Bunnies! Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)   
Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger 
Literacy: The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown (Skip this if you think you might run long or lose their attention)
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them
Literacy: If You're Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre
New song/movement break: If You're Happy and You Know It
Literacy: Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes
Interactive Book: In the Tall Tall Grass by Denise Fleming (We all got up and copied the movements and sounds of the creatures in the book) 
Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds
Closing Movement: Hokey Pokey 
Post storytime activity:
Cotton Ball Bunnies- I gave the kids multi-colored cotton balls, glue sticks, construction paper and crayons. They drew and/or glued cotton balls on for bunnies. It was fun and easy.

Use your imagination: That's totally a carrot!

Bunny-Carrot Die Cut Collage
Every once in a  while I take advantage of our Ellison machines. I used Ellison Rabbit #2.

TheRabbit/Bunny one looks a bit demented. And, instead of the carrot die, I used the Christmas Lights because there's more space on those. I gave a selection of pastel color dies, the die-cut negatives, tissue paper and glue sticks with pastel construction paper. That was easy and fun,too!

Piggies! Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)   
Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger 
Literacy: Wolf Won't Bite by Emily Gravett 
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them
Literacy: Piggies by Audrey Wood (also available in bilingual version) 
Literacy: Huff and Puff by Claudia Rueda (This link is to cutest author reading ever!) 
New song/movement break: Five Little Piggies Rolled In the Mud (You can just chant or sing this to the tune of Six Little Ducks.) 
I did this as a felt board, but you can make it an action rhyme like in the video.

I used ArtFelt Pigs and farmer, 
and made my own mud and hay.

Five little pigs rolled in the mud.
Squishy, squashy, felt so good!
The farmer took one piggy out
“Oink! Oink! Oink!” that pig did shout!

Four little pigs rolled in the mud…

Three little pigs rolled in the mud…

Two little pigs rolled in the mud…

One little pig rolled in the mud…

No little pigs rolled in the mud.
They all looked so clean and good.
The farmer let those piggies play
But this time they played in the hay!

Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds  

Closing Movement: Hokey Pokey
Post storytime activity:Pink Piggy Plates
I had the kids and their parents decorate paper plates to look like pigs. Supplies I used:

• Different shades of pink tissue paper squares
• glue sticks
• Pink dot painters
• Pink foam shapes, especially circles and triangles
• Googly and sticker eyes
• Pink ribbon/lanyard string tails
• Black markers       

Spring Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)   
Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger
Literacy: Spring Is Here by Will Hillenbrand 
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them
Literacy: Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Literacy:
Tweedle Dee Dee by Charlotte Voake
 

New song/movement break: The Green Grass Grows All Around (Everytime you say a word that is associated with a movement, do the movement.)
Here's a link to a YouTube that should help you get the tune
This link is to the fun Louis Jordan version

There was a hole (use arms to make a circle in front of your body)
In the middle of the ground (bend or crouch down with hands slapping knees)
The prettiest hole*
That you ever did see

Chorus: And the green grass grows (turn around in place)
all around and around
And the green grass grows all around

There was a tree (stand up straight with arms tightly down by your sides)
In the middle of the hole*…
The prettiest tree*
That you ever did see
Well the tree's *in the hole*
The hole* is in the ground*
Chorus 

And on that tree*
There was a branch (Hold out right arm straight from your body)
The prettiest  branch*
That you ever did see
Well the branch* is on the tree*
The tree* is in the hole*
The hole* is in the ground*
Chorus

And on that branch*
There was a nest (Cup both hands together as is trying to hold water)
The prettiest nest* 
That you ever did see
Well the nest* is on the branch*
The branch* is on the tree*
The tree* is in the hole*
The hole* is in the ground*
Chorus

And in that nest*
There were some eggs (Make two tights fists and wiggle!)
The prettiest eggs*
That you ever did see
Well the eggs* are in the nest*
The nest* is on the branch*
The branch* is on the tree*
The tree* is in the hole*
The hole* is in the ground*
Chorus

And from those eggs*
Out came some birds (Lobster claw finger movements)
The prettiest birds*
That you ever did see
Well the birds* were in the eggs*
The eggs* were in the nest*
The nest* is on the branch*
The branch* is on the tree*
The tree* is in the hole*
The hole* is in the ground*
Chorus

Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds  

Closing Movement: Parachute Play

Post storytime activity: Green Collage: In honor of the book and St. Patrick's Day, we made a green collage. I gathered foam shapes, pieces of yarn, feathers, stickers, markers and dot papers all in different shades of green, gave the kids some glue and a construction paper background. Amazing!

Puppies Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)   
Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger    
Literacy: That Pup by Lindsay Barrett George  
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them  
Literacy: Please, Puppy, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee  
New song/movement break: 
Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone (with dog puppet)

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his ears cut short and his tail cut long, 
Oh where, oh where can he be? 

Literacy: Dog by Matthew Van Fleet 
Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds  

Closing Movement: Parachute Play
Post storytime activity: Make-Your-Own Puppy Coloring Book! This was so easy. I printed out several different puppy coloring pages from the Internet, gave the kids a piece of construction paper to decorate, folded the construction paper over the coloring sheets and Voila! They're own coloring book that keeps giving and giving (depending on how many pages you give them!) Here are some coloring pages that might work for you.

Not a librarian's best friend.

  
 

Monkeys Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics) 
Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger  
Literacy: Monkey Monkey Monkey by Cathy MacLennan 
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them  
Literacy: Banana! by Ed Vere 
New song/movement break:Monkey With a Coconut (Slightly modified version of this: http://freesongsforkids.com/audios/monkey-coconut) 

Monkey with a coconut was sitting in a tree.

Monkey with a coconut was making fun of me.

I told him that I'd like to have a coconut too.

He said if you want it this is what you've gotta do.

He said clap clap clap.

CLAP CLAP CLAP!

You’ve gotta clap clap clap.

CLAP CLAP CLAP!

You’ve gotta clap clap clap.

CLAP CLAP CLAP!

He said clap clap clap.

And the monkey said to stop! 

Other Verse: Stomp stomp stomp! 

Another verse: Scratch scratch scratch!  

Literacy: Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed by Eileen Christelow read and followed with having the kids stand up and saying the rhyme together kinda like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tperYYMCYE 

Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds  
Post storytime activity: Zoo Animals Foam Pieces Collage
We have a lot of these from Discount School Supply, so we gave each kids some with a green piece of construction paper and a glue stick. Some kids made a zoo, another made a safari, another made a safari in the zoo. That was my favorite!

Brrr! Winter Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)

Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger 
Literacy: The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them 
Literacy: Pip & Squeak by Ian Schoenherr
New song/movement break: Ten Little Snowmen (clap or bounce)
I modified the song Ten Little Indians to be politically correct and theme focused. Ten Little Fill-In-the-Blank is a great piggyback song that you can use for lots of different themes. Just change the countable object. 

One little, two little, three little snowmen  
(We counted aloud and also with our fingers)

Four little, five little, six little snowmen

Seven little, eight little, nine little snowmen

Ten little snowmen dancing!

Available at Artfelt.net

Literacy: Five Little Snowmen Felt Board. 
I used the Artfelt Five Little Snowmen kit, but its not hard at all to make your own out of whatever medium. I also took and modified  the rhyme from the Nikarella blog and her idea to make felt puddles to leave behind when the little snowmen melted.

Five little snowmen standing in a row

Each with a hat and each with a bow.

Out came the sun and it stayed all day,

And one little snowman melted away.

Four little…

Three little…

Two little…

One little snowman standing all alone,

With one little hat and one little bow.

Out came the sun and it stayed all day,

No more little snowmen, they all melted away!

 
Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds 

Post storytime activity: Paperplate snowman art activity (photo to come)
I basically just stapled two paper plates together, gave  the kids felt and foam shapes for the nose and mouth, and giant buttons for the eyes and, well, buttons. We used tissue paper strips for the scarf. I stapled craft sticks for arms and glued mitten cutouts onto them. I also used cutouts for the hats. There are more formal instructions for paper plate snowmen if you Google it. 

Cats Meow! Themed Storytime

Opening song: Good Morning/ Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)

Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger 
Literacy: Who Likes Rain? by Herbert Yee
Song/movement break: Open Shut Them 
Literacy: Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle
New song/movement break: Where Oh Where Has My Little Cat Gone? (with puppet and felt pieces)
I modified this originally dog-theme song for my needs. The audience, my cat puppet and I sang the song together then, I would look for the cat somewhere: I had a big felt bed, big felt Jeep, big felt tree and big felt bathtub (They're all Artfelt felt pieces). So, it would go like this:

Sing or say with cat puppet:

Oh where, oh where has my little cat gone?

Oh where, oh where can she be?

With her pointy ears and her wiggly tail,

Oh where, oh where can she be?

Me: "Is she hiding underneath the bed?" Lift up the bed so they can see she's not in there.  

Audience: "No!"

Me: "I guess we'll have to keep looking for her."

Sing the song again.

Me: "Is she in the bathtub?..."

Literacy: Meeow and the Big Box by Sebastien Braun
Closing Fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds 

Post storytime activities:
Parachute Play: We sang Ring Around the Rosie and Fishies in the Ocean

Art activity: What can you make with a box? Collage. I don't have any pictures, but it doesn't matter because this art activity didn't really hit its mark. I expected that after reading Meeow and the Big Box parents and children might get the idea that a box is a blank slate for your imagination. So, here's  some foam shapes, dot painters, crayons and markers for you to create something with a flat piece of cardboard. Nothing happened. They treated it like it was any old piece of paper and just stuck things on it willy-nilly and spelled out their names. Me and my big ideas, again!

Food! Yum! Themed Storytime

November 29, 2012

Opening song: Good Morning/Buenos Días (See My Storytime Set for song lyrics)

Opening fingerplay: One Little Finger
Literacy: The Red Hen by Ed and Rebecca Emberley followed by a feltboard Red Hen story.

She baked a cake and iced it all by herself.

She decorated the cake all by herself.

 


With the feltboard Red Hen story, I had cue cards that had pictures of a cat, rat and frog on the front and what they say on the back. I held these up when it was time for the animals to speak and the audience said their lines along with me. I like to include a language element where ever I can and I saw this as the perfect opportunity. The cat said: "¡Yo no! Dice el gato." The rat said: "Not I!" said the rat." The frog said: "Ribbit, said the frog."

Song/movement break: Open Shut Them
Literacy: Potato Joe by Keith Baker
New song/movement break: One Potato Clap (can also be a bounce, too)

1 Potato, 2 Potato 

(Make your hands into fists and stack them on top of each other while counting.)

3 Potato, 4!

5 Potato, 6 Potato 

(Make your hands into fists and stack them on top of each other while counting.)

7 Potato, More!

8 Potato, 9 Potato 

(Make your hands into fists and stack them on top of each other while counting.)

Count them up to 10… 

(Hold up all 10 fingers)

I will count all the potatoes and I will count them all again! 

(Clap along with the words. I end up clapping 8 times.)

 
Literacy: Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
Closing fingerplay: Two Little Blackbirds
Closing song/movement: Hokey Pokey

Post storytime activity: I usually choose between an art activity or a physical activity, but this morning we did both.
Parachute play: We sang Ring Around the Rosie and Fishies in the Ocean.

Art activity: Cotton ball clouds with tissue paper streamers. I didn't take a picture of the final product, but its such an easy craft I think you can get it just from my description. This is the cloud template I used. I gave the kids glue sticks and cotton balls to glue onto the clouds, which I printed on white cardstock and passed out as is. Then I gave them some long tissue paper strips to glue on for rainbow rays. Voila!

Mother's Day and Art Supplies Clean Up Craft

Last year we made Spoonfuls of Kisses, which was super easy. So I knew that this year I was not interested in anything more complicated than that. Looking around on the net I came across Tulip cards, which looked pretty easy. I've got all the supplies and a volunteer to cut out the template. Couldn't be any easier, could it? Well, that doesn't really matter because I won't make tulip cards ever again. There's nothing wrong with the craft. It is simple and easy, but the kids just didn't get it. None of them knew what tulips were in the first place and almost all of them made the card upside down. This activity just wasn't for them. Maybe older kids would have got it.
Nonetheless, no one went home unhappy. If they didn't like their messed up tulip cards, they had the opportunity to make a craft from my Art Supplies Clean Up Kit.
What's that you ask? All the odds and ends, recycled boxes and containers and the last bits of art supplies that are just too little to use for a group craft that I've been saving. Makes for great collage art activities. I wrote about them before....

Paint! Themed Storytime

Today was yet another day I found myself an hour away from storytime totally unprepared. Luckily, I had spied a book during this morning's class visit (You know, when a class comes, tears books off the shelves and strew them about?). I found it on the shelf and built a whole storytime around it, which worked out awesome. Bear's Picture by Daniel Pinkwater is a story that is a great way to get across to kids that not everyone has to understand your art. Plus, there are subtle notes of dealing with judgment, visualization, and perception. Then end is a nice treat. Then I found Wait! No Paint! by Bruce Whatley, which is the tale of the Three Little Pigs, but wouldn't you know it? The book's illustrator is having some difficulties and butts into the story. I remembered a couple summer reading programs ago, the theme was Be Creative! and we had a storytime-in-a-box for I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. The box included a foam board stand up paper doll that was laminated so we could actually paint on it then wipe it off, paint, paint brushes, a tarp and paint bibs for the kids. I had a great storytime with that box. So I decided that that would be the end of today's storytime, except I drew a paper doll figure on a giant sticky note pad and used that instead of the laminated stand-up. For the paint theme finale, I read I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, which is a fun book that you can sing or rhyme along with to the tune of It Ain't Gonna Rain No More. The story is about a mom who tells her bad child that he can't paint anymore. This kid, he thinks differently and paints different parts of himself in each verse. I gave the kids who came to storytime paper doll cut outs (You can make on your own by cutting out big gingerbread men or purchase), crayons and markers. Then they colored along with the song/story. After I was done reading the book, I passed around my eye container and they chose what kind of eyes to put on their "painted" dolls. Voila! Art activity and storytime combined. Easy prep, easy clean up. Whew!

Quick and Easy Art Activities

This is the beginning of a new effort on my part to collect art activities that are incredibly easy to organize, but can still offer kids the opportunity to be really artistic. Many easy crafts look pretty crappy and therefore end up being the next meal for their home trash bin, if the finished product even makes it out of the library!
At a meeting of children's librarians a few months ago, I received a ready-to-go art activity for fall. It included 15 giant construction paper leaves, a bunch of fall colored tissue paper squares and 15 lengths of yarn. Bring your own glue and Voila! You've got a tissue paper fall leaf mosaic. Incredibly easy? Check. Opportunities for creativity? Check. Possibility for immediate trashing? A bit higher than I would like, but with the yarn to hang up the leaf, it will probably survive a little longer.
Another idea that I've come across for quick & easy art activities is the game Who What Where, Jr., which doesn't really result in an art piece to take home, but allows different levels of creativity to combine with gaming strategy for a really fun activity. Our Friends group bought one for the library and I'm looking forward to sharing it with the kids.

Impromtu Art Activity

Magazines, tissue paper die cuts, feathers and old flyers.

After a while of specialized programs, and especially if you're a pack rat like me, you've got a lot of left-over, and almost-run-out materials. And when you look at your disheveled craft supply shelves and start thinking of just throwing it straight into the dumpster, stop yourself cold. It's finally time for a collage art activity!
Gather all the supplies you would like to see rid of, then some standard supplies, i.e. markers, crayons, scissors, glue (I already have these in a kit ready to go, just in case), as well as some blank construction paper. Take them out at your regular art activity time and explain to the kids about collage art. Show them some pictures of collage artists' works e.g. Romare Bearden, Bettye Saar. Introduce them to some collage art books like Cool Collage by Hanson. Definitely show them some picture books that use collage art as illustrations including Eric Carle, Amy Wilson Sanger, and Louis Ehlert books, and titles such as Tar Beach by Ringgold. You get the idea.
Then let them at it. Things will get real simple or real interesting depending on their skill and imagination.

Monarch Butterfly Project

At a meeting sometime last year, I learned about a symbolic migration of monarch butterflies participatory program. You lead kids in creating craft butterflies that are eventually sent to the area in Mexico where the actual butterflies fly to for the winter. School children in Mexico care for the paper butterflies and in the Spring they send them back. You don't get your paper butterflies back, because just like the real butterflies, they don't always fly back to the same northern place. I thought that would be a great activity that I could draw out for a whole week. And it was. This is the second year the kids and I have participated in this program and this year turned out even better. I call it the Monarch Butterfly Project. It is a lesson, storytime and an art activity each day for three days.

Last year, my programs weren't as structured and I focused on the art activities. We made flat paper butterflies using art supplies one day and hand print butterflies the next day. I think I repeated the flat paper butterflies on the third day, as well. Another big difference was that last year, each child made an individual paper butterfly to send to Mexico, but this year the program has asked that we make a class butterfly, or in the library's case, a group butterfly.

This year, each day of the project produced a different group. After I read them a Monarch butterfly related story and we went over the basics of the life of a butterfly, the kids created a craft butterfly that they took home. To participate in the group butterfly, I had them write their name on a sticker, which I placed into a big butterfly that I cut out of a manila folder.

Day 1: Flat cardstock butterfly decorated with art supplies. I used this Butterfly Template.

Day 2: Recycled butterfly made with a TP roll, and cut-out magazine page wings. I'm not sure where I got the idea from, but it kinda goes like the DLTK one. You need:
*TP rolls*ripped out magazine pages (I looked for vibrant colors and visual textures and patterns)
*pipe cleaners (or some other antennae)
*glue stick and tape stapler
*stuff to decorate with
1. I used a glue stick and tape to wrap construction paper over the TP roll, but you can leave it plain or use something else to cover and/or decorate it.
2. I created a half-wing template (use the DLTK wing template or draw your own), folded the magazine page in half, aligned the flat side of the wing template to the fold, traced it out, cut and ta-da there are your wings, which you can now glue stick to the TP roll.
3. cut a full-length pip cleaner in half. Then fold the half in half. Staple the folded half to the TP roll (can be kinda tricky). Move and twist them them around until you have butterfly antennae. 4. Decorate with whatever supplies you have.

Day 3: Tissue paper and pipe cleaner butterfly mobile
Not as many kids participated in this one, and the kids that did didn't really get the idea. So I might not repeat this craft. But I got the idea from this DLTK Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft. Instead of coffee filters, I used tissue paper, which I have plenty of in the library and pipe cleaners. I made a basic mobile by gluing craft sticks together and tying the butterflies on using ribbon. Got that idea from the Monarch Butterfly Mobile in Fun and Simple Pacific West State Crafts by June Ponte.

Addendum, Spring 2010:
Journey North News Alert
I got an envelope back in the spring of my library's first year of participation, only to find one paper butterfly had returned with the sad news that the school in Mexico where our paper butterflies had been sent to had been destroyed by flooding. It was sad news.

Addendum, April 10, 2011:
In an effort to clean up my art supplies I started doing a collage/make-what-you-want art activity at least once a month. At one of these programs, I made this butterfly collage with some butterfly die cuts, magazine cut outs, feathers, tissue paper and crayons: