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Want fun books that promote early learning & healthy choices for kids? You’ll love Monica Wellington’s books as much as I do! Check out her newest book “Colors for Zena”…..

Product Description:  

Colors for Zena: Zena’s world lacks color, so she sets out to find some. On her walk, she first finds one primary color, then another. But red, blue, and yellow aren’t enough—Zena wants more colors! Out pops an orange lion, a green frog, and a purple dragon, a combination of the colors she has seen. Zena and her friends then do some color mixing themselves, creating more colors and a bright painting using them all. Vibrant illustrations and simple text make Monica Wellington’s latest book a perfect pick for budding young artists.

Here’s what I love about these books: 

Colors for Zena

• Each 2-page spread is devoted to a color. I love that there are different shades of each color and that the book introduces the concept of mixing colors to make a new one.
• Simple text on each page allows the focus to be on the large vivid illustrations.
• Lots of opportunity for vocabulary development by talking about things that are in the background on each page.
• It’s fun to look for one of the girl’s hidden animals on many of the pages.  One of my 4 year old patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders LOVES to look for the animals. This book has been a great way to work on colors and using them in utterances. Many of the pages also depict groups of items so it’s been fun to work on plural word endings.
• The last page has a color wheel, simple info about primary and secondary colors and suggestions for color exploration activities for kids.
• The book has several opportunities for kids yoga (dog, frog, lion, dinosaur, cat, bird, fish, butterfly, book, bed, flower, tree, flowering vines, stream, sun, clouds, rainbow, bus, fire truck, airplane, castle, tower, painting)

Colors for Zena kids yoga sequence from OMazing Kids

.(The cute stick figure yoga pose pics are available on: http://media.freeola.com/other/6271/freeyogaasanastickfigures.pdf.  )

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Color & Cook HEALTHY SNACKS coloring book

• Depicts Jack & Molly playing outside and then looking for healthy snacks. They walk to the local farmers market with their mom where they buy lots of fruits and vegetables. Love how the book promotes healthy choices in a fun way!
• This book would be fun to use as part of a theme on healthy eating or as activities for therapists to use in feeding therapy sessions.
• The kids go through several steps to make each healthy snack (vegetable salsa salad, fruit chunk popsicles, baked veggie chips, coated pretzel wands, fruit smoothies)
• Fun 2-page spread of an alphabet of healthy foods.
• Shows kids with an entrepreneurial spirit as they set up a Healthy Snack Stand in their front yard.
• Recipes are included at the end of the book.
• The last page shows the kids going back to the farmers market…… where this time they meet Apple Farmer Annie (not named in the book but I’d recognize my BFF anywhere!)

The author generously sent me five of her other coloring books to use with the kids at the J.D McCarty Center:  

• Color & Cook Activity Book – includes seek-and-find, dot-to-dot, matching, word scrambles, mazes, hidden pictures, crosswords, word searches, what doesn’t belong, patterning, spot-what’s-different and following directions activity pages, 30 stickers & more. Answer keys for the activity pages are provided in the back of the book. This will be fun to use with some of the older kids at JDMC!
• Color & Cook Cupcakes – This time Molly & Jack decide to bake cupcakes. Similar to the Healthy Snacks coloring book. Lots of opportunity to work on sequencing & following directions. Fun ideas for 12 seasonal & holiday cupcake decorating. Recipes for four types of cupcakes & frostings are included.
• Color & Cook Pizza – Molly & Jack continue their cooking adventures….. this time with homemade pizza. Love that they pick fresh vegetables from their grandparents’ garden for pizza toppings! Then they head to the supermarket for more ingredients and the houseware store for a big pizza pan, pizza cutter and other supplies. Love the details about making dough (ex: sugar helping yeast grow more quickly) and lots of great vocabulary (sticky, stretchy, push, pull, punch, pound, roll, cut, etc.). Recipes are included. This will be awesome to use with the author’s book “Pizza at Sally’s” or as part of my ever growing lesson plan for Pete’s a Pizza!
• Color & Garden Vegetables – Lucy & Sam go through several steps to plant a vegetable garden, care for it and pick the harvest. Lots of examples of different types of gardens are given.
• Color & Garden Flowers – This time Lucy & Sam plant a flower garden.  Flowers that grow during different seasons are depicted. Love the “Language of Flowers” pages that give meanings attributed to each flower (ex: pink lotus = wise purity, buttercup = heart of gold, etc….).  The “flower power” 2-page spread reminds me of mandala patterns. Both of these Color & Garden books will be fun to add to my lesson plan on seeds & gardens: https://omazingkidsllc.com/2013/05/04/seeds-garden-themed-books-music-activities-for-kids-yoga/.

For product updates, be sure to check out her website:  http://www.monicawellington.com/, blog: http://monicawellington.blogspot.com/ 

& publishers’ social media sites: 

https://www.facebook.com/penguinkidsbooks, 

https://twitter.com/penguinkids, 

https://www.facebook.com/dovercoloring,

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Celebrating November as Picture Book Month

Disclaimer: I received a free sample of this product to facilitate my review.  Opinions expressed are my own. Starting in 2013, a new component of reviews & giveaways hosted on OMazing Kids is that a review will be added on Amazon.com (for products sold on that site). See my Amazon profile at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1JKVLELLSX7FD?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_aya_bb_pdp.

Easy Entry Form:

International entries allowed for this giveaway.

• Only entries with all required information will be valid. The info comes to me directly via e-mail & is ONLY used for the purposes of selecting winners and distributing prizes.

• Helpful Info & Tips: Folks had requested a simpler entry option. I tried Rafflecopter but most folks did not enter an address so now I’m trying this online contact form instead. I will be hand selecting winners to insure products end up in the hands of folks who will put them to the best use. Briefly tell me how winning this would help you & the kids. I take the time to read each entry so details count. It doesn’t have to be lengthy…. just heart-felt. 
• If you experience any problems with the entry form in this blog post, please e-mail me specific details so I can attempt to fix it. E-mail to: amoorad1@juno.com . The entry deadline may be extended at the sole discretion of OMazing Kids in the event of prolonged entry problems.

• Each “giveaway” is handled separately on OMazing Kids. So there are no rules prohibiting previous winners from entering this or future giveaways. I really do read every entry in every giveaway carefully to insure that the products end up in the best hands to impact kids lives.

Entry Deadline: 11:59pm CST on November 5,  2013.

Rules of Participation:

• Must be 18 years or older with a valid e-mail address.
• One entry per person.
• International entries are allowed for this particular giveaway.
• Employees or family members of OMazing Kids, LLC or the product’s company are not eligible.
• No purchase required.
• Comments submitted via entries may be copied & pasted into the blog post.
• Odds of winning will depend on the number of eligible entries received.
• Only entries with all required information will be valid.
• The winner will be chosen from valid entries on November 6, 2013.

3 winners will each receive the following book bundle: 

• 1 copy of Colors for Zena (hardcover book) – from Penguin Publishing / the author
• 1 copy of Apple Farmer Annie (paperback book) – from Penguin Publishing / the author
• 1 copy of Color & Cook HEALTHY SNACKS coloring book – from Dover Publishing / the author

• The winner will be notified via e-mail, will be posted on the blog post & will be posted on the OMazing Kids Facebook page. The company offering the prize may also post the winner’s name on their website, blog, Facebook page and/or other social media sites at their discretion.
• The winner’s address will be forwarded to the company and they will be mailing the prizes directly to the winners.  After I e-mail the winner’s info to the company, it is their responsibility to mail out prizes. Please contact them first if you are concerned about not receiving a prize. If that does not resolve the problem, then feel free to e-mail me and I will glad to assist in whatever way I can.

• Prize Value: $27.97 per book bundle.

Other Legal Stuff: I know they’re just kids books but just to be safe here is all the legal stuff…

This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You are providing your information to OMazing Kids, LLC and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for our internal purposes in relation to the administration of the giveaway. Your information will NOT be sold to any outside parties.

Indemnification/Hold Harmless: By participating, entrants agree: (a) to the decisions of OMazing Kids, LLC, which shall be final in all respects; (b) to release, discharge, and hold harmless OMazing Kids, LLC and its respective representatives and agents from all liability, injuries, losses or damages of any kind to persons or property resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from the acceptance, possession, misuse or use of a prize, or from participation in and/or entry into the Contest or any Contest-related activity and for acceptance, delivery, or use of any prize; (c) that the foregoing parties have neither made nor are in any manner responsible or liable for any warranty, representation or guaranty, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, relating to any prize.

Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP, IAYT, RCYP-2

Speech-Language Pathologist

Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness activities for kids of all abilities

Radiant Child Yoga Certified – Levels 1 & 2

E-Mail: amoorad1@juno.com

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OMazing Kids LLC is an organization that promotes inclusive wellness activities for kids of all abilities. The blog and social media pages share information about books, DVD’s, CD’s, games and other products specifically designed for kids wellness, mindfulness and relaxation, product reviews & giveaways, lesson plan & activity ideas, research, kids wellness in the news and a connection corner with listings of individuals doing adapted yoga and those offering trainings.

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