Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Picnics

We lucked out, after over a week of rain, with some gorgeous weather. And, with the weather being as great as it is, what a perfect opportunity to use our theme this week: Picnics! 


Books:

Toddler Books:
Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack: An Alphabetical Adventure - Doreen Cronin
The Bunnies' Picnic - Lezlie Evans
Lunch - Denise Fleming

Preschool Books:
Picnic - John Burningham
Click, Clack, Quackity-Quack: An Alphabetical Adventure - Doreen Cronin
The Bunnies' Picnic - Lezlie Evans
Yes, Let's - Galen Longstreth

Rhymes/Fingerplays/Songs:

Going On a Picnic (using a basket and pictures of different items to bring) (Tune: "Going On a Picnic" by Raffi):
Going on a picnic, gotta pack a lunch,
What should we bring to munch, munch, munch?

*Each time I sang the verse, and asked the kids to sing with me, I would stop and bring a new food item out of the basket. I repeated the verse about five or six times with a variety of food items to bring on our picnic (sandwiches, salad, cookies, a banana, etc.)



Five Hungry Ants:
Five hungry ants, marching in a line, 
Came across a picnic, where they could dine.
They marched into the salad,
They marched into the cake,
They marched into the pepper,
UH-OH! That was a mistake!
AAAAAACCCHHHOOOOO!!!
Count down...4, 3, 2, 1
Source: Jbrary
*This rhyme was tons of fun and the kids loooved it!


One Whole Pie:
One whole pie, set by the door,
Cut into pieces, I count four.
Four pieces of pie all for me,
I ate one piece, now there are three.
Three pieces of pie for me too,
I ate another piece, now there are two.
Two pieces of pie, Oh! What fun!
I ate another piece, now there is one.
One piece of pie, I can't wait!
I ate that piece, empty plate!

Friday, May 20, 2016

Kittens

We had not learned the letter "K", so instead of learning about cats, we learned about Kittens this week! 


Books:

Toddler Books:
How To Be a Cat - Nikki McClure
Come Along, Kitten - Joanne Ryder
Cat Nap - Toni Yuly

Preschool Books:
Mr. Pusskins: A Love Story - Sam Lloyd
Cats, Cats, Cats! - Leslea Newman
A Castle Full of Cats - Ruth Sanderson
Cat Nap - Toni Yuly

Rhymes/Fingerplays/Songs:

Five Little Kittens:
Five little kittens standing in a row, (count 5 fingers on one hand)
They nod their heads to the people just so;
They run to this side, (move hand to one side)
They run to that side, (move hand to other side)
They stand up and stretch in the bright sunlight.
Along comes a dog who thinks chasing them is fun.
"MEEEOW!!" See those little kittens run!
Source: This one was actually one from my flannel drawer. I used a dog puppet on my other hand to chase the 5 kittens.

Five Little Kittens:
One little kitten went out to play,
On a bright and sunny day.
She had such enormous fun,
She meowed for another kitten to come.
"MEOW!!"
count up...2, 3, 4, 5...
Five little kittens went out to play,
On a bright and sunny day.
They had such enormous fun,
They stayed and played until the day was done!
Source: Traditional (but a variant on what I did last week for the letter "U"

Kitten Behind the Mitten Hiding Game:
Little kitten, little kitten,
Are you behind the  red  mitten?
Repeat with different colors
Source: Traditional (a variant on the little mouse behind the house hiding game)

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

The Letter "U"

Our storytimes this week were about the letter "U". I did not feel like I had enough material (or books) to have a storytime specifically about one of the "U" words we talked about. Soooo we learned about ALL of them. 




Books:

Toddler Books:
Split! Splat! - Amy Gibson
What Color Is Your Underwear - Sam Lloyd
The Thingamabob - Il Sung Na

Preschool Books:
What Color Is Your Underwear - Sam Lloyd
Froggy Gets Dressed - Jonathan London
The Thingamabob - Il Sung Na
Uni the Unicorn - Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Rhymes/Fingerplays/Songs:

What Begins With "U"? (Tune: "Farmer in the Dell"):
What begins with "U"?
What begins with "U"?
We all know, we'll tell you so.
What begins with "U"?

Umbrella begins with "U",
Umbrella begins with "U",
We all know, we'll tell you so.
Umbrella begins with "U".

repeat with other "U" words: Unicorn, Ukulele, Underwear, etc.
Source: Mother Reader


Five Little Unicorns:
One little unicorn went out to play,
On a bright and sunny day.
He had such enormous fun,
He called for another unicorn to come! "HEY UNICORN!!!"

count up...2, 3, 4, 5...

Five little unicorns went out to play,
On a bright and sunny day.
They had such enormous fun,
They stayed and played till the day was done.
Source: Traditional (a version of Elephants on a Spiders Web)


Ten Little Umbrellas (Tune: "Ten Little Indians"):
One little, two little, three little umbrellas,
Four little, five little, six little umbrellas,
Seven little, eight little, nine little umbrellas,
Ten umbrellas up for the rain.

One little, two little, three little raindrops,
Four little, five little, six little raindrops,
Seven little, eight little, nine little raindrops,
Ten raindrops falling down.

Ten little, nine little, eight little raindrops,
Seven little, six little, five little raindrops,
Four little, three little, two little raindrops,
No raindrops out today.

Ten little, nine little, eight little umbrellas,
Seven little, six little, five little umbrellas,
Four little, three little, two little umbrellas,
Everything's put away.
Source: Storytime Katie

Monday, May 9, 2016

Update: Baby Tactile Board

It's our second week into our summer storytime session and using our sensory board at baby storytimes. If you missed the post, here's the project I worked on through the month of April.

Our parents LOVE it. 

The whole concept of creating community within our library walls is beginning at the storytimes for our youngest members. Mommies and caregivers that might have been a bit apprehensive to start conversations with the other moms (especially if it was their first time at storytime) are staying after and conversing. They have something to focus on and talk about, to get the conversation started.

Even in the few storytimes we have already used the sensory board, we've have mommies/caregivers staying for an hour or so AFTER storytime is finished. I encourage them to stay and hang out. It's also a bit of an incentive, too, since I really prefer them not to talk to each other during storytime. Twenty minutes of listening to me but, hey, don't worry, you can stay for an hour and hang out with each other afterwards!

All in all, it was effort well spent on the sensory board since it is such a big hit!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Imagination

Annnnnnd we're back to storytimes for another three months! This first week of our Summer session, we talked about using our Imaginations. For the younger set (Toddlers), our letter of the week was "P" for Pretend, instead of Imagination. I thought Imagination would be a bit too big of a concept for them.



Books:

Toddler Books:
This Book Just Ate My Dog - Richard Byrne
Monkey and Me - Emily Gravett
It Looked Like Spilt Milk - Charles Shaw

Preschool Books:
This Book Just Ate My Dog - Richard Byrne
Small Blue and the Deep Dark Night - Jon Davis
That's How - Christopher Niemann
It Looked Like Spilt Milk - Charles Shaw
What To Do With a Box - Jane Yolen

Rhymes/Fingerplays/Songs:

Elephants in the Bathtub: 
See this storytime for how the rhyme goes, or check out Jbrary where I first learned it. 

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom -- Let's play pretend and go to the moon!
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we're going to the moon,
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we're going to the moon,
If you want to take a trip, climb aboard your rocketship,
Zoom, zoom, zoom, we're going to the moon,
In 5...4...3...2...1...BLAST OFF!!!
Source: Jbrary

What's in the Box? Game:
*I used this game at Preschool storytime this week and it went over really well. I put different puppets in my puppet box and gave them clues to guess what animal was hiding in the box. I brought the game out right after we read "What To Do With a Box" by Jane Yolen.
Examples of clues:
1. This animal is black and white and, when it gets scared, it's really stinky -- Answer: SKUNK
2. This animal lives on the farm and likes to roll around in the mud -- Answer: PIG
Source: Sunflower Storytime

Little Mouse, Little Mouse Hiding Game:
Little mouse, little mouse, are you behind the  red  house?
Repeat with different colors...
Source: Traditional

Song: We Are the Dinosaurs - Laurie Berkner Band (Whaddaya Think of That?)

Monday, May 2, 2016

Project: Flip Books


As I am getting prepared for our Summer Reading Program that kicks off at the end of this month, I was struggling to find storytime themes that fit the Collaborative Summer Reading Program (CSRP) theme. This summer, the slogan is "On Your Mark, Get Set...Read".

And, thinking about sports and other active things, I'm loving the idea behind the theme. But I was having an incredibly hard time finding books about sports that are appropriate for toddlers. So...getting creative, I made my own flip books. 

I am fortunate enough to have a laminating machine at my library. But flip books can be made without a laminator - they just won't be as durable.  

Supplies I used: 
1. Laminating Sheets
2. Laminator
3. Card Stock Paper
4. Scanner
5. Binder Rings



I scanned the images from the books. Moved the images into a Microsoft Publisher document. Printed them off on heavy-duty card stock paper. Depending on the size of the image once it was printed, I cut the pages down and then I laminated them. I punched holes in them once they were laminated and then attached them with binder rings.

It may be a little clunky to use at storytime, but I was running out of options for books to use with my toddlers. There were several board books that were appropriate but they were either only printed as board books or we only had them available as board books in my library system. I felt like it was a good way to book talk the board books as appropriate for toddlers, while also enlarging the size of the book so that my larger crowds at storytimes can see the images.

Since they are only to be used for a limited amount of time, and only at storytimes for educational purposes, I felt it was an appropriate extension of fair use. I would never hand-out these flip books to patrons but I am happy to have them to use in my professional collection.