The Overall Boys

This is a sweet little Primer I found at a thrift store. The Overall Boys and the Sunbonnet Girls were quite popular in the 1900's and far beyond. In fact, in the 1960's, my grandmother made a Sunbonnet Girl quilt for my baby sister who, sadly died at 6 weeks old.  I have that quilt now and it is precious to me.  I tucked each of my babies with it. The original copyright on my book is 1905, with a later copyright date of 1915.

The Overall Boys follows Jack, Joe, Tim and Ted as they explore their world. The text is not dumbed down and the Boys have REAL adventures!

Like the Sunbonnet Girls, their faces are hidden by their hats much of the time. 

Don't you just love the bodysuit swimwear?

Boys will be boys and have FUN!

My copy included this precious inscription, which documents my copy as being given as a birthday gift in 1919.

What a great find!  I love visiting thrift stores and discovering treasures.

Incredible Crafty Paper

How's this for a handicraft?  This entire video, sounds and all, was created with paper.  What incredible creations could your children dream up with paper today?  Inspire them!



The Human Body (stop-motion!) from kellianderson on Vimeo.

For those less interested in innards and guts, perhaps quilling would be more to their liking?




Don't think that simple paper and glue isn't enough to capture your child's imagination on a rainy winter afternoon.  Get crafting!

Playing Pick-It

One of my favorite things to do is pull out a game that we haven't played in a long time. I spied Pick-It in our game closet and decided to bring it out today.

This is a simple game that you can easily make at home.  Five small sticks (like matchsticks) and cards that show what position into which you try to build the sticks.  There are levels of play, from simply matching the pictures, to having a hand of five cards of building possibilities and having to move only one stick to make it match.  It can be played by one player as well as a group.

This works on fine motor skills, perception, memory, patterning and more. It's a great way to spend some time together and build skills!

When Hannah Var Eight Yar Old

It's been a while since I did a vintage book review. I came across this story when it was mentioned on a Homesteading board on Facebook.  It is the story of Hannah, an eight year old Swedish girl who later immigrated to America.  It was published in September 1915, written by Katherine Peabody Girling and beautifully illustrated by Alfred James Dewey. There's little information available on the author or illustrator, but what work I saw of the illustrator was beautiful!

Sweet Hannah is a young woman worthy of praise!  Her mother is ill and she needs to step in and step up, and she does a marvelous job of it. This is a bittersweet short story of a mother's great love, a daughter's faithfulness and the sturdy hardiness of the immigrant people who made our nation great.

Here's the complete book, with original illustrations, to enjoy with your children!

When Hannah Var Eight Yar Old