Five Tips for Road Trips with Kids

Are you a road trip family? I must admit that the idea of an epic road trip is slightly seductive, but be that as it may I am still a reluctant road tripper. However, since road trip season officially begins this weekend we have a small road trip planned and we would be remiss in not sharing these 5 tips from Elise at 3kidsTravel that are making me feel more prepared for it!

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Five Tips for Airplane Travel with Kids

Have you ever had a flight, where you are perhaps traveling alone with a small child who is tired, and your plane is delayed for hours and said child decides that the most convenient moment for them to stop cooperating is when you have to get the two of you and your stuff half way across the airport?

Early on in my parenting days, that was me and my daughter and the situation eventually escalated to her unbuckling herself from her stroller and throwing herself on the ground kicking and screaming. It was not our finest travel moment to say the least.

Now, I am older and wiser and have friends who frequently travel with their kids. When I am getting ready for a trip I will often consult my friend Elise on the particulars, like whether or not to bring a car seat on a plane ride to Europe (depends on the age and temperament of your child), or what the latest travel gizmo is.

Elise and her family (which includes 3 girls that are ages, 2, 5, and 6) are experienced travelers to places near and far and she has got her travel system down. We sometimes joke about how she can get her family of small children through security faster than some adults traveling on their own. That requires some finesse my friends, so we asked her for her top tips on keeping it all together while traveling with young children. These tips will make your travel days easier and I wish I had had them years ago.

Text by Elise image by Tee & Penguin 

Book of the Week: Travel Themed Edition

I don't know about you, but with school almost over we have travel on the brain. We love to travel and are in full on trip planning mode so we thought we'd kick off a travel themed week over here at Tee & Penguin. We'll be sharing books, travel tips, and more, but we're starting off with our Book of the Week, or rather Books of the Week because we couldn't limit it to just one.

These are three amazingly beautiful larger format books that we absolutely love because kids can pour over the information at their leisure or flip to a specific country, state or adventure. The illustrations are fun and engaging, the content is wonderful, and they get kids excited about exploring the world around them.

one / two / three

Playing and Creating With: Katie

Today, with have with us one of those women who exudes creativity; she makes her own clothes (with her own patterns), whips out adorable outfits for her kids in an afternoon, teaches art classes, did homeschool in a way that made me ask myself if I should homeschool my children since the experiences her kids were having were so amazing, and has most recently been traveling the world with her 3 children.

Exhibit A: Katie's family on their way back from Petra

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Celebrating Birthdays: My Four Birthday Must Haves

My youngest is having a birthday in less than two weeks, so birthdays have been on my mind as I plan his first friend party. He's turning three so he actually realizes what his birthday is all about this year and has some specific requests: Mickey Mouse, a doughnut cake and bubbles. I'll have to let you know how that all comes together.

For now, you all need to know that I am a birthday person, I know not everyone is (my husband included) but I am one of those people that thinks you should be celebrated and pampered on your birthday and the day should be all about you.

I am also one of those people who loves to hear about other people's family traditions. Birthday traditions, Christmas traditions, family vacation traditions, you name it and I like to hear about it.

I love family traditions because I feel like they pull a family closer together.

Like a lot of young families, our traditions are still emerging and evolving but whether or not we opt to do a bigger friend party or a family celebration these are the 4 elements I think of as birthday "must-haves" for my family.

When I say "must haves" it's because these are 4 elements that are my go-tos year after year. To me, they are easy and they offer a good value for the money you are spending on them.

I pulled some images from my daughters birthday a couple of years ago to illustrate:

I am a big believer in fun wrapping paper, balloons and streamers, a special cake (or dessert), plus a special party hat (or tiara) for the birthday child. All things that add to the general aura of celebration but don't necessarily require a lot of effort.

On my kid's birthdays, I like to have their doorways decorated with streamers, balloons hanging down from the streamers as well, and a few balloons on the floor of their room for when they wake up in the morning just to start the day off with a bang.

I know some people think this is over the top, but the way I think of it is that I only have so many years before the magic of balloons and streamers will wear off and I want to soak up all those moments with my kids while I can.

They are going to have years and years where they can be serious and focus on serious things so why not give them this one day a year while they are young and it brings them such joy?

For this particular birthday of my daughter's we had a family party. After waking up to her birthday decorations, we had the breakfast of her choice, I gave her a cute new dress to wear for her birthday and a tiara as well, she went off to school and then when she got home we went to The American Girl Doll Bistro to have a birthday dinner. Her doll joined us of course. Then after dinner we ended the day with having some family over for cake.

What are your birthday must haves? I'd love to hear.

Book of the Week: May I Bring a Friend?

Our book of the week is May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, illustrated by Beni Montresor, and winner of the 1965 Caldecott Award.  Yes, that says 1965.  We're going straight up old school today.

But, as we all know, beautifully written and illustrated stories are timeless.  

The King and Queen

Invited me

To come to their house

On Sunday for tea

I told the Queen 

And the Queen told the Kind

I had a friend

I want to bring.

The King told the Queen

"My dear, my dear,

Any friend of our friend

Is welcome here,"

Sp I brought my friend...

The King and Queen are the most gracious hosts imaginable to each and every unexpected friend the boy brings to tea (and breakfast, and lunch, dinner, apple pie, and Halloween).  I love the rhyming text, it's playful and fun and repetitive, a wonderful story to read aloud.

We spend so much of our time looking for great new books for our children, it's nice to take a moment to appreciate some of the classics.  Do you have any favorite 'lost' classics? 

Reading With: Miranda

Friends, today we are excited to introduce you to Miranda. She reads, she blogs about reading and life in general (over at My Book Bloom) and you can also find her sharing wonderful book selections on instagram. We've always thought that readers are generally more interesting people than non-readers and Miranda continues to prove our, obviously biased, but still seemingly accurate point. We hope you enjoy the thoughts she shares as much as we did!

Getting Ready for Summer: Adventuring

Sarah shared some of her summer toy essentials last week.  I'm excited to share some of my family's summer favorites this week.  We usually split our time in the summer between California and Colorado, visiting with family and spending as much time outside as we can.

One of my favorite things to do is to with my kids during the summer is go on adventures.  These can be anywhere, on a walk around the block, at the park, at the beach, hiking.  There are things to discover everywhere. As a parent, it's part of my job to help them see the extraordinary in the routine.  It doesn't take much nudging (or often any at all), but here a few of my favorite essentials to help turn that walk around the block into an expedition.

1. This is one of my son's favorite things to tote around on our walks around the park.  Sometimes we decide in advance what we're looking for, a specific type of bug or worm or rock, and he studies the plants and grass through the magnifying glass to find it.

2.  I'm excited to introduce this to my kid's this summer and use it as a way to record and inspire new adventures.

3. My kids love to look at maps and give me directions, wherever we are or wherever we're headed, there's a good chance they have somewhere else in mind and I find the directions they give with a compass in hand have an extra air of authority.

4.  This is just a fun tool for slightly longer hikes or camping.  Compass, whistle, mirror, container, and more all in your hand.  And it's hard to go wrong with a $5 price tag.

5. No matter where you're going, hydration is important, especially in the summer heat.  This is a great pack, the perfect size for little adventurers.

6.  Every kid loves to play with these, they're a great toy at home and even more fun on hiking. It helps my little ones to see beyond where we're at and look at where we're trying to go.

7. National Geographic has some absolutely fantastic books for children.  Their "First Big Books" series is great and this is a great resource to turn to before heading out to catch or study bugs.

8. And why limit your adventures to the day time?  Night hiking or camping, headlamps are essential gear for young ones out past the sun.

Book of the Week: Roxaboxen

Our Book of the Week encompasses so many things that I want for my children that seem increasingly difficult to provide in this modern day and age.

I want them to have a group of friends that they can remember fondly, who they go on adventures with,  of the imaginary and actual sort.  I want them to have a place to play that they can call their own, and I want them to be able to use their imaginations to create magical worlds.

Roxaboxen is a book that let's them know all these things are possible. 

In Roxaboxen we get a peek into the world that a group of children create from rocks, pebbles and old wooden boxes. Horses are made of sticks, dishes come from bits of pottery, and their money is in the form of pebbles so that everyone has plenty. 

Barbara Cooney illustrates these scenes beautifully, the colors capture this dreamy world perfectly.

The true magic of this book is that it encapsulates the ephemeral moments of childhood.  

In a note at the end of the book we are told that the events in this book really happened, to Alice McLerran's mother. Alice says of this book that it is, "a celebration of the active imagination, of the ability of children to create, even with the most unpromising materials, a world of fantasy so real and multidimensional that it earns a lasting place in memory."

A beautiful book with a beautiful message.

More from Barbara Cooney:

Miss Rumphius
Ox-Cart Man
Chanticleer and the Fox

Learning With the Librarian

It's a hard to imagine a world without public libraries.  Franklin, Massachusetts claims to be America's first public library, established in 1790 with a collection gifted to the town by Benjamin Franklin. They asked for a bell but Franklin decided that "sense" was preferable to "sound" and responded with an offer of books instead.  It was the start of a very, very good thing.

Our Learning With series this week is dedicated to learning a little bit more about the children's section of the library.  I hope each of our readers has access to a public library as amazing as I do.  In addition to a fantastic selection of children's books, our library plans great events, offers specialized programs, book clubs, prizes and so much more.  The managing librarian for children's section at our local library,  Lucy Salvado, graciously shared some of her insights with us today.

What is your background/education?

I have a Masters in Library and Information Science

What are 10 of your favorite picture books for children? 

It is difficult to narrow it down to only 10. There are so many picture books I love for different reasons – some are great to read aloud, some are great to cuddle with your child, some are fun and some are classics. If I could only choose 10, it would have to be:

The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend (This is a great story to read aloud and make voices for each character.)

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Bark George by Jules Feiffer

Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley

My Lucky Day Keiko Kasza

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

Everyone Loves Bacon by Kelly DiPucchio

Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland

Mo Willems Books (Elephant and Piggie Books)

What is your process for adding to the children’s library collection- do you have specific criteria?  How often do you add new books to the library?

We have a collection development policy that basically says the library is a forum for information and ideas. It provides book and non-book materials that contribute to the cultural, education, and recreational enrichment of the community The primary goal is to provide the best possible collection. The decision to select an item is based on demand, anticipated need, and the effort to maintain a wide and balanced collection. Staff reads professional reviews and decides if the book would be appropriate for our library. Books are ordered regularly. On average, we add about 300-500 books a month to the children’s collection. That includes everything – board books, picture books, readers, fiction, non-fiction, audio books, playaways, music CDs, e-books, magazines, and paperbacks.  

How long of a shelf life do library books usually have?  How do you decide when the library is done with a book and needs the shelf space for something else?

There isn’t a magic number as to how long a book may last in the library. It depends on how popular the book is and the quality of the book. Some books are very popular and can be a part of the library’s collection for many years. Other books are so popular, we need to reorder copies because the books fall apart. Sometimes books aren’t as popular so after about 2 years, we give them to the Friends of the Library. They sell them in their Book Corner, a used book store then the Friends fund children’s events and special programs. The majority of our fiction collection (picture books, readers, and chapter books) have all checked out in last year.

Is there a process for parents/patrons to request specific books to be added to the collection?

Library patrons may make a request for the purchase of a title. Each requested item will be considered in terms of its value to the collection and the audience for whom it is intended.  

What are some library resources for children that are underused or that you wish parents were more aware of?

Reading is such an essential element of a child’s life and libraries are valuable assets. The Yorba Linda Public Library promotes a love of reading by providing a wealth of good books and the highest quality children’s programs. The library places emphasis on lifelong learning for all ages and specialized programming that encourages reading and the pursuit of knowledge. On average, we have over 1,000 people who visit the Yorba Linda Public Library a day so we are definitely not underused but there are so many parents who don’t know all the wonderful things the library has to offer. We have specialized programs for infants through adults. We provide big events including a sleepover at the library for 100 kids and parents. Star Wars characters visit the library every May for our Star Wars event. (This year, Star Wars Event will be on May 21.) We have reading clubs where kids can earn prizes for reading. One of our big raffle prizes is an iPad. We offer e-books and online services including homework help so if a student is stuck doing a math problem that he may not understand, he can connect to an online tutor to get assistance and the best part about it, is that it is free to use. If I had one wish, it would be for every parent and child to visit their library regularly so they could take advantage of the opportunities to bond with one another while sharing stories and activities that stimulate social, emotional and intellectual growth.  

Is there any specific library etiquette that you wish parents would work a little harder at teaching their children?

Libraries are not as quiet as they used to be. There are students reading, doing homework, socializing, using the computers. They are great places to explore and make new friends. I would say, it is important to just be respectful.

I hope this inspires everyone to take a moment and explore some of the hidden resources offered at your local library- or maybe just thank a librarian for all the hard work that goes into curating their collection and engaging the community.

Book of the Week: Me... Jane

Patrick McDonnell's Me...Jane is an absolutely inspiring picture book.  Not only is it beautifully illustrated, a 2012 Caldecott Honor book, and engaging, it tells the amazing and true story of Dr. Jane Goodall and the start of her life dedicated to environmental conservatism.