36 Children's Books from Newborn to Teen

This list I complied from my families favorite books. Some of these books are worn out after all the reading they have been through. 

Keep in mind I don't have any girls so this list is manly for boys. However, I do know that quite a few of these books are loved by both. 

I hope you find a new favorite for your family. 

Newborn to 4

Sesame Street Animal Alphabet From Ape to Zebra

My First Opposites Board Book

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Good Night, Gorilla

Are You My Mother?

Five Little Monkeys

Quack Quack (Baby Touch and Feel Series)

Waddle

HUG

Bible Animal Friends Touch and Feel

At the Farm Touch, Feel and Hear

First Words Bright Baby

Ages 5-8

Morris the Moose

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

VeggieTales Bible Storybook

I Spy Books

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Books

The Monster at the End of this Book

Corduroy

Rainbow Fish

Hop on Pop

I know and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree

Grover’s Own Alphabet

Ages 9 and up

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series

Flat Stanley Books

Captain Underpants Books

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Big Nate Books

Hoot

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Alvin Ho Books

Stink Books

Judy Moody Books

Percy Jackson Series 

Book Review: The “What’s for Dinner?” Solution

This book is great for a busy mom who doesn’t always have time to cook a meal that takes forever to prepare. Filled with practical tips and recipes to help anyone save time, money and sanity.

In “The What’s For Dinner? Solution” Kathi Lipp shares ways to save money and tips on what you’re going to eat for 31 days. Here you will find ways to prepare your meals with a slow cooker, leftovers and pantry meals.

Find out how to get more organized. It’s one of the hardest things for me. When I think I got everything under control I got another mess on my hands. Here Kathi talks about organizing recipes, space, tools and pantry. Make yourself one place for recipes like in a binder, make sure you have all your cooking utensils handy and organize your pantry so you can find things easier.

Now that you got all the wonderful advice try out some of the recipes. Find ways to cook using your freezer, slow cooker, leftovers and pantry meals. Start using a slow cooker on the days you don’t have a lot of time in the evening to make a dinner. It can be a lifesaver and there are so many great recipes for slow-cookers. 

Yummy recipes included are Baked Ziti, Chicken Cacciatore, Jambalaya, Asian Chicken Wrap Ups, Black Bean Soup and Slow-Cooker Chili.

Find out more information about this book by visiting KathiLipp.com or visit her on Facebook.

Bedtime Stories and Routine

It’s Bedtime Story Month and if you don’t have a bedtime routine with story time included you should. I’m sure by now you have heard all the benefits to reading with your child, it teaches them about new things, builds language skills, improves their attention span, helps with grammar and sentence structure.  

It doesn’t matter if you have an older child or a baby it’s always a great time to read. I started reading to my kids when they were babies but never really had a routine, now I read every night to my kids. My husband and I take turns reading to each of the boys. 

My oldest son is 12 and still likes reading with us. We read big chapter books together and it’s normally something he can test on for school. It's been a great way to bond with him and learn about his day. 

We have a bedtime chart for our 5 year old and part of it includes reading 3 books. He loves to read and most of the books he has are short and don’t take a long time to read. He likes to read about space, animals, our bodies, ocean animals and so many other things. I have learned so much just by spending about 30 minutes reading. He has also learned a lot too and now is reading to me.

If you have a baby read to them. Find books that they can chew on or board books with colorful pictures. Babies love to look at pictures and feel different textures. It’s a wonderful way to teach them about numbers, letters and animals.

Start a bedtime routine if you don’t have one. It’s good for everyone. You and your child will know what to expect and it makes bedtime easier. Start by figuring out what you would like your child to do before bedtime. Brush teeth, take a bath, get clothes ready for the next day, read books, hugs and kisses and turn off the light. Once you decide what you would like your child to do make a chart or a list that your child can see. If you have a younger child who can’t read draw pictures of the activities, that way they can follow the chart. The routine helps my child because he knows what to expect and understands that after reading time it’s hugs and kisses and lights out.

It’s never to late to start something that makes a huge difference in your child’s life. It shows how much you care and gives you many opportunities to share with each other.  

Crafts: Sun Catcher and Book Holder

Spring is a wonderful time to see butterflies and flowers. Here's a colorful sun catcher craft to hang in your window for special treat.

Sun Catcher 

Just because Earth Day is over doesn't mean you still can't recycle something around the house. Make a book holder from a cereal box.

Book Holder

Thank you to MetroFamily Magazine for allowing me to share crafts each week. For more crafts visit MetroFamily Magazine.

Ways to Recycle Household Items

Earth Day is Sunday. I decided it would be kind of cool to make a list of things you have around your house that you can recycle and offer some ideas on what you can do with them.  

Glass bottles – spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce jars are great for holding art supplies or making gifts. Embellish the tops and it makes it look fun and special.

Newspaper – make hats, modge podge and wrap presents.

Yogurt containers – Planting Seeds with Kids, use for dipping sauces and painting. 

Toilet paper rolls – Little People, binoculars, musical instruments and planters.

Paper towel rolls – musical instruments, kaleidoscopes and rocket ship.

Baby food containers - good for storage of nails, push pins, stickers, beads and other little things.

Formula cans – pencil holders, cookie containers for gifts, banks, storage and drums.

Milk and Water jugs – candleholders for Halloween, bird houses and robots.

2 Liter Bottles – bowling pins and science experiments.

Cans – pencil holders, storage, candleholder and luminaries.

Cereal boxes – book holders and folders. 

 T-shirts – scarves, purses and bracelets.

Spray bottles – tie-dye art, water fun and painting.

Magazines – Silly faces, collages, art work, educational crafts for kids to discover animals, letters, numbers, shapes, body parts and food.

Chip cans – Bank for kids and good for spaghetti noodle storage.  

You can also recycle clothing, toys, books, video games and electronics. There are places online and around neighborhoods that make swapping and trading fun and easy. Plus you might be able to make a little money too.

Here are some websites I’ve used to make trades and get new things for my family. This is a great way to get new items for free or cheap.

Listia – Is an online auction site that allows you to put things up for auction and people use credits to bid on it. Sometimes you can get free shipping on items and other times there is a shipping fee. There is everything available electronics, books, video games, toys and tons of other things. It’s free and you get 500 credits when you first sign up. 

Swap – An online swapping place that you can find video games, books, movies, clothing, gift cards and other things. You list what you have available and than someone else offers you a trade or barters. Make trades online or meet up with people around your area. Free to sign up and check out. 

ThredUp – A great place for parents to get clothing their children. Request a bag and fill it up with your gently used clothes and receive credit to get a bag of clothing too. 

Freecycle and Craigslist are also good places to look for items that people no longer want. Sometimes they are free or just cost a small fee. The great thing about this site it’s all local to your area.   

Check your local neighborhood for Game Stop, Half-PricedBooks or Vintage Stock. These places offer new and used items and buy your used items.

Doing My Best to Help the Planet

Holy Cow! There’s a lot of green going on. Lately it’s been crazy with Green. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is being taught to our children this week in school. My son is coming home telling me what we should recycle and all about saving our planet. I think he told me the other day that if we don’t take care of our planet, we will have to live in the water.  That’s pretty interesting coming from a 5 year old.

I know I would love to live Green. I have done some small things around my house to be more energy efficient and recycle using the blue bin that the city provides. We also clean our clothing in cold water and use our air conditioner and heater on the temperatures that we can handle to cut some cost.

It’s crazy how many things we have on our in or around our houses that take away from the planet and harm our households. I’m just now learning about all of it myself and there is a lot to learn and so much we can still change in our home. I am however not going to stress about it and I’m not going to go nuts about getting everything out of my home and start living like a scary Green person.

This week I started reading a book called “Green Mama – The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet” by Tracey Bianchi. It’s been really eye opening for me to see what is going on around us. The chemicals we consume in our foods, to things we wear and cleaning supplies. I’m amazed at how much we don’t know about our surroundings.

The book is great for someone who is thinking about doing some changes but also offers some things for the person who really wants to go all out and be super Green. I don’t know about being super Green it seems like a big stretch to me but I wouldn’t mind implementing some more changes.

The book helps you understand the information out there and inspires you to do what you can with “Green Steps” she provides in the book. It’s filled with great resources on where you can shop and what you find online to help you make better choices for you and your family. Ideas to help guide you along the way of thinking more about our environment.

“Green Mama” makes it seems like it’s doable but also still a bit overwhelming for someone like me. I think I’ll just take one baby step at a time and every little bit I do will make a difference.

What have you done in your life or home to be better about saving our planet? Do you recycle, buy organic products, take your own bags to the grocery store?

"Green Mama" is available through Zondervan. 

Get Your Daily Water

I dislike drinking water. I know it's awful but I just can't seem to drink enough. Eight glasses is hard when you don't really enjoy it.

Many years ago my friend introduced me to a happy pitcher. It really makes me happy. When I look at it I think of magazine pictures, the amazing picnics and fun little dinners. I also think of the Kool-Aid man pitcher when I was little. It just brings to mind happy thoughts and images. I had to get one. Since I got this pitcher I use it quite a bit. Now that I'm trying to loose weight and drink 8 glasses of water, I'll use it more. 

I am happy when I use my little pitcher for water. I add lemons, strawberries, oranges, limes or just any fruit I have on hand. You could also use watermelon, different berries, mint or cucumbers. It makes the pitcher even more exciting to look at and I really enjoy the taste of the water. It makes me want to drink water just so I can see the pitcher along with the fruits. I know it's weird but it works for me. I hope it will work for you too. 

It's also a great way to serve water at dinner or parties. It's really inexpensive and it's so good. Add some ice cubes to keep it cold and it's good to go. My family drinks quite a bit of it when we get together and I'm always refilling it. 

Go to the store and get you a happy pitcher and some tasty fruit and get started on your daily water intake. You will be so happy you did.