Category: Family Storytime

Road Work Ahead!

This was a special program that I did during the Summer of 2013 for “Dig Into Reading!” Families with kids ages 3-7 were invited to spend an afternoon celebrating all things construction!

The Plan

Books

roadworkahead

Construction Countdown by K.C. Olson
The Construction Crew by Lynn Meltzer
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Red Crane, Red Crane, What Do You See?”

Action Rhyme: “Cranes”
Cranes reach up,
Cranes reach down,
Cranes reach out,
And all around.
Credit: Pre-K Fun

Fingerplay: “Five Little Nails”
Five little nails, standing straight and steady
Here I come with my hammer ready!
Bam, bam, bam! That nail goes down.
Now there’s just four nails to pound.
(count down)
Credit: Mel’s Desk

Games

“Foreman Says”
You really can never go wrong with a special version of Simon Says. I gave the kids construction hats that I bought for the program to wear while we played. I put mine down at one point and wound up sitting on it, smashing it. I’ve never seen preschoolers erupt in such laughter.

“Dump Truck Relay”
The website linked above can give you full instructions, but basically I had two dump truck with packing peanuts that I had painted to look like rocks and two buckets. I divided the kids up into two teams and they raced to get their rocks from the trucks to the buckets. They had great fun with this one, even if I didn’t really “pronounce” a winner.

“Treasure Excavation”
Very simple way to hand out prizes. I had a bin full of shredded paper and let the kids dig using sandbox shovels for their ring pops. I figured that was as close to diamonds as I was gonna be able to afford!

Craft

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I got this craft from Kids Craft Weekly. I let the kids do their own cutting and I had plenty of parents around to help the youngest ones out. I did keep the hole punchers at a single table with the brads so that teen volunteers could help with the construction aspect.

How It Went

Did I mention the part where I sat on my hat? Basically, not even ring pops could compare with how awesome that moment was! Their favorite book was probably “Tip Tip Dig Dig” and they really liked that I used the same illustrations to make the flannelboard. The craft was definitely doable for the kids, but I had a few that struggled to use the scissors, which makes me all the more determined to give them more opportunities when possible!

March 12, 2014 6 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Dinosaurs!

The Plan

Books

dinossummer14

Dini Dinosaur by Karen Beamont
Dinosaur Vs. the Library by Bob Shea
Inside-Outside Dinosaurs by Roxie Munro
Shape by Shape by Suse MacDonald

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Ten Little Dinosaurs”

Action Rhyme: “Dinosaur, Dinosaur”
Dinosaur, dinosaur, turn around
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch the ground
Dinosaur, dinosaur, reach up high
Dinosaur, dinosaur, wink one eye
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch your nose
Dinosaur, dinosaur, touch your toes
Dinosaur, dinosaur, slap your knees
Dinosaur, dinosaur, sit down please
Credit: Modified from Childhood

Action Rhyme: Dinosaurs”
Spread your arms, way out wide
Fly like Pteranodon, soar and glide
Bend to the floor, head down low
Move like Stegosaurus, long ago
Reach up tall, try to be
As tall as Apatosaurus eating on a tree
Using your claws, grumble and growl
Just like Tyrannosaurus on the prowl
Credit: Children Museum of New Hampshire

Craft

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I bought Crayola model magic in a classroom pack and let the kids create their own dinosaurs. I still think mine looks more like a cat than a dinosaur, but that’s life. The kids had a great time and they really enjoyed creating one dinosaur to mash it up to create another.

How It Went

Thursday morning
Dinosaur themed storytimes are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. I had a lot of success this time with “Dini Dinosaur”. But…Bob Shea always steals the show when it comes to dinosaur books. This group was super settled today and had a lot of parent involvement which was good because I had nearly thirty kids there!

Friday morning

My Friday morning group is always so pumped for storytime! I love how excited they are about reading. Again, Bob Shea stole the show but this group also loved “Inside Outside Dinosaurs.” And I love reading a book like that because of the great vocabulary that the kids get with the dinosaur names.

March 10, 2014 8 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Pajama Storytime (August)

pajamastorytime
 
After the library stopped hosting “Afternoon Storytime” and a trial program of “Starry Night Stories”, I made the decision to start a monthly “Pajama Storytime” session at the library. I wanted to give families the chance to enjoy hearing stories together — and especially wanted to try again to host an evening program. Our suggested age range is ages 0 to 7 and their families, which means I sometimes get a few older siblings. The goal in this program is simple: foster a love of reading and particularly of reading together as a family!

The Plan

Books

pajamastorytime-august

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by
Go to Bed, Monster by Natasha Wing
Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
Tiger Can’t Sleep by S.J. Fore

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Four Little Stars”

Rhyme Wheel: “Baa Baa Black Sheep”

Action Rhyme: “Big Yellow Moon”
Big yellow moon shines so bright, (circle overhead)
Glides across the starry night (arms left to right)
Looks down at me (hand shades eyes)
Asleep in bed, (head on hands)
Whispers, “Good night sleepyhead.” (shh)
Big yellow moon, your turn is done (move arms down)
Here comes Mr. Morning Sun (circle overhead)
I wake up. (arms stretch out)
You go to bed. (head on hands)
“Sleep well, Moon, you sleepyhead.” (shh)
Credit: King County Library System

Rhyme Card

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Since we don’t do a craft at Pajama Storytime, I decided to create a little something for my families to take home and I came up with the idea of rhyme cards on a laminated ring. Each month will have a different rhyme that we do at storytime and then send parents home with the words. This is a picture of the rhyme cards after quite a few months. This first month, I did Baa Baa Black Sheep.

How It Went

The absolute, hands-down favorite book was “Tiger Can’t Sleep.” The kids thought it was hysterical that Tiger was having such difficultly sleeping. This session was a good deal of older kids (6s and 7s), so they really appreciated the humor. All in all, it was a good launch to the program!

March 5, 2014 2 Comments Short URLFamily Storytime

Bugs!

The Plan

Books

bugssummer14

The Ant and the Grasshopper by Ed and Rebecca Emberley
Bugs By the Numbers by Sharon Werner
Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek
I Love Bugs by Emma Dodd

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Five Hungry Ants”
Five hungry ants, marching in a line,
Came upon a picnicwhere they could dine.
They marched into the salad,they marched into the cake,
They marched into the pepper….uh oh, that was a mistake!
AHHHH-CHOOO!
(count down)
Credit: Miss Mary Liberry

Flannelboard: “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”

Action Rhyme w/ Puppet: “Flutter, Flutter Butterfly”
Flutter, flutter butterfly
Floating in the summer sky
Floating by for all to see
Floating by so merrily
Flutter, flutter butterfly
Floating in the summer sky
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

Action Song: “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/tie shoe; Three/climb a tree)
Credit: Childhood

Craft

For the first summer reading session, I went with a craft where I could easily have extras available in case we got swamped with registrations: scratch art! This is what my demonstration art looked like. I scratched some simple lines for the kids and showed them how you could write as well. I had a lot of preschoolers practicing their letters while my smaller kiddos worked on making the colors come out.

How It Went

Thursday morning

The kids absolutely loved “Five Hungry Ants” on the flannelboard. (Both groups did, but the Thursday morning kids were especially excited by the flannels.) The biggest book success of the day was “Bugs By the Numbers.” The kids loved the big fold-out pages and the different kinds of bugs. I chose to only read the main fact on each page, making it a great storytime read instead of being too long.
Bugs!
Friday morning

This group loved “The Ant and the Grasshopper” and “Butterfly, Butterfly.” But their absolute favorite was “The Ants Go Marching.” They got really into playing around with me and acting out the song. I took it to five ants since they were having such a good time, though I was pretty darn tired by the end of it!

March 4, 2014 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Flannel Friday: Five Little Ducks

Another flannelboard from the archives! I think this was my second or third flannelboard.

I use this with the song “Five Little Ducks!”

Song: “Five Little Ducks”
Five little ducks went out to play, over the hill and far away
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack”
And only four little ducks came back
(count down until)
Sad mother duck went out one day, over the hill and far away
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack”
And all of her five little ducks came back

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Meg will be hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

February 7, 2014 11 Comments Short URLFamily Storytime

Circus!

The Plan

Books

circus

Circus by Lois Ehlert
Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer
Say Hola to Spanish at the Circus by Susan Middleton Elya
A Small Surprise by Louise Yates

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Five Little Kernels”
Five little kernels sizzling in the pot
All of a sudden, one went POP! (count down)

Flannelboard: “One Elephant Went Out to Play”
One elephant went out to play
Upon a spider’s web one day
She had such enormous fun
That she called another elephant to come (HEY ELEPHANT)

Action Rhyme: “Five Little Clowns”
Five little clowns all in a row (hold up five fingers)i
Wearing funny hats (tap head)
And polka dotted bows (fix pretend bow tie)
One little clown hopped away (hop)
Back to the circus to laugh and play (wave goodbye)
(Four little clowns, one twirled away; three little clowns, one tumbled away; two little clowns, one wiggled away; one little clown, he tiptoed away)
Credit: Perry Public Library

Action Song: “Funny Clowns”
Funny clowns, funny clowns,
Jump around, jump around
Sometimes making faces
Sometimes running races
Funny clowns, funny clowns
Funny clowns, funny clowns
Spin around, spin around
Sometimes with a big nose,
Sometimes with big toes
Funny clowns, funny clowns
Credit: Youth Literature

Craft

This craft kit came from Oriental Trading. It is smaller than it appears in the pictures! The kids enjoyed getting their fingers dirty and doing some fingerprint stamping. I did buy a few additional stamp pads since the craft kit Circus!only contains one small stamp pad per dozen. But we can use those for other projects, too!

How It Went

This was my last regular storytime for the fall session. Attendance has really dropped this year as the weather has gotten colder, so I made the decision to not do a winter session for this year. So, this storytime was bittersweet because I had several moms who would have new babies by the time we started up again! Nevertheless, the kids really enjoyed the theme and it was good to do it in November (when Chicagoland gets the circus). Their favorite book was “Olivia Saves the Circus,” but I also got a lot of compliments about reading “Say Hola to Spanish at the Circus!”

January 22, 2014 1 Comment Short URL, Family Storytime

Explore the World: Colors

In response to the STE(A)M movement (and with great thanks to such great inspiration & encouragement from colleagues: Amy, Abby, and Kendra), this past fall I started a STEM storytime series at the library. This is primarily aimed at preschoolers and their families, registration open to ages 3-7 in our library.

exploretheworld

Books & Group Activities

Opening Activity
Building blocks from Kendra.

Books

colorscience

Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin

I started with “Dog’s Colorful Day” since I knew that would be a big hit and that the kids would have a lot of fun identifying the colors as we went. Between books, I pulled out my “Mouse Paint” flannelboard and introduced the concept of blending primary colors to make secondary colors. And then I let “Monsters Love Colors” nail that point home. (It was also a great movement as we danced and wiggled to mix our colors.)

And then it was time for the station activities!

Station Activities


Color Mixing Station
This came from a long ago Flannel Friday from Cate! I used it in a rainbow program several years ago, and will never forget the wonder of the kids’ faces when they opened their hands to reveal a brand new color. I bought play dough to use, with the intention of letting the kids take it home afterwards. You can imagine their excitement at keeping their new colored play dough.

Flashlights and Rainbows
I got this fabulous idea from Amy’s Color Science program. We had some flashlights in our miscellaneous bin from another program, and I took some of our blank CD-Rs for the kids to explore.


Rainbow Milk Experiment
I found a link to this video when looking for color science experiments and was immediately sold on doing it with the milks. We already had food coloring at the library, but I did pick up a gallon of milk and dish soap. The gallon was more than enough to get me through the entire program, even resetting the experiment for each kid. This was by far the “GREATEST. STATION. EVER.” in their opinion. I heard some wonderful observations about colors — my favorite was “It’s turning brown. Like when you mix all the paint. All together, it makes brown!”

Tissue Paper Art
And finally, we did tissue paper art. I had all the materials out to do tissue paper painting, but the kids took the art in a different directions — fine by me! They wound up layering the tissue paper squares to make new colors on their paper. Still a great exercise in being creative and increasing conversations about color mixing!

Take-Home Activities

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I had a pretty awesome book display up at the table next to the door for the kids to take from.

I also handed out these take-home packets as they left. Inside, there’s a booklist, an activity, and a coloring page. (They love coloring pages!)

October’s theme was “Water Science!” and I’ll post about that in two weeks!

January 15, 2014 6 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Cake!

The Plan

Books

cake

Maisy Bakes a Cake by Lucy Cousins
Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton
The Red Hen by Rebecca & Ed Emberley
Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa

Extension Activities

Flannelboard: “Cake Numbers”
Credit: Anne’s Library Life

Flannelboard: “Down Around the Corner”
Down around the corner in the bakery shop
Were five yummy cupcakes with sprinkles on top
Along comes (puppet) with a dollar to pay
He/she buys a cupcake and takes it away
(continue with four, three, two, and one)
Credit: Mel’s Desk (for the original rhyme) & Anne’s Library Life for using cupcakes instead of cookies!

Flannelboard: “Five Candles”
Five candles on a birthday cake
Five, and not one more
You may blow on candle out,
And that leaves four!
(There for all to see / three; Standing straight and true / two; Helping us have fun / one; We know its task is done / none)

Fingerplay: “Pat-a-Cake”
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Roll it and pat it and mark it with a “B”
And put it in the oven for baby and me!
Credit: Childhood

Craft

I went ahead and purchased these cupcake stamps from Oriental Trading for craft. Their pictures were awesome — full of color and tons of stamps. Miss Katie’s paper, on the other hand, has too much grown-up restraint. They had a good time with the stamps.

How It Went

Thursday morning
This was a wonderful storytime plan that translated SO WELL in actual storytime. The kids got a kick out of all the flannelboards, and they especially love that I’ve started (more and more) to let them up to the board. Their favorite book was definitely “The Little Red Hen.”

Friday morning
My Friday morning group totally related to George in “Oh, No George!” They were on pins and needles waiting to see if George was going to be good or bad. They also really liked blowing out the candles on the birthday cake flannelboard.

January 13, 2014 2 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Flannel Friday: Cakes!

I have two Flannel Fridays for you today, that I used last fall in “Cake” storytime!

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These adorable cupcakes come from Money Saving Mom and I originally found them on Pinterest. I did attach all of the sprinkles and toppings with glue, but I left the cupcake liners, frosting, and cupcakes unattached so the kids could play around with them after storytime.

I used “Down Around the Corner” as my rhyme, with a puppet twist:
Down around the corner in the bakery shop
Were five yummy cupcakes with sprinkles on top
Along comes (puppet) with a dollar to pay
He/she buys a cupcake and takes it away
(continue with four, three, two, and one)

Since I usually have more kids that cupcakes and my next flannelboard was participatory, I grabbed some puppets to “eat” the cupcakes. The kids LOVED this.

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This counting cake came from Anne’s Library Life.

I also used it as a mix-up flannel and had the kids, one at a time, come to sort and order the cake layers. Since I had more kids, I did this flannel multiple times.

The full write-up for “Cake” storytime will be on the blog on Monday!

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Anna will be hosting the round-up today! You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

January 10, 2014 10 Comments Short URLFamily Storytime

Flannel Friday: Complete Letter Puzzles

This is an update of a previous Flannel Friday post!

Quick re-cap:

1. I made these in Publisher using Microsoft Clip Art. That being said, I am not comfortable uploading the files because I don’t have permission to distribute Microsoft Clip Art. Also, since I made these at work using work’s Microsoft license, I am choosing to be ESPECIALLY careful about copyright.

2. I custom-made these based on the ABC storytimes I did. Some of the picture don’t necessarily translate without the storytime. (For example, the ballet shoes, which the kids realized represented dance since I read “Hilda Must Be Dancing” first.)

And now without further ado, the letters!!







    If you want to try and make these yourselves, here’s what I did:

  • Use WordArt to make the letter in Microsoft Publisher. I left it on the default font. The fill color was already set to white.
  • Find ClipArt and arrange it in the letter.
  • Print letter and cut around the clip art. I just made zig-zags and bubbly lines.
  • Laminate and cut around the pieces.
  • Attach sticky-back felt to the back of the pieces

And that’s that!

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Lisa will be hosting the first round-up of 2014 on Friday, January 3rd! (I’m just posting ridiculously early.) You can also check out our website, Pinterest, or Facebook!

December 17, 2013 42 Comments Short URLFamily Storytime

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