Summer Meals and Stories

I went to three parks this summer to read aloud books while children ate a free lunch provided by the school district. At two of the events the YMCA Day camp was there, which made reading aloud more challenging because not all of those kids actually wanted to hear the books.

JUNE
Valley Mission Park

My Pet Wants a Pet

by Elise Broach; illustrated by Eric Barday

Troll and the Oliver

by Adam Stower

Giant Pants

by Mark Fearing

Falling for Rapunzel

by Leah Wilcox; illustrated by Lydia Monks

Alan's Big Scary Teeth

by Jarvis

Terrace View Park

Big Mean Mike

by Michelle Knudsen; illustrated by Scott Magoon

A Hungry Lion or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals

by Lucy Ruth Cummins

Creepy Pair of Underwear

by Aaron Reynolds; illustrated by Peter Brown

Wolf's Coming!

by Joe Kulka

JULY
Terrace View Park

I'm Bad!

by Kate and Jim McMullan

Carnivores

by Aaron Reynolds; illustrated by Dan Santat

Don't Play with Your Food

by Bob Shea

Max the Brave

by Ed Vere

The Lion Inside

by Rachel Bright; illustrated by Jim Field

Libraries Rock! Singing!

Another fun Libraries Rocks storytime!

Books

Kat Writes a Song

by Greg Foley

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean

Songs

Song Cube

I made s song cube with six pictures that represented songs.  We rolled the dice and sang the song together

*Five Little Ducks

*Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

*Wheels on the Bus

*Itsy Bitsy Spider

Ants Go Marching

Five Little Monkeys

*ones we actually sang

Play and Learn

Scavenger Hunt with the same pictures we used on the Song Cube

Playdough with non-traditional tools (craft sticks, beads, straws, pipe cleaners)

Libraries Rock! Dancing!

I love creating storytimes to "go with" the Summer Reading Theme.  They are usually themes I wouldn't naturally gravitate to do.

Books

Giraffes Can't Dance

by Giles Adnreae and Guy Parker-Rees

Everybunny Dance!

by Ellie Sandell

Graph Question
How do you like to dance?

Silly like a monkey, fast like a bumblebee, slow like a turtle, graceful like a swan

Songs to Dance To 
(Jim Gill)

I've Changed My Mind--with scarves 

Silly Dance Contest 

Play and Learn
Scarves and Ribbons

Libraries Rock! Family Storytime

(from June)

Books

Dancing Feet!

by Lindsey Craig; illustrated by Marc Brown

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

by Eric Litwin; illustrated by James Dean

My Family Plays Music

by Judy Cox; illustrated by Elbrite Brown

I passed out all the instruments that the girl plays in the book and when we got to that part of the book the child played that instrument.  Since I had such a small group each child got to play multiple instruments.  If my group was bigger than the number of instruments the girl plays, I had extras of some of the instruments so each child would have something to play!

I skipped lines 3 & 4 of each stanza on a page to make the book shorter.  For example:
This is my mom.
She plays fiddle in a country-and western band.
When I play with her, I play the tambourine.


Song

I've Changed My Mind
by Jim Gill
Danced with ribbon streamers

Action Rhyme

One Bright Scarf

One bright scarf waiting for the wind to blow
Wiggle it high
Wiggle it low
Shake it fast
Shake it slow
Hide it behind your back
Where'd it go?
Here it is!

Baby Storytime--Mother's Day through Father's Day

Our theme for Baby Storytime for five weeks (between Mother's Day and Father's Day) was parental love.  Here is some of what we did

Read Aloud Books

Hand in Hand

by Rosemary Wells

Mommies are Amazing

by Meredith Costain; illustrated by Polona Lovsin

Everything

by Emma Dodd

Everything You

by Elizabeth McPike; illustrated by Jay Fleck

Daddies are Awesome

by Meredith Costain; illustrated by Polona Lovsin

Special Songs/Rhymes/Bounces

Puppet Play

I found a new puppet poem to use with the puppets I have that don't really"have a sound".

My (puppet) is looking all around

My (puppet) can sniff the ground

My (puppet) is sleeping in his bed

My (puppet) is sitting on my head

My (puppet) is looking at my toes

My (puppet) can kiss me on the nose

My (puppet) can hide behind me

But wherever I go, my (puppet) will find me!

Puppets used:  Dolphin, hedgehog, polar bear, turtle

Acka Backa Soda Cracker

Acka backa soda cracker
Acka backa boo
Acka backa soda cracker
I love you!

Acka backa soda cracker
Acka backa boo
Acka backa soda cracker
Up goes you!

Tony Chestnut

Tony Chestnut  (point to: toe, knee, chest, head)
Knows I love you.  (point to: nose; then hug)
Tony knows  (point to: toe, knee, nose)
Tony knows  (point to: toe, knee, nose)

Tony Chestnut  (point to: toe, knee, chest, head)
Knows I love you.  (point to: nose; then hug)
That's what Tony knows!  (point to: toe, knee, nose)

Heart Flannel

A _(color)____ heart, a __(color)____ heart, a __(color)_____ heart I see
Now help me count them...1, 2, 3!

Shared Reading

Mom Hugs

by Michael Joosten

Hug You, Kiss You, Love You

by Joyce Wan

I Love You Through and Through

by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak; illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

Sensory Play: Messy Learning and Fun

A colleague and I created a STARS class (for child care providers and parents) all about Sensory/Messy Learning.  It was A LOT of work, but so, so much fun!!  We mostly focused on touch, sight and smell but also addressed taste and sound. 

Books Display about the five senses and messy play

including:  Edward Gets Messy; The Power of Play; Loose Parts

We had a nice turn out for our program.  We had an hour long powerpoint presentation about the WHY and the HOW of messy play; then participates got to experience stations with messy play!

Shaving Cream!

Dough

Ratio: 6 Baking Soda to 1 hair conditioner 

Clean Mud

TP, shredded Ivory bar soap, and warm water

(ratios: 1 to 1 to 1)

Goop

Ratio 1 Cornstarch to 1/2 water

Water Beads

Beans

Packing Peanuts

Shredded Paper

Fun/Random items on Contact Paper

Also:

Cloud Dough (Ratio: 1 baby oil to 8 flour)

Another fun silky smoothly dough (Ratio: 1 Palmolive or Dawn Dish Soap to 2 Cornstarch) 

Sand

We did run into a few problems was concerns with state regulations in regards to using "food items" as "play items"--beans, rice, flour; and soap that can go rancid.  From our own research we didn't find anything that strict--just not things like painting with pudding, playing with cooked spaghetti (ready to eat items).  So we encouraged them to talk to their coaches about specifics.

We will probably be doing this class again in 2019.

Frogs!

Books

I Don't Want to Be a Frog

by Dev Petty; illustrated by Mike Boldt

Down by the Cool of the Pool

by Tony Mitton; illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees

Graph  Question

Which animal can jump the farthest?

            Frog, bunny, kangaroo, grasshopper

Songs

Tiny Tim (magnet board)
(tune: The Grand Old Duke of York)

I have a little froggy
His name is Tiny Tim
I put him in the bathtub
To see if he could swim
He drank up all the water
He gobbled up the soap
And when he tried to talk
He had a bubble in his throat.

Oh, bubble, bubble, bubble
Bubble, bubble, POP!
Bubble, bubble, bubble
Bubble, bubble, POP!

After teaching the song and going over it a few times we sang it through and then I blew bubbles for the kids while the parents sang the bubble part.

I Have a Little Frog
I have a little frog that goes jump, jump, jump
Jump, jump, jump! Jump, jump, jump!
I have a little frog that goes jump, jump, jump
All day long!

Additional Verses:
Ribbit!
Swim

Little Frog--Magnet Board Activity

Little Frog, Little Frog come out and play
What color log are you behind today?

Play and Learn

Make a Lily Pad game to take home and play