Picture Books to Read this Spring and March 2018 Goals

Great picture books to read with your kids in March and April, plus monthly goals for March 2018.

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Picture Books to Read this Spring with the Virtual Book Club for Kids

5 March – Theme: Rainbows
Book: A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman

12 March – Theme: Bunnies
Book: Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

19 March – Theme: Eggs
Book: The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

26 March – Theme: Birds
Book: Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

2 April – Break

9 April – Theme: Zoo
Book: Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

16 April – Theme: Community Helpers
Book: Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman

23 April – Theme: Frogs
Book: Wide Mouth Frog by Keith Faulkner

30 April – Theme: Gardens
Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

7 May – Theme: Classic Tales
Books: The Ugly Duckling, Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks & the Three Bears, Hansel & Gretel, Elves & the Shoemaker, Gingerbread Boy

14 May- Theme: Ocean
Book: The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

This finishes up the Virtual Book Club for Kids program for 2017-18!

Monthly Goals

I feel like setting monthly goals helps me get a great deal more done than I would otherwise, but there are still times when life interferes. February was one of those times. I feel short in several of my February 2018 goals.

Celebrating Emma’s Birthday

First, the positives. Emma enjoyed a fun sleepover with two close friends to celebrate her twelfth birthday. Popping Pearls in Pearl Milk Tea are all the rage here in Silicon Valley right now. Rather than spend $5/child at the local pearl milk tea shop, I simply bought some strawberry popping pearls, which the kids drank with milk. Not the traditional way to enjoy this treat, but popping pearls aren’t traditional anyway. Most importantly, it was a huge hit with the both my kids and Emma’s friends. I also bought stainless steel BOBA straws, since this is a treat my kids enjoy that we will be buying again. The straws are great for drinking smoothies, too.

Besides drinking tea, Emma and her friends watched Maleficent and baked gluten free cupcakes, which they also decorated. They camped out on the living room rug in front of our electric fireplace, and made blueberry muffins for breakfast in the morning. A very low-key party for me, and one that Emma and her friends thoroughly enjoyed. They stayed up until midnight. Our puppy Cali stayed up with them and was thoroughly exhausted the next day!

Family Time

We enjoyed wonderful, albeit brief, visits from Mike’s aunt and my sister. Mike’s mom is actually here right now. Her reason for being in town is to get doctor consultations on a broken hip, so not the happiest of reasons, but the kids love spending a little time with Gramma.

Writing, Writing, and More Writing

I got nothing at all done on my e-book, and only half of the posts I planned to publish actually happened. I do love how this Picture Books for Black History Month post turned out for Great Family Reads. I published my five simple steps to finding the perfect gift for a child on Top Toy Finds. I’m still finishing up my post on my trip to Creativation; in the meantime I published an article on 5 Trends in Children’s Crafts in 2018 on the official Association for Creative Industries blog.

Setting Goals for March 2018

I like to keep goals simple after a not-very-productive month, so March is going to be mostly catch-up time.

• Publish my Creativation Highlights post. Updated, March 3rd: My Creativation 2018 Highlights post is live!
• Photograph and illustrate my ebook.
• Publish posts for Storybook Science on my Great Family Reads blog.
• Publish two posts on my Top Toy Finds site.
• Continue blogging here as usual.
• Start sewing again.

What are your goals for March 2018? I love my friend Cassie’s perspective on a month where a lot of unexpected things happened. Do you have a favorite picture book to read this spring that didn’t make our list? Please share in the comments below, or share a post link on my Facebook page! You can also tag me on instagram. 

MaryAnne Kochenderfer

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.