Book of the day

Purple, Green and Yellow by Robert N. Munsch and Helene Desputeaux is one of my favorites and Fischer likes it too. Now, I know I told you how much I hate paint... and the same goes for markers... but I'm trying to loosen up a bit. Even worse than the mess, is the sucking on marker tips and the pounding them on the page till their tips disappear! OK, enough about my pet peeves.

This book is a lot of fun because the little girl in the story LOVES markers and gets her Mom to buy her enormous sets so that she can draw and draw and draw... never writing on the walls or herself... or does she? Who can resist that temptation? I know Fischer can't!

The Girl Who Spoke With Pictures

Today I'd like to spotlight a very talented artist who has Autism. We talked about Kim Miller's art a lot last year as she and her mother, Eileen, worked to get their book, The Girl Who Spoke With Pictures, into bookstores and ultimately into your hands. (The bookstore story) I've had the chance to read this book and view numerous examples of Kim's art, and I am inspired.

Eileen has written the personal story of her daughter and her autism. She describes the way that Kim began to communicate by drawing. It began very young, age 3 or 4, and has not stopped. Kim is now an adult attending the community college and her art is very powerful. Although she is able to communicate verbally now, her art still speaks volumes. She can relay an incredible amount of thought, emotion, and issue in each of her pieces.

The book itself is a great reference about autism and the experiences that can be related to it. What I really liked was the insight I felt that I gained into Kim's mind. Although everyone is different, it opened my eyes to other ways of interpreting behaviors and situations that I have experienced with my students. I was also inspired by Eileen and her persistent support and advocacy for her daughter. Together this mother-daughter team are changing the face of autism... in their community and hopefully in the world.

The Girl Who Spoke with Pictures: Autism through Art by Eileen Miller and Kim Miller can be found on Amazon.com as well as many other online stores.

You can also take a look around their website.

Check out Kim on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyJtYU4tA3g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIk1KxEOF7c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9QCm7DdvyI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHf9yUSEFFs

Update on: "...Autism cannot wait until April to be discussed"

For those of you who have been following this story... Operation "Just One" begins tomorrow! Eileen and Kim are getting ready.

This is their current plan of action, as written by Eileen:

• First of all, we are doing a mass mailing to bookstores asking them to participate in our mission.
• We are going to canvass a local university about 2 hours away from our hometown with flyers regarding our book and autism. Spreading the word, making people aware of the existence of our book.
• Then we will be approaching bookstores to ask them to carry one book as a sample copy for their shelf. Because we are sensitive to the fact that in this economic climate bookstores may be reluctant to do so, we are offering a poster for stores to display that has the image of our book cover and stating that it is "available for order upon request."
• Then we are taking to the streets holding up signs that have our website, image of our book...now we will be lawfully doing so, but I have joked with people about it. When they ask if my husband is going to join us, I always tell them "no...he has to bring the bail money!!"We are hoping to get some media coverage out of this, but if it doesn't happen, we won't be disappointed.The purpose is for people to get talking about our book, about autism. If we have to talk to one person at at time, one bookstore at a time...we are making a connection and that is what this is all about.


• So Operation "Just One" will commence Friday in a city in Oregon. If one of your readers spots us along the road, give us a honk or a wave!!

Kim and Eileen are very thankful for any help you may be able to send their way. Wish them luck!

The Girl Who Spoke with Pictures

Exciting news! The book is out and the website is up!! Remember when I told you about Kim Miller, an artist who has autism? She and her mother have collaborated on a book together that lets us into the mind of Kim as she communicates through her artwork. Well, the book has received a wonderful review from ForeWord Magazine, and is for sale numerous places, including Amazon.

"Kim and I were overjoyed when we read the review. The magazine considers nearly 1,000 pre-publication galleys and manuscripts submitted each month, and approximately eight percent of those titles are selected for review. To be considered was awesome, to get reviewed was glorious." - Eileen Miller

Also Kim and her mother have their website up, to keep us all posted on the latest and greatest from this mother/daughter duo. I just thought you might appreciate an update!

DIY: Fun

Here are a few fun make-at-home toy and game ideas that I've been interested in recently:

• I made these sponge balls and Fischer has loved playing with them in the tub. I sent some to our swap partner too. Really easy, fun and kind of cute!
• Because we go through Play Do like nobody's business, I thought it was time for me to start making it. My first batch was the traditional recipe for play dough. Fischer liked it and we still have some in the fridge. However, he then decided that he didn't like the smell of it, and didn't want to play with it anymore. So I took and idea from Renee' and tried the koolaid play dough. It smells great! Almost too great! It kind of smells like Big League Chew - remember that stuff? Bonus: since Fischer likes to sneak licks and nibbles of it... at least I know what's in it! Double bonus: since it smells yummy, the dogs will eat the play dough crumbs off the floor - less clean up for me!
• Renee' and Liz found this great recipe for microwaveable puff paint. They did it as a class project and the kids loved it! I can't wait to try it!
• Creative Chicks at Play has a very clever idea for a fun memory game that will use up some of your scrapbook scraps. This might make for a sweet little handmade gift too!
• Speaking of gifts, Martha has a great idea for a handmade checkers game. Of course, it is pretty too! I think I might make one of these with one of my students. She could give it to someone in her family for Christmas.
• The Rowdy Pea has a simple yet educational and toddler-intriguing idea in her rainbow jars. You probably have everything to do this one right now!
• For more great ideas and creative inspiration, join in on the weekly Unplugged Project. These moms are brimming with original ideas.

The Cake Decorating Song

One of my students decorated this cake last Friday and wrote a little song as she went. It is to the tune of "Peanut Butter and Jelly".

Baking My Cake

First you take the frosting and you spread it. You spread it, spread it spread it.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)
Then you take the colored icing and you squeeze it. You squeeze it, squeeze it, squeeze it.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)
Then you take the sprinkles and you shake them. You shake them, shake them, shake them.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)
Then you take the candles and you stick them. You stick them, stick them, stick them.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)
Then you take the candles and you blow them. You blow them, blow them, blow them.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)
Then you take the knife and you cut it. You cut it, cut it, cut it.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)
Then you take the cake and you eat it. You eat it, eat it, eat it.
Baking, baking my cake. (yummy, yummy)

Written by A. Baker

Just clicking around: What I'm interested in today.

• Jenny welcomed a gorgeous little Hadleigh Evelyn into the world on Friday. Congratulations Jen!!
• The Write Spot has a good article called: What every blogger should know about copyright protection for photos and content. She has also posted links to more information, and there is interesting info in the comments too.
• Chez Pim has a fun looking recipe for making your own Pop Tarts (come out of the closet - you know you love them!).
• About.com has a great tutorial about How To Add a Text Watermark to a Photo in Photoshop Elements. I've been fooling around with it a bit, and I think it is a good idea. Especially because of what I talked about at the end of this post.
• Firebox.com introduced me to the chococlock. Umm, could a clock get any better? (link via goodyblog)
• It's Nice That has some incredible sculpture pics. Very cool.

Blogs for a Cause

How do you like my new design? Nikki from Blogs for a Cause, is designing blogs as a way to raise funds for her humanitarian efforts in the Dominican Republic and in Africa. She is a college student in Ontario. She is really saving the world. I'm excited about her work and would definitely recommend her to design your blog. She was quick, very professional, and patient with me (you know that can be tough). She got started with all of this through a program called Hero Holiday. You can read more about Nikki and her current projects at: Ends of the Earth, or at any of the links above.

The cup cake pop queen has done it again!!!

Bakerella has come up with yet another deliciously darling idea. She has turned her niece's artwork into cake decor. How fun, and supposedly you and I can do it too! Check out her great idea, and while you are at it, scroll through all of her fab pops. They were one of my first posts on this blog... and now she is totally famous and has even been on Martha!! I'd like to think I had something to do with that. Ha! Are you rolling your eyes at me?

Anyway, what a fun way to show off your little darling's work. I'll have to wait until Fischer is actually creating recognizable objects, or at least until his scribbles don't take up the entire page!

Artist with Autism: Kim Miller

A while back I posted about a website that highlights and sells art that has been crafted by artists who have autism. I also posted an incredibly beautiful painting called "The Violinist" by Kim Miller. I told you a bit about her (after I had read her bio on the site).

Anyway, I did not have the rights to post that image (geez I'm causing a lot of trouble lately), and therefor I removed it. However you may still go look at it, and unfortunately it is still sold.

BUT here is the exciting thing... Kim's mother has very kindly given me permission to post this image of her glazed clay sculpture called "Serenity". I love the blue she used (the yellow is the watermark), of course, I love it - blue is my signature color ;)

Kim's artwork is displayed in her new book that will be released next month, called The Girl Who Spoke With Pictures Autism Through Art, written by Eileen Miller and illustrated by Kim Miller, foreword by Robert Nickel, MD. Release date September 2008, 208 pages, 90 illustrations, paperback, ISBN 9781843108894, Jessica Kingsley Publishers jkp.com

"For many years Eileen Miller's daughter Kim, was unable to verbalize her
experiences and emotions, but she was able to communicate using a less
conventional language:her art. The Girl Who Spoke With Pictures tells the
story of a young woman with autism, and how her enlightening drawings enabled
her to share her view of the world...." more on jkp website.

Available at jkp.com, Barnes and Noble, Powells, Target, and fine independent bookstores. Available in Canada, UK, Germany, Norway, Australia, South Africa...limited release in Japan and India. Do a websearch for a location near you.

Kim Miller has also illustrated a children's book, titled: Apples for Cheyenne, written by Elizabeth Gerlach, Release date: anytime, Sensory Resources publishing.

BTW Sensory Resources has many helpful books about sensory integration and sensory processing. I have used a number of them with my students. They also have other great products that address these issues.

I'll keep you all posted as more information is released. Kim and her mother will also have a website in September.

Thank you Eileen for sharing your daughter's talents with others.

Brighter Vision... brighter future

A noteworthy and respectable company for learning materials for your 1-5 year old.

Each month you receive a shipment of appropriate leaning materials for your child's age. You'll get a great reusable workbook that is filled with songs, stories, activities, lessons, etc. You also get a hard cover book or board book (for the one-year-olds), a hands-on activity like a craft, toy, or game, stickers, a CD with fun tunes, and a parent guide. Everything that comes goes together nicely in a theme. All of the products are quality and engaging. AND it is for less than $20 (or at least it was last year).

We ordered the free shipment of materials (you can too) and were so impressed that we immediately signed up. Fischer and Andy and I loved the books and all of the items that came along. Everything was really great with lots of ideas for individualising the lessons for Fisch. Around Christmas time, money was a little tight and i cancelled the shipments. SO easy! No run-around, no guilt, no nothing.

This company is incredibly fabulous!!! It is indeed a book-of-the-month-club but WAY BETTER! NO SCAMS! In the past I have felt quite suckered by book of the month clubs and ended up spending way more than I had anticipated. Brighter Vision Learning Adventures is great because there is no minimum to buy, and no extras to buy. You just pay each month for your shipment and if you don't want to, just return it. I was even late on a few payments and never encountered any penalties. I just really feel confident in this company's products and their business ethics. I had forgotten all about them, although we still use all of the materials we received, and last night as I was telling my SIL about them, I decided to look up to see what kind of materials are for 2 year-olds. I think I'm going to sign up again.

If nothing else, try the free shipment and then cancel - nothing to lose and you get a bunch of stuff to keep. I have mounted the reusable stickers, that come with the workbook, on card stock and laminated them so that we can keep them nice. You always get a strip of stickers (2 of each) and I've mounted and laminated those also for matching games. Anyway, the possibilities are endless and oh-so affordable.

Maybe I should get a job with these people!

Frozen Fun

Well, we're really hot around these parts... so I thought I'd find some cool and refreshing activities to help us beat the heat. Here are some goodies that I found on the web and I thought I'd share. Ice is cheap - and cheap is always fun!

• My favorite activity of the new finds are the Ice Treasures over at Let's Explore. They froze lots of little treasures in a block of ice and let the kids have at it with various excavating tools. Looks like a ton of fun!


• I also really like the Ice Cube Necklace at FamilyFun. It is cute and easy and could really be made over and over!


• PBSkids has a fun party game for 6 or more friends called Ice Cube Melt. I could see the competition and frozen fingers getting fierce for some kiddos.


• MommySavers listed a fun and frugal way to Paint with Ice Cubes for toddlers.


• The Educator's Reference desk had a easy lesson and experiment: What will keep ice cold?


• And what for furry four-legged children??? Don't forget that you can put your cake pans full of water in the freezer and give your pups some ice blocks to chew on and play with. You might even hide some rawhide treats in the ice for them to excavate!

Book of the Day

A Child's Book of Art by Lucy Micklethwait appears to be out of print, although you can get used copies on Amazon. Fischer and I checked this out at the library and surprisingly, he loves it! It has many famous paintings, but is organized in a "first words" format. It is really interesting and disects many of the pictures so that the little readers really take note of all that is happening in the picture. After reading and talking about art for little ones the other day, I decided to check out a few. This one was definitely worth mentioning. In fact, I think I may just have to find a copy to buy.

Just clicking around: photography

I love to look at photographs, I can look at my own scrapbooks and albums hundreds of times, pouring over every picture, every detail. I can also look at other people's albums of people I don't even know and find them very interesting. I mainly like to look and re-look at photographs of people and the places they go.

In fact, a while back I acquired all of my grandmother's photographs from her entire life. My plan is to make a video of all of the pictures so that all of my relatives can enjoy them. the problem is, there are SOOO many and it is a really daunting task. i want it to be perfect and detailed, and so.... I have done very little on it in the past 3 years!!! Talk about a sore subject.... Anyhoo...

I have recently become intrigued by a number of photoblogs that I have come across. I thought I'd share them,

Big happy funhouse is a photoblog of old photos. it is awesome, like looking at my grandmother's oldies. Click on the archive for more photos than the main page holds.

Square America is a gallery of vintage snapshots & vernacular photography. More fabulous oldies. The archives (at the bottom of the main page) are actually organized by theme. Each collection is really fascinating

Running from Camera - is a comical collection of pictures of a guy running from his camera. This guy has been running from his 2-second self-timer for 2 years!

Mr. Toledano takes pictures of bankrupt businesses... surprisingly intriguing.

Photoblogs.org has a hefty index of photoblogs if you find yourself interested. Many of the most popular blogs are by people who seem to be quite incredible photographers. most of the comments are to critique the skill and composition of the photo and photographer.

Photo.net is one of my new favorites to check out periodically. It is a community for photographers and photography enthusiasts (I am the latter of the 2). Anyway, breathtaking photos here.

Artist in the making

This is a picture of a crocodile with a broken leg and the letter "U". How wonderful to be able to draw something, stand back, and decide what it is! Talk about artistic liberties! I was reading the Savvy Source newsletter yesterday and it is all about art this month. They had many simple ideas to introduce art to your child that do not necessarily include a big production or mess! (Yes, Emily, I have let Fischer paint with real paint before! But, only once.). Personally I hate paint, markers and crayons - they can all be easily eaten and they all easily draw on non-paper surfaces! But there are others things you can use for art like pipe cleaners (no mess), painting with water (have you tried taking a bunch of paintbrushes and sponges and letting your kids go to town "painting" the sidewalk, driveway and house?), or what about those foamy stickers? I know that Wanda's little almost 2-year-old sat and put stickers on paper for almost an hour all by herself! By the way, I've heard about peeling the stickers off and sticking them to a rubbery placemat so that they can easily be stuck and re-stuck for lots of sticker fun for a toddler. I'd need to try that approach with Fisch, because he has a really hard time getting the paper backing off the stickers by himself.

So the Savvy Source was talking about their top 10 artists to introduce your toddler to. I really thought that they would be talking about children's illustrators.... but no, they were talking about classic artists.

Thinking about art in the lives of our little ones this week, we asked
ourselves: if we were to make a list of the ten best artists to introduce to our
preschoolers, who would be on it? Which artists would capture our little ones'
imaginations, make them curious, inspire them, make them laugh, puzzle, wonder?

They list artists such as Raphael, Degas, Matisse, and O'Keefe (who by the way is totally a Kappa Delta sister of mine). Honestly I hadn't thought to introduce Fisch to these types of artists yet. I was thinking I was doing pretty good to have colored pencils handy all of the time! We'll definitely be browsing the library for some great art books. I'll let you know if I find any gems, and please let me know if you have any favorites too!

While we are on the subject of creating art, I have a few products that I'd like to mention.

Emily bought Fisch some super-fabulous colored pencils, they are chunky, and when you write with them the color is bright and smooth. They are Crayola Write Start.

Also as I was reading the Savvy Source and a few other sites, I came across Squiggles. It is a giant drawing pad with lots of drawing starters, like designing t-shirts. It looked really fun! I don't think it would be right for Fisch at this point, but older kiddos would probably have a blast! The Scribbles book might be a fun one to try with him.

• Squiggles: A Really Giant Drawing and Painting Book by Taro Gomi
• Scribbles: A Really Giant Drawing and Coloring Book by Taro Gomi

Another drawing pad is the Doodles at Dinner: 36 Tear-Off Placemats by Deborah Zemke tear-off placemats. How perfect, especially for theose restaurants that don't have paper placemats! These placemats even have different skills to practice like writing and numbers and what not.

Too fab gift idea!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I sure did. We had a lovely BBQ with all of the relatives and Andy and Fischer gave me a fabulous book. Andy made it and it is wonderful. I wish you could read it. It is all about Fischer and me... too precious! It is kind of patterned after the "No, David" books, except it is all photos of Fisch!

Anyway, I have been dying to blog about Rachel Analeise over at Etsy. She makes some fabulous jewelry pieces, but I recently ordered personalized pendants for Fischer's grandmas and great-grandmas. He drew a few pictures and I sent them to Rachel. She shrunk them down and turned them into necklaces. Everyone LOVED them! I should have taken a picture, shoot! Anyway, she was really great to work with, the necklaces were very professional and high quality and it was incredibly affordable. SO great!!! You could do it for next mother's day or maybe grandma's birthday! She can also put photos on pendants or what not. Check her out.

By the way, do you know about Etsy? It is a place to buy or sell handmade items. There are many, many, many beautiful items. Definitely worth looking into!

Artists who have Autism

KindTree Productions, Inc. Autism Rocks features art shows and print products by artists who have Autism. These artists receive 50% of every sale. Here you can support artists with Autism from all around the world.

Just clicking around: art

Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art - that is a dirty back windshield you are looking at! Talk about finding inspiration in everything!

I thought these sites were worth looking at for a few minutes, you might too.

• http://www.tamarastaples.com/ Under her "personal" category, check out "The Fairest Fowl" collection and the "Tools of the Trade" collection.
• http://www.dirtycarart.com/gallery/index.htm I love the photos of the art going through the stages of being rained on.
• http://sblom.com/mailbox/ I think the second photo has to make the mailman uncomfortable everyday!
• http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/photography/brandt/brandt.html Just gorgeous, they are so different from the usual colorful African animal photos.