Nature Picture Book Archives – Cloud and Sunshine

Shaarav’s dad and I live in different cities and he visits us once in a week. So, most of the time it’s me solo parenting Shaarav. But unfortunately, because of the current lockdown scenario due to COVID-19 Mr. Husband is unable to come see us. I cannot emphasize enough how much they are missing each other. Shaarav asks me questions that I don’t have answers to. So, for alphabet D we particularly chose the book “Love You, Dad” to show and express their love for each other and strengthen their bond.

Love You, DAD

What’s the story?

“Love You, Dad” is a sweet and beautifully illustrated book which celebrates fathers and fatherhood and appreciating the role of a father in a child’s life. The book pays tribute to all the lovely dads recognizing the little and the big things, the important and the unimportant things, the serious and the funny things they do with and for their kids through animal pictures and befitting captions. “Love You, Dad” features adorable animal photographs from National Geographic of dads with their kids displaying fatherly love at its best. Its moving how each caption perfectly befits the fatherhood emotion that’s so pure and touching.

What did we like about it?

Unlike the mothers, the fathers are expected to be easy going and fun-loving. My pre-schooler adores his Dad and this book gives the perfect excuse to say thank you and express his love for all the things he does for Shaarav. And what better way than to do it with a wonderful book with an amazing collection of cute, brilliant and charming animal portraits of dads and babies with meaningful and fitting comments of thanks Dad. “Love You, Dad” would make a wonderful gift for fathers of all age groups which I’m sure every dad would love to receive.

Book Details

Written by: Melina Gerosa Bellows

Designed by: Melissa Farris and Jonathan Halling

Published by: National Geographic Society

Genre: Nature Picture Book

Book Type: Hardcover

Recommended Age: 0 to 5

Number of pages: 92

Ratings: 8/10

What’s there for the child to learn?

“Love You, Dad” sends across a very powerful message of appreciation. The heartfelt and humorously pithy captions which have been artfully expressed give the child a way of expressing love reminding him the importance of fatherly love.

The vivid and life-like pictures of animals, some common and some not so common, incite talk about their habitats and their babies. Shaarav was very amused with the animals that he had never heard me mention, like armadillos, arousing curiosity and eagerness to learn more about them.

As part of the bookish play we decided to have a storytelling session (read aloud) and do some book related activities. Shaarav has been missing his father and is terribly wanting to see him, so this exercise, sort of, helped him. We used this book as an inspiration to prepare “Love You, Dad” cards for Daddy dearest and its needless to say the cards definitely made Mr. Husband emotional. We used two different fun techniques to make the cards. One was finger painting and the other was blow painting and Shaarav enjoyed the activity very much. The cards have turned out really well and we may get them framed to etch these moments in our memories.

“Love You Dad” card with finger painting

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z challenge. Keep watching the space for our book recommendation for the alphabet E next and in case you missed our theme reveal for this year’s BlogchatterA2Z challenge you can check it out here. You could also check our book review with alphabet C from yesterday too for another great review and book related activities. Last year on Father’s Day, we wrote a poem for Daddy Dearest and also made a “I love You Papa” card appreciating his efforts, love and care which you can read here.

Love,

Mrs. Sunshine

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This book “Little Acorn” caught my eye with its cute and lively illustrations and I bought it on a whim. And just as the same way it caught Shaarav’s attention the moment he saw it. But “Little Acorn” has much more to offer to young kids and parents alike besides its beautiful and absolutely adorable illustrations. Little Acorn has become like this “cute friend” for little Shaarav who has come to adore this fun and cute acorn.

Little Acorn

What’s the story?

It’s a cute story about a little acorn which grows to become a beautiful oak tree and goes on to give its own seeds (acorns). The story begins with a little acorn who goes unnoticed stuck high up on a tree while he watches the world below go all hustle and bustle. While it just cozily sits up there growing all fat and shiny protected from harsh weather when slowly as the weather changes to autumn and the leaves begin to turn golden brown it excitedly jumps on the ground along with the leaves blowing in the wind.

A squirrel which was busy storing nuts for the winter finds it and hides it in the forest ground where it waits patiently until one day it has a peculiar feeling and begins to feel all tickly. And suddenly he sprouts little roots. It feels so ticklish that it stretches left and right and to its utter amazement it stretches so much that it reaches above the ground into the light. As seasons change pass by, nourished by sunlight and rain little acorn also changes and grows into a full-grown tree stretching its branches and spreading its roots.

It becomes a very fine tree and in its full glory it feels proud and happy to house many feathered guests, spiders, beetles and squirrels. Until…one day it makes its own acorns. Check out our IGTV video on Instagram for our storytelling session.

What did we like about it?

With its adorably cute illustrations and a fun story about the life-cycle of a tree, it didn’t take much time to become Shaarav’s favourite. With sufficient fun action and catchy action words and perfectly rhyming text “Little Acorn” never fails to capture my son’s attention. We love to go “Wheeeeee” and then fall on the ground with a “thump” and then wiggle and stretch left and then right just like little acorn. Apart from the fun things about the book if you’re thinking of introducing life-cycle of a tree to your kid, “Little Acorn” is just the perfect book for it and that too in a fun way. So, we also like its sweet story that is educational too. And in addition, it also strengthens a child’s vocabulary by introducing new words and a lots of animals too. We have its board book version which sits well with a playful Shaarav who like to sometimes sleep with his books too.

Book Details

Written by: Melanie Joyce

Illustrated by: Gina Maldonado

Designed by: Lee Italiano

Edited by: Emily Bruce

Published by: Autumn Publishing (Igloo Books)

Genre: Nature Picture Book

Book Type: Board book (Paperback and Hardcover also available)

Recommended Age: 0 to 5

Number of pages: 24

Ratings: 10/10

What’s there for the child to learn?

The story of the “Little Acorn” sets a stage to talk about the life-cycle of an oak tree or plants and trees in general, different parts of a plant or tree and also about different seasons. As part of the bookish play we decided to have a storytelling session (read aloud) and learn about the life-cycle of a tree as well as different parts of a plant. For building a resource and for the purpose of explaining it vividly to Shaarav, I drew the pictures myself (which can be downloaded and printed for free).

Acorn seed germinating and forming a sprout

Acorn seed growing from a seedling to become a sapling

Acorn seed developing into a full-grown oak tree

The ultimate result of the whole process was a great bonding time with my son at the same time learning things in a fun and creative way. This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z challenge. Keep watching the space for our book recommendation for the alphabet B tomorrow to see how we are #BondingOverBooks and in case you missed our theme reveal for this year’s BlogchatterA2Z challenge you can check it out here.

Love,

Mrs. Sunshine