Frustrated with preparing for crafts in storytime? Hopefully this ALSC blog post will help you by giving you a few tips and tricks to make it easier on your staff!
Transportation!
I am changing up how I do my storytime summaries for this summer. As of right now, I am repeating this storytime two to three times a week. Rather than bore y’all with the details of each individual session, I’m going to write down the plan, and then let you know how it went with each group.
The Plan
Books
Boats by Patricia Hubbell
Construction Countdown by K.C. Olson
Freight Train by Donald Crews
I Love Trucks! by Philemon Sturges
Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia
Extension Activities
Action Rhyme: “The Airplane”
The airplane has great big wins (arms outstretched)
Its propeller spins around and sings (spin one arm)
The airplane goes up (lift arms)
The airplane does down (lower arms)
The airplane flies high (arms outstretched, spin)
Over the town! (fly around)
Credit: Preschool Rainbow
Song: “Down By the Station”
Down the station
Early in the morning
See the little pufferbellies
All in a row
See the station master
Turn his little handle
Puff, puff, toot, toot!
Off we go!
Credit: Childhood
Action Rhyme: “Driving Round In My Car”
Driving round in my little red car
Driving round in my little red car
Driving round in my little red car
Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom
(Go through different colors)
Credit: Childhood
Action Rhyme: “Hurry, Hurry Drive the Fire Truck”
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck
Hurry, hurry, drive the fire truck
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding
(More: turn the corner, climb the ladder, spray the water, back to the station)
Credit: Childhood
Flannelboard: Seals on the Bus
Craft
How It Went
Thursday morning
My regular group of storytime kids had a great time during this storytime theme. I still have a majority of little boys instead of little girls, and they LOVE anything having to do with wheels or things that go. The book that I thought went the best in this group was “I Love Trucks.” A lot of them recognized it from truck storytime a few weeks back and they were excited to see it again!
Friday morning
My daycare group has changed for the summer. I only have about half of the kids (10-15) from my school year group, but I also have some home daycares stopping by. I had several other books pulled in case of a massive change in age range, but I wound up following pretty much the exact same routine as my regular storytime. My daycare kids love participation stories, so the best book for them was “Construction Countdown.”
Our airplane craft was hugely successful and resulting in tons of kids running around the room, zooming with their planes around.
Flannel Friday: 7/8 Round-Up
Welcome to the Flannel Friday round-up for this week! It’s another wonderful selection of flannelboards and flannelboard ideas for everyone to borrow/steal and make their own! And now, on to the participants:
Flannel: Colour Fish
from Andrea at Rovingfiddlehead Kidlit
Flannel: Lunch by Denise Fleming
from Anne at So Tomorrow
Flannel: Ouch!
from Cate at Storytiming
Flannel: Three Melting Popsicles
from Katie at Storytime Secrets
Flannel: Matching Mittens
from Mary at Miss Mary Liberry
Flannel: Blue Is the Sky
from Melissa at Mel’s Desk
Flannel: Campfire Pokey
from Mollie at What Happens In Storytime
Flannel: Little Mouse, Little Mouse
from Moxie at Storytimes With Moxie
Flannel (Folder Story): Scat the Cat
from Nicole at Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime
Flannel: Little Boy Blue
From Sarah at Read Rabbit Read
Flannel: Sam’s Sandwich
from Sharon at Rain Makes Applesauce
Flannel: Cat’s Midsummer Jamboree
from Tracey at 1234 More Storytimes
And I posted my version of “The Three Little Kittens” here.
If I missed you this week, leave a comment on this entry or tweet me with your link. Next week, I believe that Andrea is hosting Flannel Friday, and as always you can look up all past Flannel Fridays at Anne’s blog, So Tomorrow.
Flannel Friday: Three Little Kittens
[Check back later for the round-up because I’m hosting this week!]
I have no idea where this set came from — it was here when I started working at the library, but somehow, we lost two of the kittens. I wound up remaking it from the original (and the cat clip-art from DLTK’s farm pack) because nothing matched. It drove me CRAZY. So, I do not have a pattern for this one, but it was fairly easy to make (and would probably be SUPER easy to find some clip art)!
Obviously, this uses the traditional rhyme:
Three little kittens,
They lost their mittens,
And they began to cry,
Oh, mother dear,
We sadly fear
Our mittens we have lost.
What! Lost your mittens,
You naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
You shall have no pie.
The three little kittens,
They found their mittens,
And they began to cry,
Oh, mother dear,
See here, see here,
Our mittens we have found.
What! Found your mittens,
You darling kittens!
Then you shall have some pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
You shall have some pie.
(I only go to the second verse; I know there are more — you could make the mittens double sided so that they could get soiled and then clean all over again!)
Summer!
Afternoon storytime update! I did a summer theme with my 3-7 year-olds about three weeks ago at this point! (Between power outages and ALA’s Annual Conference, I took a much needed blog break!)
Started off storytime with “Mouse’s First Summer” by Lauren Thompson.
I swear, every single seasonal storytime that I do involves a “Mouse’s First” book. I absolutely plan on using this series to prime my crowd. Most of the kids know the names of seasons and that the weather changes, but this series lets them get some concrete images to associate with the season!
Afterwards, I led them in a cheerful rendition of “Mr. Sun.” I used this song as my opening song last summer session, and I was pleased that some of my regulars launched right into it with me!
Then, I read “It’s Vacation Time” by Lerryn Korda.
This was a book that inspired me to do a vacation storytime! However, I could not find enough material to do a successful storytime. So, I put this one into my summer storytime instead. The book ends with the group taking a vacation at home in their backyard.
Since the biggest problem in “It’s Vacation Time” is when the group forgets to pack their boat, this next song was a great fit right after:
Action Song: “Splashin’ Up and Down” (bounce up and down)
Splashin’ up and down in my little red rowboat
Splashin’ up and down in my little red rowboat
Splashin’ up and down in my little red rowboat
Won’t you be my darling?
(Additional Verses: lookin’ out to sea (shade eyes); wavin’ to a whale (wave), don’t stand up or you might tip over (lean to right or left)
Credit: Mel’s Desk
And then I got to use my new “Summer Shapes” flannelboard.
My next book was “Playground Day” by Jennifer Merz.
This was a great book for the crowd that I had at storytime. They were overjoyed to guess which animal was coming next. A lot of the kids figured out the trick (there’s a small animal hidden on each page as a clue to the next page) and said the animal’s name before I prompted them.
Before launching into my next song, we talked about different places that we went in the summertime (library, park) and it wasn’t long before someone called out pool, which took me straight to our flannelboard song:
Flannelboard Song: “If You’re Going” (Tune: If You’re Happy)
If you’re going to the pool, wear your suit,
If you’re going to the pool, wear your suit,
If you’re going to the pool, then a suit will keep you cool
If you’re going to the pool, wear your suit.
(Additional verses: hat, flip flops, sunglasses)
Credit: Mel’s Desk
This was a big hit. Some of my girls kept wanting to do the “shorts” verse because I had a picture of swim trunks up next to their swimsuit. That led me to an unexpected conversation about how boys and girls wear different clothes to swim in. My parents were cracking up in the background. “But why, Miss Katie? Why don’t boys wear bikinis?”
Going away from the bikini conversation, I asked the kids where else they could swim and thankfully a child shouted out about the ocean. Which led us to reading “Beach Day” by Karen Roosa.
I used this one last summer during beach storytime, and I didn’t re-read the book. One of the pages had been ripped out since the last time I did storytime. Sad face! I improvised, but it taught me a valuable lesson — always, always pre-read even if you know the story! I re-used this rhyme from last year, which was great after a beach book.
Action Rhyme: “Swimming”
Swimming in the water cool and bright (pretend to swim)
I kick my feet with all y might (kick feet)
And when I’m tired I turn and float (spin and hold arms out)
Pretending that I’m a boat! (rock hands)
I like to hold my breath and dive (take a breath and bend down)
I swim beneath the water and count to five (count to five)
Wow! What a dive!
Credit: Hummingbird Educational Resources
And then, I brought out “Jump” by Scott Fischer.
I chose “Jump” as my last book because it ends with a splash! It’s just a really fun animal book that was a great cap to the storytime. Then, for our craft we made a summer picture frame.
This was an Oriental Trading purchase and it was pretty successful. I wound up using Glue Dots for this project, and really, REALLY wish everything came self-stick these days!
Flannel Friday: Help This Pigeon!
[Edited: Ultimately, I used pipe cleaners for the legs and puffy paint for the lettering. And I’ve changed the picture, but have left the text as it originally was.]
I am a huge GIANT fan of Mo Willems. I love every single one of his books, but mostly, I must pledge my undying love for the pigeon books! Obviously if you love a book that much, you eventually want to make a flannelboard out of it. (Templates do not exist. I think I used a coloring page as my guidelines.)
So, I had this great idea to make two pigeons — one calm and one melting-down — and then however many times the audience has an opportunity to say “no!” to this pigeon, to make a bubble with the word “NO!” on it. Then, I could pass out the bubbles and this flannel could become participatory.
Then, I hit a minor roadblock. I tried felt for the pigeon’s feet and I tried ribbon and neither looked right. I like the idea of pipe cleaners, but haven’t actually tried it.
And then, I absolutely do NOT want to individually letter all the word bubbles. I suppose I could just scrap the ones I made out of felt and print out bubbles, laminate, and use sticky back felt.
#Flannelfriday friends, any suggestions?
Flannel Friday: Summer Shapes
This week, I did a flannel from Melissa at Mel’s Desk! She did this super cute shape game and I repeated it with my 3-7 year old storytime group.
To start, I had all the shapes turned over, so that they were just shapes. (The kite string and popsicle stick just got tucked under their pieces.) Then, I asked the kids what they thought the shapes could be if they were summer items. My kids guessed the sun, the ice cream cone, and the kite without prompting. The beach towel and popsicle were easier after a bit of discussion — ie “What do we need to go to the beach?”
The pinwheel STUMPED them. I put all four triangles up and finally someone said, “FIREWORKS!” I congratulated them (because we had just read a book with fireworks in it, and my little girl was trying to draw connections between what we read and what we did on the board, and she’s only three!) and then I moved on.
All in all, this was a GREAT flannel, and one that the kids enjoyed and I felt made me a better librarian (for having a discussion with them instead of just saying a rhyme)!
And we’re back at Mel’s Desk this week for the round-up! Look for it there!
Stop and Go!
My next opposite storytime theme this week was stop and go! The “go” part was very easy to find material for, but the “stop” definitely presented some creative storytime solutions. (I really like challenging myself to find *good* books to fit!)
First up, I read “Watch Me Go” by Rebecca Young.
This is a much smaller book than I ever thought that I would use in storytime, but I love the moving pictures so much! Anyways, reading this one definitely had a lot of panning involved, but the kids were so excited about this book that I didn’t mind the extra work for me. We talked a lot about different kinds of transportation (since the book has so many different examples) and launched straight into singing “Down By the Station.”
The next book was a “stop” book — “The Bus Stop” by Janet Morgan Stoeke.
A sweet story about kids getting ready to go to the bus stop. And throughout their school day, they all can’t wait to get back to the bus stop. After I finished reading, the kids and I talked about why it’s called a stop.
For the flannelboard, I got to use some ideas from the Michaels flannelboard I purchased either this month. I had to re-do some of the pieces because the felt wasn’t sticking very well. (Super thin felt and while it had no problem sticking to my board, it did have a problem sticking to itself.) Using the astronauts, I got to do this rhyme I learned in library school:
Flannel: “Zoom Zoom Zoom”
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon!
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’ll be there very soon!
So, if you’d like to take a trip
Just step inside my rocket ship
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the mon!
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’ll be there very soon!
Credit: Library School
And I followed it up with another space-themed activity:
Action Rhyme: “Bend and Stretch”
Bend and stretch, reach for the stars
There goes Jupiter, here comes Mars
Bend and stretch and reach for the sky
Stand on tip-e-toe, go so high!
Credit: Preschool Kids
The next book was “Go to Bed, Monster!” by Natasha Wing.
This was a pretty hysterical read. My daycare teachers were cracking up, and because they were really into the book — so were their classes! While this book has always worked well for me in storytime, today’s reading of it will be particularly memorable.
Then, we shook things up with an action rhyme:
Action Rhyme: “If I Were a Monster”
If I were a happy monster, I’d go ha! ha! ha! (laugh)
If I were a sad monster, I’d go boo, hoo, hoo! (rub eyes)
If I were a mad monster, I’d go stomp, stomp, stomp! (stomp feet)
If I were a scared monster, I’d go AHH! AHH! AHH! (scream)
But I’m just me, you see, so I’ll just read, read, read (sit down)
Credit: Perry Public Library
And then it was onward to “The Going to Bed Book” by Sandra Boynton.
This is another title that we have multiple copies of in a board book form. This was the first time that I used these books in a daycare format, and while the kids were good with sharing — they didn’t have the same interaction as my parent & kid sets. I don’t know if I would do this again. That being said, they definitely enjoyed the book!
The last book for today was “Red Light, Green Light” by Anastasia Suen.
I love that this book talked about stop and go; it was perfect for this theme — and the kids never get tired of transportation books. But this one especially worked because it led us straight through our action rhyme and then onto our craft.
Action Rhyme: “Green Says Go”
Green says, “Go!” (march quickly)
Go! Go! Go!
Yellow says, “Slow!” (march slowly)
Slow…slow…slow
And red says, “Stop!” (stop and freeze)
Go! Go! Go! (march fast)
Slow…slow…slow (march slowly)
and STOP! (stop)
Credit: Toddler Storytime
And then I borrowed this craft from Sarah at Awesome Storytime. This craft was a super simple one for the kids — they just glued down the circles and then wrote their names at the bottom, but I knew that the two teachers wouldn’t be able to help twenty two kids tie their necklaces, so I did it ahead of time.
ALSC: Shaking Up Storytime!
Yesterday, I wrote about my favorite storytime activities — besides books! Click on over to see what I have to say about flannelboards, props, puppets, shakers, and more.
Flannel Friday: Ten Teddy Bears
This week’s flannelboard was from last January when I did “Bears” storytime. Since this was before Flannel Friday was created, I didn’t save the clipart files that I found for this one. Pretty sure that I just googled “teddy bear” and “bed” and went from there.
“Ten Teddy Bears Sleeping in the Bed”
Ten little teddy bears sleeping in the bed,
Five at the foot and five at the head.
One little teddy said, “This bed is TOO full!”
So he grabbed the blanket and started to pull.
He pulled and he pulled and he pulled some more,
Until two little teddies went BOOM to the floor!
(Make pulling motions with PULL and clap with the BOOM)(Count down until…)
One little teddy bear sleeping in the bed,
Zero at the foot and one at the head.
This little teddy said, “This is not right!
I don’t want to sleep alone tonight!”So…
One little teddy bear sleeping in the bed,
Zero at the foot and one at the head.
This teddy said, “This bed is NOT full!”
So he put out his paw and started to pull.
He pulled and he pulled and he pulled some more,
Until four little teddies climbed up from the floor!(Count up until…)
Ten little teddy bears sleeping in the bed,
Five at the foot and five at the head.
One little teddy said, “This is JUST right!”
So ten little teddy bears said, “Good Night!”
Susan Pflug, Copyright 1990
Credit: I found this rhyme here: SurLaLune Storytime.
Enjoy!
storytime katie 