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Hi, I’m Sharlene!

A mother of 5 boys, grandmother of 12, and author of Good Music Brighter Children. I started the blog, “good parenting brighter children” to share my 40+ years of experience swimming in the delightful (and sometimes shark infested) waters of parenthood. It’s been quite the experience and one I want to share.

Hopefully, you find this blog helpful and inspiring as you travel your own unique parenthood journey.

the latest from the Blog

7 More Super Fun Fall Activities for Kids & Grandkids

How to Make Fall Activities for Kids & Grandkids the Best Ever!

6 Best Children’s Books About Food & Awesome Adventures!

12 Fun, Fabulous & Inexpensive Summer Activities for Kids & Grandkids

Joke All You Want, but the Library is the Best Place for Kids!

Ever Try Doodling for Kids? It’s a Super Brain-Building Activity

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CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY BY ROALD DAHL E

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY BY ROALD DAHL Everyone’s read, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”—or at least watched the movie! Roald Dahl is a master storyteller whose life was not a bowl of cherries! Many of his books reflect his difficult childhood at a boarding school, but it was also this experience that led him to become one of the greatest children’s authors of all time! It’s a chapter book—read a couple of chapters each day—it will keep your kids/grandkids enthralled and eager for the next adventure. Activity: Go to the blog and download the FREE Willy Wonka chocolate bar wrappers and make them with your kids/grandkids—then let someone pick the golden ticket! Details: link in bio

STREGA NONA BY TOMIE dePAOLA Any book by Tomie de

STREGA NONA BY TOMIE dePAOLA Any book by Tomie dePaola is a favorite of kids everywhere! And this one is a classic! Big Anthony looks for short-cuts to do his work and he uses the magic of Strega Nona (the village witch) to make pasta. However—he doesn’t know the magic words to stop the pot and pasta ends up everywhere! Activity: Check out this fun pasta salad recipe that has been in my family for years! Plus, fun ideas to teach your kids about pasta—how to cook it and herbs & veggies to add that bring out the flavors! Details: link in bio

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL BY ROBERT MCCLOSKEY This book

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL BY ROBERT MCCLOSKEY This book is a classic and has been around for years! Most likely, you’ve read it to your kids/grandkids. But have you made anything with blueberries to complement the story? And—did you know that blueberries are one of the healthiest fruits on the planet? Improves the memory, night vision, contains anti-aging compounds and more! Activity: Make blueberry pancakes, muffins, cobbler and more—recipes on the website. Plus check out “lessons learned.” Details: link in bio

JAMIE O’ROURKE AND THE BIG POTATO BY TOMIE dePAO

JAMIE O’ROURKE AND THE BIG POTATO BY TOMIE dePAOLA Did you know there are literally 100s of children’s books that discuss food or have food as the central theme? This week, I’m talking about different children’s books that feature food. Plus, I’ll include fun activities to do with your kids/grandkids to complement the book as well as lessons learned! Books with food give you the opportunity to teach your kids/grandkids about healthy foods vs not-so-healthy foods and motivate you to spend time baking & cooking in the kitchen together! I’ve included the benefits of each food in the story & reasons why you want your kids/grandkids to eat these foods. First a BIG favorite with my kids and now grandkids—"Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato!” A fun book about lazy Jamie who meets a leprechaun who gives him a seed to grow the biggest potato in the world! Activity: make a SWEET potato bar with your kids—healthier than white potatoes and believe it or not—these potatoes have NO relation to each other! And don’t miss out on the details--link in bio

THE BEST BOOKS ABOUT FALL! Here are some great bo

THE BEST BOOKS ABOUT FALL! Here are some great books for fun fall reading aloud to your kids or grandkids! I love this season of the year—and there are so many amazing books to add to the sights, scents and smells of Autumn! Details: link in bio

PAINTING A MURAL FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS Wonderin

PAINTING A MURAL FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS Wondering what to do with all that recycled cardboard? Make & paint a mural! Throughout the summer, I save cartons, cardboard, tissue rolls and more so that at the end of summer, we can create a mural! It’s a great way to teach recycling and tap into those creative juices. Get a large piece of cardboard and hot glue gun the pieces onto the cardboard (adult supervision). Have fun arranging all the pieces, boxes, etc.! Then give the kids tempera paint, brushes, foam brushes and let them paint to their heart’s content! Have them wear paint shirts and put plastic underneath the cardboard murals. Thank you, @artbarblog for the inspiration! Details: link in bio

PLAYING THE “LITTLE RED HEN”—MAKING HOMEMADE

CHIGIRI-e TREE CRAFT—THE ART OF TORN PAPER Have

CHIGIRI-e TREE CRAFT—THE ART OF TORN PAPER Have you ever heard of Chigiri-e? It’s a Japanese papercraft or torn paper collage. I did this in the second grade and wanted my grandkids to try it. Normally you use hand-dyed washi paper—but to make it simple, we used easy-to-tear-construction paper. We drew trunks on construction paper and then carefully tore out the trunk. Construction paper is thin so it’s easy for little hands to use. It creates a wonderful edge on your fall tree! Add some colored popsicle sticks for branches and artificial leaves (or make your own) and you have a Chigiri-e fall tree! Patience required! Details: link in bio

BACK-TO-SCHOOL ACTIVITY: ART FUN WITH LETTERS & NU

BACK-TO-SCHOOL ACTIVITY: ART FUN WITH LETTERS & NUMBERS The kids are back in school! Here is a fun activity to support their learning as they brush up on letters and numbers by creating a collage from paint, letters, numbers, spin-art cubes and more! Our grandkids are different ages so I try to make whatever art projects we do apply to all! This was a process art activity meaning that there were a few steps involved to get to the finish line! Each child got a big piece of cardboard to paint. While it was drying, we took wooden cubes (Dollar Store) and put them in a salad spinner, poured acrylic paints overall and then spun the paint all over the cubes—the grandkids LOVED doing this! After everything was dry—I gave them big sticker letters, numbers, the painted cubes, glitter, to create a BIG alphabet & number collage! What’s learned? Sequencing, patience, letter and number recognition. Inspiration: @artbarblog Details:link in bio

MAKING A LEAF-MAN FROM LEAVES AND PODS IN NATURE

MAKING A LEAF-MAN FROM LEAVES AND PODS IN NATURE Take all the leaves and pods that you collected on your nature walk and make a wild & crazy leaf-man! I read to the grandkids, “Leaf Man” by Lois Ehlert and then we made our own leaf-men from leaves, pods, acorns, pine branches and seeds we had gathered on our walk. A fun, easy & creative fall activity to do with kids/grandkids! Check out the details--link in bio

GOING ON A LEAF HUNT: IDENTIFYING LEAVES IN NATURE

GOING ON A LEAF HUNT: IDENTIFYING LEAVES IN NATURE Have you ever taken your kids/grandkids out in nature to discover and gather different kinds of leaves, pods, seeds and plants? Did you try to identify them? There is a great FREE app called “picture this,” that allows you to “point and identify” any leaf, pod, or seed found in nature. It’s super fun to use and your kids/grandkids will love it! Explain to your kids/grandkids that every leaf has a name—just like each of them have a name. Give each of your kids/grandkids a bag to put their leaves, pods and other treasures found in nature—to use for art projects! What is learned? *It’s an educational nature activity that teaches kids/grandkids how to search, look, observe and identify leaves, plants, seeds and pods found in nature. Our grandkids LOVE anything to do with nature—we had a great time at this amazing park collecting leaves and other pods to take home. Beus Park doesn’t have just the usual plants—there have cherry trees, bramble bushes, and other fruits & berries! Go to my blog and download the FREE fall leaf guide: link in bio

GOING ON A “LISTENING WALK” IN NATURE Have yo

GOING ON A “LISTENING WALK” IN NATURE Have you ever read the book, “The Listening Walk” by Paul Showers? It’s a charming story about a father, a daughter, and their dog who go on daily walks. They don’t talk—they just tune into the sounds around them. It’s all about being still and just listening to sounds in nature. Prior to taking our grandkids on a listening walk, we read to them this book and I also made a list (including pictures) of different things to listen to while in nature. I attached the list to a clipboard for each child and as we went on our walk, the grandkids marked off all the different sounds they heard. (go to the blog to download the free list) To add to the fun, give each grandchild 2 bracelets: · masking tape bracelet that they can attach any light-weight “treasures” they find on their listening walk. · candy bracelet–the kind you bite off the colored round candies. For more ideas of things to do in nature, click the link in the bio

HIKING IN THE CANYONS & PLAYING IN THE WATER Do y

HIKING IN THE CANYONS & PLAYING IN THE WATER Do your kids/grandkids love to play in the water in the canyons? Ours do! We take our grandkids regularly to the local canyons to play in a shallow stream with plenty of mud to dig in, sticks to float and rocks to throw in the water. You can even make paper boats to float! This is a great sensory activity your kids/grandkids will love and never forget! Playing with water, mud/sand, rocks, and sticks help a child’s sensory development with: *Gross and fine motor development as they dig, scoop, sift, funnel and pour
*Hand/eye coordination as they throw rocks, pick up and float sticks, etc.
*Social skills
*Cooperative play & sharing
*Increases a child’s love of exploring and discovering Get the details here: link in bio

MADE IT TO SILVER LAKE—EVERYONE’S ALIVE! BUT S

MADE IT TO SILVER LAKE—EVERYONE’S ALIVE! BUT SEARCH & RESCUE GET INVOLVED! Well, they made it to Silver Lake—and everyone was alive—yay! (You never know when men are in charge of little kids what’s going to happen!). Mark told me he would be back at our house 7 hours after he left –or 6 pm. At 7:30 he was no-where-to-be-seen and my 2 daughters-in-law and I could not reach any of the men by text or phone. At 7:45 pm—still no sign of them so we did the next logical thing—WE CALLED SEARCH & RESCUE! After all—little kids were involved! And we had no idea if someone had fallen or if a bear had eaten them all for lunch (I always think positively)! Of course, —45 minutes later, they finally called to let us know they were in one piece! We called off the search and rescue team and 3 hours later, they all finally made it home! Moral of the story: when going on a hike—make certain mom or grandma is going along, too! (the men were totally perplexed as to why we should be worried). Check out more ideas to do in nature with kids/grandkids here: link in bio

HIKING UP THE MOUNTAIN This was a pretty daunting

HIKING UP THE MOUNTAIN This was a pretty daunting hike for little kids—they gained almost 1500 feet in elevation—with lots of rocks on the trail; rivers to cross and buzzing bees and other insects to deal with. Mark is a slow walker so every 60 seconds our granddaughter was on the walkie-talkie checking to see if he was still alive! But the kids loved using their walking sticks to help them up the path. What hikes do your children/grandchildren love? What fun memories do you have of hiking in nature? Get more ideas for activities to do in nature here: link in bio

WHEN PLANNING A HIKE FOR GRANDKIDS & KIDS—BRING

WHEN PLANNING A HIKE FOR GRANDKIDS & KIDS—BRING ALONG WALKIE-TALKIES & A VIDEO CAMERA & WHISTLES! To make the hike interesting for our grandkids, my husband brought walkie-talkies, whistles and a small video camera for our 8-year-old grandson to film the hike. The kids LOVED the walkie-talkies even though the 3-year-olds didn’t quite get the hang of it—they thought they were phones and it was difficult for them to push down the button; talk and then release the button to hear others. It didn’t matter—they still loved hauling them around on the hike! And—they also LOVED the whistles to blow (in case of an emergency)—but they blew them all the way up to the lake! The grandkids were also curious about the “alphabet trees” (as they called them)—how they got letters on them (the words people carve into trees). They thought they “grew” that way! For more information about activities to do in nature—visit the canyons, “listening walks,” making edible glaciers and more: link in bio

GOING ON A 5-MILE HIKE WITH GRANDKIDS! I read tha

GOING ON A 5-MILE HIKE WITH GRANDKIDS! I read that when adults share their “sacred childhood memories” invariably they talk about being outdoors in nature with friends. And being in nature is the ideal learning environment for young children. (Teacher Tom) I agree—being in nature allows our children/grandchildren to create memories and learning that last a lifetime! At the end of September, my husband, two of our sons, a grandson and others are going on a 15-mile hike to Mt. Timpanogos. To prepare, training hikes are the name of the game, and when appropriate, two of our sons take their 4 kids—our grandkids along. This last hike was rather daunting for two 3-year-olds, a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old—up 1433 elevation gain, and 4.7 miles round trip to Silver Lake in Utah.
The good news—they all made it up and back alive! Whew! Check out other activities you can do with your kids/grandkids in nature to create lasting memories: link in bio

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE FROM OUR ZUCCHINI PLANTS

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE FROM OUR ZUCCHINI PLANTS Everyone knows that you grow 1 zucchini plant and you get enough to feed the 5,000! However, this year our zucchini plant only produced about 5-6 zucchini! We can’t figure out what went wrong—any guesses? Our grandkids are not big fans of cooked or raw zucchini, so, we added sugar and chocolate, etc., to our grated zucchini and ended up with a chocolate zucchini cake—with everyone having fun in the kitchen! I didn’t post a recipe for this since there are dozens of recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Cake online—and btw—the recipe for this cake has been around for at least 40 years so you probably have one already! If you want the recipe for the easy-peasy salad, click the link in the bio

Here is a 1-minute video on how to put together th

Here is a 1-minute video on how to put together this simple veggie salad that we made with our grandkids from the veggies in our garden. Yummy! For the full story and recipe, go to the link in bio.

SUPER SUMMER SALAD—A STORY OF “THE LITTLE RED

SUPER SUMMER SALAD—A STORY OF “THE LITTLE RED HEN” IN REVERSE Parents and grandparents want their kids & grandkids to eat their veggies. And we try lots of tricks to make it happen. Years ago, I read that if kids help to cook or grow their veggies—they will eat them. Fat chance! We had our grandkids choose what veggies they wanted to grow—and like the little red hen-they helped with the entire process—planting, watering, weeding, harvesting and even making the veggie salad. But when it came to eating the salad—they refused. A sad story of “The Little Red Hen” in reverse—they helped with the steps but the final step of eating it didn’t happen. So, Mark and I ate it. Get the recipe for the salad link in bio—and maybe you’ll have better luck with your kids and grandkids eating it!

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