Pin It to Win It from www.pinterestmama.com #1: Willow Play Kitchen

Hello Readers! 

If you were directed here by http//www.pinterestmama.com or if you came by way of @pinterestmama on Twitter, you are in the right place!

It's me! I am @pinterestmama and www.pinterestmama.com is my new venture!

What is Pinterest Mama all about?

Well, let me tell you:

Pinterest Mama is a place you can use as a go-to source on how to make the most of your Pinterest experience. For those who are already familiar with Pinterest, you know how awesome it is!
I'm un-offically the world's biggest Pinterest fan and want to help you make the most of your Pinterest experience.

But for those who are not yet familiar with Pinterest, here is the exact quote of what Pinterest has to say about themselves from their own website (This is the exact quote from their own website):

"Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. "

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."  Source: www.Pinterest.com 

Simply stated, Pinterest is an awesome place where you can Dream BIG!
You can dream - pin - plan - organize - make a reality!
So my thought was to create a place to share ideas on how to make the most of Pinterest.
There are so many possibilities for using Pinterest!
Well, as an intro. of what Pinterest can do for you, here is a beginning idea for those of you who love giveaways:

Giveaway Prize:
Willow Wooden Play Kitchen and Metal Utensils Set.
Perfect for a an unschooling family, or a Waldorf - Play Based - Reggio Emilia  - or Montessori inspired classroom or homeschool!
Also would be great for a nonprofit that works with young children!
This is just a gorgeous set, has two shelves for storage, is made of pine and is 37" tall 22" wide and 12" deep. No ply wood or MDF. Solid, sturdy, and handcrafted.
The Willow Wooden Play Kitchen retails for $250.00
The Stainless Steel Cookware Set retails for $22.50
So, the prize package is a wonderful prize worth $272.50!!!
Wow!!!

Here is the thing:

You have to either pick this up locally or make plans for shipping or pick up. 

This package does not include shipping or packing.

If you live somewhere that is not close to where we are near Tampa, Florida, then if you want to win, you will have to make your own arrangements as far as how this awesome prize will get to you! You could pay to have it shipped or you could make arrangements for it to be picked up on your behalf if say you have relatives or friends planning to head to Florida during the next few weeks.

A little on the back story of this lovely set:
Had purchased this set thinking that it would be something neat for some friends of mine, but the shipping was going to be somewhat cost prohibitive.
So when I contacted Pinterest, purchased www.pinterestmama.com and set up @pinterestmama, decided that what might be a great way to get the word out about Pinterest would be to give this away to a lucky winner!!!

Update: 

This giveaway is now closed. Comments are now closed.
The winner, as determined by Random.Org, is comment #19, submitted by tlb.

Congrats to tlb!

tlb said...

Would Love to Win! Enjoy your blog!! and pinterest looks very informative and Fun for all! Willows products quality look wonderful and play stands could be used for so much imaginative play, Thanks!

Drawing started 11/10/2011 and ended 11/25/2011.
Winner, tlb,  will be notified on or by 11/28/2011 following the review of all submissions.
Winner was chosen randomly via Random.Org


Some Disclaimers are here, but for the complete disclaimer post, please click to read here.

Contacted Pinterest and have permission to go as Pinterest Mama, @pinterestmama and www.pinterestmama.com as long as it is very clearly stated that I am not an employee of Pinterest.

Also contacted Willow Toys and have sent them a link to this giveaway!

Here are some photos of Big Bro and Little Bro in our kitchen with this lovely prize! 

 

Wouldn't this be awesome to win???

Fabulous Willow Kitchen Set!

Stainless steel utensils set is in this bag.

Gorgeous Willow Play Kitchen!

Stamp from Willow showing that it is authentic.

My goal is for all of you to want to Dream BIG...
Follow your heart and pin what makes you happy and what you feel passionate about as far as creating - visualizing - and learning for your family and for yourself.

Recent Works Selected by the Boys

The boys have chosen a variety of works lately so thought that I would share a few with you...

Both boys have been selecting Learning Palettes for the last few days.
We have these for grades 1-3 for both language arts and math. Let me tell you, the boys just love to use their Learning Palettes!
Learning Palettes are great, in that they focus on a particular skill set at a time, are colorful and interesting to use, have a built in control of error, and are a self checking - self correcting work.
The math ones in particular are great, in that they correlate with the NCTM standards for math. We also like the reading ones, in that the skills covered are similar to how Montessori covers reading and language with children.

Big Bro has been having fun learning about caves and caverns. He has been working with the Caves and Caverns Elementary Work Pack by Laughing Star Montessori, a material that we were sent to review. He has enjoyed not only learning the terms and seeing the photos that tie in with caves and caverns, but also, playing the Who or What Am I? game that goes along with this work.
What a great pack of Montessori inspired materials!
So interesting and very challenging to boot!
This work goes way beyond stalactites and stalagmites.
Big Bro loves this work!!!

A work that has been a keen interest of both boys is the Road Trip USA Animal Unit from Confessions of a Homeschooler. They have enjoyed matching the animals to the cards, finding the various states on the map, and researching animals that are new to them since doing this work.
They have done some of the work together, some in tandem, and some separately.
Thanks so much to Confessions of a Homeschooler for this lovely work!
My boys really have gotten so much out of it! It continues to be a family favorite in our home.

Little Bro has been also selecting to do a fun twist on language objects work. One variation  / extension to his regular Montessori inspired language work is a work made by Lakeshore Learning called Mystery Word Builders. The work features round balls that can be opened by the child. Inside each colorful ball, there is a language object, along with foam letters that spell out the name of the object. There is a control of error built into this work, in that there are only the exact letters that a child needs to spell the word, but then, in addition, the actual word is spelled on one of the two halves of the interior of the ball for the child to be able to self-check.
Even though we have a huge tub of language objects, and many different Montessori-inspired language works, this twist from Lakeshore Learning seems to be a favorite with Little Bro.
He loves the colorful balls, how they look and feel.
Plus, it adds another element of interest to be able to shake the balls first and to guess what might be inside of them...

Big Bro has been selecting to work on his cursive. He has been using a wonderful wooden movable alphabet set of cursive letters from Alison's Montessori.
He chose to have this set in dark green so he practices writing his cursive words in dark green pencil or marker.
Big Bro enters them into a dark green notebook.
So very like Big Bro, as everything goes together so well!
In addition to the cursive practice with the movable alphabet from Alison's Montessori, he also has been enjoying doing work from Laughing Star Montessori's Beautiful Handwriting Series.
The work he creates from these books turns out so nicely!
The Laughing Star Montessori Beautiful Handwriting Series has really helped to improve Big Bro's handwriting.

We also updated Little Bro's bedroom recently, as he had outgrown some of the decor from his original room. He wanted to have a dinosaur theme room, so we switched things around and voila! Dinosaurs galore! One of the things in his room now is an activity table where he can play with dinosaurs. We have a nice collection of plastic dinosaur figurines.
Several of his dinosaurs are from the Safari Ltd. Carnegie Collection. They are attractively hand painted, interesting, and detailed. Little Bro loves to play with these dinosaur figures in his room. He also has enjoyed reading about dinosaurs, so we have been doing just that, for pleasure reading, bedtime stories, and as homeschool reading too.

Last but not least, since the temps have been slightly cooler than normal, the boys have spent a great deal of time at the park playing, riding bikes, checking out insects and other interesting critters, and climbing trees. What a great way to take in the sunshine and to enjoy the cooler temperatures!

Here are some photos of the work and play times here in our home:

Little Bro doing his language work, Mystery Word Builders from Lakeshore Learning.

Big Bro doing Road Trip USA Animals Unit from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Here, the boys chose to work together on the Road Trip USA Animals Unit ...they worked hard and matched up all of the animal cards!

Little Bro is working hard by himself on Road Trip USA Animals Unit here...

Little Bro is having fun using his Learning Palette for this math work. Big Bro also loves doing his work using Learning Palettes. He uses the ones for older children. It is so nice that Learning Palettes are for a wide range of ages, for both language arts and math!

Big Bro is working on his Caves and Caverns Elementary Work from Laughing Star Montessori. Such a cool work!!! He absolutely loves this work!

Little Bro's new dinosaur table in his newly re-decorated dinosaur themed room. Some of the neat dinosaurs are part of the Safari Ltd. Carnegie Collection. How he loves this activity table! What fun!

This is one of the black line masters books from Laughing Star Montessori's Beautiful Handwriting Series. Such a neat collection of works for children to practice their writing! Big Bro is enjoying learning how to do cursive!

This is the map showing the Continents of the World. This is the page that Big Bro decided he wanted to practice for the day! Very highly motivating program for handwriting! Thanks to Susan from Laughing Star Montessori for creating this super series!

Fun in the cooler temps! Great days for climbing trees, playing outside at the park, and riding bikes! Yay!

What have you been doing in your homeschool or classroom? 

We would love to hear what you are doing!

Please feel free to leave a link if you wish to share what you are doing for early October work in your room.

Full Disclosure: 
We were given a set of the Caves and Caverns Cards Elementary Pack by Laughing Star Montessori for the purpose of reviewing it and using it in our homeschool. We were given some of the Beautiful Handwriting Series blackline masters books from Laughing Star Montessori, although in addition to what was given to us for the purchase of review, we also have been very happy customers of Laughing Star Montessori and their materials. 
The Road Trip USA Animals Unit is available as a free download from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  
To download this work, please visit the Confessions of a Homeschooler blog directly. 
Our family purchased all of the following materials:
Learning Palettes for both math and language arts, 
Mystery Word Builders activity from Lakeshore Learning, 
the cursive movable alphabet from Alison's Montessori, 
the activity table and all dinosaur accessories and decor featured in Little Bro's room.
We did receive some of the Safari Ltd. Carnegie Collection Dinosaurs as part of an arrangement for me doing an earlier project for Safari Ltd. and those are featured in the photo of Little Bro's room.
All opinions expressed in this post are my own. 
My boys thoroughly enjoyed all of the materials that were mentioned in this post, regardless of whether the products were given to us or whether we paid for the materials ourselves.

Did You Know That October 4th is World Animal Day?

Yes, it is true! 

October 4th has been designated as World Animal Day.

According to the World Animal Day website, the mission of World Animal Day is as follows:

MISSION STATEMENT - WORLD ANIMAL DAY

• To celebrate animal life in all its forms

• To celebrate humankind’s relationship with the animal kingdom

• To acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play in our lives – from being our companions, supporting and helping us, to bringing a sense of wonder into our lives 

• To acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which animals enrich our lives

So what can you do with children to promote World Animal Day?

Well, that is really up to you...but there are loads of possibilities...here are a few:
Visit an animal shelter.
Send financial support to your choice of a non-profit that works to help animals.
Build a bird feeder or put out bits of materials that birds might want to use to make a nest.
Adopt a shelter animal.
Help care for family pets or class pets by helping to feed and care for the pet.
Make an animal enrichment for a pet, such as a new animal-safe toy or else make homemade animal- specific treats, such as homemade doggy biscuits, etc.
Learn about endangered and threatened animals and see what you can do to help them.
Read several books about animals and their habitats.
Our personal favorites for animal books include:
Maurice Pledger books, Leap Frog Nature Books by Jennifer Boudart and Sarah Toast, and One Small Square books by Donald Silver.

There are also some neat projects from around the world listed on the World Animal Day website, including:
Worldwide WAD - sharing experiences

Malta - Animals and Art

Nigeria - Cultivating Kindness

Romania - a School Visit

Singapore – Safari@PL: a Celebration of World Animal Day

United Kingdom - an Early Years Perspective

USA - Classroom Management and the Teacher's Pet

USA - Super-Humane Kids

United Kingdom - Minny's Dream - the nightmare world of the battery hen house

Big Bro loved reading about what was done in the USA by a school about Class Pets. Little Bro loved reading about what was done in Malta about animals and art.
 

How does this tie in with Montessori inspired learning?
Dr. Maria Montessori felt strongly about caring for animals and highly encouraged middle school aged children to work on caring for animals, such as those on a farm.
Caring for a family pet falls under the realm of practical life.
Learning to be gentle, compassionate, and peaceful towards animals in general and in particular, towards family pets, is a great life lesson.

How does this relate to discovery based, Reggio Emilia style, Malaguzzi inspired learning?
Well, in a Reggio Emilia environment, projects arise from the interests and the environment of the child and his or her community as a whole. The environment is considered to be the third teacher. How this relates to learning about animals is learning about animals that are indigenous to your area and how to protect native species from being overtaken by non-native ones. Examples of that here in Florida are snakes, fish, and pigs that are not native to Florida that have wrecked havoc on native animals. Florida Fish and Wild Life does different programs throughout the year to educate families about the problem with releasing animals into the wild that do not belong to them. People who have not been educated about the harm of introducing non-native animals to ponds when they are tired of having them as pets need to learn how that harms the environment.
Taking a young child out to see and learn about the animal habitats near their home is a good way to have a child develop an appreciation for the circle of life and native species in their region.

What are we doing as a homeschool family here in Florida?
We have been reading many animal books and learning how people can impact the habitats in which animals live. We try to do things that are eco-friendly and animal safe.
We have done several art and science projects related to animals and protecting their environments.
We have visited animal shelters, animal sanctuaries, nature centers, organic farms, and zoos.
We have had our sons take nature classes through various co-ops to learn about wildlife native to Florida.
We encourage our sons to actively help out with our family pets here in our home, consisting of three frogs, one fish, and a pup. The boys love their doggy and their doggy loves the boys!
Our dog likes to have the boys play with him, take him for walks, and keep him out of harm's way.
One problem that we face here in Florida is that there are several little creatures that can make a dog quite sick if they come in contact with them, from frogs to toads to snakes, so one of the things we do here is to always make sure that we walk our pup in a well lit area.
We have worked at educating how important it is to keep a watchful eye not only on our dog and what he does manage to get into while walking but just the general area around where we walk our dog.
The boys know what a Marine Toad looks like, as well as Cotton Mouths and Coral Snakes, and they do their best to stay away from any of these creatures in our neighborhood.
they also have learned as to where the armadillos nest near our home and try to keep our dog away from their den, as they would not want our dog to scare the armadillos or for the armadillos to scare our dog.
Also timely is the release of the wonderful movie based on the true story called A Dolphin Tale. Pulls at the heartstrings on many levels because the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where Winter, the dolphin,  was rehabilitated and where the movie was filmed is in Clearwater, Florida...a short hop, skip, and jump away from our home. We have been to that aquarium, we have seen the dolphin, and we knew about the subject of the movie long before it was in the theaters.  Also special is that the boy who helped the dolphin is a homeschooled student!
Yay for homeschooling!!! He was able to be so devoted to his beloved Winter, the Dolphin, because he had the time to devote to his passion of caring for the dolphin! How cool is that?!?

Well, hope that you and your children had a Happy World Animal Day Today!

Here are some photos of some of the books that our family enjoys, as well as some World Animal Day posters and some photos of our pets:

Little Bro showing some of his favorite pets!

Big Bro working on some posters for World Animal Day!

Some of Big Bro's pet pictures for his poster...

One of the neat animal books that we have read...very timely, as with the release of the movie, A Dolphin Tale. The movie was filmed at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium nearby our home.

Checking out pets for adoption with a family friend. This is something that we do once in a while, to go visit animals that are up for adoption. We did not go today to visit animals, but it is something that we do pretty regularly to think about helping animals in need.

Visiting a show about animals at G-Wiz Science Museum in Sarasota, Florida.

All About Pets Lapbook...Big Bro made a Pets lapbook when he was five so now, it is Little Bro's turn to make one!

Pockets for Little Bro's work about pets...

Pet cards for Little Bro. He can copy these cards using his movable alphabet.

Bendaroos Pets that Big Bro made. Bendaroos work well to make tiny, colorful animals.Both boys love using Bendaroos for animal themed art projects.

Holding a little lizard on our lanai...this is a daily occurrence. The boys love to catch and release the various lizards they find by our home. They are very gentle and know to wash their hands thoroughly before and after handling them.

Pets artwork created by the boys. Boy, how they love animals!

Doggy love!

Walking our doggy!

In addition to lots of lizards, snakes, toads, frogs, and alligators, we also have all kinds of turtles living nearby our home.

Did you do anything for World Animal Day? 

We would love it if you would link up your post in the comments section.

Have you done a neat Pets theme or Animal Conservation theme with your children?

Would love to see and read about what you did about animals in your homeschool or classroom!

Have you gone to see the movie, A Dolphin Tale?

What did you think about the movie?

Did you know that there was a homeschool connection to the movie?

Please feel free to share a link to your animal themed posts in the comments section of this post.