Cherries and Oranges and Grapes! Oh, My! A Fruit Storytime

At first I thought this might be a challenging storytime to pull together, but it was actually a lot of fun! The children loved to name all the yummy fruit they like to eat!


Books

Beautiful Bananas

by Elizabeth Laird; illustrated by Liz Pichon

The Watermelon Seed

by Greg Pizzoli

Flannel Board/Songs

Picking Up the Fruits  (from Storytime Katie)

Picking up the apples and puttin’ ‘em in the basket

Picking up the apples and puttin’ ‘em in the basket

Picking up the apples and puttin’ ‘em in the basket

Way down yonder in the apple field

(Repeat with other fruits)

I made three of each kind of fruit and when we named that fruit I put them randomly on the board.  As we sang the song I asked one child to come "pick" that fruit.

Ants Go Marching 

The ants go marching one by one

Hurrah! Hurrah!

The ants go marching one by one

Hurrah! Hurrah!

The ants go marching one by one

The little one stops to suck his thumb.

And they all go marching down...

To the ground...

To get out of the rain

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Two by two--tie his shoe

Three by three--climb a tree

Four by four--shut the door

Five by five--shout, "I'm glad I'm alive!"

Play and Learn

Early Learning at Home--Language
Children decorated a bag, then cut questions apart to put in the bag.  Parents and child would then take turns choosing a question and talking about it.

 Watermelon Craft
Cut out the red and green watermelon "parts", glue together and make fingerprint "seeds" using washable ink.

Play fruit and dishes

Supersized Games!

I was able to help developed a Supersized Games program for summer reading for the "tweens".  It is going out to all 10 libraries.  I have hosted three of the events so far.  I will be hosting two more this summer.

It has been a ton of fun, even if our numbers have been kind of low (any tween event is usually pretty small, though).

Supersized Games

Connect Four
A yellow shower curtain divided into 42 squares (seven across; six down)
The tokens were dessert plates.  I used Velcro to attach the tokens to the shower curtain.

BINGO and Memory
To go along with our superhero theme we had two sets of 25 superheroes printed onto 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  Each person/team put out their superheroes into a 5x5 grid and used dessert plates as markers.

These same cards were used for supersize Memory.

Yahtzee
Super easy and super fun!  Large foam dice, buckets, and a supersize score card (enlarged onto a 17 x 22 paper).

 Pictionary

Jenga (larger, but not supersized!)

Bananagrams

144 8x8 "tiles" printed on cardstock

1

Issun-Boshi: Little One-Inch Samauri Puppet Show

Our second week of summer reading brought us a true hero's story!

Although we were coming up on a holiday weekend we still had a decent crowd for the puppet show!  One family had seen the show at another library earlier in the day and came to see the show again! (That's saying something!!)

The kids learned a little Japanese lullaby to sing during the first "act"

The kids just laughed and laughed when the mom walks away and the baby starts crying!

Here are some (kind of dark) pictures from the show:

After the show the puppeteer "opened up" the stage so we could see "behind the scenes"!

Bugs! Storytime

I was able to present this storytime at three different libraries--two preschool storytimes and my regular "all ages" storytime.  It was a fun theme!  It still amazes me how I can read the same book and share the same songs but the program is so different depending on the location and the kids!

Books

I Love Bugs

by Emma Dodd

The Very Lazy Ladybug (pop-up edition)

by Isobel Finn and Jack Tickle

Songs/Rhymes/Flannel Board

Pretty Ladybug (Wednesday x2)
Ladybug has one black spot
One black spot, one black spot
Ladybug has one black spot
Pretty Ladybug!

Ladybug has two black spot
Two black spot, two black spot
Ladybug has two black spot
Pretty Ladybug!

Continue adding one spot until you have six (three on each wing).

For the preschool crowd I made sure to use math terms such as add, plus, equals.

Bugs in the Yard (Thursday--because I lost my ladybug!)
(tune: Wheels on the Bus)

The cricket in the leaves goes
Jump, jump, jump
Jump, jump, jump
Jump, jump, jump
The cricket in the leaves goes
Jump, jump, jump
In my backyard!

Additional verses:

Bee in the flower goes buzz, buzz, buzz

Butterfly in the yard goes flutter, flutter, flutter

Ants in the grass go march, march, march

There's a Spider on the Floor

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
Who could ask for any more
Than a spider on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.

Knee--"Oh, how can it be? I've got a spider on my knee!"
Tummy--"Oh, it really isn't funny! I've got a spider on m tummy!"
Arm--"It doesn't mean any harm this spider on my arm!"
Face--"Oh, what a big disgrace! There's a spider on my face!"
Head--"Oh, I wish I was in bed! There's a spider on my head!"

Floor--"Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor!"

Play and Learn

Caterpillar Pencil

Bug Cutting Practice

Ladybug Coloring Sheet

Feelings Book [craft highlighting Social-Emotional domain]

Duplos (Thursday)

Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Physical

As part of our summer reading program for the preschool and all ages storytime the Develop Young Learners Team put together 7 weeks of special activities that highlight the six domains (+ science) of early learning (WaKids):  Physical, Social-Emotional, Language, Literacy, Cognitive,  Math (and we added science to the mix).

I developed the activity for physical domain--Animal Movement Cubes.

A child chooses six of the twelve animals to cut out and glue onto a 3x3 box.

The child rolls the dice and then moves like that animal.

Here is the take-home handout I made for parents and caregivers:

Children need to continue to increase their ability to regulate their body movements and develop their muscles.  This includes whole body movements such as jumping and balancing, as well as small muscles in hands and fingers to be able to write.  All physical development can be made into games so children do not even realize they are developing important skills to be ready for kindergarten. 

Today you had the opportunity to make an animal dice with your child!  The purpose of this dice is to encourage your child to move in different ways.

Make an animal dice:

Tape a square box together, also taping the lid shut.  Cut out 6 animal clipart pictures and glue to each side of the box.

Have your child roll the dice and move like that animal moves.  For example, if they rolled an elephant your child may stomp their feet when they walk or swing their arm like an elephant’s trunk.  Roll the dice and play again!

Further Activities at Home:

Make another dice with different animals using clipart, pictures, or drawings.

Use the dice to help children transition to different activities.  For example, “It’s time to go! Can you get to the car like a _______________?”

Questions to ask: Can you think of other movements for the animals?  Do the baby animals move differently than the parent?  Can you make the animals sound as you move?  Can you make just your fingers move the way an animal moves?

Sing actions to the tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” substituting different animals and the movement they make.

This is the way we jump like a frog

Jump like a frog

Jump like a frog

This is the way we jump like a frog

So early in the morning!

Check out these books about movement:

·         You Are a Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo

·         From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

·         Run, Jump, Wiz, Splash by Vera Rosenberry

·         Hop, Hop, Jump! by Lauren Thompson

·         Stretch by Doreen Cronin

The children really seemed to enjoy making and playing with the animal cube! :)

Let's Get Moving! Storytime

Our first week of "official" summer reading storytimes!!

Books

Get Up and Go!

by Nancy Carlson

From Head to Toe

by Eric Carle

Song/Flannel Board

Crazy Traffic Light (adapted)

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)

Purple says, “Face that’s funny”

      (make sound with tongue sticking out)

White says, “Hop like a bunny”

Hop! Hop! Hop!

And red says STOP!

Face that’s funny

Hop like a bunny

And STOP!

Orange says, “Roar!”

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Blue says, “Snore!”

Snore, snore, snore

And red says STOP!

Roar, roar, roar

Snore, snore, snore

And STOP!

Pink says, “Oink like a pig”

Oink, oink, oink

Brown says “Dance a jig”

Dance, dance, dance

And red says STOP!

Oink, oink, oink

Jig, jig, jig

And STOP!

Play and Learn

Make an animal movement cube (more info here)

Let's Get Moving Outside!!

Hopscotch

Hula Hoops

Rainbow Ribbons

Sidewalk Chalk

Bubbles
Tunnel
Beanbag Toss

We had a blast playing outside!!  Thankfully it wasn't too hot and we had lots of shade!

Baby Storytime--Mommies and Babies

Summer is always an interesting time with so much going on in and out of the library!  I am trying to keep up!

Songs/Rhymes/Bounces
Words can be found at this post

[June 26]
Clap, Clap, Clap (Welcome)
We Sing Hello
Little Bear
Here are Baby's Eyes
As I Went Walking to Town One Day
This Little Piggy
Popcorn
Hug, Hug, Hug (Good-bye)

[July 3]
Clap, Clap, Clap
Hello Song
Little Bear
Here are Baby's Eyes
As I Went Walking to Town
Pat-a-Cake
Hickory Dickory Dock
Tick, Tock
Hug, Hug, Hug

Read Aloud

I Love My Baby Because...

Paullina Simons; illustrated by Cassia Thomas

[June 26, 2015]

Baby Love
by Angela DiTerlizzi; illustrated by Brooke Boynton Hughes

[July 3]

Shared Reading

Variety of books about mommies and babies including You Are My Baby series by Lorena Siminovich