#2022top50

🔥POPULAR 🔥 Sunday Funday shares 52 nature-themed activities for every weekend of the year. Craft projects, easy recipes, outdoor exploration, gardening, and creative ideas that help us notice nature’s shifts from spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The colorful illustrations by Jesús Verona are full of quirky details, adorable animals, busy kids, and plant-filled landscapes. This is one of my favorite new children’s books this year.

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This book by Julie Morstad... it is poetry. Thoughtful, poignant, and quietly vivid, Time Is a Flower is a perspective-shifting picture book that will, no doubt, start meaningful conversations. A new favorite.

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NEW ⬆️ Whenever I post educational videos about climate change, I almost always pair it with positive actions, innovative solutions, and problem solving teamwork. There’s a lot of creativity, biomimicry, possibility, postitivity, and imagination mixed in there, too. That’s why I love this new book Beetles For Breakfast by science writer Madeleine Finlay. 

Bold and dynamic illustrations by Jisu Choi fill this book with dozens of fascinating, familiar, and sometimes strange ideas and inventions that are designed to fix our climate issues at the breakfast table, in the bathroom, at school, in cities, in the park, on the farm, at the beach, and more.

There’s so much to look at and lots to scan and read further. It’s got our kids’ imaginations going. Plus, the book ends with some ideas for what they (and we) can do right now. An instant fave. 

Get this at Book Depository

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I love love love Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street (sometimes titled What's Cooking at 10 Garden Street?) by Felicita Sala. In preparation for a community potluck in an apartment building’s yard, the tenants cook their favorite dishes: Salmorejo, oyako don, guacamole, baba ganoush, black bean soup, coconut dahl, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, and more. Each page shares a richly-illustrated scene and ingredients, along with a one paragraph recipe that’s really easy to follow.

For kids! But do I want to make these dishes, too? Yesss. Highly recommended.

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Be sure to also get Felicita Sala’s picture book A Year in Fleurville: Recipes from balconies rooftops and gardens, a.k.a. What's Cooking in Flowerville?

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🔥POPULAR 🔥 Kinderfeet’s wobble board is a beautiful balancing toy that can hold up to 220kg/485lbs. Impressive! And fun for all ages. Made with sturdy Beech plywood. Balance, rock, make a bridge or a little stool... kids will have lots of ideas, perfect for rainy days and sunny days alike. We all want this.

It sold out on their site during the pandemic but it's back on their site and on Amazon. You can also ask for it at your local toy shop!

When my kids were under five, they were a bit obsessed with watching orchestras on TKSST. So many people, so many different kinds of strangely-shaped objects, so many different types of sounds. And so brilliantly, all together! How are they arranged, how do they play each instrument, and what is the conductor doing? Orchestra illuminates these dynamics with regal illustrations and informative callouts. It's deepened our understanding of how these extraordinary teams create sounds that move us. A touch of history and architecture, too. A treasure! Essential for classrooms, libraries, and at home.

🔥POPULAR 🔥 Beetle and bug bodies, legs, wings, and antennae: 25 stamps that can create all sorts of unique bugs. I love how these layer, and they come with two ink pads to get you started. Get a few more colors to create more bugs! Such a lovely set for making your own stationary to write far-away friends with. 🐞

They're out of stock at Moon Picnic, but they're still on Amazon and Princeton Architectural Press.

🔥POPULAR 🔥 Year after year, this little paper penguin continues to be one of our favorite gifts. It’s a Kamikara Penguin POP! Action Paper Craft kit by famed paper toy creator Haruki Nakamura. When we first got it, my then-7 and 10-year-olds assembled it with very little help, and when the penguin popped that very first time: DELIGHT. Smart paper engineering with a sturdy build and a satisfying pop. Bonus: It looks charming on our bookshelf. Get it while you can! They appear to be almost sold out.

Related best-sellers: Karakuri and Japanese Paper Toys Kit.