We’re all sick. The whole family. But there’s always something to look forward to, right? On the bright side, there were no tears in school today. That’s always a great feeling. Also, we got our book delivery. If you’ve been following along you may have read that I signed up to be an Usborne Books and More Independent Consultant. My number one reason is to have direct access to soooo many books and activities that I can use with our homeschool curriculum. My number two reason is to be able to help others get these amazing resources into their own hands as easily as possible. I’m a firm believer in the idea that kids benefit from play and that they all learn in different ways, and I became even more aware just today, how Usborne products cater to different learning styles and cater to kids and families with so many different interests and at so many different levels.

So, we got our starter kit and all of my materials. We are delighted with the titles that we got in our shipment and I can’t wait to share them with you. And the kids couldn’t wait to dig into them. Here are the three things they couldn’t keep their hands off of.

1. 100 things for little children to do on a trip – This set of flashcards comes with 50 double-sided, wipe-clean cards and a dry erase pen. They’ll draw faces and ice cream sundaes and fish. They’ll play tic-tac-toe, complete mazes, and dot-to-dots. Within minutes my 3-year old had these out and was making her way through the deck. She loves these. These are perfect to drop in your purse (or backpack) to give them something to do while they’re waiting at a restaurant, at the doctor, or darn near anywhere. And this is just one of the many flashcard sets available. I’m planning on purchasing the Famous Paintings set for our art study and the Dinosaur Quiz Cards for my dino-lover.

2. 100 Paper Planes to Fold and Fly – The front flaps of this book give you the instructions for folding four different types of paper airplanes. The inner pages are awesomely designed paper to fold into super-cool planes. We’ve tried a similar item before, but it was difficult for my 6-year old to fold some of the planes. On this one, after I helped him with his first plane, he was able to complete the other three plane styles on his own and they all flew wonderfully.

3. Secrets of the Apple Tree – This is a really cool idea. This “Shine A Light” book tells a story and asks you to find what’s hidden on each page. Hold the page up to the light and you reveal the hidden habitat beneath the pile of leaves, within the tree trunk, among the branches high above. Such a cool concept and the kids loved seeing the hidden images appear. You can also get Secrets of the Rain Forest and Secrets of the Seashore.