Virtual Storytime: Shapes

For information on how virtual storytimes work at my library, please visit this post.

Materials

Books

Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall*
Press Here by Herve Tullet
Walter’s Wonderful Web by Tim Hopgood*

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: Color Zoo*

Flannelboard: The Shape Story*

Prop Sticks: Where is Shape?*

Props: Song Cube

Planning

Shapes is an always popular, great theme to do and I thought it would work well virtually since I could have the kids draw shapes in the air or make simple shapes with their hands along with our materials — both great fine motor activities.

I definitely anchored this storytime with Tim Hopgood’s Walter’s Wonderful Web since it’s such a wonderful book about shapes, but also it’s a great social-emotional book about perseverance. I wanted the kids to hear a great message about trying again and again.

I also chose to use more visual-based props — like “Where is Shape?”, which is a take on Thumbkin with cardstock shapes on popsicle sticks — rather than the usual recorded music break that I had previously used at in-person storytimes.

How It Went

Some of the kids chose to participate by drawing shapes in the air/making them with their hands and some kids didn’t. It wasn’t a wholly successful adaptation, but I feel like those that wanted an additional way to connect with me and the materials enjoyed it.

I saw some great engagement during Color Zoo on the flannelboard — I asked the kids to either make animal noises or to move like the animal featured on the board. Some of the animals take a little longer to identify — ox and lion — so I did wind up giving clues since we weren’t in an environment where I could call attention to the kids giving the correct answer.

And lastly, My Heart is Like a Zoo gave me a great early literacy tip/extension activity to pass on to caregivers at the end of the book. I brought the book close to the camera and explained that the illustrations were made up of different sized hearts. Then, I suggested that caregivers continue that activity at home with either hearts or various cut-out shapes.

Another great storytime that I was quiet pleased with.