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Thursday 16 July 2015

Matt on a Bike

Little Scribble's is very happy to be supporting Matt Giannasi on his Challenge Cancer Cycle Trans Pennine bike ride. The challenge consists of a 60-mile bike ride from Manchester to Leeds and will take place in September. Overall, Challenge Cancer aim to raise £1.5 million for four of the top UK cancer charities. Matt decided to take on the challenge in memory of a work colleague who lost his life to cancer earlier this year. You can check out Matt's just giving page, if you would like to support him on his journey.


We are supporting Matt in his fundraising efforts by offering up all profits from our sale of Bear on a Bike and Bear on a Bike gift set. Simply buy either of the bear products using this link and we will arrange for our profits to go to Matt's fund. 


Bear on a Bike is great for children up to 6 years and comes as a boardbook or paperback. You can join Bear as he tries out different forms of transport and has an adventure with each one. Rhyme and repetition support the learning layers of travel and transportation, as Bear travels in a raft, a rocket ship, a boat, a bike, a steam train, and a carriage. The 'Bear on a Bike Set' includes a copy of 'Bear on a Bike' board book and a 'Bear on the Go' first puzzle.

We hope you join us in wishing Matt the best of luck on his bike ride and we hope that his bottom doesn't ache too much!

Wednesday 15 July 2015

This is my allotment, there's not a lot to see

After 3 years on the waiting list, we finally have a plot at our local allotments, yay! We say yay, but just look at it, it's not in the best state. It is such as shame that it has been left in this condition, but I guess we can start from scratch and get it to the way that we want it. We do not expect to start growing anything until at least springtime as it will take until that time to clear it up and get the ground ready to begin planting.


We have been excitedly planning how we want the plot to look, what we will grow and looking at sheds and greenhouses, how geeky does that sound? We will be blogging about our allotment journey, particularly how we will be getting mini scribbles involved in organic gardening and nature activities. Hopefully, we will be posting better pictures in the next few months, wish us luck!

Wednesday 1 July 2015

Book of the Month: July

July is an exciting time as school is out for summer and it is time to think about summer holidays. We are enjoying some glorious weather at the moment, so it is the perfect time to go outdoors and enjoy what nature has to offer. Our Book of the Month for July is the brand new singalong CD book from Barefoot Books, Outdoor Opposites.


The book invites little ones to grab their backpacks and head into the countryside for a camping adventure full of contrasts! Looking through the book, your child can act out the different opposites, such as fast/slow, run/walk and high/low and they can bring it all together when the enhanced CD singalong is played.

Take a look at the video here


This book is ideal for fun in the garden or in nurseries and pre-schools, to help children learn opposites in a creative way. Check out more books about opposites for children to enhance your child's learning. You can also check out our Opposites Sensory Storytime Pinterest board for activity ideas.

You can enjoy 20% off these books until the end of July using 2015SUMMER when you checkout

Monday 1 June 2015

30 Days Wild: Day 1

Our first day (me, Deb and 3 year old mini scribbles) of our 30 Days Wild challenge was spent thinking of ideas for the month ahead and taking a little walk in the rain. Unfortunately, my silly phone decided that it had no space for us to take pictures, but that's ok as we got to focus on our walk more. As was as picking up fallen leaves and twigs, to paint with over the next week, we talked about different flowers and plants that we spotted and, of course, there was plenty of jumping in muddy puddles.


We hope you have had fun during your first wild day! We promise to take more pictures tomorrow.

30 Days Wild

We are looking forward to taking part in The Wildlife Trust's 30 Days Wild challenge. The challenge is simple, all you need to do is get outside and do something wild each day. Who's in?


Monday 13 April 2015

Help Build a Nursery in South Africa

Little Scribbles founder, Deb, spent time in Africa back in 2006, volunteering in a children's orphanage in Kenya. A little bit of her heart stayed in Kenya and she has done her best ever since, to raise money in supportive and effective way. We recently came across a fantastic local project, that aims to travel to South Africa to make hands-on changes to one of the poorest communities in the country. Youth at The Lane are a group of young people from South Liverpool, that are part of the Long Lane Church community. In August 2015 they will be flying to Johannesburg, South Africa to build a nursery for children stuck in poverty. Their goal is to raise £25,000 to enable around 25 community members to go and make this happen. Find out more about the team and their project here 



To help support the team, we are holding an online Barefoot Books fundraiser. Barefoot have lots of great books that feature tales from Africa, here are just a few of our favourites



There are lots more options on the website and if you buy any item from my Barefoot Books store, using the link below, and 25% of profits will be donated to this fundraiser. If the team have room in their bags, we will also donate a selection of books for the nursery!

Buy a Barefoot Book and support the Youth at The Lane South Africa Fundraiser

We wish the team the best of luck in their fundraising efforts and we hope that they have a safe and enjoyable trip. Good luck guys!

Sunday 12 April 2015

World Earth Day Activities

World Earth Day will be celebrating its 45th birthday this year, on April 22nd. Now, more than ever, is the time to get our children involved in taking measures to protect our planet. Children are aware of the importance of recycling and energy saving, but the more we educate children on exactly how we impact our planet, the greater chance of creating a sustainable future. Earth Day Network shows you ways that you and your children can take action and make a difference. There are also very simple things that you can do on Earth Day itself, as pointed out in the latest Barefoot Books blog.


The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales is the perfect book to read in the run up to World Earth Day. Each of the seven folk tales, featured in the collection, show how different cultures around the world embrace the natural world and strive to live in harmony


The short stories are great for snatching a short period of family time together, in the midst of a busy day. You can simply read aloud together or, if you have more time on your hands, you can have a go at the hands-on activity attached to the end of each story. Activities include ' Everything Goes Soup' and homemade bird feeders, and all promote green living and eco messages. 

The first story in the collection is The Sun Mother, a story from Australia. After an introduction to the country itself, the story goes on to spread the message that if we all look after the little patch of earth where we belong, between us we can care for the whole earth. The activity at the end of this story is to make an aboriginal song-line painting. Song-line paintings are traditional pieces of art that depict areas that are social to the painter. The activity encourages children to think of their favourite place, a garden or park for example, and to paint with whatever materials they have at hand. You could use sand, chalk, charcoal or whatever natural pigments you can find or, like us, you can just use paints.

We took our book and paints in the sunny backyard and got to work on our song-line paintings, influenced by our local park




We had lots of fun and, of course, ended up getting very messy, which is what we like best! We would love to see your song-line paintings of your favourite place on earth.

Thursday 9 April 2015

April Book of the Month

Spring is finally here and it has brought along lots of sunshine, yay! I am sure, like us, you are enjoying lots of outdoor time and are eager to try new activities with your little ones. With that in mind, we have chosen Millie's Chickens as our April book of the month, so that you can celebrate the great outdoors.


Read along as Millie tends to her chickens, that she keeps in her backyard, and learn how to tend to chickens day and night. The rhyming text engages children, as do the beautiful illustrations by Valeria Cis.



Silkie, Leggy and Rhodie are just some of Millie's wonderful chickens, that love to roam in the sunshine. Millie's Chickens is a great book for pre-schools and early years classes, that teaches children all about different breeds of chicken and how eggs are made. The STEM friendly science information, in the end notes, makes this book educational as well as lots of fun, and may just teach adults a thing or too also!



Unfortunately, we do not have any space for chickens in our backyard but we still had lots of fun learning about chickens and how to look after these fun animals. A trip to our local farm is on the cards, to test our new found knowledge of chickens. If you are looking for books about outdoors, for your children, this is the perfect springtime story.


If you are new to Barefoot Books, you can enjoy 20% off using SPRING2015 when you checkout. Hope you have lots of fun! Cluck, cluck, cluck!

Thursday 5 March 2015

March Book of the Month

Wow, here we are in March already. The weeks and months seem to be flying by, probably as we always have our heads buried in books as the rest of the world floats by! As we have just celebrated St David's Day and are about to celebrate St Patrick's Day, we have decided to choose Tales From Celtic Lands as our March book of the month.



This collection of tales, from Barefoot Books, ventures into to the magical land of the Celtic peoples, where the spirits of the mountains, streams, seas and trees are all alive. The story comes alive with the beautifully narrated CD that accompanies the books, taking you away to enchanted lands and places of mystery and magic. The songs, blessing and folk tales in this collection are accompanied by notes on each story and a Celtic pronunciation guide, making it a great book for an educational storytelling session. As with all Barefoot's books, Tales from Celtic Lands is packed full of vibrant illustrations, full of dreamy landscapes and colourful interpretations of the characters. Take a sneak peek at the book in this audio telling of The Black Bull of Norroway


If you are planning on enjoying a fun storytelling session this St Patrick's Day, why not finish off your session with some of these fun St Patricks Day activities and crafts

Hope you have all the luck of the Irish this month, happy reading!

Thursday 26 February 2015

The Girl Who Could See Stories

In a world in which children are rushing around just as much as adults, it can be difficult to take a step back, relax and to think about the things that are really going on around us. These are the thoughts I had when I read Gill Torres' new book 'The Girl Who Could See Stories'. The book is a gentle tale about being mindful about what we eat, thinking about the stories behind the food on our plate. Whilst Gill is passionate about being Vegan, her writing eloquently portrays her views on food, rather than preaching that a vegan diet is best, which is how I have found some other vegan books for children.


'The Girl Who Sees Stories ' introduces us to Sofiel, a girl with a special gift that allows her to see a story behind very person and every object, whether that be understanding why two old friends are giggling away to themselves or the burger on her plate that looks sad. After discovering that some of the things she eats has an unhappy background, Sofiel chooses a plant based diet so that she can ensure that the food she eats came from a happy place. I am not vegan myself and cannot see myself ever omitting all animal products, but I do strive to buy as ethically as possible and, above all, I like that thinking about our food sources is the ultimate message of the book. There is a theme of empathy running throughout the story, for people and for animals, so whether or not your child chooses to adopt a plant free diet or not, they will certainly think twice about the food on their plates and how they look at people that they meet each day. Here at Little Scribbles, we aim to read and share books that encourage diversity and that educate them about different lifestyles, 'The Girl Who Could See Stories' certainly ticks those boxes. I read this book with my 3 year old and we had a long conversation about different diets people have and where the food we eat comes from, so I think this would be a great book to be read in schools.

The illustrations, by Ilan Sheady, are fun and engaging and show the growth of Sofiel, from a young girl eating at a fast food restaurant, with her cool tattoo wearing dad, to an older woman telling her story to her grandchildren. When I met Gill, her passion for the book came across and when you turn the pages you see her story coming to life, she says;

" I choose to be loving and healthy. I have written this book to inspire children to do the same"

It is great to see life passions brought to life by stories and, just like Sofiel, Gill knew that there was a story to be told about growing up on a diet that challenges the way children see food.









Thursday 5 February 2015

February Book of The Month

Wow, where did January go? As we step in to February, we are looking forward to lots of storytelling and crafting fun for St Valentine's, Shrove Tuesday and, most of all, Chinese New Year. With Chinese New Year in mind, we have chosen 'We're Riding on a Caravan' as our February book of the month.



This beautifully illustrated story from Barefoot Books is an exciting tale of a year long trek along the famous Chinese Silk Road. The exciting lyrical tale takes children on an adventure, stopping off at significant places along the road and teaching children new facts about China. There are great endnotes, with information of important Chinese cities and map of the Silk Road, making your storytelling session educational as well as fun. You can bring your story to life with gathering any Chinese themed items that you have around the house, such as chopsticks, drums, materials or dragon puppets. Add a little music for ambiance and you have a fun filled story time ahead of you. Head over to our Facebook page to enter our giveaway, in which you can enter to win a copy of this book in time for Chinese New Year.


Why not enjoy a Chinese New Year craft, once you have finished reading your story. A classic paper lantern is a cheap and easy activity or you can make your very own goat mask, to celebrate 2015's Year of the Goat.


Other great books for Chinese New Year storytelling  include, Lin Yi's Lantern, Little Leap Forward and The Great Race.

Happy New Year

Sunday 4 January 2015

January Book of the Month

With a brand new year ahead, January is often a time for reflection on what has gone before and excitement of what lies ahead. You may be dreaming of an exotic holiday abroad or exploring more of your own country or you could be wishing that you will do something different this year. Children are no different, with thoughts of everything that they can do in the year ahead exciting their little minds. I Wish I Were a Pilot is a simple and fun book that encourages toddlers to use their imaginations to take them anywhere they want to go.



Wish your way through race car tracks, wavy seas and even star-filled space. Travellers of all sorts are featured in this fun and imaginative book. The vivid colours and fun illustrations jump out of the page and will engage even the wriggliest of toddlers.




As with many Barefoot Books, the book includes educational notes about each of the modes of transportation featured in the rhyming text. I wish I were a pilot is a must have book for girls and boys that love transport related play as they can bring the story alive with their array of planes, trains and automobiles. 

Let your little one's imagination run wild in 2015!