Family Storytime: Teddy Bears

I always get excited for a teddy bear storytime because I think it's one of the cutest themes. Surprisingly, I find that a lot of the teddy bear picture books can be a little on the long side, but there are some good short ones and if the selection in the library is picked out, there's always switching to bears instead of just teddy bears.

After following along to our welcoming bean bag song, we got started reading our first story. Principal Fred Won't Go to Bed by Carolyn Crimi is somewhat on the long side for a younger group, but because of it's clever rhyming and adventurous story line, the group stayed entertained. It's also pretty humorous to see a principal having a tantrum over his missing teddy bear.

Once Principal Fred found his teddy, we used the flannel board for "teddy bear plays ball." I handed out different colored circle "balls" and when their color was called, they brought their ball up to the board for the teddy bear to play. We had all different colors up there and practiced our color recognition and counting.

Our next book was A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson. What a sarcastic book on how to find bears and most importantly, which ones to watch out for. There are both forest bears and a teddy bear in this story. 

I like how I can use a book and incorporate it for an activity. For our last teddy bear activity, we did just that. While reading Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around by Penny Dann, we stood up and followed along with the movements. I did have to make up some of my own movements at the end to make the activity a little bit longer and to avoid the prayer movement as to not offend anyone. This was good to get everyone moving and more of those sillies to be shaken out. 

Our last book was Everybody Has a Teddy by Virginia Kroll. This has got to be one of the sweetest children's books on teddy bears. It's also short and sweet to end story time.

For our craft, we made a Corduroy-inspired teddy bear craft made out of construction paper. 

It's time to cuddle with a teddy and take a nap.



 

Toddler Art: Apples

I was glad to be able to read another apple story in this Toddler Art program and had fun picking two more apple crafts from the array of ideas available. 

After reading the rhyming book Ducking for Apples by Lynne Berry, it was time for our crafts. 

We started our craft fun by making a paper plate apple. I cut out brown paper strips for the stem, had leftover paper plate pieces for the worms, and used a leaf die-cut. The kids enjoyed painting their apple red and their worm green. This kept them entertained for awhile. 

Next, we moved onto our next craft, apple stamping. I pre-glued a tree trunk die-cut onto white construction paper and the kids had fun stamping their apple halves into paint and filling up their tree with apples. This was extra sensory overload with the apple smells and hard texture of the apple. They all turned out so pretty with the yellow and red paint overlapping on their trees. 

Since the apple oobleck was such a hit in Preschool Picasso, I made a fresh batch for Toddler Art. Everytime I incorporate a sensory activity like this, the parents usually ask if it's easy to make and how to make it at home. For this one, all you need is corn starch, apple sauce, and either apple pie spice or cinnamon. It's a great sensory activity that can be a tad messy if not mixed well, but perfect for this type of program. 

I think we're ready for some apple pie, apple slices, and apple cider!

Family Storytime: Apples

We started off early fall storytime with an apple theme. This was a nice start to fall with both the theme and the group. I had some new faces and everyone was on their best behavior. I introduced myself and explained the structure of storytime to parents who were new and we got started.

For our first book, I chose Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington to read. This book is all things apples! We read how Farmer Annie gathers her apples and the many ways she uses her apples after, by picking and baking her fruit. 

After our first book, it's always time for an activity. I had a flannel tree trunk and handed out red, green, and yellow flannel apples. Each in the group had to put their colored apple on the flannel board when their color was called. The group absolutely loved being a part of this.

Our next story was the favorite of the evening, Starry the Giraffe by Andy Bergmann. This is a cute book about helping and sharing. The illustrations are perfect for a picture book and are so adorable. 

Our next activity was based off the book Ten Apples Up on Top! by Dr. Seuss. I had a flannel lion and a bunch of red apples. We counted the apples as each in our group had a turn to bring an apple up. Of course the apples came tumbling down and it was time for our next story. 

Apples for Little Fox by Ekaterina Trukhan is a fun apple mystery. Where do all the apples keep disappearing to? Fox must find out. Another apple book with cute illustrations and who could not love a fox that goes to the library every morning?

To tie-in with the Ten Apples Up on Top flannel activity, our craft was making our own apples on top craft using mini apple die-cuts and a print out of our lion character. It was good to see the kids count their ten apples and label them with each number. Good practice! This was a good, fitting craft that I would definitely use again. 

Now time for some apple strudel. 

Preschool Picasso: Apples

After seeing how many apple craft ideas I pinned on Pinterest and getting some inspiration from our first storytime theme coming up, I decided I was going to do an apple theme for both Preschool Picasso and Toddler Art. 

We read a book together, The Biggest Apple Ever by Steven Kroll, had two crafts, and had a sensory activity for this apple-themed Preschool Picasso program. I was excited to read a longer book and the group seemed really attentive and liked hearing the story about mice trying to find the biggest apple.

For our first craft, we made an apple core using a paper plate, red paint, and a stem and leaf. It allowed the group to practice painting with q-tips (for the apple seeds) and paint brushes (for the apple skin). 

For our second craft, we made taffy apples using homemade brown puffy paint, construction paper, Popsicle sticks, and sprinkles. The paint didn't turn out quite as well as I liked, but the parents and kids were great about working with it anyway. 

For an added sensory surprise, I made apple oobleck using corn starch, apple sauce, and apple pie spice. This was an absolute hit with the group and they enjoyed playing with it. I pointed out its coolness, gooeyness, and yummy smell. We all wanted apple pie!

 

Creative Writing Workshop: Story Soundtrack

Flyer I put together for the program.

After taking a pause with creative writing programs, I started them back up again this September due to patrons requesting to bring them back. 

In the past, I ran a monthly youth creative writing club. I really enjoy making lesson plans for these and find the idea challenging and fun. These programs also allow me to revert back to my writing background, having both a B.A. in Journalism with emphasis in creative writing and English. 

My focus is to encourage youth to improve their writing and recognize their own literary talents, enjoy the writing process, and let them know that they hold power with their written words because words can create change and make a difference. 

Instead of having a monthly writing club, it became a better fit to have a quarterly creative writing workshop for youth (ages 8-12) and it has been both a pleasure and a success.

For September's theme, "story soundtrack" we explored the different moods of a story through music. I read a few short stories and we decided as a group which music I played fit each of the stories. We also used another piece of music for inspiration to create our own short story. My goal for this workshop was to get the group more comfortable with mood, tone, and voice in a story and to know the differences between them. 

Naturally, I started by having a quick introduction and explaining to them the definitions and differences between mood, tone, and voice. I showed them a visual example by comparing the original Disney's Frozen movie trailer to a trailer for the same movie, but using a horror or ominous tone. They seemed to have found this interesting and we talked about the differences between the two and what mood each of them made them feel and which tone they each had. 

After I introduced and compared and contrast the topic of mood, tone, and voice, I explained that we were going to read a few picture book short stories to get some great examples of different tones. The shortness of picture books allowed me to read full stories instead of just passages and point out more of the different types of tones in writing and how they affect our mood.

The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool allowed us to explore and discuss the folk/fairy tale tones in stories, The Dark by Lemony Snicket allowed us to explore and discuss the ominous tone or unpleasant tones in stories, Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea by Tony Johnston allowed us to explore and discuss the colloquial or informal tones in stories, and Aviary Wonders Inc. by Kate Samworth allowed us to explore and discuss the playful, witty tones in stories. 

It was fun to read Levi Strauss out loud to give it a country twang and I think the group found Aviary Wonders Inc. and it's playful idea of building your own real life bird in the future to be their favorite tone.

Next, I played some samples of songs and the group had to match the music to each story. They all grasped the concept of mood and tone and guessed correctly to three of the four match-ups. We discussed why we thought each music piece went with each story. I used some music samples from YouTube. 

We browsed some music snippets and decided on one to write to. At first, the group had trouble concentrating, but they slowly eased into it and everyone started writing fairy tale stories. They all came up with fun ideas and I wrote a little myself to set an example.

I would do this writing lesson again. I think it was a fun idea to teach mood and tone using writing and music. I got a ton of my ideas and lesson planning together with the help of Novelist's article, "Tone, Voice, and Mood: Connecting Reading, Writing, and Comprehension." 

My book display on recommended books on tone, voice, and mood from the above article.

I wasn't sure how the group would take learning from picture books, but it was a great way to get some stories in there and demonstrate some short examples of tone. I think they enjoyed being read to and liked the stories chosen.

Book of the Month: The Book of Mistakes

I love finding good picture books that have valuable messages for kids. The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken is one of these special books. Everyone makes mistakes and more importantly, a mistake isn't the end of the world and can sometimes spark something that isn't a mistake, such as in this wonderfully illustrated book. 

Summary: As one artist incorporates accidental splotches, spots, and misshapen things into her art, she transforms her piece in quirky and unexpected ways, taking readers on a journey through her process. Told in minimal, playful text, this story shows readers that even the biggest "mistakes" can be the source of the brightest ideas--and that, at the end of the day, we are all works in progress, too.  

Age Range: 4-8 years

"Even the ink smudges scattered across the sky look as if they could be leaves-- like they'd always wanted to be lifted up and carried."

This is a picture book that depends heavily on its illustrations to make its point. I find the pictures to be unique, artistic, and imaginative. I like how the words are so simple, yet artistic in itself. This book really shows children the point of how a mistake can be made into something better and beautiful. A good book for storytime and for discussing mistakes, as well as an incredibly helpful book for a child who struggles accepting their mistakes.