Pumpkin Storytime

Of course we needed a pumpkin storytime (or two!)

Books

Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins
by Dianne Ochiltree; illustrated by Anne-Sophie Lanquetin

Pumpkin Cat
by Anne Mortimer

Pumpkin Trouble
by Jan Thomas

Songs

ABC Welcome

5 Little Pumpkins
5 little pumpkins sitting on the gate
The 1st one said, "Oh, my! It's getting late!"
The 2nd one said, "There's a chill in the air"
The 3rd one said, "But we don't care"
The 4th one said, "I'm ready for some fun"
The 5th one said, "Let's run, run, run!"
The whooooosh went the wind
And out went the lights
And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

My Hands

Play and Learn

Explore pumpkins (measure, texture, magnifying glasses)

Sensory Bin (popcorn kernels, black beads, mini pumpkins)

Pumpkin Seed Counting game

Draw a jack-o-lantern face

Wooden Beads

Fall Storytime

One of my favorite times of year!

Books

Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep

by Maureen Wright; illustrated by Will Hillenbrand

I Know It's Autumn

by Eileen Spinelli; illustrated by Nancy Hayashi

Songs

ABC Welcome

Leaves
Somewhere online I found a super cute action poem about leaves...but of course, I can't find it now and it was one I'd have liked to use again!

Leaves on my shoulder,
Leaves on my knee
...

Hop, Hop, Stop!

Graph
After our Leaves song we sorted the leaves by color and made them into a graph

Play and Learn

Autumn Leaves Q-Tip painting

Teeth Week/Alligator Storytime

It's Teeth Week!!  So to celebrate we had stories about an animal with big, scary TEETH...alligators!  It was a super fun storytime.  I think I will take it out to my preschool this month for my outreach storytimes!

Books

Alan's Big Scary Teeth

by Jarvis

Snip, Snap, What's That?

By Mara Bergman; illustrated by Nick Maland

Graph

Which animal has the biggest, scariest teeth?
Shark (4)
Lion (1)
Alligator (3)
Hippo (2)
Tiger (3)

Song/Rhymes

ABC Welcome Song

5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Hop, Hop, Stop!

Play and Learn

We were going to do some sponge painting but another library had taken the painting supplies...so we just had to color instead.

Giant Teeth and Toothbrush (kids loved brushing!)

Stuffed Animals with teeth to brush

Puppets

Train

Blocks

Bean Bags

Baby Storytime x2

Last two week of Baby Storytime.  I have meeting tomorrow and we have all staff day next Friday, so two weeks without my babies. Boo!

Songs/Rhymes/Bounces

Hands are Clapping
Hello Song
Little Bear
When Cows Get Up in the Morning
Trot, Trot to Boston
Tiny Little Babies
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Wheels on the Bus (wheels, door, horn, babies)
Hey Diddle Diddle
Toast
Two Little Hands

Read Aloud Book

Week 1

Grandpa Loves You

by Helen Foster James; illustrated by Petra Brown

Week 2

I Love My Baby Because...

by Paullina Simons; illustrated by Cassia Thomas 

Play and Learn

Grandparent Storytime

Grandparents Day was earlier this month, so we celebrated grandparents today!

Books

Piglet and Granny

by Margaret Wild; illustrated by Stephen Michael King

No Trouble at All

by Sally Grindley; illustrated by Eleanor Taylor

Graph Question
What do you like to do with your grandparents?

Read a book (2)
Play outside (1)
Play games (4)
Cook/Make something (2)
Watch a movie (3)

Songs

ABC Welcome Song

Let's Clap for Grandma!
(tune: Did you ever see a Lassie?)

Let's clap our hands for grandma,
For Grandma, for grandma
Let's clap our hands for grandma
Let's clap this way

Clap this way (up), clap that way (down)
Clap this way (up), clap that way (down)

Let's clap our hands for grandma
Let's clap this way.

Let's stomp our feet for grandpa
For grandpa, for grandpa
Let's stomp our feet for grandpa
Let's stomp this way.

Stomp this way (right), stomp that way (left)
Stomp this way (right), stomp that way (left)

Let's stomp our feet for grandpa
Let's stomp this way.

If You're Happy and You Know It

Clap
Stomp
Hooray
All three

Hop, hop, stop!
Hop, hop, stop!
Run a little, run a little
Sit down, PLOP!

Play and Learn

Pool Noodle on table edge

Puzzles

Train

Sewing Cards

Button Chain

My Grandma/Grandpa fill in page

Two Kinds of Play

At the Starting Strong conference in August I attended a workshop presented by the Institute of Learning and Brain Science (ILABS) from the University of Washington about the Power of Play.  There I learned about two kinds of play and the importance of both in fostering child development.

• Free Play
• Guided Play

Free play does not mean “free-for-all”.  Children are given parameters and specific supplies to use during free play.  But this is the play that is both child initiated and child directed.  They are choosing to play and they are determining what and how play will proceed.  The child (or children) set their own “rules” of play (think about children playing house—“you be the mom and I will be the baby”).  Children are left to explore and manipulate the supplies in a way that they want, that fit into the preset parameters.  Free play is important for children so they can experiment, manipulate, discover, try new things, test ideas, and try again.  

However, children cannot learn all that they need to just through free play.  This is where guided play comes in.  This kind of play is still child centered, however, adults gently ask questions to the child during play that assists in learning.  Such questions may include: “How many? What color? How else could you…? Why did that work/not work?  Tell me about what you are doing.”  This helps the child to make connections and think critically, which they may not be able to on their own.

We need to explain to parents and caregivers the two kinds of play and why they are both important.  One way we can do this is through incorporate both of these kinds of play into our play and learn storytimes.  ...letting kids explore on their own, but also take opportunities to talk to children about what they are doing.

Tub Time! Storytime

You can never go wrong with a bath-themed storytime, followed by water play!

Books

Dini Dinosaur

by Karen Beaumont; illustrated by Daniel Roode

Squeaky Clean

by Simon Puttock; illustrated by Mary McQuillan

Flannel Board/Songs

Flannel Board:  Five Elephants in the Bathtub

One elephant in the bathtub, going for a swim
Knock, knock (clap twice)
Splash, splash (slap knees twice)
Come on in!

Continue adding elephants one at a time until...

Five elephants in the bathtub going for a swim
Knock, knock
Splash, splash
They all fell in!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

My Hands
My hands upon my head I'll place
Upon my shoulders, on my face
At my waist and by my side
And then behind me they will hide
Then I will raise them way up high
And let my fingers fly, fly, fly
Then clap, clap, clap and 1, 2, 3
Let's sit down, quietly.

Play and Learn

Water Table with duckies and other water toys
Bubbles
Musical Instruments
Blocks
Coloring Page

Of course, the water table was most popular, following closely by the bubbles!