Fun with 3D Pens!

I held my second 3D Pen program for older kids and now more kids and their parents tried using 3D pens. 

We tried making a flower pot, a helicopter, a car, a fish, an elephant, and a robot. 

This is a good program for both learning and crafting and more patrons are being introduced to this form of technology.

Family Storytime: Owls

The group definitely enjoyed this owl theme and liked the first book we read the best. 

I was able to add on an extra book so we read I'm Not Cute! by Jonathan Allen (so much fun to read out loud!), Good-night, Owl by Pat Hutchins (a great classic where the group can participate in animal sounds), A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na (we went over each of the different types of animals), and Owlet's First Flight by Mitra Modarressi (such a great owl book that explains more about these creatures and rhymes perfectly).  

They had fun counting owls on the flannel board, hooing and dancing along to the song we used by Raffi and using our scarves to wave in the air, and making their owl puppet craft using toilet paper rolls and cupcake liners for feathers. 

Even though there are enough books and activities for this theme, I think having a birds theme could have made the storytime even more fun with more variety.

Family Storytime: Colors

This theme was a fun, educational theme to start off storytime. I have two new faces and they are both really well-behaved and attentive. 

They all seemed to have enjoyed each of the books and we had a little bit of discussion on our colors throughout each book. The books that we read were I Don't Draw, I Color! by Adam Lehraupt, Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni, and Full Color by Etienne Delessert. I didn't really enjoy the illustrations in the last book, but I liked the story.

The books talked about color blending so I thought they were great fits for the craft and were easy to narrow down to read out of the many color picture books to choose from.

I was able to do three activities and the group really enjoyed the Pirate Patch Bear and following along to the Color Square rhyme. For Pirate Patch Bear, they were each able to bring up their different color patch to put on Bear's eye. The color square rhyme works well because it has an action rhyme to go with it.

Two out of the three activities got the kids moving and that worked really well. I'll be trying to incorporate more movement activities into storytime.

For our craft, we blended paint colors onto a color wheel made out of die-cut circles and focused on our primary colors.

Toddler Art: Transportation

I think the group really enjoyed this transportation theme and we all had a really fun time. They all really enjoyed the story, Beep Beep Toot Toot by Emma Garcia and liked hearing the noises of the cars and some helped with the noises. This was a perfect story for the group because it kept their attention and was short enough for the kids to listen well.

The group enjoyed both crafts, but parents loved the idea of having their kids work with sponges for their monster truck paint craft. The original idea was to use toy cars and make tracks, but that would have been too expensive. Sponges allowed for their fine motor skills to be used and still looked just as neat and "dirty" on their monster trucks. They also enjoyed being able to choose between two colors for each craft. I used some craft scissors to make a tire design around the circles to make the wheels for an added touch.

They enjoy using tissue paper to make their car and this allowed the kids to practice more fine motor skills and using the glue stick. Everyone's craft turned out so cute and the drop-ins that came in wanted to register for next time. I'm always pleased with this group.

Other books on transportation: 
Calling All Cars Sue Fliess

Preschool Picasso: Transportation

Transportation was a really good theme with lots of book and craft options. This would be a good theme for storytime, but great for Preschool Picasso/Toddler Art because there's more sensory activity options with this one.

I had some new faces join the group. We read Number One Sam, a cute picture book about Sam the Dog being in a car race. He's used to being number one and isn't sure how to feel when he doesn't win the race. His friends all love him in the end. I think the group really enjoyed this book and they were eager to start their crafts.

They really enjoyed working with sponges and paint for their airplane sky background and loved the foam car stickers, which we had leftover from a previous program. I'm always happy when I can reuse something we already have.

Everyone's projects turned out cute and it was nice to see the kids interact with each other. 

Other Possible Books:
Cars Rushing! Honking! Zooming! by Patricia Hubbell
Mighty Truck by Chris Barton
Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord
Moon Plane by Peter McCarty
Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia
Moo! by David LaRochelle
Steam Train Dream Train by Sherri Rinker
If I Had a Car by Chris Van Dusen