Jan Barger – illustratör

The prehistoric age of dinosaurs was a mysterious land of flying, swimming, and running giants. Yet there were also dinosaurs the size of chickens. With this book, the dinosaur kingdom comes to life through creative, low-cost crafts.

Insects are everywhere - crawling in the grass, hiding under rocks, or flying through the air at 35 miles per hour. But even if insects make you squirm, they are a valuable part of our Earth. Some insects eat other insects that damage plants. Others light up summer nights. With this latest book in Kathy Ross''s Crafts for Kids Who are Learning About series, you''ll find out more about insects while making 22 low-cost or no-cost projects. So come discover a world filled with creeping cockroaches, buzzing bees, and fluttering butterflies!

Hands-on craft projects can make remembering the shape of each letter lots of fun and also help children associate a sound with each letter. In this book designed to supplement the teaching of writing the basic letter shapes, Kathy Ross draws on her thirty years experience as a preschool teacher and curriculum developer. She has designed an easy-to-make craft based on the shape of each letter of the alphabet, from an airplane made by folding the capital letter A, to a zinnia refrigerator magnet formed by eight letter Z''s.

Hands-on craft projects can make learning phonics lots of fun as well as help children remember what sound goes with what letter. In this book designed to supplement the teaching of letter sounds, Kathy Ross draws on her thirty years experience as a preschool teacher and curriculum developer. She has designed an easy-to-make craft based on the sound of each letter from the alphabet, from Activity on an Anthill to a Zipper-Bag Zoo Book.

These shape-based crafts will help children remember the names of shapes by associating them with common objects. And, while they’re learning their shapes, youngsters will have a lot of fun producing creative art projects. In this book designed to supplement the teaching of basic shapes, Kathy Ross draws on her thirty years experience as a preschool teacher and curriculum developer. She has designed twenty easy-to-make crafts, each one based on one of four common shapes. To learn circles, a child will enjoy making a Rubber Band Circle Picture. A Triangle Page Marker will be a useful reminder of that three-sided shaped. A Rectangle Pussycat Puppet and a Wrapped Square pin are entertaining and useful items that will further reinforce shape recognition.

These number-based crafts are designed to help children remember the shape and the concept of numbers one through ten. Beginning with a One and Only Me craft and ending with a Ten in an Envelope Bed, each number has its own special project. Then there are a series of projects that show the many ways in which numbers are used, such as a Play Cell Phone, a Play Alarm Clock, Coin Family Puppets, and Mama Foot-Long Worm and Her Twelve Baby Inchworms. In developing these hands-on projects, Kathy Ross drew on her thirty years'' experience as a preschool teacher and curriculum developer. Each of the twenty easy-to-make crafts features step-by-step illustrated instructions, and is made from easy-to-find household materials.

Colors offers at least one wonderfully clever craft for every color in the rainbow, as well as for black, white, brown, pink, and gray. Crafts include a Yellow Caterpillar Cuff Pin, a Green Frog Zipper Pull, and All Colors Alien Pencil Tops. A great tool for parents and teachers for helping kids learn their basic colors.

A community is a lot of people working together to help each other. In school you are learning about all of the things that community workers do to help you. The projects in this book are all about these workers. They include an Apple for the Teacher Pencil Topper, a Mail Carrier Dispenser for Stamps, a Sock-It Away Bank, a Jackhammer Puppet, a Squirting Hose Puppet, and even a pair of play Handcuffs! So get out your scissors and paste and a few household recyclables, and celebrate your community!

Following the format of the successful Learning is Fun series, the Learning About series moves slightly upward in age range, from preschool and kindergarten concepts to curriculum topics covered in kindergarten through grade 1. There are easy-to-make crafts for every kind of weather. Among the projects are “What kind of weather? Wheel”, “Mr. Thermometer”, “Flash of Lightning Puppet”, “Icy Snowman Mobile”, and a “Dress for the Weather doll”. Each craft includes a list of simple materials and step-by-step illustrated instructions. They are perfect for group classroom projects, or for just having fun at home…perhaps on a rainy day?

Hands-on learning fun aimed straight at the first-grade curriculum. Twenty-two crafts introduce transportation modes ranging from a baby carriage to a rocket ship. Among the projects are a Race Car Photo Holder, a Human Bulldozer, a Tissue Box Bus, and a Bead Train Necklace. They are perfect for group classroom projects or just having fun at home.