Showing posts with label kids books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids books. Show all posts

Jul 19, 2018

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle - Kids Book Review

Image result for very hungry caterpillar

Read on this kids book review of the bestseller The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle


Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Author: Eric Carle
Distributor: Puffin Books
Age in yrs : 1.5+
Recommendation : Strong 


The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of the most illustrative and informative books for children between the age group of 1 to 5 years. The book is basically the story of a caterpillar dissecting the pangs and toils of its life. The language of the book is very simple. This has been especially done so that the children are encouraged to read the book themselves. With its extensive illustrations, the book also provides a lot of information to the children and at the same time persuades them to think and answer some questions; like the number of days in a week or naming food items or stating the stages of evolution of a caterpillar.



Fact and Fiction Balanced Well

The author has given away some really interesting facts in the book in an easy manner which is why the knowledge becomes readily available to the children and they rather take it as obvious facts. While doing so, however, the author has not indulged in scientific facts that become boring after a point and has also emphasized on the fictional things that might amuse the children. Furthermore, the book very accurately states the metamorphosis process which has been endorsed by the Royal Entomological Society.

Timeless Classic for Children

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of the best timeless classics for children because the book and the story was initially published in 1969, but over the course of 40 years, the book still hasn’t lost its charm and continues to mesmerize young readers from around the globe. The simple story of a caterpillar’s transformation into a beautiful butterfly has become widely popular because of its scientific approach.

Eric Carle’s books have an uncommon place in everyone’s heart. The way he makes his representations makes them so bright and engaging all. This Very Hungry Caterpillar book has holes through its pages and it worked extremely well with kids as they like putting their fingers in things.





It is a very cute charming tale about growing up – development of a caterpillar from egg to butterfly and in the meantime it’s very educational for younger children because the main character has to overcome his ravenous appetite, so ends up eating a lot.



In this procedure youngsters can learn to count, explore different fruits, hues and find out about caterpillars transform into butterflies.

It also gives a good introduction to days of the week and some food vocabulary.






In this book we discover that caterpillars, similar to people, appreciate eating junk food and fall sick, so we can likewise make a point to kids about adhering to a good diet as the caterpillar feels better after eating leaves(good diet).

Book Review by Vaishnavi YelchurRead all reviews by Vaishnavi HERE.


This post first appeared on Moppets Wiki



Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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Postman Bear By Julia Donaldson - Kids Book Review

Image result for postman bear

Read on this kids book review of the book Postman Bear from the celebrated author Julia Donaldson. 

Book: Postman Bear
Author: Julia Donaldson
Age in yrs : 1.5+
Recommendation : Strong





‘Postman Bear’ is a dazzling story of woodland friends receiving a very special letter.

This story with a well-known setting utilizes rhyme to superbly add fluency and is based around a little Bear in bright red midsection coat composing and delivering letters to three of his companions. Set in a woodland, the pursuer is able to follow the Bear as he goes to different areas to post these letters and kids are able to count and ensure that each one is delivered, as well as encouraged to make guesses as to who is behind each front door and eventually what exactly could be written in the letters. Toward the finish of the book the Bear prepares for the birthday party heating a cake lastly respects all his friends at the entryway.




The story offers a few open doors for youngsters to conclude, construe and translate information both with the inquiries asked inside the book, for example, ‘Who’s behind this entryway?’ and the splendid illustrations in this story additionally gives much possibility for guardians to make inquiries and incite kids to expand upon such abilities fundamental to reading.



On the whole ‘Postman Bear’ is a brilliant read for youthful readers to expand upon their phonics abilities.The magnificent illustrations using interactive flaps to reveal extra information drive fun, surprise and fabricate early perception and comprehension for moppets.




Book Review by Vaishnavi Yelchur. Read all reviews by Vaishnavi HERE.

This post first appeared on Moppets Wiki


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


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May 15, 2018

Painting Space Nebula Using Soft Pastels - Art Tutorial For Kids


Ever wondered to introduce a new art medium to your kids other than crayons, water colors, acrylics etc? Here is a quick tutorial on painting a Nebula in space using Soft Pastels for kids. 


We do a lot of arts in our Homeschool! We have a Montessori Inspired arts corner set up for my 3 year old and he is free to access any art supplies.


We do unstructured as well as guided/structured art and the pics of our artworks are spread all over my phone. Not every art activity go on to this blog. You might see many art posts on my Instagram & Facebook accounts.

This is our latest guided art work using soft pastels from Kokuyo Camlin. We tried to recreate a nebula from Natgeo book of space for kids. 

Here are our resources that we used in this project

Soft Pastels, Natgeo Book of Space, Black Paper, Sponge for smudging, White Acrylic Paint, Old Tooth Brush. You can go for any of the variants of soft pastels as mentioned below. It is suggested to use a fixative spray on top of your soft pastels art work so that it remains intact. 





My son chose this picture to paint. 



This is our first attempt using soft pastels. We got inspiration of such artwork from @acraftedchildhood on Instagram. Thanks momma!

My 3 year old son basically used soft pastels on a black chart paper as per the colors seen in the nebula. He did couple of layers.







This is what it looked after a bunch of colors he did.






Then he smudged the colors using sponge when done.



He again layered with red soft pastel with its entire length on to the paper to get a wider & smooth stroke.






And then he sprayed white acrylic paint to recreate stars.



Here is the final version.




How do you like it? Hubby said the painting looks better than the original image, yes he is biased because it's done by our son!




Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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May 12, 2018

Ranganna (Tulika Publications) - Kids Book Review


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Read on this kids book review of the book Ranganna from Tulika Publishers. 

Book: Ranganna
Creator: Arthi Anand Navaneeth
Distributer: Tulika Books
Age in yrs : 4+
Recommendation : Strong


Ranganna, a fascinating book for moppets who loves to paint their nails.



It is a book about a blue child elephant named “Ranganna” who lives close to a dhobi ghat.


The elephant is exceptionally enraptured of the hues around him. He goes insane over the shades of garments spread over the ghat for drying, shades of the blossoms, rainbow colors etc. This little elephant had two little companions called Anushka and Aditi. One day when his companions came to offer him food, he saw the dazzling hues on their nails and opened up about his desire to get his nails shaded. Ranganna’s companions begun giggling saying never knew about an elephant wearing nail clean. Still Anushka and Aditi did not need their friend to get frustrated, they began tallying elephant toes with the goal that they can bring an alternate shading for each nail as Ranganna wished. At the point when the elephant nails are painted with nail hues, the Ranganna was overwhelmed with euphoria and did his most loved elephant dance imparting the joy of nail hues to every one of his companions in the ghat.

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We can utilize this book to present hues, fundamental counting and elephant dance to moppets.

Book Review by Vaishnavi Yelchur. Read all reviews by Vaishnavi HERE.

This post first appeared on Moppets Wiki


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook groupTwitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!



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May 7, 2018

Women Who Inspire - Swathi From The Bookmark - Interview Series

women who inspire interview series swathi the bookmark

I'm so excited to present this interview series for all you lovely readers of my blog. This series - "Women Who Inspire" features interviews of some lovely ladies that I know. I love what they do & I admire them a lot. I thought of passing some inspiration to all of you too! This interview series will give you a little sneak peek into the lives of these women.


Today, let us hear from Swathi (S) who is the founder of The BookMark.

Swathi , a crazy wife, mom of a little champ Athilan and an entrepreneur by profession. She holds a post graduate degree in Software Engineering & worked in a college as an Assistant Professor and then took a break for her kid. When she felt how important is the parenting journey and how important is the physical and psychic development of a child, she decided to take a break in her teaching career and started spending more time with her son. And soon after this, THE BOOKMARK was born!




The Bookmark is her children's bookstore that has a wide genre of curated collections from Indian publishers and imported books for all age groups. She is also specialized in setting up libraries for schools and for public. The store also stocks educational toys for kids.


Social Connects



You can check out all the interviews in this "Women Who Inspire" series HERE.

K : Think back to five years ago. Did you envision this is where you would be?

S : When I think of myself five years back, I would have never imagined I would be an entrepreneur in my life.. At that time, I was working in a reputed college as a professor.. All I had in my mind was to fly off to a place to complete my doctorate, return back and work in a college.. But sudden plans of my marriage and birth of my son, the change of location made me leave my job with a drastic shift in my career, from teaching profession to an entrepreneur.



K : What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture? How did the idea for your business come about?

S : “The Bookmark” is not merely a name but it is the story of a young parent whose journey into the world of books started with her six months old son. When I felt how important is the parenting journey and how important is the physical and psychic development of a child, I decided to take a break in my teaching career and started spending more time with my son. I strongly believe in early reading for kids and while searching for books for my son I couldn’t find the right choice for my kid. I realized I can help other parents too for the same and my passion to do a business let me to start this. My search also made me realize there is a strong deficit of books on Indian folktales and culture. One thing led to another and the rest is history which resulted in a online and offline store. This became a medium for me to spread the joy of reading and also my love for the print medium – the smell of books and feeling those pages in my hand.




K : How did you learn to embrace failure?

S : I believe in these words -“If you’re never failed, you haven’t tried anything new" by Albert Einstein. My perspective of failure has changed totally after being an entrepreneur. I believe that no one else can have 100% control of everything happening. Failure is a temporary obstacle. Learn from it with a correct attitude. Making the significant change, taking the responsibility, learning from mistakes and making corrections will definitely change failure to be a successful one.


K : How many hours do you work a day on average?

: Its really a very tough question to answer which varies between 2 to 24 hours. Working time of an entrepreneur can never be easily measured. There has never been a day which could be predicted. Still being an entrepreneur gives me the option to decide my working times too.




K : What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

S : 1. Disciplined and embracing goals and objectives that I have established and set up to inspire myself .
2. The ultimate desire to achieve
3. Love I have for my family keeps driving me out of the bed everyday


K : What has been your most satisfying moment in business?

S : Every time when I see the happiness in parents for bringing up the joy of reading and bonding with their kids through awesome books from “The Bookmark”


K : How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?

: Running a business requires a lot of time, effort and commitment which is more at the initial stages when you cannot afford many employees. When a person becomes an entrepreneur, the personal life gets a little blur. I keep on thinking of the business even when I’m away from my work place. I remain answerable to the calls and the emails as I remain the boss and those can’t be done by anyone else. Holding all positions as a mom, wife and an entrepreneur is a challenging task at many times. There are times where I felt my focus is more on business than kid and family and vice versa but at the end the belief that everything is getting balanced gives you a confident feel and satisfaction to work happily.


K : What sacrifices have you made to be a successful entrepreneur?

S : Time - The biggest sacrifice! I know how most of the times I juggle being a mother, a wife and an entrepreneur. Its not about having enough time. Its about making use of the time effectively becomes very important now.

Social life & relationships - Being overloaded with work and schedules, it becomes very tough you know.

Sleep - No matter how productive I am, still there are days I have to work extra hours at night. One other sacrifice I do sometimes to complete the task of the day. I have been called as night owl.

Quiet “me” times and quitting hobbies - Most of the days are always been completely scheduled and tightly packed with one and another. Most of the time I rush around everything to keep everything in track and monitored.



K : Where you see yourself and your business in 10 years? 20 years?

S : All I believe is that people for sure to associate “The Bookmark” as a synonym for great children's bookstore and I stand with the happiness of spreading the joy of reading to the kids.


K : In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur

S : Happy. Busy. Contented



Thank you so much Swathi for taking out time for this chit chat & I sense all the hard work that is going into the working of The Bookmark store! It was a wonderful talk session and I wish you good health, peace, happiness & success in your venture!

You can check out all the interviews in this "Women Who Inspire" series HERE.


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook groupTwitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!

Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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May 4, 2018

An Ultimate Guide To Encourage Young Kids To Read & Fall In Love With Books (VLOG)

how to make kids fall in love with reading books encourage children read readers

How To Make Kids Fall In Love With Books - Tips For Encouraging Kids To Read. This article showcases the facebook live video I did on this topic recently as a part of my #TuesdayLive Facebook live series.


As an early childhood educator & a mom to a 3 year old book lover, I get a lot of queries & see many parents seeking help when it comes to books & young kids. We all know the benefits of reading books to kids but many parents do not know how to introduce books to kids. Some parents struggle to read books to kids because kids do not seem to be interested. Some parents are clueless which books to read & how to read so that it interests the child.

In this video below, let us understand how can we as parents or educators, instill love for books in kids & how to make book readings more interesting for them.




Share this blog among friends/communities who might be looking for any kind of help/support as far as kids & books are concerned.

You can also contact me using this form.

Relevant Links Mentioned In This Video

Our previous FB live videos on the topics of parenting, early childhood education (check the playlist Tuesday Live)

When & How To Introduce Letters & Alphabets To Kids

Kids Book Hauls, Reviews, Recommendations - YouTube Playlist

Book Reviews By Shital

Teaching Reading & Writing - Literacy For Kids - YouTube Playlist


You can go through other Facebook live videos HERE & I will keep adding them in this archive and you can find them all at THIS link anytime in the future. You can also join my facebook page & group to follow the updates.



Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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Just Enough Carrots - Math Start Series - Kids Book Review


Read on this kids book review of the book Just Enough Carrots from Harper Children Publishers. 

Book: Just Enough Carrots
Creator: Stuart J. Murphy
Publisher: Harper Children’s


Just enough Carrots, an astonishing book for moppet’s to begin with comparative concepts – less, same and more which are the early concepts of math.





In this book a bunny and his mom rabbit makes a visit to the supermarket.They choose to get carrots, and the bunny requests more. The child/bunny is exceptionally perceptive of what is in alternate customers trucks and compares how various animals has in their cart compared to what he has in his own cart, so bunny thinks about the quantity of carrots they have in their truck to those in the other creature’s carts and begins saying some have less, some have increasingly more and a few has a similar number of carrots. They do comparative correlations for purchasing peanuts and worms. Here the youthful rabbit couldn’t comprehend why mother is purchasing such a significant number of peanuts and jars of worms until he went home and received their visitors.



The story additionally presents different creatures with their staple food,for illustration: carrots and rabbits,peanuts and elephants. As the story goes rhyming, it interests young readers along with the great list of activities for comparing amounts at the end of the book.


Book Review by Vaishnavi YelchurRead all reviews by Vaishnavi HERE.

Book Courtesy: Thyai Readers Club, Salem.

This post first appeared on Moppets Wiki


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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Feb 20, 2018

Waldorf Inspired Winter Nature Table & Winter Themed Books For Kids (VLOG)

waldorf winter nature table kids at home

Nature table holds a very important place in Waldorf inspired classrooms. This is how I set up my Winter themed nature table with some story props, polar animals, Christmas scene & some activities that we did as a part of winter season. You can also set up seasonal nature tables for kids. Briefly, I will also take you through some Winter themed books that we read this season.


Watch this video below to check out my humble Waldorf inspired winter nature table setup for my almost 3 year old son. You can grab some ideas & understand how to setup a seasonal winter table for your child.


You can also check out this YouTube playlist that has all our Winter & Christmas activities, Winter DIY tutorials, stories books.

And here are 18 Christmas & New Year themed Montessori inspired activities for kids that I did in 2016.

Hope you enjoyed watching this nature table. I would love to see your nature tables, so do drop your links below in comments.


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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Jan 25, 2018

My Hopscotch Journey - Story & Activity Book For Kids Showcasing India's Unity In Diversity - Book Review


My Hopscotch Journey is a story & activity book for kids showcasing India's unity in diversity. It has a story weaved into the festival of Makar Sankranti & how it is celebrated differently with different names in different states of India. Apart from the story, it also has an amazing set of engaging & educational activities for toddlers, kindergartners & little older kids too. It has over 200 stickers for the related activities & some craft supplies too. Check out the inside pages, review & buy link in this post.


As promised, here is a video review of this beautiful book - My Hopscotch Journey - written by Kajal Dharod from Your Learning Capsules. If you are a regular follower of my blog, you must have seen Kajal's previous books that were received so very well by fellow parents - Interactive Diwali Book  and All About Christmas Book.



Publisher Your Learning Capsules
Age Group - 3 Years +
Price - Rs. 249 (FREE shipping anywhere in India)

Click HERE to buy this book!



BUY NOW to showcase India's unity in diversity to your kids this Republic day. This will certainly give you child a whole new experience of the celebration of Makar Sankranti festival in India.


Related - You might also like these Montessori inspired, fun, educational & hands-on engaging activities for the festival of Makar Sankranti that I did for my child last year.


Here are few pages from this book and my almost 3 year old son enjoying the activity of taking a dip in the river in West Bengal :)









You may like more of our featured products & discounts related to early learning for kids HERE.


Click HERE to buy this book!

Check out YourLearningCapsules.com for more such awesome stuff for your kids and some free printables of activities!


Related - Check out HERE, how I welcomed Spring (harvest) season with my son during Sankranti, where we explored how grains like Jowar, Wheat after harvest, going through so many stages, finally come to our homes. This helped my son appreciate that efforts that go into farming & growing food.


Disclaimer : I received this book for free in return for a review but the views shared are honest and solely mine. I believe in using the products/service myself before putting up the review or opinion about them here.


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook groupTwitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


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Dec 14, 2017

All About Christmas - Story & Activity Book For Kids - Book Review

All About Christmas is a story & activity book for kids based on the Christmas theme. It has the Nativity story, facts & stories about Santa Claus, and an amazing set of engaging & educational activities for toddlers, kindergartners & little older kids too. It has over 400 stickers for the related activities. Check out the inside pages, review & buy link in this post.


As promised, here is a video review of this beautiful Christmas book - All About Christmas - written by Kajal Dharod from Your Learning Capsules. If you are a regular follower of my blog, you must have seen Kajal's Diwali activity book few months back. Me & my 2 year old liked it a lot! You can check out Diwali book HERE.



Publisher - Your Learning Capsules
Age Group - 2.5 Years +
Price - Rs. 349 (FREE shipping anywhere in India)

Click HERE to buy this book.



BUY NOW so that the book reaches you well before Christmas this year! This will certainly give your kids an enriching experience!


Here are few pages from this activity book that my almost 3 year old son has done.




You may like more of our featured products & discounts related to early learning for kids HERE.


Click HERE to buy this book.
Check out YourLearningCapsules.com for more such awesome stuff for your kids and some free printables of activities!

I also have a FREE collection of 18 Montessori Inspired DIY activities for Christmas & New Year from the year 2016 & you can do those activities as well with your kids! Check out the entire collection HERE





Disclaimer : I received this book for free in return for a review but the views shared are honest and solely mine. I believe in using the products/service myself before putting up the review or opinion about them here.


Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!


Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!


Read More »