My son William, (aka ‘Bur Bur’) has been participating for the first time this year in organized t-ball. I think back to the first day a month or two ago and am amazed at how far his whole team has come. With the encouragement of families and coaches, their eye and hand coordination, learning how to be team players, understanding the basics of the game all has come together so well. (more…)

By Jodi Nelson, mother of two, 5 and 15 months

As I sit here I am thinking about my 15 month old and his newly developed strong personality. He has formed an opinion about everything good and bad. Take food for example, after experiencing a bad case of the flu he has decided that the only food group he needs to eat is carbohydrates. Bread in particular. We try to get him to taste other things, we use all the “play” techniques to get the food into his mouth, which he humors us by putting it in there and then spitting it out. (Sometimes even laughing as he does it!) (more…)

People often ask how we came up with personalities of the characters in our award winning children’s book series Bur Bur and Friends. Although the characters are based on our kids and their friends in real life, that still doesn’t mean it has been an easy process. When JoAnne came up with the idea of creating a cast of multicultural kids who educate children about sports , outdoor exploration and active play, it was only the beginning. Farmer’s Hat Productions came to life. From there, concept grew on us and evolved into a process that we consider for all of the books that we develop . We began by, creating a general profile of each child/character. As we write each book, we incorporate some of the qualities we see in our kids. Through that process, we came into the realization that we could have an impact on the lives of many children that we most likely will never meet. (more…)

Please join us for story time and a book signing at the Minnesota Children’s Museum in downtown St. Paul on Saturday, May 3, 2008 from 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Come on a reading adventure during story time with co-authors JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons, who will read tales from the award winning Bur Bur and Friends™ children’s book series. These books use a cast of multicultural characters who teach kids about sports, being active and exploring the outdoors. This theme compliments the Minnesota Children’s Museum’s all-new traveling exhibit Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action, which was designed to discover the fun in being physically active in a non-competitive environment. After story time, head down to Kid Spark, the Museum gift store, for a chance to meet the authors and get your Bur Bur and Friends books signed.

Pastel and Fitzsimmons are founding partners of Farmer’s Hat Productions™, a children’s media company that inspires children to develop an interest in sports, outdoor exploration and active play.

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MUSEUM HOURS, DIRECTIONS CONTACT AND PARKING INFORMATION

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1. Reading with kids creates priceless memories for everyone
2. It promotes genuine communications with your kids
3. Consistent reading creates and establishes healthy bonding and love that kids need for development
4. Based on expert reviews all four books are educational and award winning
5. This passes on your value of literacy to children, grandchildren
6. Our books plant seeds that promote healthy lifestyles because they introduce and educate kids to sports, outdoor exploration and active play
7. The interactive point and learn in the back of the books appeal to a wide range of ages
8. Kids who read – succeed. Developmentally, it’s better than watching television
9. Sometimes, kids teach you through their experience of the story lines
10. There will be a day when your child will be grateful for it

For a fun, interactive game after the picnic, where children can go to meet the characters, visit http://burburandfriends.com

To learn more about the values that Bur Bur and Friends strives to reflect, visit http://farmershatproductions.com

This article was written as part of the March Carnival of Children’s Literature project at the Reading Tub. (See March 31, 2008 post.) The theme for march was picnics:

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“Educators across the nation have been observing children’s waistlines expand,” according to retired principal and Peaceful Playgrounds founder, Dr. Melinda Bossenmeyer. “Pediatricians and legislators are starting to catch on.” One such example is new legislation throughout the state of Georgia brought forward by Sen. Joseph Carter (R-Tifton. ) He is promoting legislation (SB 506) that begins to address the epidemic of childhood obesity. (more…)

I recently had a business conference where all my co-workers flew in from all over the country to the Twin Cities Metro area. One of them said to me; “I can’t believe you have parades in the winter time in Minnesota. That’s crazy, why do you do that?” Newsflash! Minnesota is not a tropical walk along a sandy beach in the winter and we need to do something in all of this cold.

We are optimists in the upper Midwest and celebrating the seasons comes naturally to us. There are nights the snow is so beautiful that it shines in the moonlight like diamonds. (more…)

Bur Bur and Friends™ is our children’s book series. Bur Bur and Friends is a cast of multicultural characters who educate kids about sports and outdoor exploration. Recently the first three books in our series won awards based on educational content, quality, flow and aesthetics. When we found out about the awards we were excited and honored, as well as curious as to where these awards would lead us to next. We are proud that our books have won the following awards: (more…)

At Farmer’s Hat Productions, we understand the importance of encouraging and instilling positive values in our children. The following by Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC, is a wonderful perspective on how to teach values to your kids. (more…)

By Kakie Fitzsimmons, Vice President and founding partner, Farmer’s Hat Productions,
co-author of Bur Bur and Friends, an award winning children’s book series that uses a cast of young multicultural characters to teach kids about sports.

It was a cold day in December and on a whim I decided to bring my video camera along. The battery was low so I had to keep turning it off until it was his turn to shoot the ball. He has been working so hard at basketball drills and sometimes feels weird because he is the only kid on the team who is left handed. That means when he takes a shot he has to come at the hoop from a different angle than all of the others. When it is his turn to give it a go everyone else has to stop and wait. (more…)

By Kakie Fitzsimmons, Vice President and founding partner, Farmer’s Hat Productions,
co-author of Bur Bur and Friends, an award winning children’s book series that uses a cast of young multicultural characters to teach kids about sports.

Basketball: The new sport in our lives. Two days a week my son and I head down to the gym for drills and skills. The team is called ‘the Jaguars’ and right now they are learning the fundamentals of the game. Dribbling, chest pass, bounce pass, overhead pass, shuffling down the court, jump shots. Playing teaches the kids life skills. These coaches are leading the kids towards a process, helping them see their strengths and to believe that as long as they keep trying, they can accomplish anything. (more…)

Photographs Courtesy of Shari Fleming Photography

Photographs Courtesy of Shari Fleming Photography

President and Founder of Farmer’s Hat Productions, JoAnne Pastel, discusses the Bur Bur and Friends book series with President Clinton. President Clinton loves children’s books and responds with the following letter. (more…)

Often I think as parents we struggle to always know the best ways we can instill the values of good sportsmanship in our children. At Farmer’s Hat Productions, we use our innovative children’s books and characters, Bur Bur and Friends, to introduce kids to sports, outdoor exploration and active play.

Below is a link to some great suggestions for how we can begin building good sportsmanship values in our kids early-on:

Parents, Promote Good Sportsmanship by KidsHealth.org

Do you have other ideas that work for you? Please share them below, we always love to get input from our loyal blog readers!

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By JoAnne Pastel, President and founder, Farmer’s Hat Productions. Co-author, Bur Bur and Friends, an award winning children’s book series that teaches kids about sports and outdoor exploration.

A few years back, my husband and I had been fortunate enough to attend a live auction at a charitable fundraising event in Minneapolis. Giving back to the community is important to us and one of the items up for bid was an opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a Minnesota Twins opener. My husband and I are always attending basketball, baseball, football games etc. Introducing William (our little ‘Bur Bur’ ) to new sports experiences has always been important to us. At the time, our little guy was pretty young, but we just couldn’t resist. How fun would it be for us to watch him throw out that ball at 2 ½ years old? Without hesitation we bid on the item and won. We later discovered he would be the youngest ever to throw out that pitch which made the experience even more exhilarating.

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By Kakie Fitzsimmons, Vice President and founding partner, Farmer’s Hat Productions, award winning co-author, Bur Bur and Friends children’s book series that teaches kids about sports and outdoor exploration.

There are times I find myself off in my own personal “never never” land. It’s when I am so distracted, I am not paying attention to what someone around me is saying. Usually it is because I am deep in thought.

This happened to me the other day in a way that was different. I was driving down the road and suddenly realized that my son was in the back seat talking away to me about all kinds of things. Games he played in gym and how fun it was. At first, I had no idea what he was telling me because I was not paying attention.
(more…)