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Gardening with Kids – How to Start a Garden with Your Kids in 7 Simple Steps

July 6, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

Gardening with Kids title photo

Let me preface this post by saying, I don’t have a lot of experience or expertise in gardening with kids. In fact, I have never had a vegetable garden of any kind prior to the experience I am explaining in this post. That being said, my family followed these 7 steps outlined in this post and was able to harvest a pretty fruitful vegetable garden in a matter of weeks. However, in my opinion, gardening with kids is less about the actual garden and more about teaching them about the earth and showing them we can sustain ourselves.

Gardening with Kids Step #1 – Pre-Plan Your Garden

[Read more…]

Filed Under: For Parents Tagged With: gardening with kids, how to start a garden

5 Lessons Learned from a One-Day Writing Workshop for Rockland Elementary Students

March 17, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

Viola Shool 2-1

I recently had the opportunity to visit with Viola Elementary students again for the second day of my two-day author visit.

During my first visit, Brianna joined me and we gave an inspirational talk to the students on how to become better writers. This time around, I worked with students individually on their own Purpee the Purple Dragon stories, which they had been working on since my last visit. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Author Visits, For Parents Tagged With: purpee the purple dragon author visit

Ridgewood’s Somerville-Hawes Dads’ Night 2015 – Pulling a Community Together from All Angles

March 11, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

Ridgewood Dads' Night 1

Reference: Photos/W.H. Grae

As I sat in the school auditorium at 10:30 p.m. one night last week during rehearsal, I thought to myself, “Why in the world do more than two hundred dads spend countless hours in funny costumes practicing ridiculously funny skits?” Because it’s Somerville-Hawes Dads’ Night, and it’s all for the kids…

This was my first year participating in the Somerville-Hawes Dads’ Night, but it certainly won’t be my last. The Somerville-Hawes Dad’s Night is defined on their website as follows: Each year the dads write their own scripts and songs, play their own music, design and sew their own costumes, build their own sets, and put on a musical review for the hundreds of kids in town. The funds that are raised are used to buy special needed “wish list” items for the schools. Most importantly, our children learn that their dads are committed to them and their lives.

What I realized in the many hours of rehearsal is that Dads’ Night is much more than that. In fact, here are seven reasons that Dads’ Night has made Ridgewood one of the strongest communities in world: [Read more…]

Filed Under: For Parents

The Cat in the Hat is the Perfect Example of Why Doctor Seuss Still Engages Children Better than Anyone Else

March 2, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

the cat in the hat

The Cat in the Hat is the absolute perfect example of why the great Doctor Seuss, still to this day, engages and excites children (and adults) of all ages with his writing.

The Cat in the Hat was first published in 1957, yet my 2-year old Penelope asks me to read it to her every day, 58 years later!

In this post, I want to give five points of how The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss classics engage children in hopes that you can implement some of these into your children’s reading and writing activities.

#1 – Doctor Seuss Uses Simple Stories

[Read more…]

Filed Under: For Parents Tagged With: doctor seuss, the cat in the hat

Times Tables Games for Kids – Making Math Fun

February 21, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

Times Tables Games for Kids - Making Math Fun-1

Times Tables Games for Kids: Making Math Fun – why would I be writing a post of this nature? Simple, my daughter Brianna Fasano, who co-authored the Purpee the Purple Dragon kids books with me, struggled mightily with her times tables – until yesterday.

Brianna is very creative, but when it came to her times tables, like many kids, she couldn’t remember them and then would get frustrated, and give up. I wanted to help her change that, and as of yesterday, she got a 50 question multiplication quiz back with 100% on it. Here’s what we did.

Times Tables Games for Kids Only Work if You Select the Right Game

I wanted to turn the idea of times tables into to a game for Brianna, so I took a blank piece of paper and wrote the numbers 1 through 12 at the top and also down the left side of the paper. I then drew a gird (see photo below). [Read more…]

Filed Under: For Parents Tagged With: good habits for kids, math games, Times Tables Games for Kids

Valentine Crafts for Kids – 3 Ideas for Your Kids to Create Their Own Awesome Valentine’s Day Cards

February 9, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

Valentine Crafts for Kids Main Image

Valentine crafts for kids are great for many reasons. They foster creativity in your children, they keep them busy for hours (especially good on snow days), and they are usually free or much less expensive than traditional store bough Valentine’s Day cards.

This year, my wife and I challenged our 8-year old daughter and 5-year old son to make their own Valentine’s Day cards for their classmates, and they really flourished in doing so. So if you are looking for valentine crafts for kids, here are three simple ones: [Read more…]

Filed Under: For Parents Tagged With: free valentine's cards, free valentine's day cards, Valentine Crafts for Kids, valentines crafts

The Last Time Poem Video (for parents everywhere)

February 4, 2015 By Anthony Fasano Leave a Comment

In our book Purpee the Purple Dragon and the Long Walk to School, Purpee is so excited to be able to walk to school for the first time without his mother. A friend of mine Jonathan Fanning, shared this awesome video and poem with me and I wanted to share it with all of the parents who might be reading our blog.

The Last Time

From the moment you hold your baby in your arms,
You will never be the same.
You might long for the person you were before,
When you had freedom and time, [Read more…]

Filed Under: For Parents Tagged With: the last time poem

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