As I mentioned over at SpanglishBaby today, now that my three-year-old daughter is able to kind of understand the meaning of Thanksgiving, we’ve been talking about it a lot.

Since she is a big book-lover, I was very thankful when we received Pat Mora’s latest book, “Gracias/Thanks” last week because it instantly became a great way to explain what this beautiful holiday is all about.

As you probably know by now, we’re are big fans of Mora and this bilingual book does not disappoint. It’s the story of a little boy who lists all the things for which he is thankful. The sentences are simple enough for preschoolers to understand and my daughter is able to identify with all the things the little boy is thankful for like the ladybugs, the waves and Abuelita.

Every night after we finish reading this book, we each take turns saying some things for which we are thankful and I love that my daughter, like the little boy in the book, is always thankful for her familia.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed.

We actually got a great surprise from Lee & Low, the publisher of “Gracias/Thanks”: five books instead of one. So, FIVE of you were lucky enough to win a copy of this great book. CONGRATULATIONS TO: #10 JMarie, #9 Amy, #11 Christine, #13 Dariela and #4 Diana!!!!

We’re giving away a copy of Pat Mora’s latest book, “Gracia/Thanks” to one lucky winner. For your chance to win all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us about your family’s Thanksgiving tradition.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Sunday, November 29th at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

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Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

It’s all about the ABC’s for my daughter these days and nothing could be more luring than a set of colorful and sturdy cards with both the English and Spanish alphabet all packed into a nifty red box that begs to be opened. Another very cool product from Bilingual Readers.

The Easy Alphabet!/¡Abecedario Fácil! is a great way for children to learn both alphabets and to enrich their vocabulary in both languages. There are 27 cards in the box and each one has a letter of the alphabet on one side and the image of something which starts with the same letter in English and Spanish on the other side. So, for example, the F has the image of a flor/flower. The P has the image of a pingüino/penguin. You get the drift.

I love that the cards are thick and have rounded corners which make them really comfortable for little fingers. The images of the objects are funky and totally original. So far, they’ve been real fun to use for both my daughter and I.

Another awesome feature is the parent guide that comes within the box and which is full of ideas for games to use the cards with kids of all ages. Here’s an example of an activity called “Letter Search: spread out all the letters on the floor, and ask your child to find the first letter of his name or any other favorite words.” This is definitely one of my daughter’s favorite game!

Finally, for those of you who are not native speakers and might need some help with pronunciation in either language, Bilingual Readers has made available a bunch of extremely helpful – and free – audio files to make your life easier.

As we said in last month’s ReadMe installment over at SpanglishBaby, Bilingual Readers’ books are not yet available in the States – although the publishers are working on changing that – but we like their products so much that we want you to know about them. Plus, you get a chance to win one if you enter the giveaway below.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed.  CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER: DIANA #12!!!

We’re giving away one Easy Alphabet!/¡Abecedario Fácil! to one lucky winner. To enter, please visit Bilingual Readers and then come back and leave us a comment about what you learned about this innovative publishing company.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Sunday, November 15th at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

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Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

Photo by Paul and Jill

Yesterday we published Part 1 of this post with a list of some of the coolest Finds featuring iconic and classic Day of the Dead symbols such as calaveras and calacas.
Today we continue with the feast. Enjoy!

Chocolate Day of the Dead Skulls

One of the most traditional aspects of a Día de los Muertos celebration are the chocolate and sugar calaveras, or skulls, you get and give as gifts.  It´s usual to personalize it with the name of the person you´re giving it to.  It´s wonderful to walk into Mexican markets around these days and see stalls full of these sweet and colorful confections.  I found an Etsy shop by the name of 2gorditas that makes these skulls by hand out of yummy white chocolate and hand-paints them, making each one truly unique.  For $15 you get a gift box with 6 chocolate skulls to give away as treats, favors or to use as cupcake toppers.  Oh yeah, you can also indulge in them all by yourself!  ¡Se vale!

Dia de los Muertos Sticker Book

Stickers make every kid happy.  This book has 25 vibrant stickers that celebrate Day of the Dead in English and Spanish.  It also introduces children to this traditional holiday and the festival atmosphere that accompanies it.  I’m also loving the $4.95 price tag on it.  You can find it on Amazon, via La Tiendita.

Muertos T-shirt for Dad

Have papá get in the Day of the Dead mood with this rocking t-shirt from the SleepyManatee Etsy shop.  He can do both Halloween and Muertos with this one and style it out.  This Find is available for $14 here.

Day of the Dead Crafts Book

I´m still  in search of my crafty bone (no pun intended!), but it seems to be hiding deep with in.  This book is perfect to at least inspire me to create Día de los Muertos inspired objects such as calacas, masks, skulls, altars and ofrendas (gifts) to place on the altars we make.  There are more than 24 projects that celebrate the festivity, making it a perfect starting point to gather your family around the theme.  It´s discounted at $13.95 in La Tiendita.

Las Flores de la Muerte

Frida Kahlo is one of the artists responsible for making the Day of the Dead celebration more widely known of and focusing on its mystical, colorful and joyous aspect.  This is a print from My Pink Turtle Studio that features a Frida and skulls wrapped in flower petals.  I had to include it as a find for it´s unique take and the gorgeous use of colors and patterns to bring this piece to life.  The print is an 8 x 10 reproduction of a folk art collage painting and will only cost you $15 to treasure it.  Go here to get it while they still have them.

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Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

While many are busy getting ready for Halloween, we want to spice things up a bit for the bicultural families amongst us with a little Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) feast.

Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1st in Mexico and some Latin American countries.  It´s a day to remember the loved ones in our lives that have passed on.  We remember them with joy and happiness.

Latinos know how to turn everything into a fiesta and give it color!  Typical Día de Muertos iconic figures include the vibrant calacas, or skeletons, and calaveras, or skulls.  We´ve rounded up the coolest finds around the web of decorations, clothing, accesories and books featuring dancing and smiling calacas y calaveras for your very own Muertos celebration.

Handmade Skull Garland

We found this garland, and the one pictured above, in Raw Bone Studio´s Etsy shop.  You get eight colorful and handmade felt skulls with different whimsical expressions.  Nothing dark or spooky here!  Garlands always set the tone.

They are a bit pricey for $40, but this is something you can store away in your Día de Muertos box and bring out every year.  The memories it will bring your kids every year will surely amount to much more.

Skull Ornament

Nine ornaments made to resemble the typical sugar skulls kids get as treats during this holiday. Each ornament is handmade with soft, lightweight fabric so you can hang these unique pieces anywhere you want to add some Muertos cheer.  We found these at Miss Butler´s Etsy shop for $45.  Think Muerto´s heirloom at its best.

EL FESTIVAL DE LAS CALAVERAS

This book´s complete title is Festival of Bones/El Festival de las Calavera: The Little-Bitty Book for the Day of the Dead. Author and illustrator Luis San Vicente created a bilingual (English/Spanish) book that´s perfect for young readers to learn more about the Day of the Dead and the festive, yet respectful, atmosphere that surrounds it. So festive, even skeletons dress up to party!
Find this book for $10.17 in La Tiendita.

Skull Felt Baby Shoes

Cute, cute, cute!  Franny and June´s Etsy shop has adorable and unique handmade felt shoes that you will want to get for every baby in your life.  They´ve made a girl´s and a boy´s version for  Día de los Muertos decorated with embroidered sugar skulls you´ll want to eat off!  Get a pair for $24 at their online store.

Skull Pendant

A skull pendant with colorful Buri beads from WinkArtisans brings the bling to the holiday and elevates the Day of the Dead calavera to a fashion statement.  Find it at their Etsy shop for $4o.

We still have more Día de Muertos Finds to share with you.  We´ll see you here tomorrow for the second part of this calaca and calavera feast!

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Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

Have you heard of something called Scanimation? It’s a pretty cool technique which makes the images of this book, ¡Al Galope!, seem as if they’re moving. Artist, inventor, filmmaker, Rufus Butler Seder, came up with this animation process described as “video without a screen.”

Translated from the #1 New York Times bestseller children’s book, Gallop!, the Spanish version will have your kiddos thinking they’re watching a movie instead of reading a book. Not to mention, they’ll learn a bunch of vocabulary including the names of animals and the action verbs associated with them such as “aletear” (for the butterfly) or “galopar“(for the horse.)

This is definitely one book you’ll want to add to your children’s library in español. Not only is it fun and completely different from any other book, but its text is simple enough to use with children learning to read.

Each of the pages of this book contains a scanimation of a particular animal in action and a question about whether you can do as the animal does. In other words, it includes inviting questions such as: “¿Puedes columpiarte como un mono?” or “¿Puedes correr como un perro?” So immediately it gets children moving. When I read it to my daughter she couldn’t help but run around the kitchen acting as one of the animals on the pages of the book. How cool is that?

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to our winners #2 TATI and #29 DONNA K. Thanks to all for entering!

Well, here’s your chance to find out. We’re giving away two copies of this innovative book! To enter, please visit Scanimation Books’ website and come back to leave us a comment about what you learned while you were there.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Sunday, October 25th at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

That’s exactly the way the publishers describe this Frida Kahlo Coloring Book for children: Big art for little hands.  And this is one I really want to get my own hands on.  I can even imagine myself begging my two-year old to sit down and color with me the fascinating 32 pages on this book.  She would probably be over it after roughly squiggling undefined lines with a couple of colors, while I sit there patiently trying to recreate the masterpieces of Mexico’s most known female artist with a palette of Crayolas.

Frida Kahlo’s work is a manifestation of identity through culture.  She, along with her husband Diego Rivera, revived many of Mexico’s lost colors, faces and traditions. This enchanting coloring book introduces her magical art to your budding artista at a level he can be comfortable with. Plus, for only $8.95 gives you a much needed dose of cultura amidst the plastic, the cartoons and the hyper activeness of children’s daily life.

Get this Find in La Tiendita, powered by Amazon.

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Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "