The Plan

Books

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray
The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle
I Love Planes! by Philemon Sturges
LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Five Little Apples”

Flannelboard Puzzle: “Letter A”

Fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree
I saw two apples looking at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
And down came the apples
And mmmm, they were good!
Credit: Childhood

Song: “ABCs”
Credit: Childhood

Song: “Apples and Bananas”
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas (each x2)
(repeat with other vowel sounds)
Credit: Childhood

Song: “The Ants Go Marching”
The ants go marching, one by one, hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching, one by one, hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching, one by one, the little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground, to get out of the rain
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom
(Two by two/the little one stops to tie his shoe; Three by three/the little one stops to climb a tree; Four by four/the little one stops to say “no more!”)
Credit: Childhood

Craft

Alligator Masks! I got this template from KidsSoup and my teen volunteers cut everything out and assembled it. At the daycare, I only have access to crayons and glue, so I’m doing the most basic crafts possible when I’m there.

How It Went

This was my first outreach storytime in a long time. (I think in over a year, actually.) Needless to say, I was pretty nervous about the logistics of the room set-up and how everything would go. I packed up all the books, puppets, and my travel flannelboard and had a WONDERFUL time. The kids were super receptive to the theme and while I was reading “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse,” they tried to come up with all “A” names for the animals. That led to the crocodile becoming an alligator and one child calling the cow an “ACOW.”

Anyways, there are SO MANY great bedtime books that I would almost never run out of material! This time, I started with some of the books we own in our in-house storytime collection for convenience.

The Plan

Books

Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed? by Barney Saltzburg
Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea
Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle
The Sleepy Little Alphabet by Judy Sierra

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Ten Teddy Bears”

Fingerplay: “Going to Bed”
This little child is going to bed (point to self)
Down on the pillow he lays his head (rest head on hands)
He wraps himself in a blanket tight (hug yourself)
And this is the way he sleeps all night (snore)
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

Action Rhyme: “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky,
Teddy bear, teddy bear, find your nose
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your toes
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your knees
Teddy bear, teddy bear, sit down please
Credit: Childhood

Song: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”
Credit: Childhood

Craft

This was a craft kit that I got through Oriental Trading. I loved this kit because it was entirely peel-and-stick which made it a no hassle craft! (I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to do a craft at Evening Storytime, but since I found such a simple one, I went ahead and did it.)

How It Went

What I really liked about evening storytime (and why I’ve decided to do it once-a-month this summer) is that I got a whole different crowd of kids and parents. I was serving patrons that for whatever reason were not served by morning or afternoon storytime! Since we’ve tried evening programming in the school year (and it flops), I’ll give it another go this summer! As for the program itself, the kids were very quiet and attentive during storytime but they really let loose during craft and we had a great time. I was the only participant to actually show up in pajamas though!

Since I’m doing the storytimes in different rooms (three different rooms), have only crayons or glue as supplies available, am doing different age groups instead of an all-ages storytime, and I don’t have my flannelboard easel or shelf or seats or a thousand other things — I decided to do an alphabet series only for my outreach kids. (That way I can be more flexible and change things up easier than sticking to a more rigid theme!)

Like I did with my colors series, I wanted to repeat a flannelboard activity from week to week. I settled on making letter puzzles with the kids.

These are really easy flannelboards to put together, as they are just laminated and sticky-back felt is put on the back. Also, I love that they reinforce the different things we might have talked about in storytime as well as the shape of the letter.

I probably won’t be posting any more of these (at least for Flannel Friday!), but I will perhaps post a compilation when I have all the letters done.

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Katie is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday — you can find the round-up at her blog! Melissa is the founder of Flannel Friday! Anne has the archive and schedule of who is hosting Flannel Friday.

And you can also follow the Flannel Friday Pinterest account. And Flannel Friday has its own Facebook page! If you participate in Flannel Friday, Melissa has a button if you want to link up to us here.

Books

Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson
Boo Hoo Bird by Jeremy Tankard
How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
If Beaver Had a Fever by Helen Ketteman
Llama Llama Home With Mama by Anna Dewdney

Extension Activities

Flannelboard Activity: “Bandaids”

Flannelboard: Doctor Bag

Puppets: “Ah-Choo! Ah-Choo!”
Farmer’s nose tingles (point to nose)
Farmer’s nose twitches (wiggle puppet)
And he is going to sneeze!
Ah-choo, ah-choo, ah-choo!
Ah-choo, ah-choo, ah-choo!
(Cow, moo-choo / pig, oink-choo / chicken, bawk-choo)
Credit: Modified from SurLaLune Storytime

Action Rhyme: “I’ve Got a Cold”
I’ve got a cold (point to yourself)
My nose can’t smell (point to your nose)
My eyes are red (point to your eyes)
I don’t feel well (hand on forehead)
So I’ll drink my juice (pretend to drink)
And go to bed… (fold hands under head)
My nose feels better (point to nose)
And so does my head! (point to head)
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

Craft

How It Went

We had a great time with this theme — lots of good books. The kids told me all about the different times they were sick; I heard a lot of stories about throwing up, so be prepared for those stories! The “Ah-Choo” rhyme that I modified to do with my farm finger puppet set was a really big hit. The kids loved making silly sneeze noises. The craft was a GIANT success. Every kid walked out with band-aids all over their project and a few walked out with band-aids mysteriously on themselves. As for their favorite book, it was definitely “Bear Feels Sick.”

I posted yesterday at the ALSC blog about how I got a storytime mascot, Applesauce, to help create traditions at our storytime! Do you have any more suggestions about creating traditions? Feel free to leave a comment here or, click on over to the ALSC blog to join the discussion!

I called the kids up by color and specifically told them where to put their band-aids, ie, “Oh, no! Applesauce’s paw hurts! Please put a band-aid there to help him feel better!” This was a hit, and afterwards, Applesauce shook off all his band-aids and felt all better.

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Library Quine is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday — you can find the round-up at her blog! Melissa is the founder of Flannel Friday! Anne has the archive and schedule of who is hosting Flannel Friday.

And you can also follow the Flannel Friday Pinterest account. And Flannel Friday has its own Facebook page! If you participate in Flannel Friday, Melissa has a button if you want to link up to us here.

And you can see the tools inside of the bag in this picture:

With this flannel, we talked about what each tool was called and what it was used for. The kids pointed to the parts on their body that corresponded. After storytime and craft, they played with the board pieces! This wasn’t too time-consuming (my sewing skills are getting better and better!), and it was a great investment to make for my flannelboard collection!

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Andrea is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday — you can find the round-up at her blog! Melissa is the founder of Flannel Friday! Anne has the archive and schedule of who is hosting Flannel Friday.

And you can also follow the Flannel Friday Pinterest account. And Flannel Friday has its own Facebook page! If you participate in Flannel Friday, Melissa has a button if you want to link up to us here.

Books

Hickory Dickory Dock by Keith Baker
Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josepha Hale
1, 2, Buckle My Shoe by Anna Grossnickle Hines
Ten In the Bed by Jane Cabrera

Extension Activities

(I have known all of these since childhood, so I don’t have a source.)

Flannelboard: “Hey Diddle Diddle”
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle / The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such sport / And the dish ran away with the spoon

Flannelboard: “Twinkle Twinkle”
Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?
Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?

Puppets: “Hey Diddle Diddle”

Puppets: “Hickory Dickory Dock”
Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one, the mouse ran down, hickory dickory dock

Action Rhyme: “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”
One, two, buckle my shoe / Three, four, shut the door
Five, six, pick up sticks / Seven, eight, open the gate
Nine, ten, a big fat hen!

Fingerplay: “Itsy Bitsy Spider”
The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again

Prop Song: “Baa Baa Black Sheep”
Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full
One for the farmer and one for the dame
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane
Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full

Craft

I got the idea for this craft from DLTK and I did modify it a bit (using a spider cut-out instead of an egg carton spider). My families had a lot of fun gluing cotton balls and tissue paper squares on the waterspout — I saw a lot of families singing the rhyme afterwards, so it definitely helped reinforce the theme. (Even though Itsy Bitsy isn’t a classic nursery rhyme, I went with it!)

How It Went

I was thrilled to have this storytime — my community definitely does not have a large grasp of nursery rhymes and being able to introduce them to the kids was a memorable experience. I did a lot of repetition (ie, we read “1, 2, Buckle My Shoe” and then did the rhyme with the motions) and I made sure to also add that repetition helps children learn and that hearing nursery rhymes helps with hearing how words are made and will help when their children begin to read. I think I made a lasting impression because all of our nursery rhyme books were checked out after this storytime. I think the most successful book was “Ten In the Bed” by Jane Cabrera. The one nursery rhyme that the kids knew, prior to storytime, was “Twinkle Twinkle.”

Books

One Mitten by Kristine O’Connell George
Snow by Manya Stojic
Snow Happy! By Patricia Hubbell
Snow! Snow! Snow! By Lee Harper
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Flannelboards

Flannel Activity: “Matching Mittens”

Flannelboard: “Five Little Snowflakes”
One little snowflake with nothing to do,
Along came another and then there were…two!
Two little snowflakes laughing with me,
Along came another and then there were…three!
Three little snowflakes looking for some more,
Along came another and then there were…four!
Four little snowflakes dancing a jive,
Along came another and then there were…five!
Five little snowflakes, having so much fun!
Out came the sun, and then there were none!
Credit: DLTK

Extension Activities

Fingerplay: “Here’s a Hill”
Here’s a hill (tilt left arm so that it forms a hill)
And here’s a hill (tilt right arm so that it forms a hill)
All covered with snow (raise hands up, bring down in slow motion)
I’ll put on my coat (put coat on)
And jump on my sled (hold the rope of a sled)
And ZOOM, down the hill I will go! (clap hands, slid hands down)
Credit: The Holiday Zone

Action Song: “Winter Hokey Pokey”
You put your mittens in, you take your mittens out
You put your boots in, you take your boots out
You put your hat in, you put your hat out
You put your coat in, you put your coat out
Credit: Step By Step — Winter Theme

Craft

This was a craft that I got from KidsSoup. The kids had a ton of fun putting stickers all over their paper plates!

How It Went

This was a great storytime! I had a giant group since this was during Winter Break — so lots of siblings attended as well as a lot of families whose kids are now in preschool during my storytime! It was great to see a full rug; over forty people in attendance! (That is A LOT for my library.) The craft led to a lot of creativity and I was glad that I didn’t make an example so that parents forced their kids to make it “like Miss Katie’s!” Their favorite book was probably “Snow Happy!”

Flannelboard: “Five Little Snowflakes”
One little snowflake with nothing to do,
Along came another and then there were…two!
Two little snowflakes laughing with me,
Along came another and then there were…three!
Three little snowflakes looking for some more,
Along came another and then there were…four!
Four little snowflakes dancing a jive,
Along came another and then there were…five!
Five little snowflakes, having so much fun!
Out came the sun, and then there were none!

I did not make a sun piece, but instead grabbed my piece from “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” set and it worked just fine! And yes, I learned how to chain stitch for this flannel!

It’s my goal to learn a whole ton of embroidery this year. So far, I’ve done three stitches (chain, blanket, and french knots) — does anyone have any new suggestions?

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Kay has challenged us (via our Facebook page) to comment on every Flannel Friday submission this week! I’m totally in, and furthermore, I will respond to every comment on my own page if you want to start up a great discussion! Let’s do this!

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Anne is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday — you can find the round-up at her blog! Melissa is the founder of Flannel Friday! Anne also has the archive and schedule of who is hosting Flannel Friday.

And you can also follow the Flannel Friday Pinterest account. And Flannel Friday has its own Facebook page! If you participate in Flannel Friday, Melissa has a button if you want to link up to us here.