Online Literacy Products & Books for Kids

The following was written by Shara Lawrence-Weiss of MommyPerks, and available here with her permission.

The MommyPerks Community (which KidsTravelHappy.com is proud to be a part of) offers numerous choices for book browsing.

With so many reading, literacy and book websites Online, where do you turn to find something unique? Where do you look in order to locate quality reading materials or hard-to-find themes and selections?

Here are a few of the small businesses offering books and literacy products on Mommy Perks:

Barefoot Books (Amy)

With a focus on multicultural books and concepts, Barefoot has set itself apart. Browse through to find holiday topics, family books, cultural stories, early readers and more. You won’t find TV characters featured in these stories: Barefoot Books focuses on real-life people and story-lines.

Slimy Bookworm

Tired of looking through websites that offer ‘adult-like’ books on so-called ‘kid sites?’ Slimy Bookworm is here to help with your family friendly book buying needs. From birth-12, there’s something for every reader! A portion of all sales is donated to inner city literacy efforts.

Finding Our ‘Ohana

This pro-adoption story highlights children in Hawaii who are searching for their ‘Ohaha (family). Follow their journey and delight in a little Hawaiian culture at the same time.

Kids Travel Happy

Did you think that Kids Travel Happy was just for toys and games? Think again. You’ll find books here, also: hands-on (including Invisible Ink Game Books - fun, fun!!), travel books, Mad Libs, dot-to-dot and more. Stock a few books in your car for long drives!

Find Me Book

What if we took the “Where’s Waldo” book concept but turned that into a personalized search-and-find coffee table book? Welcome to Find Me Book! Upload 6 photos (family or pets) and choose 11 scenes. The faces will scatter throughout the pages and your kids will enjoy finding their own faces…over and over again.

Personal Child Stories

Hand crafted books, written upon order based on the child’s life situation and needs. Personal photos are used as the graphics, rather than clip art. Books are laminated and can be colored on and wiped clean. Text can be written in any language.

Happy reading and learning!

A small Investment for PEACE while traveling

Yes, I will admit, I am no admirable blogger (it has been a MONTH - horrors!), but mostly due to being primarily a one-woman operation (excuses, excuses), it's tax season..... BUT, that being said, I still have LOTS of ideas, just not ALWAYS the time to put them in type...

My thought of the day as I was putting my new Nordic skis on the roof is that I am thankful to have a roof rack that keeps them safe and on TOP of my car (leaving room for all the other things we will soon pack IN the vehicle to go to "Ya-Ya's" house later this afternoon). My point? When one invests money in things, like a trip (are you starting to see where I'm going with this?), it seems silly, and perhaps 'unsafe' NOT to invest in a few things to 'insure' the entertainment of your children for the trip to that lovely beach destination or the exotic lodge for the winter ski trip. Let's keep this in perspective.....

You just spent a few thousand dollars on a big trip, and decided to fore go the money for travel activities. The result? Kids NOT traveling Happy, and as a result, no adult is happy either.

You don't have to spend a lot, just take a look around our site, you can shop by mode of travel, age, theme, activity type and more. We even have CUSTOM kits, where you pick how much money you want to spend, answer a few questions and we do all the work. We will even wrap a few of the items for FREE. Send us an email if you need some advice. We're always happy to help.

Don't forget to check out our Travel Trays, the solution to easy play on-the-go.

Remember, it's a small investment to keep the kids entertained (AND, we'll keep them UNPLUGGED - that's our thing), and we like to think of ourselves as the FROSTING on the cake - maybe not completely necessary, but almost always enhances the experience.

The (LOST?) Art of Letter Writing

The holidays have come and gone. Our kids are still having fun discovering all of the things they had so little time to look at during the actual 'unwrapping frenzy' that is Christmas morning. It's so fun to watch them build, play, and learn with thoughtful gifts from Santa, family and friends.

Now, however, before it becomes too far in the past, I want the boys to write their "thank you" cards, and to learn that the good 'old fashioned' (!?) tradition of letter writing (NOT email, NOT a form letter typed as a Word Doc etc...) can be as fun for the sender as well as the receiver.

At KidsTravelHappy.com we have a couple of kits that make this fun and easy for kids to do. (as shown above in the same order from left to right as listed below)

• Little Letters from Klutz: comes with paper and envelopes to punch out, a template to make more folding envelopes, stickers, instructions on "how to write a note" and so much more, for those aged 4 and up
  
• Hey Thanks from Chronicle Books: come with hundreds of stickers, fun instructions, cards & envelopes, address booklet - everything to make THANK YOU card writing fun, for ages 5 to 12 years
  
• Hey Ugly from Chronicle Books and Pretty Ugly, LLC: a fold and mail stationery kit, 40 sheets with 5 different designs, simple write, moisten, fold and stamp - for all ages of Ugly fans

All of these sets will make THANK YOU writing fun and not a chore, and just imagine the thrill of the recipient to get a real, touchable piece of mail! These also make great kits for thanking a family member or friend for a fun visit!