Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Halifax, NS

When The Opinionated Parent, first approached me to review the book, "Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative & Naturally Curious Children" by Ginger Carlson, in e-book form, I was so thrilled at the opportunity as creativity is so my thing. Unfortunately, as geeky as I am I could not bring myself to the computer to read a book. Blogs, geeky news, email *cough* games, were all distractions that kept me from this amazing book.

Thankfully the author sent me a hard copy so I would not miss out on this amazing resource! Creativity and natural play is something we hold very dear in our house. There is little television, electronic toys or anything that requires batteries (although those toys do have their place at times), instead we use our imagination to bring life to the items we are playing with.

The book "Child of Wonder" will be a constant resource for us in our pledge to be creative. The author is full of amazing inspiration, including my favourite, a list of books for the kids to read with you to enhance that element of creativity!! I have totally put so many of the books she recommends on my library list! In fact, I would venture to say this book is as much about children as it is about parents and could have been named "Parents of Wonder". I totally believe it is our job as parents to filter the outside world and enhance the creative world for our children. This book gives concrete examples on how to do so!

One of my favourite chapters in the book is called "Squish! Splat! Smoosh! - Making Messes and Getting Dirty".  For a parent, learning to let go and get dirty is one of the hardest things to do (at least for a parent like me!) Carlson, includes great recipes and methods to help our children explore all elements.

If you are looking to provide your children with creative experiences and a well balanced approach to education, art, and music this is a must have book for your parenting book collection. I am looking forward to reading through the "Child of Wonder", again over our Christmas break so that we can endure the winter months with much creativity and curiosity!

Check out Ginger Carlson's Guest Post on Being Savvy!