Tuesday, June 1, 2010

{A GIVEAWAY???}

Did you know that this silly little blog has had over 10,000 page views in just the six months I've been here making fun of myself? Amazing!

To celebrate,  I have the most AWESOME surprise for my readers--whoever y'all are, because I *know* I don't have enough friends to merit that many visits...unless they are really, REALLY bored. :)

Anyway, believe it or not, just in time for this fabulous milestone, Jane Kirkland over at Take A Walk Books offered a giveaway of two of her wonderful books. I love that I can do a giveaway that seems to really suit my blog--Jane's books are all about finding time, by just going for a walk, to discover and experience nature.

Jane offers eight separate books that encourage kids to get outside and explore nature for themselves, regardless of where they live. The Take A Walk book series teaches kids how to log, identify, and explore nature in places as near as their own backyards. As I looked over the books, I loved all of the side bars with additional information, the workbook type pages, and the gorgeous pictures. It's clear that Jane is passionate about getting kids outdoors and into nature. Her website is fantastic as well--it's full to brimming with resources for parents, kids, and teachers, including free photos for use in school projects, free forms and worksheets for your walks, and lesson plans for the classroom. In fact, she even has a free e-book to download that makes watching the clouds fun and educational: Take a Cloud Walk


The samples Jane sent to me were the Take a Backyard Bird Walk and Take a City Nature Walk


  


   


I love that both of these books are full of some of the most common and easy to spot animals. Like Thoreau spending hours watching the birds and squirrels around Walden, I love the idea of helping kids find the wonder and excitement in the animals that they might otherwise take for granted. They even helped me identify this striking bird that I keep seeing around (I think it's a black-billed magpie)!




The Take A Walk series of books is probably best suited for school-aged children, but even as a parent of toddlers/preschoolers, I feel that there is plenty of great information for me to learn and teach my kids. Jane's books promote environmental stewardship, understanding and education. You know you want one! 

(I feel like I should add here that I'm not getting anything from Jane Kirkland or Take A Walk Books, other than the chance to see and touch her awesome workbooks before passing them on to you!)


Okay, now on to the important stuff! Two random winners will be drawn on Monday, June 7 around 9PM Mountain Time.

 In order to receive a chance to win one of the great books above, you must:

This giveaway has closed. Thank you!


Thanks for looking and best of luck!
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24 comments:

  1. I'm the first entrant! I would love to check out Take a Beach Walk, because we love the beach around our house.

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  2. I would love take a beach walk too. We live 2 miles from the beach, so it would be perfect!!

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  3. I would also love Take A Beach Walk. We always spend several weeks at the shore in the summer.

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  4. Take A Winter Walk looks like such a useful book - I have a very hard time dragging myself out into the cold sometimes.

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  5. and I love the free Cloud Walk pdf - we put that to use today!

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  6. Take a Tree Walk and Take a Winter's Nature Walk look great! I would love those...and I'm now a follower :-)

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  7. I am already a follower, because I think you're the bestest, and I love Take a Winter Walk. =)

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  8. Hmm...Take a Wetlands Nature Walk seems a little dangerous what with the alligators and all (plus the oil slicks), so I will go with Take a City Nature Walk, only because she hasn't come up with Take a Nature Walk on the Scorching Hot Sun which is where we actually live this time of year :)

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  9. I am a follower!

    aprettykitty84@yahoo.com

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  10. I would love "Take a walk with Dragonflies and Butterflies" we are pretty fascinated with them at our house!

    aprettykitty84@yahoo.com

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  11. I downloaded the FREE cloud Walk PDF, it is great!!!! We love cloud watching and finding neat critters in the clouds.

    aprettykitty84@yahoo.com

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  12. Great giveaway!

    I'd like "Take a Walk with Butterflies and Dragonflies" for my little sister.

    Please count me in. Thanks.

    avalonne83 [at] yahoo [dot] it

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  13. Your site is really nice & we are trying to do the same thing with our kids.

    I would like Take a Tree Walk since we just moved to the country & the kids could really enjoy it.

    bamagv(at)aol(dot)com

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  14. As a homeschooling Mom, I like the Free Photos for Teachers.

    bamagv(at)aol(dot)com

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  15. I like "Take a Beach Walk" and "Take a Backyard Bird Walk"! Thanks for the giveaway -- I'm following. mybabyappleseed(at)yahoo(Dot)ca

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  16. I like the free pictures of insects! My kids will love to check them out... mybabyappleseed(at)yahoo(dot)ca

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  17. Take A Winter Nature Walk sounds great. I follow.

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  18. The book I would most like to have is "Take a Winter Nature Walk" b/c I enjoy tracking and would love to share this hobby with my child.
    thevanandthecart [[at]] gmail [[dot]] com

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  19. My fav free resource on the Take a Walk web site is the Take a Cloud Walk book available as PDF. Thanks for pointing my way to this great resource!
    thevanandthecart [[at]] gmail [[dot]] com

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  20. I would love the beach one!

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  21. My little grandson stays most of the summer with me....I am always looking for interesting things to do with him. He's SUPER smart and has Asperger's syndrome....they often focus on one thing...for him, it's animals, so the Beach Walk book and the Back Yard Bird book would be just fabulous for him.

    Thanks for entering me in your wonderful giveaway...Hoping to win.

    Warm blessings,
    Spencer

    PS....just where in Washington is this SINGLE uncle Greg??? My daughter is a lovely single girlie. :-)

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  22. The book I would most like to have is the "Take A Beach Walk" book. It would be fun to use with the kids on trips and vacations.
    elliebeetle AT gmail D0T com
    PS I'm a new follower of your blog!

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  23. There are so many great free resources on the site, but I found the Ranger Rick child-friendly explanation of the big oil spill to be spot on!
    I found it here: http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick/People-and-Places/Ranger-Rick-on-The-Big-Oil-Spill.aspx
    Thanks.
    elliebeetle AT gmail D0T com

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