Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #43

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!

As the creator of the Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop I'm thrilled to be co-hosting the blog hop in it's new home at Multicultural Kid Blogs, and the wonderful bloggers from:

This month our co-hosts are:

Creative World of Varya on Multicultural Kid Blogs
Living Ideas
Peakle Pie
La Cité des Vents
Castle View Academy
A MultiAsian Family Life
Discovering the World through My Son's Eyes

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop is a place for you to share your creative kids culture posts. It's very easy, and simple to participate! Just follow these simple guidelines:

• Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook. Please let us know you're following us, and we will be sure to follow you back.
• Link up any creative kids culture posts, such as language, culture, books, travel, food, crafts, playdates, activities, heritage, and holidays, etc. Please, link directly to your specific post, and no giveaways, shops, stores, etc.

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• Please grab the button code above and put it on your blog or the post you’re linking up. You can also add a text link back to this hop on your blog post. Note: By sharing your link up on this blog hop you are giving us permission to feature your blog post with pictures, and to pin your link up in our Creative Kids Culture Feature board on Pinterest.

• Don't be a stranger, and share some comment love! Visit the other links, and comment. Everyone loves comments!

• The Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop will go live on the 3rd Sunday of the month. It will run for three weeks. The following blog hop we will feature a previous link up post, and if you're featured, don't forget to grab the button below:

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Here's my favorite from last time:   Games Around the World: Luta de Gallo from Brazil   I love learning about games from around the world so I can teach my son and his friends. 

Thank you for linking-up, and we can't wait to see what you've been up to!

40 Things to do with Kids in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a beautiful destination to go on vacation or during the holidays. All year-long you will enjoy tropical weather! Even during the "winter" months with it being a little bit cooler (low 70's in the evenings and high 80's during the day) it is still the perfect destination to go with kids!

Notable Hispanic Figures: Thirty Days of Resources

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated during September 15 - October 15 every year. That's thirty days to learn about thirty notable Hispanic figures during this month!

Discovering Mexico with Kids: Paletas

If there's something that yells "Mexico" it's the famous paletas! The paletas represents Mexico's cultural tradition of frozen treats.  Also known as popsicles they are a popular  in many countries. The traditional Mexican paletas are made with real fruit juice, and sometimes chunks of fruit in it.

Global Sweets {Candy Swap}

Sweet tooth anyone? Perhaps, sweets from Europe? Yes, please!

A few weeks ago we participated in a global candy swap, and we were thrilled to explore Germany's and France's sweet treats!

Kid-Made Strawberry Banana Nutella Cake

My 8 yr. old loves watching The Food Network Channel. His favorite show is Cake Wars. He was excited with the "Sea World theme" from one of the episodes.  Hence, his request to make a strawberry banana Nutella cake with crushed walnuts that looked like a shark!  Say what?? My head was spinning! Ha! 

Multicultural Kid Blogs Summer Games Activity Pack

Multicultural Kid Blogs has a wonderful Summer Games Activity Pack to get your kids ready for the upcoming Olympics in Rio.

Bilingual Road Trip Games and Activities

Planning a 12+ hour road trip to and another 12+ hour road trip from means you need to keep your kids busy in the car!   With so many hours in the car I wanted to sneak in some Spanish learning, too! Yeah, I know I'm sneaky like that! Ha!  Any who, I didn't want my child to be fixated on a screen for so many hours.  

So I started searching the web for bilingual road trip games and activities. Guess what? My search was unsuccessful! Nada!!! Thankfully I have some really awesome blogging friends that shared with me some cool printables in Español. Some were not "travel" related but could be very well used during a road trip. Below are the links for the Spanish resources. Then I'll share my top three picks that we used for our road trip.

Discovering Sweden with Kids Dala Horse Craft

We are pumped with the upcoming Olympics and what better way to learn about the participating countries by making a craft and reading about the country.  In today's Discovering Sweden with Kids Series post we are sharing with you a fun, and simple way to make a Dala horse craft with kids. 

The Dala horse also known as a Dalecarlian horse is a traditional carved, painted wooden horse statuette.  The Dala horse originated as a wooden toy in the Swedish province Dalarna (Dalecarlia).

The Dala horse in bright red with white, green, yellow and blue details has become the symbol of this province as well as a symbol of Sweden. It is said that the image of the horses goes back thousands of years, and it is a symbol of strength and courage. 

For today's post on discovering Sweden we used:

• The Summer Olympics Printables Packet from Multicultural Kid Blogs - This pack has a wealth of information on the participating countries. We learned all about Sweden, it's wildlife, and the vikings. 
• Print-out of the Dala horse  
• Cardboard - I used the shoe box cardboard and traced the horse on it. 
• White glue - I traced the design of the horse on the cut-out cardboard
• Paint 
• Pom-poms - to decorate 
• Sweden - brochures, postcards, etc. I got these from a culture swap we did with a family from Sweden a few years ago. 

After a brief discussion using the Summer Olympics Printables Packet from Multicultural Kid Blogs and reading about Sweden. I also looked up on Kids' National Geographic for some pictures and other fun facts on Sweden. 

Official Name: Kingdom of Sweden
Form of Government: Constitutional monarchy
Capital: Stockholm
Area: 173,860 square miles (450,295 square kilometers)
Population:  9,045,389
Official Language: Swedish
Money: Swedish krona

Sweden is one of the least populated countries in Europe, with a population of only about 9 million people. Most people used to live in the countryside, but as the country became industrialized in the 1900s, many moved to the cities of Malmö, Göteborg, and Stockholm.

During the 1930s, Sweden developed the welfare system, known as "the Swedish model." Under their system, all Swedes have access to publicly financed health care, help for the unemployed, child care, schools, elder care, and at least five weeks of paid vacation per year.

Then we had tons of fun painting our very own Dala horses! 

Welcome to our Olympics for Kids series! The Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to teach kids about the world and explore cultures together. Today, you can find more about other crafts from various countries thanks to our participating bloggers:

South Africa: The Rainbow Nation, Celebrate Diversity Craft - Multicultural Kid Blogs 
Sweden: Kids Dala Horse Craft - Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes 
Chile: Terra Cotta Air-Dry Clay and Wood Crafts Sticks - La Clase de Sra. duFault 
USSR: Traditional Crafts from 15 Soviet Republics - Creative World of Varya

Don't forget that you can also download our Summer Games Unit activity pack to learn more about the world and have fun during the Olympics.

Paquito y Abuelito Read Around the World Summer Series

Today's recommendation for the Multicultural Kid Blogs Read Around the World Summer Reading Series! Today's recommendation is sure to please children ages 6-11 yrs. old.

Be sure to periodically check the Multicultural Kid Blogs Read Around the World Summer Reading Series for a list of the participating blogs, and multicultural read recommendations. You can also check all the live posts on the Read Around the World Summer Series Pinterest board.

Puerto Rico Olympic Medalist Winners

Despite the fact that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory it has participated in the Olympics as an "independent" country. This is in due to the fact that it was recognized by the International Olympic Committee Charter back in 1948 as a separate entity (country) from the U.S.A. 

Puerto Rico has had eight Olympic medalist winners, 6 bronze medals, and 2 silver medals.

I'm really excited to share with you eight Puerto Rican Olympic Medalist: 

Images via Commons Wikimedia here, here and here

Captain Mama's Surprise/La Sorpresa de Capitán Mamá! Review

I am thrilled to feature this book for Multicultural  Children's Book Day!

I can't   find  a better way to celebrate 4th of July with my child than reading Captain Mama's Suprise/La Sorpresa de Capitán Mamá! 

I first heard of Good Night Captain Mamá/Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá a few years ago when I won a giveaway from Mommy Maestra.  Since then this book has been a favorite in our home.  So you can imagine my excitement to have yet another quality bilingual children's book featuring a minority Latina mamá with her children.

El Chavo A Childhood Classic and the Life Lessons He Taught Us

El Chavo is a timeless sitcom, and a classic in the homes of many Latin American families.

My sweet nephew also a big fan of el Chavo! 

I grew up watching El Chavo del Ocho (the original version) not the animated one.   Every afternoon we would all prop ourselves (including my Abuela) in front of the TV to watch el Chavo and his friends from la vecindad in their daily adventures, and mishaps.

Discovering Pakistan with Kids: The Story of Iqbal Masih and Malala Yousafzai

Taking a stroll through the library, I came across the book:  Malala, a Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, a Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery  by Jeanette Winter. (Aff. link)

What caught my attention was that the book was a two in one. Two stories in one book, you flip the book and you read about Iqbal's story, and flip it over again and you can read Malala's story.  

The Importance of Music and Raising Bilingual Kids

Music has been an important factor in raising my bilingual kid. Research has found that learning music facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in other areas. Furthermore, listening to music has beneficial effects it sets our mood, and it connects us to a cultural experience.

Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop #40

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!

Frida y Diego Read Around the World Summer Series

Today's recommendation for the Multicultural Kid Blogs Read Around the World Summer Reading Series! Today's recommendation is sure to please children ages 6-11 yrs. old. You can read my full review here.

Be sure to periodically check the Multicultural Kid Blogs Read Around the World Summer Reading Series for a list of the participating blogs, and multicultural read recommendations. You can also check all the live posts on the Read Around the World Summer Series Pinterest board.

Learning about Geography with the Continent Fortune Teller

Learning about geography doesn't have to be boring for the kids.  In fact, you can make a continent fortune-teller! The continent-fortune teller is one of the activities you'll find in  100 Fun and Easy Learning Games for Kids book by authors, and creators of The Educators' Spin on It Amanda Boyarshinov and Kim Vij.  

Disclosure: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing it. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review. All opinions are my own.  This activity has been reprinted with permission from the publisher from book 100 FUN & EASY LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS for purposes of this post. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Party

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is all the rave right now, and House Party has teamed up with Betty Crocker for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™ Oat Crisps Party.   For this House Party event I combined it with my friend's son's birthday and had a two in one party!

Discovering Singapore with Kids: Wildlife and Reserves

My child loves anything and everything animals. Just this past week we made a wetland diorama with pond, animals, and all for his school project.  So I found it fitting to learn about Singapore's wildlife and reserves for this month's Multicultural Kid Blogs' Global Learning for Kids Series exploring Singapore.