School-Age: Rhythmic Folklore

I wanted to bring a little rhythm for our last full week of Summer Reading, so we learned about rhythmic folklore.


1. Reading
Our book this week was "Bring the Rain to Kapiti Plain" by Verna Aardema. It has a great rhythm to it and is a cumulative folktale, so we learned about both aspects of the story during our discussion.

2. Discussion
We defined folklore, especially the oral storytelling aspect, since "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain" was initially an oral folktale that had been passed down. 

We then discussed that the book was a cumulative folktale - or a story that builds on top of itself. I brought up examples like the song "The Green Grass Grows All Around" as well as popular book series like "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

The next part I discussed with them was about how the book had rhythm to it. We talked about how that means that the book has a beat to it and they shared different ideas of books they have read that have a rhythm.

To add some excitement, I shared a video of Ludacris rapping "Llama Llama Red Pajama" by Anna Dewdney.

I challenged the parents to bring some rhythm to bedtime storytime after that!


3. Craft
Since we read "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain", I decided that we should make rain sticks. Plus, they make a great rhythm if the kids wanted to use them for that instead. I found many similar crafts online but I used the rainstick craft I found on Gift of Curiosity as inspiration.

I had my teens help with different stations since we had a ton of kids at our programs this week. It definitely helped to have extra hands to help with the craft! I handed out paper towel tubes that had already been sealed with paper on one end. I gave the kids aluminum foil and showed them how to roll it up to stick it in their tubes.

At one station a teen put a tablespoon of rice in the tubes. At the second station we had teens seal up the other end with tape and paper. At the last station, the teens helped wrap the paper towel rolls with a colorful piece of paper. The kids walked to each station and then were able to decorate their rain sticks at the very end.

Here's my very un-decorated example:

Notes: I had a great time at this program as well! The video of Ludacris rapping "Llama Llama Red Pajama" was a big hit! It was a great last full week of Summer Reading programs! Only a few more days left!

School-Age: Whales

This week we learned about whales (specifically their songs) to tie into the CSLP theme of "Libraries Rock"! 

1. Reading

We read "Following Papa's Song" by Gianna Marino, which fit perfectly with the week's theme!

2. Discussion

I actually started the discussion off with a video about whale songs. It was a TED-Ed video by Stephanie Sardelis and was a perfect way to discuss why whales sing!

After showing the video, we talked about some of the reasons whales sing that were mentioned in the video. I also asked a few trivia questions about whales. I focused on humpback whales since they were featured in the book I read aloud, but also baleen whales that were discussed in the video.

3. Craft

Our craft was a humpback whale. I found some ideas of using paper plates to make a humpback whale on Pinterest. Most of the crafts did not have a template, but I found one on Danielle's Place for fins and a tail.

I painted the paper plates blue prior to the program and gave the kids glue dots to attach their whale parts and eyes.

Notes:

This has been one of my favorite topics this summer! I love learning new information and anything related to animal behavior is super interesting to me. The video was a big bonus and the kids were over-the-top excited to learn about whales this week!

School-Age: Duke Ellington and the Piano

This week we learned a bit about Duke Ellington as well as some trivia about pianos!


Reading:
We read the book "88 Instruments" by Chris Barton. A child is trying to decide on what instrument he wants to learn how to play and there are SO many to choose from! In the end he settles on the piano!

Discussion:
I gave the kids a brief overview of Duke Ellington's life and showed some pictures of him playing in Harlem's Cotton Club.

Then I played a game of piano trivia with the kids. We learned about the most expensive piano in the world, the largest piano, when the piano was invented, and more!


Craft:
I found a picture on Pinterest of a thumb piano but no information about how to make it. SO, I used the picture as inspiration and came up with the materials on my own.

I used wooden 4"X4" wooden banners that I found on Oriental Trading. I couldn't find anything smaller than that (at least that was inexpensive enough to justify buying enough for my program).

I also used bobby pins as the 'keys' of the piano and purchased electrical tape to hold the 'keys' to the wooden banner.

I painted one side of the wooden banners prior to the program. 

During the craft the kids got to decorate their thumb pianos however they liked!

Notes:
At the earlier program of the week we had the kids/parents help us attach their 'keys' to their own thumb piano. Since we only had a handful of kids, that worked just fine. However, I had a TON of kids signed up for my Friday program. I had my teen helpers help me tape bobby pins down on as many banners as we could before the Friday program so we had that step already completed.