Tag: paper crafts

Friends!

Two weeks ago, I did friends storytime before rushing off to San Diego for ALA’s Midwinter meeting. (Loads of fun!) This is the first time I’ve had a moment to breathe since coming back, and that means finally catching up on the blog — here we go!

I started off with one of my favorite storytime books, “A Splendid Friend Indeed” by Suzanne Bloom.

This story is so simple, and the ending makes my heart melt. The kids also enjoyed this one, proudly proclaiming at the end of the book, “They’re friends!” (This will be a trend throughout the post, by the way.)

Fingerplay: “Where Is Thumbkin?”
Where is thumbkin? Where is thumbkin? (put hands behind back)
Here I am! Here I am! (bring hands around from behind the back)
How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you! (wiggle thumbs, one at a time)
Run away, run away! (hide hands behind back again)
(Repeat for each finger; I did leave out middle finger. It was too early in the morning and I feared I would burst into giggles.)
Credit: Childhood

Next book, “Katie Loves the Kittens” by John Himmelman.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I kept asking as I went “Do the kittens like Katie?” and the kids went, “NOOOO!” until we got to the end where several of them shouted in unison, “They’re friends!” This storytime had amazing participation. Which worked *great* for the flannel I had planned: “Friends Match.” I had laminated popular book character pairs (Arthur and D.W.; Max and Ruby; Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat; Dora and Diego; Elmo and Big Bird; and Clifford and Emily Elizabeth) and the kids matched the pairs of friends on the flannelboard. Super cute, super easy to make.

Next, I read “Bear’s New Friend” by Karma Wilson.

This book is a little on the older side, but my storytime is pretty skewed towards 4/5s this session. Afterwards, the kids needed to move around so we did our movement activity:

“Let’s Be Friends” (Tune: London Bridge)
Let’s be friends with one another
One another, one another
Let’s be friends with one another
Let’s be friends today
(You can sing with a friend, you can shout with a friend, you can hum with a friend, you can jump with a friend, you can clap with a friend, you can hop with a friend)
Credit: Step By Step – Friendship Theme

A quick book that I share at many of my storytimes, “Pepo and Lolo Are Friends” by Ana Martín Larrañaga.

Everyone loves this book with its bright, colorful pictures and simple text. A great pick for friends storytime. Our fingerplay was super simple and we did it several times for effect:

Fingerplay: “Two Little Friends” (hold up fingers as you go)
Two little friends are better than one,
And three are better than two
And four are much better still
Just think! What four little friends can do!
Credit: King County Library System

Next up, I read the book “Will You Be My Friend?” by Nancy Tafuri.

I really liked this book, and the kids were very attentive during it. It was a great closer to the storytime. And that was left was our craft, which I got again from KidsSoup.

(That’s my best friend Jessica and me.)

The kids LOVED this craft and went craft gluing tissue paper squares to make their friends. A very successful craft and a very successful storytime theme!

January 6, 2011 11 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Shapes!

I had a second successful storytime! My numbers were consistent for a second week — I am as shocked as you are! Especially given Chicago’s *freezing* temperatures this week. And it snowed yesterday night, causing more chaos! Anyway, this week I tackled shapes in my storytime. This turned out to be such a great storytime — both material wise and kid wise.

I started off with “Dog’s Colorful Day” by Emma Dodd.

A great book about counting, and colors that can easily be used in a shapes theme. Before I started the book (but after I had told the kids the title and author), I pulled out my circle shape from my flannelboard, and asked the kids what shape I had. After they told me it was a circle (yay!), I said that we were going to read a book about a lot of circles making a dog very messy.

This one is always a great read-aloud, and a definite success in shapes storytime. Next up, a cute song!

Song: “I Can See Shapes” (Tune: London Bridge)
I can see a circle shape, circle shape, circle shape
I can see a circle shape, how about you?
(Little square, triangle, rectangle, diamond)
Credit: The Story Place

When each shape came up, I put it on the flannelboard, leaving all the shapes up. I asked the kids to tell me the color the shape after each verse. (Really, this could have been a color & shapes storytime.)

Then, I read “Color Zoo” by Lois Ehlert.

(Side story: This is the first book that I remember hearing read to me in a library, in kindergarten.)

Since this is a super simple book (just animal names, and shape names), I did elaborate by saying, “Take the square away and we get…a…” and waited for the kids to shout out the animal names. Huge success, I had one little boy ask me to read it again, right away. But instead, I asked if he wanted to play a game…which, of course, he did! So I did our flannelboard, a play on “Little Mouse, Little Mouse, What House Are You In?” except with a little dog and my shapes.

Then, I read “Whoo? Whoo?” by David A. Carter.

This one is very similar to “Color Zoo,” except that the shape cut-outs join together to make an animal. The kids and I shouted out what shapes were on the page before turning it to reveal an animal. They *loved* participating with this one. I followed it up with a revamp of a classic fingerplay:

Action Song/Fingerplay: “Where Is…?” (Tune: Where Is Thumbkin?)
Where is triangle? Where is triangle?
Here I am. Here I am.
How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you.
Run away. Run away.
(Circle, rectangle, square, diamond)
Credit: KidsSoup

And then, I led the kids in “I’m a Little Teapot” and “The Wiggles” before sitting down to read “Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis.

This was one of those books that I LOVED the minute I saw it, but kind of feared that I’d never use it in a storytime. But — a box is totally a rectangle! And with such a repetitive text, I easily had every kid chiming in by the end, proclaiming that the box was not a box! One last song:

Song: “Make a Circle, Draw a Square” (Tune: Oh My Darling Clementine)
Make a circle, make a circle, draw it in the sky
Use your finger, use your finger, make it round as pie
Make a square, Make a square, make the lines so straight
Draw a square, draw a square, draw one or draw eight
Draw a triangle, draw a triangle, always start at the top
Make a tent, make a tent, use three lines and then stop!
Credit: Best Kids Book Site

And then, I read our last book — “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” by Charles G. Shaw.

We have this in big book form, so the pictures were *so* big and the kids kept shouting out what they saw in the cloud. For such a simple concept, this is a great storytime book.

And then, our craft was a shape hanger that I got from KidsSoup. One of my moms told me that this was my cutest craft yet. (You can’t see it in the picture, but on the other side of the “My Shapes,” it says “Mis Formas” for my Spanish speaking households!)

December 10, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Winter!

It’s the start of my winter storytime session!

This is an experimental session, as I’ve never done storytime in the winter before. (Our attendance always dropped out significantly during November.) So far, I’ve got four weeks planned, but whether or not I’ll do another four weeks depends on whether or not my families keep showing up!

For this session, I have switched things up and started using “The More We Get Together” as my opening song, and “We Wave Goodbye Like This” as my closing song. Our stretcher for this session is “I’m a Little Teapot.”

I started off storytime with “A Kitten’s Tale” by Eric Rohmann.

This was a nice quiet start for the first storytime since October. It might have been almost too quiet, because I had wigglers up until the snow fell in the story. But the minute the snow appeared, everyone sat down and listened up. It was a nice moment, after I had been mildly worried that things were going south. (I can’t be the only librarian who frets during storytime!) Followed this up with a great transition into our flannelboard: “The Three Little Kittens.”

Our set was damaged in the flood that we had this summer, so I actually wound up remaking it, using the existing flannel pieces as the templates. After that, it was on to another great transition from kitten mittens to “One Mitten” by Kristine O’Connell George.

This is a great rhyming story about a girl who can’t find her second mitten until it’s found under her cat. (Third cat related winter activity in a row — maybe my theme was really cats and winter!) The kids really enjoyed this one, I had a couple of them shouting out places to look for her mitten. No one guessed under the cat. Once she finds her mittens, she goes out into the snow, which led to a great discussion about playing in the snow. And then, to a great fingerplay once someone mentioned sledding!

Fingerplay: “Here’s a Hill”
Here’s a hill (tilt left arm so that it forms a hill)
And here’s a hill (tilt right arm so that it forms a hill)
All covered with snow (raise hands up, bring down in snow motion)
I’ll put on my coat, (put coat on)
And jump on my sled (hold the rope of a sled)
And ZOOM, down the hill I will go! (clap hands, slid hands down)
Credit: The Holiday Zone (with a little tweaking)

Next, I went through the actions in “I’m a Little Teapot” (i.e. – “Can you make a handle? Can you make a spout? Can you tip yourself over? Great! Now you can do this song with me!”) since it was our first time. This is how I introduce most of my songs, so the kids are familiar with it.

Afterward, the kids were definitely ready to sit down and listen to “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats.

I am always REALLY excited when I get to share a book that I read when I was a kid. The parents always chuckle when I say that this book is old (because most of my parents are just older than me), and the kids are always wide-eyed, like it’s a dinosaur age book. So funny. Anyway, they really liked reading about Peter and his adventures, though they didn’t get that the snow in his pocket had melted. Had to explain that one a bit. But after that discussion, a great segue into an extension activity:

Action Song: “Dance Like Snowflakes”
Dance like snowflakes,
Dance like snowflakes
In the air, in the air
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Whirling, twirling snowflakes
Here and there, everywhere
Credit: BellaOnline

I didn’t have a seemless transition into “Duck Skates” by Lynne Berry though I had thought about trying to explain freezing snow and ice…but that seemed way too difficult to me.

This series is so cute, and the kids really like the rhyming. I’m not sure if they understand what’s going on, though, and I find myself explaining a lot of the pages to them. That sometimes messes with the rhythm of the story, but I don’t mind.

I wanted the kids really worn out for my last book (which is a very quiet one), so we did this:

Action Song: “Winter Hokey Pokey”
You put your mitten in, you take your mitten out
You put your boots in, you take your boots out
You put your hat in, you put your hat out
You put your coat in, you put your coat out
Credit: Step by Step – Winter Theme

We did several rounds before “Polar Bear Night” by Lauren Thompson.

I must really like bears, but this book is fast becoming a favorite of mine — right up there with “Old Bear.” The kids were pretty settled down after several rounds of Hokey Pokey, and were very content to listen. A great way to end storytime.

This craft was off of KidsSoup, which is a paid membership site. ($25.00 for a year; my Christmas present to myself and my staff!)

I printed off the template. My teens cut out the mittens, hole-punched the mittens, and tied them up. The kids added the foam shapes. A very successful return — I had eleven kids attend!

December 3, 2010 10 Comments Short URL, , Family Storytime

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

Opposites!

Yep, I went ahead and tried a pretty difficult topic this week — opposites! But were my kids up for the challenge? Read on…

I started off storytime with defining opposites as two things that are exactly different from one another. I used the example of “big” and “little,” having the kids reach really far to the sides for big and very close together for little. We did this several times throughout storytime. Our first book was “Octopus Opposites” by Stella Blackstone and Stephanie Bauer.

I use a LOT of Blackstone’s titles in my storytimes. The simplicity of this book is that it uses animals to explain opposites in a bright colorful way. We did have a bit more fun identifying animals than opposites…but this was an excellent way to start off storytime. Next, I read “Big, Bigger, Biggest” by Nancy Coffelt.

It was my goal to get them to understand the difference between big and little by the end of the program, so this book was a great choice. I’m not sure how well the kids comprehended a lot of the larger words, but they did get big, bigger, biggest! I think the next time I use this book in storytime for my little guys, I might skip the bigger words.

I found this great action rhyme on Mel’s Desk and the kids LOVED it. We did it three times in a row!

Action Rhyme: “This Is Big”
This is big, big, big (stretch hands far to sides)
This is small, small, small (cup hands together)
This is short, short, short (hold palms close vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall (hold palms far apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast (roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow (roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes (nod head)
This is no, no, no (shake head)

And then a “little” to go with our “big!”

Fingerplay: “Little Turtle”
There was a little turtle (put hands on top of one another)
He lived in a box (make box)
He swam in a puddle (swimming motion)
He climbed on the rocks (climbing motion)
He snapped at a mosquito (clap)
He snapped at a flea (clap)
He snapped at a minnow (clap)
And he snapped at me (clap)
He caught the mosquito (cup hands together)
He caught the flea (cup hands together)
He caught the minnow (cup hands together)
But he didn’t catch me! (shake finger “no”)

Next, I read a very short book: “A Garden of Opposites” by Nancy Davis.

This book is a great lapsit to read, particularly at the end where there is an opportunity to review the opposite pairs that readers have learned. It worked well in storytime though because it’s eye-catching and quick! And I definitely had wigglers this week, so I switched it up with the flannelboard next.

Flannelboard: “Big, Bigger, Biggest”
A little ball, a bigger ball, and a great big ball I see
Now help me count them, one, two, three!
Credit: Debmonn PB Wiki

I just made three simple balls — a tennis ball, a beach ball, and a soccer ball out of felt and put them up. We also did this rhyme a couple of times, to the delight of the kids. Next, we practiced our “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” — which I am pleased to report that most of my kids have down now. They aren’t singing with me yet, but we’ve got the motions down pat.

The last book for this week was “Where is the Green Sheep?” by Mem Fox.

This was a HUGE success. This book is so engaging and clearly shows opposites in the different sheep. And while I know the kids were hearing the opposites, they were also looking for green sheep. Luckily, they found green sheep at the end of the book, fast asleep.

I ended storytime by using egg shakers and doing “Opposites Hokey Pokey” with the kids. (You shake your egg up/down; left/right; etc.)

Our craft: Opposite Books!

I got the idea for this craft from Bright Hub and I got to work immediately making a template. My teen volunteers cut out words, pictures, the book, and assembled the whole project. All my storytime kids did was color the pictures in!

October 23, 2010 8 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Fall!

I am really more of a summer person, but I do love fall books — fall has a ton of options for storytime, too!

Because I have a wide variety of ages in my storytimes (6 months to 4 years), I started off with “Mouse’s First Fall” by Lauren Thompson.

The text in this book is pretty predictable (and I have the book memorized after just two storytimes!), but you cannot beat the bright colors, and the adorable characters. It’s also a great introductory to a few of the traditional fall activities. I followed up with “Who Loves the Fall?” by Bob Raczka.

In Raczka’s series, there is always a page where you turn the book vertically and read — the kids absolutely love this part! In “Who Loves the Fall?,” it’s a spread about butterflies, and I had to do two full pans before the kids seemed ready to move on.

Next, the kids got up and we did some action rhymes, and our flannelboard for the week.

“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 overhead)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground (touch the ground)
How’d you get so big and round? (make a big circle)
Credit: Step by Step — Pumpkin Theme

And, of course, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”

And our flannel:

Flannelboard: “Five Little Leaves”
Five little leaves on the tree next door
One fell off and then there were four
Four little leaves all over the tree
One fell off and then there were three
Three little leaves where the wind blew
One fell off and then there were two
Two little leaves sitting in the sun
One fell off and then there was one
One little leaf in the tree all alone
The wind blew and blew now there are none!

I redid the flannelboard that the library had for this rhyme (it was this old transfer paper-like felt and hand-drawn) into bright new felt colors for this year’s season. Simple — took me about a half hour.

Then, I read “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.

“Old Bear” is a book that talks about all seasons and you better believe that I use it at almost every season storytime I do. It’s a great way to introduce the concept of our seasons cycling, and I absolutely adore Henkes’s illustrations. They are just gorgeous and so eye-catching. Next up, another favorite — “Fall Leaves Fall!” by Zoe Hall.

Now, I had three Zoe Hall books to choose from: “It’s Pumpkin Time,” “The Apple Pie Tree,” and “Fall Leaves Fall.” And it was a hard choice! I went with “Fall Leaves Fall” because of the linear story and that the story covered most of the highlights of the season (including a brief mention of Halloween!). Next, we switched gears a bit as I began prepping the kids for our craft with our fingerplay/action rhyme:

“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)

And then, we read “Apple Farmer Annie” by Monica Wellington.

This is such a great story about apples and I love Monica Wellington’s books. (Especially “Pizza at Sally’s!”) We finished up with a different closing song than normal with:

“The Leaves are Falling Down”
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down
Tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”

Our craft was super simple — I got a tree template, had my teen volunteers cut out tree trunks and leaves and then let the kids crumple up tissue paper squares to make apples. They had a ton of fun crumpling!

October 15, 2010 11 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Bedtime!

We switched it up at morning storytime today and had bedtime stories! I was a little bit nervous that I’d hear, “No bedtime!” from one of the kids, but they really enjoyed this theme.

I started off by reading “Pajamas Anytime” by Marsha Hayles.

This is a super cute story about a little boy who wears pajamas for all different kinds of occasions — not just for sleeping. We sat very attentively for this book, and I was super proud of my kids!

Next, I did our flannelboard activity, which was “Hey Diddle Diddle.” We used to have a great nursery rhymes program for little ones, but we lost the staff necessary to maintain it. So, I’m trying this storytime session to incorporate nursery rhymes. (Especially since we just bought such good flannelboard nursery rhyme kits!)

I introduced our next book by asking if the kids were ready for bed. As expected, they gave a mostly resounding “No!” But then I said that we were going to read a story all about someone ready for bed. And that story was “Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed?” by Barney Saltzburg.

The kids *loved* this one. They keep shouting “YES!” to every question and I had one kid shout out, “You can’t feed cookies to a fish!” It was so nice to see them engaging with the pictures.

We were a little wiggly by now, so we practiced our “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”

And did a modified version of “Ten in the Bed,” starting with five instead of ten.

There were five in the bed (Hold up five fingers)
And the little one said, “Roll over, roll over!” (Make rolling motion)
So they are rolled over and one fell out. (Hold up one finger & surprised face)
// Count down until
There was one in the bed (Hold up one finger)
And the little one said, “I’ve got it all to myself!” (Spread out arms)

By then, we were pretty worn out so I read “Race You to Bed” by Bob Shea.

I love Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series and this is another hit for me. The kids really liked racing and while we did have one squabble (someone took someone’s toy car!) during the book, we were definitely eager to see if we would beat rabbit to bed.

Then we talked about what we sleep with, and I confessed that I still sleep with a teddy bear before going into “Teddy Bear.” Since we were pretty tuckered out already, I just went with a simple version instead of the full version I had planned. I love having activities that can be shortened or stretched out depending on how wiggly the kids are during the storytime.

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground
Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your knees
Teddy bear, teddy bear, sit down please

Finished up our book reading with “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” by Eric Carle.

I had never read this Carle book as a child, but it is easily one of my favorites as an adult. Pages fold out and up and down, and the kids were absolutely delighted with the pop-out moon spread. This was a hit as far as I’m concerned and I can’t wait to try and find another storytime to use it in.

What bedtime storytime would be complete without singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star?” Which is exactly how we ended before moving to our craft.

We made a slightly different version of this craft: Night Sky – Sprout Online. I ditched the foil because I was worried about some of my little guys putting it in their mouths, and instead used colored paper.

My teen volunteers punched out the stars using a scrapbooking set of punches. (I highly recommend using paper punches whenever possible. I keep a set of three different sized circles and now three different sized stars at the library just for preschool crafts. Makes it way easier than cutting out ten circles per kid for a train craft.)

September 23, 2010 6 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Pets!

This week, I decided to go ahead with a pets theme!

We read “Bark, George” by Jules Feiffer first.

The kids sat really still for this book and loved the animals noises. I had one three-year-old who was determined to guess every animal that comes of our George’s mouth, but boy was he stumped by the ending!

Next, we went ahead and read “Pet Wash” by Dayle Ann Dodds.

The adults at my storytime were really chuckling at this one. It would have been a great pick for preschool storytime, but my group skewed way too young for this book to be a real success. We did like when the baby brother showed up to get a wash. One of my two-year-olds laughed hysterically at this part.

Next, we took a break from books and did our flannelboard — “Five Little Puppies.” (We used the BINGO dogs that I had made for farm storytime last spring — I made the B-I-N-G-O removable in case I needed the dogs for something other than BINGO.)

And then, we practiced our “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” which is the action rhyme that I’m hoping to have them memorize throughout the whole eight week session.

Then, I picked up a book and we sat back down for “Posy” by Linda Newberry and Catherine Rayner.

The kids were pretty restless during this one, but I brought them back to the story using my favorite technique — counting! We counted how many Posys were on each page. They LOVE counting, and I love using it.

Since we were wiggly, we did “The Wiggles.”

I finished up storytime by reading “Pet Shop Lullaby” by Mary Ann Fraser.

This was a great choice as the final book. The kids were tired from wiggling and head-shoulder-knee-toeing, so they sat very quietly for this excellent story about a hamster who can’t sleep in the pet shop.

We sang a few songs at the end — “How Much Is That Doggy in the Window?” and our “ABCs” and they moved on to our craft:


From DLTK’s Crafts — Paper Cat Craft.

September 17, 2010 4 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Alphabet!

My first storytime this fall — and I was so excited to do my first alphabet storytime. There are some fantastic alphabet books and crafts, but I had the hardest time finding songs and fingerplays.

I started off storytime by reading my new favorite alphabet book, “LMNO Peas” by Keith Baker.

This is such a great rhyming story all about peas and who they are. Astronauts, voters, and tons more — these little peas are everything imaginable under the sun. And a quick heads-up to all of my friends expecting babies — you will be getting this book from me!

Together, we stood up and learned “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” for the first time. I introduced this rhyme by having everyone find their heads, shoulders, knees, and toes before I started singing. And I did have some kids working through the song, just a step behind me.

Next up, I did “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin.

This is our Chicka tree, and the letters are Velcro that stick to the tree. I really wanted to do the activity tree as I read the story, but I had very young kids at this storytime, so I left the tree out with all the letters on top of it while I read the book. If this had been preschool storytime, I would have ditched the book and just used the tree to tell the story.

I found this great action rhyme and just modified it a bit to work in my storytime:

Action Rhyme: “Alphabet Beat”
First clap your hands. Then stomp your feet.
Everybody do the alphabet beat.
Apple, Apple, Apple – a – a – a,
Apple, Apple, Apple – a – a – a,
Wave your arms high. Swing your arms low.
The alphabet beat is the way to go.
Blue, Blue, Blue – b – b – b
Blue, Blue, Blue – b – b – b
Move to the left. Move to the right.
The alphabet beat is way out of sight.
Car, Car, Car – c – c – c
Car, Car, Car – c – c – c
Now give a high five to a nearby friend.
The alphabet beat has come to the end!
Credit: Preschool Storytime Outlines

I read “Alligator Alphabet” by Stella Blackstone and Stephanie Bauer next.

The bright colors really caught the eyes of the kids, and they really enjoyed this title. Next, I lined up the alphabet on the flannelboard and pointed to the letters as I said them. And then, I went to A again and asked what starts with A. I was hoping for apple, and thankfully a mom jumped in to give me a segue to the fingerplay:

“Way Up High In the Apple Tree”
Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arm up high)
Two red apples smiled at me (hold up 2 fingers)
I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)
Down came the apples, (make a downward motion)
Mmmm–were they good! (smile and rub stomach)

I finished up alphabet storytime with “The Sleepy Little Alphabet” by Judy Sierra.

A great, quiet read to cap the storytime, but we weren’t finished yet — what alphabet storytime would be complete without singing the “ABCs?”

Our craft for this week was a simple alphabet caterpillar from DLTK’s Kids.

(Well, it was simple for the kids and parents — not so simple for my teen volunteer who had to painstakingly cut out enough for each child to spell out their name! My teens are really awesome at cutting stuff out for storytime.)

September 9, 2010 12 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

Beach!

This week in storytime, we went to the beach and read beach-themed stories! And when we called to remind our parents about storytime, we also asked them to bring a beach towel to make storytime a little more fun.

Started off with “To the Beach” by Linda Ashman.

This is a great story all about a family who tries to get to the beach, only to forget a ton of items and have to go back. Once they finally are ready to go, it begins to look like rain. They eventually go to the beach in their backyard. I liked this A LOT because I know that a lot of my families can’t afford giant vacations to the beach.

Next, I read “Fun Dog, Sun Dog” by Deborah Heiligman.

I love the rhyming pace and fun text of this book. The beach is only on a few pages of the book, but I definitely want to use this book again for a different theme another time.

Flannelboard: “Five Little Ocean Friends”
Five little ocean friends on the ocean floor,
The starfish walks away and now there are four
Four little ocean friends living in the sea
The crab slides away now there are three
Three little ocean friends looking for a clue
“Glub, glub,” said the lobster now there are two
Two little ocean friends not having much fun
Off swam the sea horse now there is one
One little octopus sad and all alone
Back swims the starfish, back swims the crab,
Back swims the lobster, back swims the sea horse
And they played in the sea foam, safe in their home.
Credit: Beach Fingerplays from Carroll County Public Library

And then I read, “Sand” by Pam Miller.

I had a hard time finding any books about just the ocean or the sand. This was a Rookie Reader book, which is a little bigger than the average board book. Reading it aloud involved lots of panning, and a few “I can’t see!”s. While it wasn’t a huge disappointment or catastrophe, this was the first and last reader I plan on using in storytime.

Chant: “Picnic Time”
Going on a picnic, gonna pack a lunch.
What should we bring to munch, munch, munch?
(suggest different foods)
Ready for a picnic,
Ready with a lunch,
Now we’re ready to munch, munch, munch!
Credit: Kidsparkz

Then, I read “What If?” By Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

This book is an interesting one to read in storytime. The kids had a lot of fun telling me exactly what was happening in each of the spread. (The text prompts them with “What if? and “But then…” and I wound up asking the kids what was happening in the pictures.) I’m not sure that I could use this one in every storytime, but I was very lucky to have a very verbal crowd this week. A twist on a familiar song:

Song: “The Sea” (Tune: Wheels on the Bus)
The waves on the sea go up and down, up and down, up and down
The waves on the sea go up and down all day long.
The shark in the sea goes snap, snap, snap…
The fish in the sea goes swish, swish, swish…
The boats on the sea go toot, toot, toot…
Credit: Perpetual Preschool

And for the last book of storytime, “Beach Day” by Karen Roosa.

This was a sweet, simple story with vibrant illustrations and nice rhyming text. It was the perfect end to storytime. And for our craft, we decorated surfboards!

This was actually a last minute craft replacement because I had wanted to do sandcastles, and the recipe I found wasn’t working well for me.

July 29, 2010 12 Comments Short URL, Family Storytime

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