for the long hot summer days!

Making Memories With Your Children: Summer Craft Activities

Posted on May 14, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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I was in Chicago last weekend for Mother’s Day with my son and daughter-in-law. I also had an opportunity to visit with my sister and her sons and their families.

One evening, we all got together at a fantastic BBQ, hosted by my nephew and his wife. We all had a great time…the food was not only delicious, but healthful as well…kudos to Dave and Rebecca!

After dinner, we sat down to look at the old photo albums my sister had brought. As we turned the pages and my son and his cousin (both in their 30’s) exclaimed over each picture, I realized how important the pictures were…they reminded these grown men of the children they had been and the activities they had been involved in when they were young.

Summer is just around the corner…I know many parents are wondering how they will fill the long hot days with their children.

Of course, there are various solutions to this problem:

Put them in some kind of day camp…might be costly.
Sit them in front of the TV…how many cartoons do you really want them to watch?
Send them to someone else’s house…don’t you want to be the one they get their values and information from?

What is my solution to the problem of young children home for the summer?

READING…CRAFTING…COOKING!

Young children are always eager to hear a good picture book story.

Young children love arts and crafts.

Young children enjoy helping in the kitchen.

If you buy a copy of my book that is FILLED with picture book suggestions and summaries, easy arts and crafts activities and simple healthful recipes, you will be prepared for the long hot summer days ahead.

For starters, here’s a great idea that comes from Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking. It will help capture those memories for your child as you create a photo album together.

AN ALBUM OF ME

You will need: A small blank photo album, a selection of photos of your child at different stages of his or her life, self-stick labels and a fine point marker.

1. With your child, go through some of the pictures that you have of him from birth to the present…and let him choose several to include in his own album. Make copies if you want to keep the originals in the family album.

2. Help your child insert each photo and then write a description (with his input) on a label or small strip of paper and press or glue it on the bottom of each page.

3. Listen to your child while he turns the pages of his album and tells you the story of his life.

4. Important tip: keep a camera handy…you never know when a photo opportunity arises.

Activities like this help:

build your child’s self-esteem!
develop pre-reading skills!
create a life-long parent-child bond!
keep your child busy in a constructive positive fun-filled way that will be fun for you also!