Pages

New Years Eve Global Traditions

For as long as I have been married we have never celebrated New Years Eve how it is celebrated it in Puerto Rico.  In Puerto Rico families gathers to eat, sing aguinaldos, light up fireworks, and after the clock hits 12 midnight everyone listens to El Brindis del Bohemio.



Free Three Kings Day / Epiphany / Día de Reyes Printable Cupcake Toppers


I love the cute printable that I'm sharing with you today.  With Día de Reyes quickly approaching it's the perfect cupcake topper for your fiesta, or Día de Reyes event.  

I baked cupcakes for a Christmas party that I hosted, and I made these cupcake toppers to give them an extra special touch! 


As a bonus I'm including a Feliz Navidad poinsettia labels.  There are 24 per page for exactly 2 dozen cupcakes. 



Enjoy! 

Coquito for Kids Recipe and Free Printable (Puerto Rican Eggnog)

It's Christmas, and I am full-Christmas spirit! I planned a Latin flair Christmas party for the kids (post coming soon)!  For the drinks besides  fruit punch, and strawberry lemonade I served coquito for kids.


Christmas in Puerto Rico: Puerto Rican Roast Pork

The Puerto Rican roast pork or as it's commonly known "lechón asado" is a staple in every menu across the island during the Christmas holiday. Served with arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), guineos en escabeche (pickled green bananas), pasteles (similar to tamales), and ensalada de coditos (cold pasta salad) it is an explosion of flavors and pure deliciousness!

Be warned! This menu is not for those on a diet! 👀

Multicultural Resources for Raising World Citizens

When my baby was born (8 years ago) I was sure of one thing. I wanted to raise him to embrace his multiculturalism, and to become a global citizen. 



Besides, exposing him to foods, and books from other countries I also rely on resources such as the Diversity Calendar and Games Around the World that I am featuring today. These are resources  you can use to help you raise a world citizen. 

Queen Girls Collection Children's Book

Now more than ever our little girls need to see themselves depicted in strong powerful women that can be found in children's books.  Books that they can open to read, and see themselves as the queens they are bound to become into one day.  



Is Santa Real? Telling My Son the Truth about Santa



Last night my child sits down to write to Santa and to the Three Kings.  He's done this since he was a toddler  where he'd scribble what he wanted.

Stress-Free Holiday Shopping


I have a confession to make. I really hate going out to stores to shop especially around the holiday season. I cringe at the thought of long lines, crowded stores, and trying to figure out what Christmas Gifts to buy for my loved ones. 

Christmas Traditions: 6 Ways to Celebrate Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico

Three Kings Day is one of the most important celebration in Puerto Rico.



The last time we were in Puerto Rico during the holidays was when little one was 6 months old. I took him to Puerto Rico to meet la familia and it was during the month of December.  

12 Days of Latino Children's Christmas Books and Activities


Looking to read Latino Children's books during this Christmas with your kids?   I've got you covered! For 12 days you can read a different book and have fun with your kids doing an activity.

A Free Anti-Bullying Resource for Parents and Teachers: We Are All Created Equal

I have been struggling with the dark cloud that has been overcast on our country during this past year. I was also deeply disturbed with the election fiasco, and all of the  negativity in social media.  I needed to take a step back, disconnect and regroup.   

Carlos, Light the Farolito Book and Craft Activity




Carlos, Light the Farolito by Jean Ciavonne is the perfect book to explain the beautiful tradition of Las Posadas.   

Christmas in Puerto Rico

Thanksgiving is over, and we're gearing up for Christmas!!!  Where is the best place to celebrate Navidades?  Simple.... Puerto Rico!  This little island has the best Christmas celebration in the world!


Mommy I can read in Spanish!

A few years ago,  I could only dream of one day hearing these words:  "Mommy I can read in Spanish!"  

Hanukkah Resources for Kids

Two years ago, my son received a precious gift from a Jewish pen-pal. 

It was a package with two dreidels (a small four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side), chocolate coins with the Hanukkah menorah engraved on it, erasers, a letter and other fun goodies.  

To this day, we still have the contents of the gift bag (except for the chocolates 😊 that are long gone!). We used the contents to learn more about the Hanukkah Jewish festival an eight-day celebration, and I also researched some helpful links, too.  

Today, I'm excited to share with you our favorite Hanukkah resources for kids. 

El amor a la lectura comienza en el hogar


El amor a la lectura comienza en el hogar. 

Tengo bonitos recuerdos de mi Mamá cuando se sentaba a leer sus novelas románticas en las tardes. Mami siempre tenía un libro en las manos y yo quería ser como ella. Me convertí en una lectora voraz y competía en los famosos "book reports" de la escuela.  

Este amor a la lectura, es el mismo que le estoy inculcando a mi hijo.  Le estoy leyendo desde que estaba en el vientre y leerle se convirtió en "second nature"  algo completamente normal.  

Hoy, mi niño con 8 años de edad le encanta leer.  Cuándo pequeño yo seleccionaba sus libros, ahora que está más grande el tiene sus propias preferencias.

Ahora bien, te preguntarás ¿qué saco con leerle a mi hijo? Pues te comparto, que leerle a tu hijos tiene grandes beneficios.

¿Cuáles son los beneficios de fomentar la lectura en los niños?

  • Estimula la creatividad e imaginación. 
  • Le abre las puertas a un mundo que va más allá de las cuatro paredes de su casa. 
  • Ayuda a ampliar su vocabulario y su habilidad para comunicarse verbalmente. 
  • Cuando lees con tu hijo estás creando un vínculo especial y hermosos recuerdos.  
  • Leer libros bilingües crea en sus hijos la habilidad de pensar y leer en dos idiomas.
Carolina de La Clase de la Sra. Dufault comparte otros beneficios de la lectura en los niños y promueve la lectura durante las vacaciones. 

Les cuento que los mejores recuerdos que tengo con mi hijo son aquellos en que juntos leemos uno de sus libros.  

Hoy día vivimos muy de prisa, y yo atesoro los ratitos que sacamos para leer juntos en especial los libros en el que el puede apreciar su cultura Latina. 

A continuación les comparto nuestros libros favoritos,  libros infantiles de Puerto Rico y recomendaciones de libros para niños tanto en Inglés como en Español.  

Este post fue creado para la campaña de MomsRising y MamásConPoder para inspirar y motivar a otras mamás a que lean con sus hijos.  

Wrapped Up! Pasteles, Tamales, Humitas and More...

As a Puerto Rican, pasteles are ingrained in my heart! Then I was introduced to the tamales... 





Learning Spanish at the Zoo: Animals (Animales)

"Z" is for zoo and for zoológico!  This post is about learning Spanish at the zoo, and Spanish zoo books for kids. 


Note: I’m re-publishing this old post for All Done Monkey's 2016 edition of 31 Days of ABC's Series. I’ve revamped the content, added a list of Spanish zoo books, and included details of the series.

Learning your animals in Spanish is fun especially when you learn them at the zoo! Little one, his best bud, and I met with a new found friend and; her mom from little one's Spanish immersion language class at the zoo.

What is funny about this play date is that one of my son's friends knows Spanish, and the other one doesn't.  So it was interesting to see how my son was teaching his best bud how to say the animals in Spanish. What was even funnier was that shortly after practicing she comes out "talking" in Spanish!

Truth be told, I had no idea what she was saying because it didn't even sound like Spanish or English! I was laughing so hard that I couldn't help myself, and my son tells her, "That's not Spanish!" So on they went to practice some more the animals in Spanish.

Once at the zoo we all greeted each other. Little one's best bud greeted little one's new friend with, "¡Hola!" This was out of the blue, and unexpected. When I asked her where she learned that word from she says, "¡Dora!"  Sweet!  We let the kids play a little so they can warm up to each other before beginning our Spanish lesson.


For the Spanish lesson I used a mini-book from Scholastic's Vocabulary-Building Bilingual Mini-Books. I really enjoy this book because it uses cognate words. Cognates are words descended from a common ancestor; that is, words having:  the same linguistic family or derivation (English). This is really helpful for English speakers learning Spanish. (You can see a list of the animals below). 

For the play date, I made copies of the "animales/animals" bilingual mini-book, and brought with me a box of crayons. At the zoo each child picked up their own map of the zoo

To begin our Spanish lesson each child wrote their names on the mini-books, and I read to them the names in both English and Spanish. They  repeated after me.   They also circled on the map where the animals were located, and we reviewed what route we were going to take.  Afterwards, we walked through the zoo looking for the animals but we also made some frequent stops to look at other animals that weren't in the mini-book.

Once they found the animal we would stop so they can color it in their min-books (this also gave us an opportunity to review the names again in Spanish, and to take a break!) They were pretty excited, and enjoyed their outing at the zoo. 
The little ones pointing at the jirafa in their mini-book. 
Elephant/Elefante 
Of course, after a morning of fun learning at the zoo we had some lunch, and we let the children play for a bit longer at the playground area located inside the zoo before we called it a day. :) 

Looking for the animals that were in the mini-book was exciting and fun! 

Spanish Zoo Animal Books (affiliate links) 

 





Would love to hear how you make learning fun for your children! Please comment, like, share or pin!


31 Days of ABC - October 2016 | Alldonemonkey.com 

 After taking a break last year due to the arrival of Baby #3, we are back with one of my favorite series, the 31 Days of ABC! You can look forward to 31 more days of activities, crafts, books, apps, and more, all dedicated to teaching young children the alphabet. I am so happy to be working with an amazing group of kid bloggers, who will be sharing their amazing ideas with us in the coming days. And this year for the first year we are also adding a giveaway, so be sure to scroll to the end and enter for a chance to win! So join us as we jump, skip, hop, and read our way through the alphabet this October! Don't forget to follow our 31 Days of ABCs Pinterest board for even more great ABC ideas!


31 Days of ABCTeaching the ABCs - October 1
All Done Monkey: Creating a Preschool Letter of the Week Curriculum
A - October 2
Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Apple Scented Glitter Glue and Apple Craft
B - October 3
Witty Hoots: How to Make Fabulous Button Bookmarks
C - October 4
Preschool Powol Packets: Construction Truck Preschool Action Rhyme
D - October 5
ArtsyCraftsyMom: Printable Dinosaur Alphabet Sequencing Puzzle
E - October 6
Preschool Powol Packets: Elephant Art Project and Thailand Lesson
F - October 7
Spanglish Monkey: Spanish-English ABC Flashcards
G - October 8
Royal Baloo: Simple Ghost Painting Project
H - October 9
Peakle Pie
I - October 10
Look! We're Learning!: Insect Activities for Kids
J - October 11
All Done Monkey: Olmec Jaguar Craft
K - October 12
Preschool Powol Packets: I Am a Kite Action Rhyme for Preschool
L - October 13
Raising a Trilingual Child
M - October 14
Creative World of Varya
N - October 15
Peakle Pie
O - October 16
For the Love of Spanish
P - October 17
Little Hiccups
Q - October 18
All Done Monkey
R - October 19
Sugar, Spice & Glitter
S - October 20
Crafty Mama in ME
T - October 21
Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes
U - October 22
Witty Hoots
V - October 23
Creative World of Varya
W - October 24
Creative World of Varya
X - October 25
All Done Monkey
Y - October 26
Our Daily Craft
Z - October 27
Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes
123's - October 28
Hispanic Mama
Prewriting - October 29
Sugar Aunts
Books, Songs, & Apps - October 30
The Jenny Evolution
Alphabet Clip Cards - October 31
The Kindergarten Connection

Find more great resources in 31 Days of ABCs 2013 and 2014!

Giveaway

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win this great prize package, open internationally! Kidloland
3 month subscription to the Kidloland app, which includes 575+ interactive nursery rhymes, songs, stories, and educational activities to help children learn ABCs, animals, fruits, vegetables, shapes and  more!
Alphabet Experts Mega Bundle: 31 Days of ABC Giveaway
The Alphabet Experts Mega Bundle from Kindergarten Connections contains 500+ of alphabet printables, including tons of activities for each letter of the alphabet! ($58.50 value) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Puerto Rican Flamboyant Tree

Although the Puerto Rican Flamboyant tree is not the island's national tree, it is one of the most beautiful and recognizable trees across the island.

They are colorful,  and very majestic.  Hailing from Madagascar these exotic trees have adapted to it's
natural environment on the island.

"El flamboyán" in Spanish is also a familiar Puerto Rican symbol. You will see it in many paintings, drawings, and calendars.  
Image Source Creative Commons

Diwali for Kids: Rangoli with Glass Marbles

Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, held during the period October through November. It is particularly associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and it is the biggest holiday of India.  Diwali is considered just as important as Christmas is to Christians. 


Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #44

Welcome to the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop! The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place where bloggers can share multicultural activities, crafts, recipes, and musings for our creative kids. We can't wait to see what you share this time!





Online Piano Lessons: Busy Kids Do Piano Review

I have a confession to make. I have always wanted to learn how to play the piano, but I don't have a musical bone in my body!

Now my son on the other hand, he does have an innate talent for music. His late Grandfather was a musician and played the piano superbly. Excited to continue his legacy we signed him up for piano lessons! However, piano lessons at $70 an hour proved to be a bit too steep for our budget. After 2 months, sadly we had to end his piano lessons.



Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead is observed annually from November 1 through November 2 in Mexico, and many Latin American countries. However, I bet you didn't know that it's also celebrated in other parts of the world as well.  Intrigued? 

Photo Credit Via Creative Commons

Well you're in luck!   I'm over at Multicultural Kid Blogs sharing a post on Day of the Dead Around the World.  


See you there! 

Discovering Ecuador with Kids: Espumillas Ecuadorian Street Food



Every country has it's own traditional sweet treat, and Ecuador has espumillas!  Espumilla is a guava meringue cream and a very popular Ecuadorian street food.  

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

For the third year in a row, I have been celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with friends, and with our community.

We are mid-month through Hispanic Heritage Month so you can still plan a party or a community event before October 15.  

Don't know where to start? Well, have I got news for you!  I'm thrilled to share some ideas on how to get your party started  over at Mommy Maestra!   Click here:  How to Host a Children's Hispanic Heritage Month Party


Children's Book about Puerto Rico



When my child was born 8 years ago, I had a goal in mind: to find as many children's book about Puerto Rico so I can share with him.  Little by little, I started  building up my child's home library. Some of the books listed here we own, others are on my wish list.    On the books that we do own, you'll see an additional post on how we used it such as an activity or craft or a review on the book.   

Since there are so many books on this list,  I broke them down into ten sections with a header so you can learn about Puerto Rico through these books: Notable Figures, Taínos, Flora and Fauna, Popular Culture, Christmas, Folk Tales, Geography, Picture Books, Chapter Books,  and Fiction. 

I hope you enjoy this list!  If there's a children's book that is not listed here please share in the comments below so I can add it. ¡Gracias!