Month: November 2010

Maisy & Friends

This month, I was very excited to be able to do a Maisy themed program for my 3 to 7-year-old age group. The kids at my library are crazy about Maisy, and her books are rarely on the shelf. I knew that this would be a successful program, and was pleased that I could devote a whole hour to one of their favorite characters.

I began storytime by laying down expectations for kids and parents — something new I’m trying to see if we have some better behavior. (Which we totally did!) And then, went ahead and read “Maisy Goes On Vacation” by Lucy Cousins.

This is one of those “First Experience” books, so it walks Maisy through packing, getting to the beach, and her first day on vacation. I love the Maisy “First Experience” books because they do such a good job of explaining these new places and activities to preschoolers. After we finished this book, the kids had a lively discussion of where they had each gone on their last vacation. Super cute.

Next up, “Maisy Big, Maisy Small” by Lucy Cousins.

Introducing this book was SO easy, because the kids had seen the cover of this book in the last one. (Maisy reads one of her own books on the way to her vacation.) The kids were pumped that we had Maisy’s book here! This tale of opposites led to a lot of laughter with the kids, especially the “Maisy fluffy and Maisy spiky” page layout.

After such a rousing success, I had to follow it up with my flannelbaord: “Maisy Mouse, What House Are You In?”

Talk about another instant-hit, they LOVED guessing which house Maisy was in. I was successfully able to re-hide Maisy twice before kids started to peek. I followed this with a quick fingerplay:

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

Afterwards, I asked the kids about what kind of animals Maisy and her friends were. They kept telling me that Maisy was a mouse, but I had one little girl rattle off the other animals (crocodile, elephant, etc.) very proudly. I asked if Maisy had any fish friends, and the kids shook their heads, and that led us into “Maisy Goes to the Library” by Lucy Cousins, where Maisy searches for a fish book.

This was an accidental hilarity — THREE of the kids before the program asked me where the fish books were, so that naturally led to the kids shouting out that they were like Maisy. Then, the non-fish-asking kids all said that they asked for a fish book too, to which I nodded and let it go, asking everyone to raise their hands if they wanted to find a fish book with Maisy. That let us finish our story, thankfully. We needed the next action play to help discharge some energy:

Action Play: “The Old Grey Cat”
The old gray cat is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping,
The old gray cat is sleeping in the house
The little mice are dancing, dancing, dancing (children dance)
The little mice are dancing in the house
The little mice are nibbling, nibbling, nibbling (children nibble)
The little mice are nibbling in the house
The little mice are resting, resting, resting (children rest their heads on hands)
The little mice are resting in the house
The old gray cat comes creeping, creeping, creeping (cat begins to creep)
The old gray cat comes creeping in the house
The little mice go scampering, scampering, scampering (children run in place)
The little mice go scampering in the house (cat can surprise Maisy and meow!)
Credit: Everything Preschool Mice Games

Then, our next story, “Maisy Cleans Up” by Lucy Cousins.

This one is super quick, and easy, and the kids loved guessing what kind of chores Maisy and Charley would do next. The kids clapped when Maisy and Charley finally got to eat their cupcakes after such hard work. Another quick fingerplay:

Fingerplay: “Mouse Fingerplay”
Chorus: Boing, boing, squeak
Boing, boing, squeak
A bouncing mouse is in my house
He’s been there for a week.
He came from out of nowhere
And quickly settled in.
I’m thankful that he came alone,
I heard he had a twin.
He bounces in the kitchen
He bounces in the den
He bounces in the living room
Look, there he goes again
That mouse just keeps on bouncing
Every minute of the day
He goes bounce, bounce, bounce
But he does not bounce away
Credit: SurLaLune Storytime

This was by far one of my favorite fingerplays ever. The kids were so happy to bounce their finger-mouse up and down, and we had a lot of gigglers. And a couple of them picked up the chorus by the end of the chant!

And to finish up, our grand finale was “Maisy’s Show” by Lucy Cousins.

My co-workers tease me about how much I enjoy pop-up books that don’t require you to fix the pop-up before moving on. This book is easily my new favorite pop-up book! The actions are thoughtful and appropriate, the kids are wow-ed by them, and I don’t have to fix the book before turning the page!

Lastly, the kids played a quick game of “Pin the Tail on Maisy” that I printed off from the official Maisy website.

Followed by a quick craft of making Maisy ears (also on the official site) and a puppet coloring craft of Maisy riding a bicycle.

(Teen volunteers cut everything out, and had already attached the popsicle stick to the back of the puppet so that no one’s Maisy went flying suddenly.)

A hugely successful program, with no headaches, and a great afternoon spent at the library.

November 23, 2010 0 Comments Short URL, , , Special Programming

Making a Flannelboard: “Seals on the Bus”

So, I made the “Seals on the Bus” flannelboard from Making Learning Fun and tried to photo-document my process so that I could theoretically teach others how to make the same flannelboard.

Obviously, an image intense entry, sorry slow browsers!

The “Seals” template had great instructions for the bus template, so I seriously just followed their directions.

I made two wheels, six windows, and cut a large piece of felt for the bus. (The pattern said to extend the middle of the bus 18″, but that was much too large for my flannelboard, so I only extended the bus 8″.) In the picture you can still see that the bus template is taped onto the yellow felt, which is how I know where to cut without marking the felt.

Next up, the characters:

What I did here was separate the characters into different levels of details. For the left group (snake, monkey, seal, and goose), I have a base layer and maybe one or two details. For the right group (bunny, sheep, skunk), there will be a lot of layering/detailing. And for the top group (tiger, girl, boy), there will again be a lot of layering/detailing, but a different kind. I’ll try to break down each group and my thoughts as I go.

For me, the easiest way to make a flannelboard character is to literally copy the template. I follow the following steps:

1. Print out the template and cut it out.
2. Tape the template to the felt.
3. Cut out the main piece.
4. Cut out the details from the template; largest to smallest!
5. Tape the detail templates to the felt and cut.
6. Glue layers/decorations.
7. Add eyes and paint.

So, for the seal, I just cut out the main piece first. Then, I cut out his flipper, and taped that to a felt scrap to make a felt flipper. To put together the seal, I put the template (with the flipper missing) on top of the felt seal, added a drop of Tacky Glue and placed the felt flipper where it belonged. Pretty simple!

And for the monkey, I cut out a large body piece using the whole template. Then, I cut off his head and cut a head out of brown felt. Then, I cut the template again and got a peach colored snout for the monkey. Finally, I cut off his tail and made a longer felt tail to attach to the back of the piece for some dimension.

Always start cutting out the biggest piece first and trim your template down from there. Don’t make the smallest pieces first, or you’ll wind up printing out multiple templates.

Now, for the second grouping, I’m going to use the bunny as my example.

Okay, so this picture gives you an idea on how I actually make the different pieces. Sometimes I use tape on the back of a template to adhere the template to the felt. Sometimes, I use a piece of tape over the template directly on the felt.

It also shows how I have a main piece that I add layers to. The front layers (the closer foot and arm) will be glued on top of the bunny while the back layers (the farther foot and arm) will be glued to the back of the bunny. If you’re gluing to the back of a piece, always make sure to leave some extra felt attached to the shape so that you can glue it without gluing anything together by the edges. (You can see in the picture the back arm has an extra bit of brown felt sticking past the template for gluing!)

For the third grouping, the people — start with the base/skin color and cut the whole template out. (Orange for tiger, peach for people.) Then, simply add the clothing in layers and trim the base/skin color so that it doesn’t show around the clothing. I didn’t take pictures of this because a) I was on the desk after-school while making this and b) it’s pretty straightforward.

But a finished product photo of all three: tiger, girl, boy:

Now, for painting and wiggly eye gluing.

So, painting. I just use a smidge of tempura paint. And yes, that IS a paper clip in the paint! It is way easier than using a brush (which is hard to control for small, concentrated areas like eyes) and I kind of hook my finger into the curve of the paper clip which helps me keep a steady hand.

A giant felt painting tip — don’t drag anything across the felt! You will actually pick up felt fibers which can and will smear your paint job. When I paint, I just get a little of the tip of paper clip and poke the felt. (So, for an eye one poke will do, but for the tiger’s stripes, I had to poke it several times to get the shape I wanted.)

Painting is the most stressful part for me, and I have had to remake a piece because I dribbled paint where I didn’t want it. (On the other hand, I’m a perfectionist and maybe the paint dribble wouldn’t have bothered you!)

Lastly, I attached wiggly eyes to some of the pieces. (Always for human characters, and occasionally for animal characters — the like the skunk, which I couldn’t paint black eyes on a black body.)


(I’d be wary too, little girl, with a skunk so close!)

Anyway, I hope this long and drawn-out post has given you some insight/ideas on how to make your own flannelboards. If you have questions, you can always feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to try and find an answer/give advice!

I leave you with a final look at the newest flannelboard at my library:

November 19, 2010 30 Comments Short URLHow To

Fall! (Again.)

Last week, I had my first ever afternoon storytime! After some of my storytime kids started preschool during morning storytime, I scheduled a once monthly afternoon storytime for them. This worked really well, and I have a waitlist going for registration slots! Luckily, the weather cooperated with me and warmed up so that our fall theme was still appropriate!

I started off with “Mouse’s First Fall” by Lauren Thompson.

The kids were very excited towards the end of the book, where the reader is asked to help Mouse find his friend, Minka. (She’s hiding in the leaves.) I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — I really like using the Mouse books as a primer about seasons for storytime. The titles are bright, colorful, and with familiar characters (yes, some of the kids have started recognizing Mouse!).

Next up, “It’s Pumpkin Time!” by Zoe Hall.

This one almost didn’t make the cut when I realized that the book ended with Halloween (which is obviously over with, Ms. Katie!), but I read it anyways and it gave the kids a chance to share who/what they dressed up as. And we had a LOT of Disney princesses and Spidermans — not that that surprised me, haha!

Modified my favorite fall flannelboard by changing “Halloween” to “fall.”

Flannelboard: “Five Little Pumpkins”
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “My, it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “It’s all fall fun!”
Then oooooh went the wind, and out went the lights!
And the five little pumpkins rolled clear out of sight.

And then, I went with an action rhyme from earlier this season:

Action Rhyme: “Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Once you were a seed so small, (pinch fingers together)
Now you are a great big ball! (make a big circle)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground, (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)

And then, I read “Who Loves the Fall?” by Bob Raczka.

Ack, another book that mentions Halloween. Fortunately for this one, we had already talked about what they had dressed up as, so we didn’t need to mention it again. Again, the butterfly vertical spread was a favorite. The kids were sitting so still for this one, that I just went ahead with “Leaf Jumpers” by Carole Gerber.

This book is so much fun to read, and the kids love hearing about jumping in leaf piles. After the second kid mentioned that he had jumped in the leaves recently, I asked for a show of hands of those that had to avoid another seventeen stories. All of their hands were raised. And they were rambunctious after this book, so I quietly sang to them the following, while they used their hands to make some falling motions:

Song: “The Leaves Are Falling Down” (Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”)
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down

Followed by another activity:

Fingerplay: “Way Up High in the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arms up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up two fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples… (make a downward motion)
And mmm, they were good! (smile and rub stomach)

Before reading my favorite seasons book of all time: “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.

Rather than emphatically stating my love with this book — I will just say that I recently purchased the ALA “Old Bear” poster for my office, and that it makes me happy every time I look at it.

Our craft was another one that I stole from Sarah that she made last fall, leaf wreaths!

My teen volunteers cut the paper plates, tied the ribbon, and cut out the leaves — all my storytime kids did was the leaf gluing, and I swear, they would glue all day long if I asked them to. I think it might be the purple glue we use. It makes everything much better.

November 17, 2010 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Storytime Break

I am currently on a storytime break until December! I do have two 3-7 year-olds programs this month, so you’ll see those posts after I do the programs. Also, I’m working on backdating my storytimes from before I started the blog, and also better organizing my songs, rhymes, and flannelboards.

I also have a planned post all about the fall flannelboards I made and didn’t make any posts about (since that’s what I’m getting the most search hits for), and also a step-by-step look at how I go about making my flannelboards.

But while I’m not posting…I’ll leave you with a picture of my brand-new storytime closet. When our library flooded over the summer, we had to re-do our entire programming area, and it was decided that we needed a closet just for storytime. And with our Target Early Literacy Grant, we were also able to purchase materials to fill it up. I am so excited about it!

And of our new steel bookcase, with our storytime collection of books:

November 12, 2010 1 Comment Short URLAnnouncements

Halloween Storytime!

My co-worker and I visited one of the local preschools [ages 3-5] on the 28th and 29th and each did three Halloween storytimes! Together, we found books, a flannel, a puppet, and some action rhymes/songs and went out to do our thing!

For each of my three storytimes, I started off with “Where’s My Mummy?” by Carolyn Crimi.

This was universally a great way to start off storytime. A longer story, but with its repetitive nature, the kids were easily engaged in what I was reading. And I apparently have a pretty good Drac voice, which the kids LOVED.

Next up, “Pumpkin Eye” by Denise Fleming.

My first group didn’t dig this one, but my next two groups did! They had a great time guessing why all these spooky creatures were on the street, and I was very pleased that it took us until the end of the book to hear the first few choruses of “It’s Halloween, Miss Katie!”

An easy segue from pumpkin book to pumpkin flannelboard.

“Five Little Pumpkins”
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “My, it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “I don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “It’s all Halloween fun!”
Then oooooh went the wind, and out went the lights!
And the five little pumpkins rolled clear out of sight.

And then, into an action rhyme!

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin”
Pumpkin, pumpkin, big and round, (Make big circle with hands)
Sitting on the cold, hard ground. (Touch the ground)
Soon I’ll pick you off the vine, (Pretend to pick a pumpkin)
Give you a name, and make you mine (Hug pumpkin tightly)
Carve a face for all to see, (Point to face)
Add a candle for Halloween glee! (Clap your hands)

And I absolutely mixed this “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” up with the one that I did for Fall Storytime in my second group. Luckily, no one cared. (And then never notice, so yay!)

Our planned book of “Mouse’s First Halloween” by Lauren Thompson was a no-go because the kids apparently knew the book by heart, as my co-worker found out. So, I grabbed “Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin” by Mary Serfozo off the reshelf cart on my way to storytime.

This was a great choice — I really enjoyed this one, and the kids really enjoyed guessing why Peter was getting a pumpkin! I followed this winner up with a song:

Song & Puppet: “Flutter, Flutter Little Bat”
Flutter, flutter little bat
How I wonder where you’re at
Up above the midnight sky
Peeking down with yellow eyes
Flutter, flutter little bat
How I wonder where you’re at

I’m not sure where my co-worker got this one, but it was obviously written by someone in the Midwest, given the preposition at the end! Recently, we just purchased tons of puppets using our Target Early Literacy Reading grant, and we got the Folkmanis bat finger puppet. It’s such a great puppet — I am in LOVE with it!

Finally, the book to end all storytimes forever more: “If You’re a Monster and You Know It” by Ed & Rebecca Emberley.

Yep, I again sang, action rhymed, and told this book. The kids could not get enough of it! Truly, this is probably my favorite new book of the year. A quick action rhyme before saying goodbye, to hopefully settle them down for their teachers!

Action Rhyme: “Monster, Monster”
Monster, monster, turn around
Monster, monster, touch the ground
Monster, monster, reach up high
Monster, monster, touch the sky
Monster, monster, touch your nose
Monster, monster, grab your toes
Monster, monster, touch your knees
Monster, monster, sit down please

Followed by the return of Batty, to let everyone give a kiss or a pat before I left.

Well, these storytimes were energetic and fun and scary for me! My first outreach storytimes! Well, they didn’t scar me too bad, I’ve already emailed the preschool asking when we can be back.

November 10, 2010 25 Comments Short URLOutreach Storytime