In celebration of spring, I usually have a drop-in craft. We made bunnies. The drop-ins seem to always have a good turnout and I usually hold them on days when the kids are off of school or weekends.
I had some leftover bunny crafts from storytime and offered those and some coloring pages to anyone who would like to stay and do some more crafting.
I used cloud die-cuts cut in half for bunny paws and an egg template and bunny face template for the rest of bunny's body.
Everyone's bunny turned out cute and one-of-a-kind.
Happy Spring!
After practicing some bean bag moves before we got to the song and getting to the end of the bean bag song, it was time to read some bunny stories.
Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming is a longer book to start off reading for a bunny storytime and keeps the kids' attention. It's about a gardener who has a bunch of bunnies "munching" on his crops. Groups always enjoy saying "muncha! muncha! muncha!"
For our first activity, we made Bunny Stone Soup. This was adapted from Stone Soup. We each had a vegetable to put into the soup pot and each had a turn to stir our delicious soup that we were making for all the bunnies out there. We went over each type of vegetable and its color. I liked seeing how each child used their imagination for the soup.
Our next book was A Boy and His Bunny by Sean Bryan. This is a must for a bunny storytime because who wouldn't love a silly book about a boy who always has a bunny on his head. In the past, we paired this book with a bunny hat craft...perfect combination!
Our next activity was Bunny Tails. This is a flannel about a bunny who doesn't like his white tail and would like to change it. He looks up at the sky and his tail becomes blue...he looks down to the grass and his tail becomes green...he steps into a muddy puddle and his tail becomes brown...he looks up at the dark sky and his tail becomes black. I asked the group if each tail looked right for bunny and they say no. Well, bunny thinks so too so his tail becomes fluffy white again.
This next story is always a hoot to read and is perfect for a bunny/duck storytime theme. Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a perfect picture book, but this author can do no wrong. I love how the illustrations are crucial in this book. Is it a duck or is it a rabbit? We had fun trying to figure that out and we each had our guess.
I wanted to read one more quick bunny story, so I decided on Bunny Fun by Sarah Weeks. Simple pictures and rhyming make this book fun in a snap.
We made bunnies in the grass for our craft. I think what makes this craft special is that it gives each child the opportunity to practice their scissor skills, not to mention it's a cute bunny.
In our library, we hold a short meeting for everyone who does a storytime and during this time we decide on themes and assign each week to someone. During their week, they need to pull books, activity ideas for the theme, and supply the craft for each storytime.
This week, I held my usual Family Storytime and covered a preschool storytime. This week was the beginning of spring break and that didn't do so well for attendance, but we were still able to have some fun with reading.
When I first was trained for storytimes, I had some opportunities to work with a preschool group a little bit before I was given family storytime. The preschool group is really a fun and nice age to have because they always seem to love listening to stories and participate. I find that preschool storytimes are always easier for me than my family storytime because the kids are a little bit older and attentive.
Family storytime is great because whole families can participate in a storytime together and parents love this option because they can bring all their kids, regardless of age, to a single storytime. It can be very convenient for parents.
The downside of a family storytime is it is harder to comply to such a wide range of the learning spectrum. It is difficult to find books that will keep everyone's interest, but not go over some of the little ones' heads. The same difficulty can be applied to the activities.
Another downside is younger attention spans can take the attention away from older children. A crying baby or a crawling toddler can quickly take away the older children's focus from a book or activity.
Regardless, family storytimes still work and are still done to cater to those families who love this option. And for me, the bottom line is to have each group learn through reading and being read to. I always get excited when I have a group that appreciates the stories more than the activities or craft because to me that's what it's really all about.
Spring storytimes started off really well with a big turnout. I had some new faces and some regulars. Since we had some new kids and it was the beginning of a new session, it was time to go over what we do in storytime. After that, some of us got introduced to the bean bag song and then it was time for our first spring story.
When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes is a perfect story to go along with our theme and has such beautiful pictures. I think any books by this author works well for a storytime.
After we learned a little bit about what makes the season of spring, we counted tulips using a rhyme on the flannel board and went over each of the colors.
And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano was our next book. I liked how this book had a different style of artwork compared to Henkes and went over the brown colors of winter turning into the green colors of spring, which is one of my favorite parts about the season.
Next, we all helped tell the story of The Spotted Caterpillar on the flannel board. I handed out red, blue, and yellow felt dots for the kids to put on our caterpillar once they heard their color in the story. This is always one of my favorite flannel board stories to use for a spring/flower/butterfly theme. It's about a caterpillar who eats red, blue, and yellow flowers and has spots appear on him after he eats them. The kids love putting their pieces up on the board.
With such a big group and diverse ages, we were getting a little antsy so it was time for a quick book that would grab their attention and then our craft. I thought Abracadabra, It's Spring! by Anne Sibley O'Brien would do the trick. Some of the group helped saying the magic words with me in the story and enjoyed seeing the pages unfold.
After some upcoming program announcements, it was time to have fun making a construction paper and tissue paper flower. Boy, were these colorful and the group enjoyed making each of their unique flowers.
Happy Spring!
Today's Toddler Art went well, but I was surprised it wasn't as fitting as Preschool Picasso's session.
I read Green Eggs and Ham since we had a craft project tied-in with the story. I was worried that the book was a little long for this age group, but we got through it with only a few antsy moments. I had planned to read The Foot Book if the group was especially antsy, but I'm glad I read what I did since the crafts didn't take up as much time as I thought.
As much Dr. Seuss craft options as there are, I found myself struggling to pick two that would both be age appropriate and offer some sort of sensory learning that was unique. I felt that both crafts that were picked fit this best, but that some in the group didn't want to take their time on them. Even still, that was okay because everyone had a good time and I put out some toys to play with at the end of our crafting.
Next time, I think I will try to incorporate at least one craft that was a bit more challenging to slow down the group a little.
For our first craft, we made some green eggs to go with our story. I had printed out some egg designs I made on sheets of card stock and had the kids practice their motor skills stamping green dots in the middle of their egg shapes with pom poms attached to clothespins dipped in green paint. One parent joked that her child made scrambled eggs. This craft provided motor skills practice and paint experimentation.
For our second craft, we made truffula trees using yellow, pink, and orange tissue paper. It allowed the kids to feel the tissue paper, bunch it up, and use their hands to glue their pieces onto their tree. I pre-painted popsicle sticks for the trunks since the pattern would be too complicated for this age group.
Overall, this program worked out well and I learned that I can always pull out the toys if the crafts go too fast.
This month's Preschool Picasso went very well thanks to Dr. Seuss! I had the biggest turnout I ever had for this program and it was a complete success.
Because this was our Dr. Seuss theme, I was excited to choose the perfect Dr. Seuss book to read to this group. Since they are older, I read The Cat in the Hat. It is always so fun to read this book and it was Dr. Seuss magic because the kids were listening so well to the story and were genuinely interested to hear it.
After we read about The Cat in the Hat's mischief, I explained our two crafts for the day.
Our first craft was making Thing 1from the story. I explained that we had Thing 1 on our paper, but he was missing his blue hair and his red shirt. They had to paint his red shirt on and have some fun making his blue hair. For his hair, they had to use a dropper and fill it with some diluted blue paint and then drop little dots onto the top of their paper. Once they were done experimenting with the droppers, they used a straw to blow the paint around and make his crazy hair. Both the kids and parents loved this part of the craft. Once our paint was dry, we added a Thing 1 name tag to our project.
Our other craft was making a truffula tree from Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. There are so many different ideas available to make truffula trees, but I went with the one that I think would be the most interesting and allowed the most practice with motor skills. I cut out sponge squares and put out forks and different colored neon paint. We used the sponge squares to make the trunks with yellow and black (or whatever color each child wanted to use) and then the forks were used to make the top of the tree but pressing our forks in paint and then onto our paper. The parents liked how this craft allowed their kids to pick their paint colors and experiment with colors, patterns, and prints.
This is definitely a theme I would want to do again and Preschool Picasso and Toddler Art lets me get a bit more creative with Dr. Seuss as opposed to a standard program where I most likely wouldn't use paint, but some other art format.
We'll be doing some easier, but similar Dr. Seuss crafts in next week's Toddler Art.
It was time to put up a new bulletin board display for the beginning of the month. I know it's a little too early for kite flying, but I couldn't resist and before you know it, it'll be time to fly a kite.
We had a bunch of great books on the subject of kites that this display fit together perfectly!
Fly Away With Books!
I originally picked up this picture book because it was listed as one of the select few of children's books that teach mindfulness and appreciating each moment. I read a lot of books on mindfulness and being present in the moment and thought that it would be a great idea to teach using a picture book. With yoga for babies being trendy, I find these types of books will get more and more wanted as well.
Summary: Follow a little girl as she takes you on a tour through all of her favorite things, from the holes she digs to the hugs she gives.
Age Range: 3-6 years
"And this is my favorite now because it's the one I am having...with you."
The pictures are simple, which goes perfectly with the message of being present and staying in the moment. There are also short sentences that make this book perfect for storytime. If this book was lengthy and illustrated busily, it certainly would not have fit author Antoinette Portis' intention.
This is a great lesson-oriented book to teach youngsters about focusing on what they are experiencing each moment.
