Review: Snorkeling with Sea-Bots!

Snorkeling with Sea-Bots! by Amy Lemke

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Wave-Making Robots

Recommends for readers of Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman, Stone Rabbit series by Erik Craddock and Mighty Mighty Monsters series by Sean O'Reilly.

Summary: Kolten meets an underwater robot named Rip at the beach. Rip shows Kolten his home.

Review: Snorkeling is a delightful read with vibrant illustrations.  It will be a great introduction to graphic novels as it is easy to navigate. I'm often intimidated by the layout of graphic novels and move them to the pile of Daddy read-alouds.

The large illustrations and sparse text make this an excellent conversational book to explore "reading" the pictures. Small children can work on their narrative skills, while those a little bit older will enjoy the robots and oceanic humor. Didn't you know the waves, bubbles and mysteries of the sea are controlled by underwater robots?

Fun Extras: There are three activities at the end of the book to extend reading. Fabulous!

Sensitive Readers Beware: None. Good read for all ages. This would be a fun book to read with the whole family.

Ocean Sensory Bin

This should be called the Super Simple Sensory Box, but you may get tongue-tied. 

What's in the Box?

Starfish ice- yellow, blue and green

Gems- green and blue

Glow-in-the-dark sea creatures

Water- tinted green with food coloring

Squirt gun

Linked with Tuesday Tots.

Sensory Tub: Ocean FAIL

It all began when I sat down with Bobo and showed him Crystal's fun sensory baths. I didn't expect him to want to have a play bath (as we are calling them) right away. I wanted to take advantage of his enthusiasm, and (let's face it) willingness to get into the bath. I also didn't anticipate how these play baths would be VERY different with MY boy.

I planned to paint some waves on around the bath with a shaving cream and food color mix. Bobo wanted to help.

"We need ocean creatures." I hunted, but couldn't find the extra box of bath toys with the shark. We settled for an octopus, hippo and elephant.

I probably should have figured out how to dye cooked pasta before this tub. Maybe explained better? I definitely shouldn't have put Bobo's favorite food (noodles) into the tub without expecting him to eat it. "Mama, these noonles taste funny." Could it be the shaving cream on your face?

Let's have a pasta throwing contest, instead.

When all else fails, bring out the big guns (or big bubbles as the case may be).

Since this auspicious beginning, we've had a few successful sensory tubs. The hot weather lends itself nicely to water play, so we'll keep trying. It's not always pretty, but always messy and fun.