At Beehive Books and Art we celebrate:
- Books
- Art
- Art in books
- Learning to love reading
What We Do
Our mission for Beehive Books and Arts is to be a resource for anyone who has kids in their life that are learning to read. Our writing and activities are focused to support children from birth to around age 12 – from the earliest days of their lives to the point where they are fluent readers.
On this website we share tips and tools for you to use to help kids find a love of learning. Because reading has been shown to be one of the leading factors (if not THE leading factor) to finding success in their lives. In fact a love of reading is one of the clearest predictors of life-long success. And we all want that for these kiddos.
We’re here to help you develop a love of reading for your kids. And for you too (especially if you had avoid reading because of experiences you faced learning to read). One of the best things about this process is that it’s really easy to do. And it’s affordable as well. We’ll show you how!
Why art? Art and reading go hand-in-hand. Children actually “see” more in pictures than adults. It’s part of their development and it’s completely integrated in the process of learning to read. The more kids experience art – in books, hanging on walls, and creating art themselves – the easier it is for them to learn to read. We are working to help you celebrate art in your homes, with materials that are easy to find all around you, in ways that stimulate creativity and connect you better to your kids.
What You Can Find On the Site
Here’s a quick summary of what you can find here on this website!
- How to build a home library with wonderful books
- Ways to get books affordably (and we mean as affordably as FREE)
- What makes for a “good” book
- How to pick “good” books for kids (aka books your kids will love)
- How to expand from a books to other activities (like a movie or a field trip or an art project)
- How to follow your child’s interests (it’s an awesome tool for their learning!)
- Reviews of books and illustrations
- Art and activities you can do at home with the materials you have on hand
- Ideas for “delayed”, “advanced”, and “gifted” readers (and should we really think of them in these ways?)
- What to do about devices, screens and the amount of screen time a child gets
Ready to get started?
- Discover books kids will love on The Bookshelf.
- Access interest-led activities
- Learn real-world ways that work to raise any type of reader
About Us
Beehive Books and Art is a team effort presented by Sarah Laucks, Carole Galbraith, our kids and friends.
We are members of the same family who have come to reading and art in different ways and for different reasons.
Basically we just love books and art. Our homes are full of new books, old books, big books, small books. We read children’s books of all types from the simplest of board books to advanced chapter books.
Sarah has a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education. She actually never taught in schools but instead put her degree to work in a different way and eventually developed educational programming for all ages at a series of shows across the country.
Carole has a BFA – a Bachelors of Fine Arts – plus the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in Education. She’s taught school for 35+ years in multiple settings and nearly all grades.
We know the challenges of helping kids learn to read and love reading.
Sarah has a child entering the middle grades (fourth through sixth) and for the past ten years she’s encountered a good bit of frustration as she sifted through the many recommendations for how to raise a kid who loves to read.
Along the way she’s talked with so many other parents, teachers and other adults about their feelings on how to find good books that their kids will love, locate activities that are fun and doable, and how to afford it.
That’s why she decided to start Beehive Books and Art in 2018.
We’re here to help you discover great books for your kids, to find a love of these books for yourself, to access fun activities, and to do it all in an affordable way.
“There is one simple thing we can do to help our kids find success in life. It’s filling our homes with printed materials of all types. From books to magazines to catalogs and more.“
Sarah Galbraith Laucks, Founder, Beehive Books and Art
About This Website
- Is there something you love to do or learn about?
- Do you have a story you want to tell?
- Expertise you could share with the world?
Everyone has a unique voice and experience. There are people out there in the world who want to and need to hear what you have to say.
Sarah loves the children’s literature world, and she loves seeing children become readers. There’s a magic to it that captivates her and that’s the reason she started this website. Carole joined in because she feels just the same.
So what do you love to do? If you’ve been considering putting your voice out there, take this as a sign to go ahead and do it! Whether it’s blogging, podcasting, or vlogging – you’ll need a website as home base.
The team at a company called Biz Budding helped Sarah build this website. And they can help you too.
If you want to start blogging let me be the first to tell you that they will be a great partner in your efforts.
Their website features a wonderful free guide about how to start blogging. And a fantastic website starter bundle package that will get you launched with a website so you can start posting content quickly. Blogging is something you can start small, on the side. It’s very enjoyable to write about a topic you love and a team like Biz Budding can help you grow your project into everything you want it to be!