storytime katie

For an overview of the Book Bundles and Parenting Packs early literacy kits, please visit the original post. The cost listed is the list price of each item, regardless of whether or not we got it on sale/discount. The activity sheets amount was calculated by cost of binder clip + lamination sheets.

Itemized List

• Backpack ($7.39) — 4Imprint
• Kitten Red Yellow Blue by Peter Catalanotto ($17.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Whose Gloves Are These? by Laura Purdie Salas ($25.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Elmo’s World: People In Your Neighborhood ($12.99) — Amazon
• Learning Journey: Who I Am? Puzzles ($12.99) — Amazon
• Melissa & Doug Town Blocks ($12.99) — Amazon
• Mesh Bag ($3.99) — The Container Store
• Vinyl Bag ($2.99) — The Container Store
• Activity Sheets ($2.55) — created in-house

Total: $116.87

The two books that I chose Kitten Red Yellow Blue and Whose Gloves Are These? both feature a variety of jobs and a variety of people doing them. I love the guessing game aspect of Whose Gloves Are These? which really engages readers. And Kitten Red Yellow Blue has a great storyline for kids to follow that doesn’t revolve around just one job. (So many of the community helper books focus on just firefighters or just police officers.

I really wanted to give kids a chance to see real people doing community helper jobs. When most of the books were outdated, I decided to go with a DVD. Elmo is a favorite here and we actually didn’t own this DVD in our collection. So this accomplished my goal and also added a new material to the collection.

These puzzles include a ton of options that are not community helpers (like a wizard) and I just removed those from the kit before circulating. This has been popular because it has a “right” way to do the puzzle, but it can also be used to tell a story about a firefighter-doctor-pilot.

Oh, Town Blocks. I had a set similar to this and it was one of my most beloved toy sets. I think that kids never get tired of playing with blocks and this is a great set to talk about community helpers. It has a lot of cars and building and road signs. It’s great. I did remove some of the blocks from the set and I’ve got them in reserve in case a police car goes missing at some point.

It’s the beginning of May and the Community Helpers Book Bundle has gone out 11 times since launching at the end of November! This Bundle was renewed three times in a row by the same family because they “couldn’t give it up”! I’ve really been enjoying all the feedback that our families have been providing us with!

For an overview of the Book Bundles and Parenting Packs early literacy kits, please visit the original post. The cost listed is the list price of each item, regardless of whether or not we got it on sale/discount. The activity sheets amount was calculated by cost of binder clip + lamination sheets.

Itemized List

• Backpack ($7.39) — 4Imprint
• Colors by DK Publishing ($6.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin ($15.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh ($16.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Lakeshore Learning: Colorpillar Magnetic Maze ($19.99) — Lakeshore Learning
• Learning Resources: Color Mixing Lenses ($7.99) — Learning Resources
• Vinyl Bag ($2.99) — The Container Store
• Activity Sheets ($2.55) — created in-house

Total: $80.88

For the book selection here, I went with a board book with bold colors (Colors), a new favorite of mine and many patrons (Monster Love Colors!), and a classic that has fallen out of major circulation here (Mouse Paint). This perfect mixture (haha! it’s a color pun!) really feels balanced to me and I’m happy to reintroduce an old favorite to the patrons again.

The Colorpillar maze is one of the harder manipulatives to play with and I have heard some feedback that it isn’t easy for a two-year-old. That being said, I’m okay with having a project that they can grow into in the Bundle. I’ve watched a preschooler concentrate on this toy for about an hour in the library and I think it’s perfect for that age group. I definitely recommend using this puzzle in the car because the pieces won’t go everywhere.

To introduce a little bit of science, I was super excited to include the Color Mixing Lenses. This is a great set to introduce “proof” that primary colors mixed together make secondary. I have noticed that it doesn’t work as well under fluorescents, but I encourage my families to try it in natural light on the activity guide.

It’s the beginning of May and the Colors Book Bundle has gone out 14 times since launching at the end of November! It is our most popular Bundle if you’re looking at circulation numbers alone.

For an overview of the Book Bundles and Parenting Packs early literacy kits, please visit the original post. The cost listed is the list price of each item, regardless of whether or not we got it on sale/discount. The activity sheets amount was calculated by cost of binder clip + lamination sheets.

Itemized List

• Backpack ($7.39) — 4Imprint
• Brown Bear Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. ($8.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell ($11.95) — Baker & Taylor
• Finger Puppets ($15.99) — Amazon
• Lakeshore Learning: Picture-Word Rubbing Plates ($12.99) — Lakeshore Learning
• Melissa & Doug Animal Puzzle Book ($16.99) — Amazon
• Vinyl Bags (2) ($5.98) — The Container Store
• Activity Sheets ($2.55) — created in-house

Total: $82.83

Both of my animal books are classics. And while we have a plethora of copies of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, we don’t own Dear Zoo in the collection because of the flaps/pop-ups. I was really excited to put it in a kit since it won’t be subjected to constant use in our front-facing shelves. I chose a book that covers mostly domestic/forest animals and a book that does jungle/zoo animals for variety.

We had a TON of puppets available in our previous kits. Like every single kit had puppets. So I knew that I needed to have puppets in one of my kits. I think animals made the most sense for me and I hope families are making up silly songs and talking lots with these manipulatives.

My favorite idea for working on write skills! We don’t provide crayons and paper, but I know these are being used with the amount of crayon wiping our volunteers have had to do on the plates themselves. I also really like that each plate also has the name of the animal printed on it which is great for print awareness.

One of the biggest brand names that I trust in the early childhood toy field is Melissa and Doug. This puzzle book is organized by where the animals live and I thought that was such a great way to do an animal book. I also like that the book is magnetic puzzle so it doesn’t involve lots of loose pieces in the Bundle. (Now, I wasn’t always able to avoid the loose pieces but I sure tried when I could!)

It’s the beginning of May and the Animals Book Bundle has gone out 13 times since launching at the end of November! With our two week circulation, that means it goes right back out the minute it hits the shelves — this is one of the Bundles that patrons often request for holds as well.