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!
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
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 Laneare 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!
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!
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!
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!
With Christmas upon us, there will be lots of people looking for books as gifts for children. Books for bedtime, annuals and anthologies are top of the list for many people, with hundreds of books to choose from. To help you out with your choice, we have chosen My Big Barefoot Book of Wonderful Words as our December Book
The book follows a lovely family throughout their busy dat, with pages filled with everyday activities and products. Each scene is filled to the brim with people, places and things, and you’ll meet people of all races, cultures, lifestyles and abilities as you go. With images of children and adults with disabilities, breastfeeding, baby wearing, different types of family and much much more, children's eyes are opened to all that is diverse in our wonderful world.
This book is vibrantly illustrated and immerses children in detailed scenes of daily life, which are followed by simple spreads of labelled illustrations to help with vocabulary building and word recognition. It is a great choice for a Christmas gift as it will last for years and can be passed drown to younger children. We would not wait to get our copy when it was released during the summer, it has not been put away since we opened it! Another Barefoot Books gem.
As well as running Little Scribbles' Stories and this blog, owner Deb (me) is a person-centred counsellor who works with children, young people and families. I am currently working with Oakleaf , a Liverpool based charity that is dedicated to helping children and families during the difficult process of grief and loss, as a result of death or separation from a loved one. We were recently featured in this years Children in Need programme and are partly funded by the charity. As you would expect, the publicity drove more people to our services and whilst we are doing the best that we can to support as many children and youngpeople as possible, we still need lots of help. Take a look at this BBC video to hear more about Oakleaf's services
The team are busy looking at fun ways to fund raise and will be taking part in next Month's Santa Dash in Liverpool. I will not be taking part myself but I am thinking of innovative ways to raise money with my family and friends, if you do have any ideas, please let me know!
In the meantime, I will be donating all profits from one of my favourite Barefoot Books, 'The Tear Thief'. All copies of the book, sold through my Barefoot Books page or over at Little Scribbles' Stories, will not only give a child a wonderful story to read but will also provide a little bit of help that will go a long way for Oakleaf.
Each night, in the hours between supper and bedtime, the Tear Thief carries her waterproof, silvery sack as she steals the tears of every child who cries. But what does she do with all those tears? This warm, poignant, and beautifully illustrated story offers a thought-provoking message and a starting point to share children's emotional experience. The book is a great tool for children to explore new feelings and emotions and enables parents to support with different situations that lead to children feeling sad. At the end of the book, we find out that all of the tears that children cry are placed onto the moon, so that it shines as bright as possible. There is an accompanying CD, read by Juliet Stevenson, that is ideal for bedtime reassurances and a dreamy end to the day. I will keep you all updated on how much the book is making for the service and will also be holding some special book sales to support too. Thank you in advance to all those who support us through buying this book and don't forget to leave a comment if you have any fun ideas on how I can raise some more funds! Buy your copy of The Tear Thief
This week sees children, and all those that work and care for them, celebrate World Nursery Rhyme Week. The week aims to highlight the importance of nursery rhymes in the development of language and communication skills and to champion just how much fun singing can be. We often include nursery rhyme time at the beginning of our storytelling sessions as it is a great way for little ones to get involved, have some fun and really practise their babbling skills.
We love to get our Nursery Rhyme Puppet Set out, which we put into a bag so that each child can have a go at choosing a puppet out of the bag and be surprised at what they get! It adds a little bit of fun to the session and encourages children to explore the bag and engage with the group as they all guess what song it will be.
You will probably remember a lot of nursery rhymes from you were a child or when children around you were growing up. For those who are a little rusty, Baby's First Book is great introduction to favourite nursery rhymes and short stories that are ideal for babies and toddler. The illustrations are just beautiful, from the wonderful Clare Beaton once again, making the book a real keepsake and a great gift for Christmas babies or as a unique christening gift.
For a more laid-back singing session, Mrs Moon's Lullabies for Bedtime is a lovely book to encourage a peaceful nights sleep. Bedtime rhymes is also a very relaxing book, that fits not small hands and will have your little one drifting off to sleep in no time!
There ate lots of great resources on the World Nursery Rhyme Week website, but why not have some fun and think of fun activities that you can do with your little ones. After 3, 1...2...3...Baa baa black sheep.................
We can't believe that we have just typed November 'book of the month'! What a quick year it has been? We have loved introducing to new titles and old favourites and for November we are bringing you a bit of both. Our book of the month for November is ' Magic Hoofbeats ' from Barefoot Books. The book is back by popular demand, after going out of print for a few years. Magic Hoofbeats is a must for all horse lovers and would be a great addition to any child's bookshelf.
Children can lose themselves in the world of the equestrian with this beautifully illustrated collection of mystical tales of memorable horses. The collection brings together tales from many different cultures and traditions and is written by horse whisperer Joseph Sherman.
As with many Barefoot Books, there are fantastic endnotes that will educate children on different breeds of horse give you fun facts about this wonderful animal. The book also has an accompanying CD, which is ideal for a quiet pre-bedtime wind down or for long car journeys.
We love a good collection of short stories as it allows for great shared reading amongst the whole family, each reading out a story to practise storytelling skills and bonding together when discussing each others favourite story. As well as being inspired by the stories, children will be inspired by the fantastic illustrations by Linda Wingerter, so there is plenty of opportunities to get pencils and paints out for a creative post book craft session. A truly enchanting book.
As the leaves start to fall and the fires start to burn, we head into a season full of warmth and colour. Nothing beats getting out and about in the fresh autumn air, searching for conkers and picking leaves for crafts then having a nice hot chocolate on the way home. If you cannot always get out for a walk then you can step inside autumn themed books to explore what the season brings for us all. Here is a selection of our favourite children's books for autumn.
Introduce young readers to the sights and sounds of the year - from summer's sizzling sun to winter's crackling snow. Featuring signature illustrations by internationally renowned illustrator, Alison Jay, this book will open your child's eyes and ears to the world around them!
For babies, books are all about colour and engaging images. Cleo and Casper are the unlikely friends who learn to love each other despite a shaky start. The colours of the book are a celebration of autumn with orange, brown and yellow tones to warm your heart!
This Barefoot Books favourite will see you through Autumn before jumping into January and dancing all throughout the rest of the year. This rhyming, seek-and-find book of months features plenty of seasonal objects on each page for readers to point out. Educational endnotes include facts about different calendars, seasons and days of the week.
Ferdie's very worried. His beautiful tree is losing its leaves. Ferdie tries everything he can to save them, but it's just no use. When the final leaf has 'plopped' off, Ferdie feels all hope has gone... until he goes back the next day and a glorious sight awaits him. This is a fun walk through Autumn and would be a greta accompaniment for a family walk in the woods or as past of am outdoor school lesson.
Find out what happens when the old woman, the old man, and all twenty-one animals on the farm try to harvest a rather large root vegetable. This well-loved Russian tale uses humour, counting and repetition to appeal to beginner readers. A great book to read for Harvest Festival celebrations and one that somehow reminds us of Halloween too!
The lazy rooster and the mischievous mouse can’t be bothered to help the little red hen tend her ear of wheat. They can’t be bothered to help her take it to the miller either, or bake it into bread. But when her loaf of warm, fragrant bread is ready, the little red hen is not at all inclined to share it with them. The rooster and the mouse soon mend their ways. With a recipe at the back for making your own bread, you can bring this story to life and talk about how wheat is harvested and processed. Educational as well as lots of fun!
WOW, so summer is over (well not officially but there is only a slight hope of more sun and a late holiday) so it's time to think about getting back to school and making a fresh start! Our Barefoot Book of the month for September had to be the fabulous new addition to the ' Bear' series, Bear's School Day.
With Bear as your teacher, you can join in and follow the fun of the school day. There’s singing, crafts and story time, and even a map to help you find your way around. The illustrations are so colourful and engaging, with so much detail put not every page. Our favourite is the super cute nap time image, which helps children see that there first year at school can be comforting and fun. A lot of children will be looking forward to school, so this book is a great opportunity to be excited together and for your children to talk to you about what they are most looking forward to or are most apprehensive about.
We especially love the last page, which shows a map of a school where children are encouraged to show bear around the different parts of the school. This is a very useful tool to help prepare children for their first day and what to expect. Why not ask your school if they have a map so that you can talk your little one through what to expect and encourage school to be a fun place to be.
If your children are a little on the quiet side when they come home from school, take a look at this article for some tips on what questions to ask about their school day and how they are feeling. Children will have had a busy day and will be full of different emotions that they may not be used to, so the last thing they may want to do is take about it all. Some of the questions in this article are a little intrusive for our liking but there are some great conversation starters that may just help your children talk about their day without feeling the pressure.
Play dough is always a winner in Little Scribbles' house, providing endless hours of fun and mess! Whilst we do buy a lot of play dough, I find the best dough is homemade. This week we thought we would have a try at making chocolate play dough, using this simple recipe from The Imagination Tree. We did find it a little sticky, so more flour was needed but see how you go and you can always add in at the end.
This book from Barefoot Books is great for a birthday gift for toddlers or for having a little quiet story time at a birthday party. As well as a fun hide and seek game throughout the story, the book introduces number and colours and is ideal for children up to 6 years of age.
The great thing is that this book is for life, not just for birthdays! As it happens it is birthday central here, with lots of family birthdays lined up, so what better time to have a re-read. After reading the story together ( well Sofia insisted she knew all the words so read it to me) we decided to get messy and make some cakes of our own. I admit that I did start to play with Sofia but also managed to sneak to one side to get a bit of work done. It was fun to watch her display so much creativity and use her imagination to create her own little party. There was indeed plenty of mess made but a well thought out sheet across the floor minimised destruction! As well as the dough, we used various cookie cutters, cake cases, plastic palate knives and lots of sprinkles to add to the fun. Anything goes really, as long as it's fun. We even added a candle and had a sing song to wish bear a Happy Birthday.
Two Irish sisters love each other very much. When Molly vanishes one morning, Cara decides she will go out into the wide world to find her. She is armed only with gifts from her mother and father, and her own kindness and courage. Can brave Caradefeat a wolf and a wizard to bring back her beloved sister? Cara and the Wizard is a lovely tale from Ireland was the subject of our latest junior book club. Great for ages 6+, this book is very simple to follow with vocabulary ideal for children that have just started to read independently. This book is also great for shared reading, making it a great choice for a book club. The book is on The Reading Agency's ' Mythical Maze ' list for the 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, making it a great choice for those wanting to take part in this fabulous literacy initiative. Since the release of the first Harry Potter books 17 years ago, children have been more and more intrigued my wizards, mystery and magic, so a book of this style is always a winner. I admit that I have never read a Harry Potter film or watched any of the films and nor am I likely to, it's just not for me. That's not to say that I don't love to hear children getting excited about telling me all about their favourite Harry Potter characters. I love that our book club sessions let me in on new things, that I would not usually read so I get to learn too! Before we got started on the books, we thought we would have a little fun finding out our wizard name. All you need is three of sheets of different coloured paper, name tags or bank stickers, a pen and lots of imagination. Cut the paper into smaller pieces, big enough to write one word on, then put your thinking cap on by writing old English names on one colour paper, i.e Greta, Edmund, Basil, words ending in 'le' on another colour, i.e wiggle, tumble, grumble then finally write kitchen related words on the remaining colour, i.e pot, tin, plate. Fold all the pieces of paper up then ask each person to pick one of each colour and put them together to discover their wizard name. We decided our favourite was Edwina Mumblepot! Use the names throughout the session for an added bit of fun.
As this story is quite short, there was lots of time for the group to interact with each other and there were some really imaginative perspectives of the book. The whole group were agreed that the ending was not the best, with Cara and her sister marrying the two handsome boys that they met five minutes ago. Other than the ending everybody enjoyed the book and were particularly interested in talking about facing your fears and doing something brave for somebody you love. To finish off our session we decided on an activity to expand the imagination even further. We each created a storyboard, retelling the story with from the perspective of one of the other characters in the story. Cara's sister and the wizard were popular choices. This activity is a great way to practise storytelling skills and embrace children's creativity. Our group started out with lots of magic and wizard like stories but ended up with a story about a giant blueberry pie! Whatever the story, no matter what the drawings look like, they are sure to be MAGICAL.
The countdown is on for the end of school and the start of summer holidays. While school may be out for summer, children will still be eager to learn via days out, rainy day crafts and lots of summer reading. To find out more about the importance of summer reading, take a look at this recent blog from Barefoot Books about 'Brain Drain'. Learning should always be fun and The Reading Agency have come up with a great challenge once again, with their Mythical Maze theme. So what is the challenge? Simply to encourage your children to read 6 books throughout the summer.
Watch this video from The Reading Agency to find out more about what how you should be spending your summer!
There are lots of suggestions from the Reading Agency as to what books to choose, depending on age, with an official list of books that make up the mythical maze. We especially like Cara and The Wizard as it is one of our Barefoot Books favourites, but whilst all of the suggestions are great, you don't have to feel restricted. Let your children's imagination run wild and choose whatever books take their fancy. If you do need a little help in sourcing books that are not on the list, here is just a few of our favourites that we will be reading this summer.
Pre-School
Books about school are always popular with parents of children ready to make the big leap into starting school. We love Ruby's Walk to School, as it offers a fun introduction to school life and offers all the magic and fantasy that the mythical maze wants to create. Cleo's Colour Book is also a good choice, for helping your children have fun with colours.
Age 5-7
Tales of Mystery and Magic and The Barefoot Book of Faeries are both excellent collections of short stories, that can offer short periods of reading for when you are on the go. They are also both great to read as a family and practise your storytelling skills together.
8-11
For independent readers looking for a mythical fix, Greek classics are an excellent choice. Odysseus will suit advanced readers, and may even teach adults a thing or two also! For those who are just building confidence, Theseus and Minotaur is a less complex read and a good introduction to the classics.
I am sure your children are excited about choosing their six books to read over summer. Let us know their choices and send us a picture over on our Facebook or Twitter pages.
Come along on a high-seas I-spy adventure! In a spectacular seascape, a young boy sails for a distant island where he finds a special friend waiting for him. Who could it be? Find out in this wonderful book, a re-release of an old Barefoot Books favourite, An Island in the Sun.
Nicoletta Ceccoli's radiant illustrations spill off the pages with their vibrant tropical hues and dramatic ocean scenes. Young readers will delight in pointing out everything the boy sees through his telescope. Why not incorporate a craft activity and let your little ones make their very own telescope. All you need is an empty kitchen roll, colouring pens, stickers and a little creativity.
The rhyming, cumulative text, built on the familiar I-spy refrain, helps develop memory skills and builds reading confidence. There is no need to stop when the story ends as you can let your children's imaginations run wild, by encouraging them to use their telescope for many more adventures. Anchors aweigh!
