Using Books To Celebrate Holidays With Kids

Momstown's partnership with Scholastic Canada enables us to give away two books a month to some lucky mamas.  I loved the books that we got to read in December, both were perfect for the time of year and the holiday season.  Books about any holiday or season seem to become special favourites at my house as my kids look forward to pulling them out year after year.

For our December Tales for Tots program, our book of the month was called The Night Before Christmas by Barbara Reid.  Our winner, Sarah, will have so much fun reading this book with her children each Christmas season!

We give away a Scholastic book each month at our Tales for Tots program and our Rhyme, Rhythm and Read program.  To join momstown Oakville and participate in our programs, click here.  Our January Tales for Tots book is called Superworm  and you can enter here to win a copy!

For A Limited Time - Books in McDonald's Happy Meals!

momstown Oakville's monthly Tales for Tots got a special edition this month as we celebrated the new books found in McDonald's Happy Meals.  The promotion began on November 1 and will last for two weeks.  McDonald's is also releasing monthly e-books, which are available on McPlay™, McDonald’s Happy Meal app.

Reading Deana's Big Dreams

The launch of books in the Happy Meal is part of McDonald’s ongoing commitment to evolve the Happy Meal to reflect customers’ changing wants and needs, while championing children’s happiness and well-being.  Happy Meal offerings include a Danino® Strawberry Yogurt, the choice of apple slices, small or mini-size French fries, and the choice of a low-fat dairy option like 1% white or chocolate milk. All four of the limited edition books focus on nutrition and imagination. Our group loved Deana's Big Dreams which has a big dinosaur pull out at the back of the book.  In addition to taking home three of the Happy Meals books, momstown Oakville members also got coupons for a free Happy Meal and a free smoothie, coffee or wrap! In addition to Deana's Big Dreams, we also read the new Robert Munsch book titled 'Swamp Water'.

And thanks to the mama who sent in a picture post event of her kids enjoying a Happy Meal from the coupons they received!

Tales for Tots: Exploring Apples With Oakville Moms & Kids

momstown Oakville's monthly Tales for Tots program welcomed lots of Oakville moms and kids this week at The Little Gym to explore our theme of the month - apples.  Our craft got the kids glueing and letting the creativity flow with the creation of their own tissue paper apple.

We used paper plates as the apple base. Red tissue squares to fill in the apple, green construction paper for leaves and brown card board for the stem- an easy, adorable apple craft for kids! After our apple crafting fun we sat down to read a wonderful story called Fox and Squirrel. The book is all about appreciating differences in others. Since September is also back to school month, this story was very fitting as there is so many new people at school to get to know and each of us are unique.  As always, we gave away a copy of our Scholastic Canada book to one lucky Oakville mom.  Congratulations to Melissa and her daughter Emily, they were the big winners this month.

Every month we give away a Scholastic Canada book at our Tales for Tots and our Rhyme, Rhythm and Read program.  Come and join us next time!  Click here to purchase your one year membership for just $45. Membership includes all of our programs, a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent magazine and so much more!

Activities That Teach Kids About Shapes

momstown's educational theme for the month of June is shapes.  Oakville moms and kids gathered for our monthly Tales for Tots program at The Little Gym and explored all kinds of shapes.  Since our family homes are made of many different types of shapes, the momstown Oakville crowd made shape houses to explore this months theme. We used construction paper cut into multiple shapes, foam shapes, sticker shapes and plenty of glue to put our houses together. We finished our houses with markers and crayons to add special detail touches. Well done little shape builders!

As always, our Scholastic Canada book of the month compliments our theme and so Night Light by Nicholas Blechman was a perfect book to read.  The book is full of shapes that turn into fire trucks, tug boats and school buses just to name a few. Miss Emily was our lucky Scholastic Canada book winner this month- congratulations and have fun finding many more silly fun shapes!

momstown's July theme is The Desert!  Come and join us to explore this fun theme and connect with other Oakville moms.  Sign up for your free trial or buy your membership today for just $45 a year.  All one year memberships include a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent magazine!

May Tales for Tots - Early Literacy Program for Oakville Moms and Kids

momstown Oakville moms and kids gathered at The Little Gym for our monthly early literacy program sponsored by Scholastic Canada.  This month's Tales for Tots book was called 'Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson. The book went very well with our theme for May which was all about getting wet, wet, wet!  And as much fun as water can be, the best way to keep dry is to make sure you have an umbrella so the kids made their own!

Here is what you need to make these cute umbrellas:

-Coloured foam for the umbrella base
-A pipe cleaner for the handle
-Plenty of sticker shapes, pom poms or whatever you have on hand to jazz them up!
-Glue stick
-Tape to keep the handle in place

Congratulations Alex!

We admired our creations during snack time and then read 'Spilt! Splat! which is a really great story about celebrating and enjoying a rainy day.  As always at our Tales for Tots program, we gave away a copy of the book and Alex was our proud winner this month-congratulations Alex!  The kids also enjoyed some free play time which allows Oakville moms a good chance to connect and chat.  We'd love to have you join us next time!

momstown Oakville's April Tales for Tots Program with Scholastic Canada

April brought a new location and new theme for momstown Oakville's monthly Tales for Tots program! The Little Gym in Oakville has moved (now located at 2172 Wyecroft Rd., Unit 23) but it's new spot was equally welcoming and Oakville moms and kids had a great time.

The theme for April is Little Explorers, which was very fitting given that we were exploring a new location. What better way to explore with than making your very own compass! We used paper plates, pipe cleaners, markers and sparkle glue to make the most creative compasses possible. Kids even learned how to remember directions - North, South, East and West - by learning a catchy saying that goes "Never Eat Shredded Wheat.  They are ready to go exploring outside!

We followed our compass making with plenty of play and ended our fun with a wonderful story provided by Scholastic Canada called "Lucky Ducklings".  The story is a tale of little ducklings exploring new habitats and getting into trouble, however with help were all saved and ready for the next adventure.

As always, one lucky mama went home with a copy of our book of the month.  Interested in joining us for Tales for Tots or one of our other great programs?  Your $45 a year membership includes all of our monthly programs and a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent Magazine!  Join us today!

Tales for Tots at The Little Gym in Oakville - 'Goodnight Canada'

momstown Oakville's educational theme for the month of March is space.  Oakville moms and kids gathered at The Little Gym for our monthly Tales for Tots and we explored space and did some learning about where we live. The morning started off right with a space themed craft using white crayons to draw stars and space shapes onto white paper. Then a 'space' coloured paint was applied onto our crayon creations and like magic all of the crayon space shapes appeared! This is a super fun and easy craft, so much so that we made many more to take home to show our friends!

Space themed Tales for Tots

After all the space shape crafting, momstown Oakville moms and kids got busy playing with friends and chatting about upcoming end of winter plans, including finding Easter eggs soon! We ended the morning reading about all the provinces and territories of Canada with a story called "Goodnight Canada". This sweet little book was won by sisters Isabella and Gabriella! Thank you to Scholastic Canada for the fantastic books each month too!

Tales for Tots and all of our other mom and baby and mom and child programs are included in your momstown Oakville membership for just $45 a year.  Purchase your membership here and join us next month!  As an added bonus, you will get a 12 month Today's Parent magazine subscription too!

Tales for Tots - The Very Hungry Bear

It was all about celebrating love at momstown Oakville's Tales for Tots today. Given that Valentine's Day is fast approaching, both mama's and tots were very much in a loving spirit making hand made valentines for their loved ones and friends!  momstown Oakville moms and kids will be taking some of these Valentine to hand out to residents at West Oak Village nursing home on Valentine's Day. There were plenty of hearts for everyone to make special cards using plenty of stickers, paper cut outs, glitter, markers and crayons to really express there Valentine's day love! We followed this with plenty of free play for the tots and catch up time for Oakville moms.

Since the theme for February in addition to celebrating Valentine day is all about polar animals, we ended our morning reading "The Very Hungry Bear" which involved both a brown bear and a polar bear helping each other by sharing fish and finding the perfect place to live. This lovely book about sharing and lending a helping hand was won by Liam. Congratulations Liam! Thank you Scholastic Canada for the great books each month and to Little Gym for a wonderful place to spread out with our momstown Oakville mama's and tots.

momstown Oakville gives a way a Scholastic Canada book each month at both our Tales for Tots and our Sing, Rattle and Read Baby! program.  Interested in joining us?  Purchase your momstown Oakville membership here - only $45 for the year and includes these and so many other programs.  And as a special bonus, all new 1 year memberships get a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent!  Looking forward to having you join us soon!

momstown Oakville's Tales for Tots Program: My Friend Henry

momstown Oakville had our first Tales for Tots program of 2013 this week! Oakville moms, babies and kids started the new year off right by creating a craft aligned with our 'That's Silly' theme for this month and then enjoyed our Scholastic Canada sponsored book of the month entitled "My Friend Henry".

So...what is white, wintery but down right silly? Why clown snowmen, of course! We used all kinds of materials such as colourful construction paper, sticker shapes and letters and all kinds of sparkle glue to make the silliest snowmen clowns possible!

Silly Clown Snowman

After craft time there was plenty of silly fun among the babies, toddler and kids within the Canlan Room at Canlan Ice Sports. We ended our morning by reading our story mentioned above, sponsored by Scholastic Canada. As always, one lucky mama and her family won a copy of our book of the month.

Our lucky winners!

Interested in joining us for our next Tales for Tots program?  Did you know we also give away a book for babies aged 0-12 once a month too?  Join momstown Oakville here or sign up for a free trial.  Purchase a one year momstown membership and get a subscription to Today's Parent magazine as an added bonus!

Tales for Tots: Finding Christmas

This month for momstown Oakville's Tales for Tots program, Scholastic Canada sent us a wonderful book to help us getting excited for the holidays!  Oakville moms and kids gathered at The Little Gym and made ornaments of their own before settling in to hear this very cute Robert Munsch story.

For our ornament craft, we used sparkles, cotton balls and dollies to make beautiful snowflakes to put on the Christmas tree this year! We followed ornament making with some tasty treats that the mama's brought to share, followed by lots of playing around.

We ended the morning with a Christmas story called 'Finding Christmas' by Robert Munsch, provided by our Tales for Tots partner, Scholastic Canada. We always give away a copy of our book of the month and today's book was won by none other than Melissa! Her son Jamie and his sister Emily will have fun reading this one with mama for sure.

Interested in joining us for our next Tales for Tots program?  Sign up today for your free 4 week trial with momstown Oakville.

Tales for Tots: Alphabet Soup

momstown Oakville's theme for the month of November is alphabet soup.  This morning our Oakville moms and kids got together for another great morning filled with painting, playing with friends and reading about letters!

The morning started with the babies and toddlers getting to use their fingers for painting.  After getting crafty and working up an appetite, it was time for a snack break!  Everyone had brought something yummy to share. There was also lots of time for free play and for Oakville moms to catch up with one another.

 

Our book of the month was 'I Spy Letters' provided by Scholastic Canada, a perfect fit for our alphabet soup theme for this month.  Congratulations to Lisa who gets to take home a copy of the book to enjoy with her daughter Alexandra and son Thomas!

Come and join us for Tales for Tots in December.  We'll be giving away a wonderful holiday book!  Our Tales for Tots program is just one of the many programs included in your membership for just $45 a year.

Toddler Book Recommendations

The momstown Oakville message board was on fire this week with so many amazing book suggestions for toddlers that I just had to share!  Books always make a great toddler gift and with Christmas coming up, feel free to use these recommendations to start your little ones wish list.

Toddler Series momstown Oakville mama's love

1.  "That's Not My..." by Usbourne Children's Books

These books have textured pages and have a simple and repetitive story.  Really great for developing sensory and language awareness in babies and toddlers.  They have "That's not my Angel" and "That's not my Santa" - perfect for a first Christmas gift.

2. Free Spirit Toddler Tools Series by Elizabeth Verdick
These books are about regular occurances that toddlers have to manage.  Meal time, nap time, bed time and helps them learn more about these routines and and learn about these areas that can sometimes be trying for both parents and the child.

3.  J.D. Lester Series
"Mommy Calls Me Monkeypants"
"Daddy Calls Me Doodlebug"
"Grandma Calls Me Gigglepie"

Toddler Books that momstown Oakville mama's love

1.  Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
2.  Sing a Song of Mother Goose by Barbara Reid
3.  I Love you Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak
4.  Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
5.  Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
6.  The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
7.  One Sheep, Blue Sheep by Thom Wiley

And of course we all mentioned timeless favourites such as 'Brown Bear' and 'Good Night Moon' and lift the flap book series like 'Spot the Dog' and books by Karen Katz.  Leave us a comment about what books are favourites at your house.  Join us at our monthly Tales for Tots program where we read a new book provided by Scholastic Canada and one lucky member gets to take a copy home.  A free 4 week trial with momstown Oakville is just a click away!

Tales for Tots: Wishes

Our momstown Oakville group met this morning for Tales for Tots at The Little Gym.  We had a great morning playing, crafting and reading all about wishes.

A BIG thanks to Scholastic Canada who provided the wonderful book called "Wishes".  The rhyming made it a great book for kids of all ages.  It's whimsical and fun!  A book you can read over and over.  We gave away our book to a member who will be "wishing" on her birthday candles soon!  She is thrilled to take the book home to share with her family.

As part of our craft, we did sponge painting stars - to wish upon a night sky!  We added a little (or maybe A LOT) of sparkle to some of the night skies!

The kids had a great time and our moms had a wonderful morning to catch up and meet some new members.  

If you'd like to join momstown Oakville for our next Tales for Tots or to find out about the other great programs we offer, you can register for a FREE 4 week trial. Don't forget to check us out on facebook for more great pics from our morning!

Tales for Tots: Clifford at the Circus!

This month momstown Oakville is all about the circus!  Our books, crafts and programs are all based around this exciting theme that has the kids eager to learn and participate!

Today, momstown Oakville hosted Tales for Tots where we made some great circus crafts (Clifford on a tight rope), and we shared a book from Scholastic Canada "Clifford at the Circus".  The kids loved the book, and really enjoyed hearing about Clifford getting into trouble as well as helping out at the circus. Many of our momstown kids are BIG Clifford fans!

Thanks to Scholastic Canada, we are able to give away a copy of this book!

We are also really excited about Clifford this month because he will be joining us for our momstown Oakville 5th Birthday Party!  This is a FREE community event in Oakville, you won't want to miss.  For details about the party, click here.

To join us for our monthly Tales for Tots event, register for a FREE 4 week trial.