Sparkle Stories Blog
A home for Sparkle audio stories, crafts, recipes, and kind words!
Nature School Project: DIY Hamsa Scarecrow
Find directions in this fun nature school project to create a hamsa that you can hang in your garden to ward off pests and protect and bless your space.
Sparkle Kitchen: Kebabs
In The Welcoming Feast, a three-part Martin & Sylvia collection of stories, Daddy's new colleague, Rami Hadid, and his family are coming over for dinner. Martin is generally hesitant about meeting new people, but when he learns that the Hadid's are Muslim and that Rami has lots of stories about growing up in Syria, he is very curious.
The Welcoming Feast: A Video Introduction and New Story
This week we hear more from Martin and Sylvia’s new friends, the Hadid family – and their honoring of Ramadan.
Storybox Playlist: Stories for Making New Friends
Good friends are the best. They can make us laugh, they can inspire us, they can bring play into our lives, they can make us feel at home in the world. Sometimes it takes a little effort to find and make good friends, but it's worth it! Let these stories inspire you.
Nine Sparkle Recipes and Crafts for Summer Travel
Whether you're planning to hit the road or "staycationing" right at home this summer, we created a round-up of fantastic sparkle recipes and crafts to help get your vacation off to a great start.
Nature School Project: Take a Night Walk
We are joined today by our Nature School contributor Dawn, of Mud Puddles to Meteors, who gives us tips for taking a night walk.
Sparkle Kitchen: Airplane Snack Boxes
Beyond keeping everyone's blood glucose on an even keel, a well put together airplane snack box can also be a great way to pass some time as you're soaring through the air.
The Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! Series — Free Printable Project Book!
It is filled with fun things to do — no matter what the season!
The Three Best Car Games We Ever Made Up
In this video we share our three favorite car games - all made up on the spot (usually to interrupt yet another argument in the back seat over whose stuff is on the wrong side).
Storybox Playlist: Stories for Summer Travels
These stories are designed to make summer adventures more inspiring for kids while giving their parents some needed time off. This Playlist is comprised of Collections rather than individual stories - because we know you'll need lots of stories for those long drives!
Nine Healthy Sparkle Recipes
Meryl, our Sparkle Kitchen chef, and Lisabeth, our CEO, have been creating wonderful recipes to go along with David's stories and today we are sharing 9 of the healthiest ones with you.
Friday's Kind Words: Listening Versus Seeing
Sparkle stories are our favorite. They go in the car, at bedtime and we have even introduced them to our Kindergarten teacher for rest time. ~ Leah
Nature School Project: Up-cycled Seed Sprouting
For this post, we are joined by Kelly of Wings, Worms & Wonder, who shows us how to upcycle and study the growth of seeds into sprouts.
Sparkle Kitchen: Strawberry Team Snacks
In our part of the world, it's strawberry season, so here are three different ways you could serve strawberries to a team. Feel free to extrapolate these to include other fruit as the seasons change where you live.
Sparkle Ideas for Encouraging Healthy Eating
Nutrition expert Margaret Connor shares some suggestions from her own home, where her kids eat a spectacularly broad range of foods.
Storybox Playlist: Stories to Inspire Healthy Eating
Whether your family is looking to eat healthier or just looking for inspiration to keep on the right track, we've got five really inspiring stories for you.
Friday's Kind Words: Favorite Evening Rituals
One of my favorite evening rituals is to enjoy the last bit of light with legs up the wall and a child-friendly guided meditation or a Sparkle Story.
~ Kim
Nature School Project: Hidden Earth Art
What is Hidden Earth Art? It's creating something in the natural world that's your own creation, but so subtle someone else might not notice it.
Sparkle Kitchen: Nori Handrolls
While making proper sushi rolls with nori takes a bit of specialist equipment, you can make more casual nori hand rolls with nothing but, well, your own two hands!
How to Stop Teasing and Bullying: Finding a Common Image
In this post, David has tips on how to use our stories within the context of bullying and teasing.
