The Mads awards- nominations
What are The Mads awards?
The MAD Blog Awards celebrate great British families and their blogs. It’s open to those living in the UK or expats. Last year I was an expat but this year I’m here!
One of the things I love about the Internet is interacting with like-minded fun people all over the world. Being a military family we’ve had our fair share of moving and upheavals so having online friends has really been amazing.
We also a family that lives in more than one culture. Like lots of military families we just get to making friends and we’re off again. Making new friends in a new area is no different from when you were 5 in school.
There are a whole heap of categories to nominate your favourite blogs.( 15 actually)
Since collating 100 playful blogs in one place for the Raising Playful Tots index I’ve had the fun task of looking at 100s of play blogs. During the show I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a few of these amazing people, listed below, and share their ideas with more people who like them are hungry for quality fun play activities to do with their children.
So here is my entirely subjective list…… there are lots more but I could only choose one for each category.
Here are ones I would love you to check out – because they offer so much in way of inspiration, encouragement, simplicity and the owners are just cool!These should be on your list anyway to read, visit and comment. Drop them a line, if you can.
You can vote for them yourself, like I did in the Mads. I’m sure from wherever you are in the world
Nominations
Best MAD Blog for Family Life
Kelly Ireland
Best MAD Baby Blog
Best MAD Craft Blog
Best MAD Blog for Family Fun
Best Pre-School Fun MAD Blog
Oh and…..
one last category.
Most Innovative MAD Blog
This award recognises the blog that best encapsulates the spirit of innovation in blogging, whether that’s using video, audio or creating new ways to share and discover great content.
Just click over to the MAD Awards website and nominate http://raisingplayfultots.com in the Most Innovative MAD Blog
Thanks for your support.
Who would you nominate?
Ella Jenkins: Life of song review
Here is a woman offering stories and songs from her African American heritage and memories as a child. I loved how they blend her singing with the after school program singers in the beginning songs but there’s parts where she tells stories or reads a poem. Her voice is strong and many of the tunes familiar. There were 21 tracks in the short 36 minutes CD. In a bid to widen the musical experience of our tots I would certainly recommend this cd as it really shows a range of songs and ones that the children can join in with . The songs and tunes are great without being jarring or very different from track to track. The words provide a vivid picture in mind. I like how Ella explains stories and experiences to the children. Ella brings a new take on “He’s got the whole world in his hands”, with including names of famous people from the past.
{ taken from review on Raising Playful Tots show 48}
Life of song
I’m bored jar
Welcome to the BBC Radio Sheffield listeners. Thanks for stopping by!
If you’re looking for the I’m bored activity please click on the image below to go to the post.
To find out more about the Play Activities network and the resources I provide to help with play in the early years please visit my about page
This weeks Early years play podcast is due out today.
Thanks for stopping by and keep in touch via the two different newsletters I send out or the contact me button at the top of this site.
Enjoy the sites!
Stick around, there are a lot of resources and ideas on all the sites. Grab yourself a biscuit or bookmark.
Thanks Sue for the recommendation.
Want to hear more about Sue’s Positive Parenting work? Listen to her interview here : Raising Playful Tots show #23 Positive Parenting with Sue Atkins
Raising Playful Tots show #20 Books by Tara
I’m excited to welcome Tara McClintick of Books by Tara.com She’s an author, Early Childhood Special Education teacher and mother to two boys. Tara is “…passionate about all children, and I have total respect for the miraculous development process and the challenges today’s kids face in our fast-moving, stimulus-bombarding world”.
In today’s interview Tara talks about her special books and how easily we can use them to raise playful tots.
Listen to the interview below by pressing the triangle button under the photographs. You can download and listen to this interview on your PC and/or MP3 player whenever you choose. For easy of use you can also subscribe to the Raising Playful Tots podcast through iTunes ( link on the sidebar). Each new episode will automatically download.
Follow Tara on Twitter or Send Tara a facebook friend request!
Contact Tara for more information about any of the items we talk about in the show.
Why we liked Tara’s books
- They are easy to use and the children all recognized the photographs.
- They were fascinated by the pictures and what they could see. Just getting them out of the envelope was exciting. Mail is always exciting when it’s not a bill. While I got each one out the boys each ran off with them before I even got a chance to look at them.
- Picture and photo books with great emotion. Do you know how hard it is to find books with recognizable emotion for kids?
- Durable- with three little hands including a baby. Everyone gets to look without fear of tearing.
- This could be your home. Children love looking through albums and this is no different.
- Changes the way they see things and prompts discussion. My boys were pointing out holes for days afterwards.
All Books By Tara:
- Promote awareness, thinking, and language development
- Are 20 pages in length
- Include an introductory poem
- Include 19 pages of 8 X 10 photographs
- Are printed on gloss cover paper
- Are spiral bound (great for isolating pictures)
Contest <<closed>>
Winners: Dana|Janet| Lisa R
Tara sent me copies of her books to review before our interview which we got to keep. I’m recommending them to you because they represent what we talk about here- raising playful tots. These books are ones you would want in your collection because they invite you to talk and share. I have three children under 7 and they all have loved using these books and keep coming back and looking at them again.
She’s kindly offered 4 books for 4 readers.
How to enter
- Visit Tara’s site and sign up for the newsletter
- Come back here and let us know which book you would like to win in the comments.
- You must sign up for the newsletter and tell us which book to be entered to win.
- Bonus: Every month there is a free drawing for a book in the newsletter so if you don’t win one of the 4 books at Raising Playful Tots you have a chance in Tara’s newsletter!
Extra entries (Optional)
- Sign up for the Raising Playful Tots newsletter. Leave 2 separate comments
- Tweet your favourite wordless picture book title to me @playactivities ( 1 comment)
- Follow Tara on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with @BooksByTara in it. ( 1 comment)
- Display the Raising Playful Tots button on your site ( 1 comment)
Rules
- Open to US residents and Canada.
- Void where prohibited.
- Open today. Contest closes on Wednesday 14th April 2010 Midnight MST.
- Winners chosen at random. ( Those that followed the rules)
- Winners names will be published on this blog Thursday 15th April 2010. I’ll send you an email once you’ve replied.
- Tara will be shipping to the winners.
- Up to 4 books on offer. One prize per household please.
About the books
“The books have been created to engage children, to provide an open-ended focus for social connections. Any child can enjoy them, and they are especially beneficial for working young children and/or older kids who are working on attention and communication skills. We can talk about using them for group discussions and/or connecting one-on-one with a child who has significant challenges such as autism. The design is basic and flexible, so they can be adjusted. I have teaching experience with groups as well as tons of one-on-one experience with some very tough customers (tough to engage their attention) especially my son! The latter is really where the inspiration for the books came, but my experience of knowing what appeals to children is how I choose the “topics” and photos.”
Listen to the show now by clicking on the triangle button in this post.
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This show is part of the moms talk radio network
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Raising Playful Tots Show #19 How to have a successful child in school
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D.,serves as H. Rodney Sharp Professor in the School of Education at the University of Delaware and has joint appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Linguistics. Her research focuses on how children learn language as well as on preschool education and the benefits of play. She has published 12 books, written over 100 papers, and presents the findings of her research all over the world. Dr. Golinkoff is also a spokesperson for research in developmental science, frequently quoted in print and electronic media and is currently an Associate Editor of the journal Child Development.
We talked about:
Play for social and emotional growth
Negotiation
How to have a successful child in school
Best ways to explore books
Recommendations for parents to read: 
A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool | Einstein Never Used Flashcards.
Listen to the show now by clicking on the triangle button in this post.
| Start a conversation about this show in our community…. |
This show is part of the moms talk radio network
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
