Virtual Program: Let's Be Kind Storytime

For my February virtual program, I put on a kindness storytime. I wanted to do a different spin on Valentine's Day and I thought this theme fit very well.

The first book that was read was Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller. This really is a sweet book that shows all the ways you can make a person feel better just by being kind and showing empathy. This book really fit my theme and was a perfect introduction to kindness.

After we read our first book, it was time for a flannel board activity. Since we are so close to Valentine's Day, I decided to do a Valentine's Day flannel board using a rhyme and some different Valentines in the shape of hearts. 

Our following book was Finding Kindness by Deborah Underwood. I liked how this was another book that really explained being kind well. Both of these picture books allow children to understand all the different ways you can be kind to others.

For our sample craft to make at home, I used construction paper hearts and made a Valentine Bee that they could give to someone else for Valentine's Day to be kind. "Be kind and be my Valentine!"

Family Storytime: Friendship

We decided to pick a friendship theme for Valentine's Day week and there were so many sweet books about friends and provided a unique storytime instead of the usual love theme.

After our bean bag song, we read Adorabull by Alison Donald. The kids really enjoyed this one about a boy and his bull friend and kept using the word "adorable" afterwards to describe the pictures in our stories.

We had a matching activity where they each had half of a heart shape and had to match it up on the flannel board with the same color half. The group always enjoys getting interactive with the flannel board and they each did a great job with matching!

Our next book was The Friendship Book by Mary Lyn Ray. A nice, sweet book describing what makes a friend and friendship.

Afterwards, we did some more matching using laminated book characters. They really enjoyed the matching activities and liked talking about some of the characters that were matched to their friends.

Our last story was My Big Bear, My Little Bear, andMe by Margarita Del Mazo. The surprise twist at the end is what made the book for the kids.

For our craft, we made friendship cards using cloud and sun die-cuts, construction paper and crayons. This craft was easy practice for the kids and they liked coloring their cards and added hearts.

Other Books:

Bear's New Friend Karma Wilson

Will You Be My Friend? Nancy Tafuri

Cyril and Pat Emily Gravett

Mr. Scruff Simon James

A Splendid Friend, Indeed Suzanne Bloom

Other Activities:

Laurie Berkner I Have a Friend (last track on Buzz, Buzz)

If You're Happy and You Know It

Valentine's Day is always a fun theme to do with a storytime group and offers lots of options for every aspect of the program.

We were able to read just two books today since the kids were antsy, but we did our bean bag dance and If You're Happy and You Know It to give them some movement time. 

We read A Crankenstein Valentine by Samantha Berger and Love Monster by Rachel Bright. 

We also did two flannel boards that each of the kids helped participate in. For the first one, we matched hearts by their color. Our second one was counting five valentine cards. 

The kids had a little trouble cutting for their craft, but it was good scissor practice and I had some leftover Valentine's Day cards for them to color too.

Even though we only read two books, storytime ended about the same time because of the length of the activities. 

We traced our hands to make a Valentine's Day card and decorated cards that were leftover from my drop-in program. 

Other Books:

Foxy in Love by Emma Dodd

Valensteins by Ethan Long

Friends by Eric Carle

I've Loved You Since Forever by Suzie Mason

I Love You Because You're You by Liza Baker

Drop-In and Get Crafty: Valentine's Day

This was a fun drop-in with mostly regulars, but I did have a few newbies come in after inviting them in from the stacks. 

We had music, stickers, valentines, and they enjoyed making their valentine bear paper plate and decorating their matching valentine bear cards. A lot of the kids made their cards out to Mom, which was really sweet. 

Toddler Art: Hearts

It was easy to keep this hearts theme for Toddler Art since I was able to save some supplies from Preschool Picasso and use them for this class. 

I try to read a shorter story in Toddler Art than Preschool Picasso since this group is younger, and after perusing through some options, I thought My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall was pretty perfect, especially with the animal illustrations made out of hearts. A few of my families arrived after the story so I offered to read the story again afterwards. Some parents seem to prefer to miss the story part of the program, but I'm just glad they are enjoying the crafts and time together as a family.

Once I read through the story and pointed out the heart shapes, I explained our crafts. 

We made a ladybug out of heart shapes and used black paint and q-tips to make her dots. The ladybug's red pipe cleaner antennas were a bit stubborn to glue on, but we used tape to keep it in place while it was drying in the glue.

For our second craft, we made a heart shape using cotton balls and pink, purple, and red washable paint. Different colored paint was dabbed on with a cotton ball around a die-cut heart that was attached with a piece of tape. Once the kids were done painting, making sure to paint around the heart outline, the heart was removed to reveal a pretty heart shape outlined in their artwork. I also handed eye stickers to the group instead of the pink dot eyes since I thought it would be more appropriate for toddler-aged children.

Both crafts helped the kiddos work on their fine motor skills with the q-tips and cotton balls. I think this was the most important factor that made both crafts a success, just getting that practice in. I think the group also liked having the choice of different paint colors and heart colors for their crafts.

I was a tad disappointed that I only had a few families on time for the story, but it was still a good program turnout and a fun time and way to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

Family Storytime: Valentine's Day

We celebrated all things hearts, hugs, and kisses in our Valentine's Day storytime. There are so many sweet books for this theme that after our bean bag song, we dove into our first story.

The Day It Rained Hearts is a classic by Felicia Bond. I originally was going to use this story for another program, but ended up saving it for our storytime. This is a story about a girl who collects different hearts that are falling from the sky. (A great story and art tie-in is using this book with puffy paint and construction paper hearts). 

As tempted as I was to continue reading, I introduced our flannel board activity. This was a matching hearts color activity. I had different colored "broken" hearts that each child could put their matching color on the flannel board. This was good matching and color practice.

Our next book was You Know What I Love? by Lorena Siminovich. This is a story about a girl who has a doll and all the things she loves doing with her throughout her day. 

Next, we read Valentine's Are For Saying I Love You by Margaret Sutherland. I pretty much read this one every year because it explains the holiday and isn't too long. 

 

We took a break from picture books and I told a story using the flannel board. Thousands of Valentines for Hundreds of Friends is a flannel story about a class who is handing out different valentines. One student insists he has thousands of valentines for hundreds of friends. As his classmates and us as a group are trying to figure out how he can have thousands of valentines, we find out that his friends are birds and his valentines are bird seeds. The older kids in the group liked guessing throughout the story. I gave hints like asking what flies in the air and lands on tree branches and tweets. 

I read a few short poems from Bear Hugs by Karma Wilson and Suzanne Watts before we read our last Valentine's Day story, How Do You Hug a Porcupine? by Laurie Isop. The kids absolutely loved this one and I did too because it captivated their attention and you find out exactly how to hug a porcupine and other animals.

For our craft, we made a heart that hugs out of construction paper. The craft went a little fast, but the group enjoyed making their heart their own. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Preschool Picasso: A Hedgehog Valentine's Day

For February's Preschool Picasso and Toddler Art programs, I knew I wanted to have a hearts theme for Valentine's Day. I didn't want it to be the usual Valentine's Day program so I decided to vary it a little bit. That led me to a hedgehog Valentine's Day theme. 

After narrowing down to two crafts and finding a book that was just right for my theme, it was time to prep and put on the program. The prep for this wasn't that bad. I did have to trace hedgehogs and cut out a bunch of hearts, but it could have been done easier if I had a smaller heart die-cut and trimmed my construction paper so it fit into the copier to make my hedgehog templates. 

Today's Preschool Picasso made up for last night's storytime turnout. No snow today and everyone came out for a Preschool Picasso kind of day!

We talked about Valentine's Day and read the perfect book for a hedgehog and hearts kind of theme. Happy Valentine's Day, Gus! by Jacklyn Williams is an easy reader about a hedgehog named Gus who desperately wants to make his mom a Valentine's Day gift, but just can't seem to get it right. Despite this story being a little wordy (I knew I had an older group who could handle it) and it being a smaller book with little illustrations, I still think this was a very fun story that tied-in beautifully with the crafts, especially when you read the ending!

Once we were done reading about Gus, it was time to make our own Gus...a Valentine's Day hedgehog made out of painted hearts. Each child had some cutout hearts that could be painted red or pink and could be glued to their hedgehog to make "spikes." Once the hearts dry, they do spike out for a nice effect. The kids liked painting their hearts, we used thinner paint brushes, and completed their hedgehog with a red pom pom nose and a pink craft eye. These turned out so unique and cute!

Our other craft was making a Valentine just like Gus did for his mom. I cut card stock in half and used a heart die-cut to make a heart shape in the middle of the paper. Different colored ribbon was glued onto the solid card stock and then the heart shaped cut-out was glued on top to make a ribbon heart. 

Both crafts were a hit and the kids enjoyed picking out different colored ribbon to make their own special hearts. 

Other books that could have complimented this theme were Hedgehog: A Sharp Lesson in Love by Benn Sutton, Panda's Valentine's Day by Tara Morrow, and My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall. Panda's Valentine's Day mentions using ribbon for a Valentine's Day craft and My Heart is Like a Zoo uses heart shapes as illustrations for the animals in the story. 

 

Book of the Month: That's Me Loving You

For February's Book of the Month, I chose That's Me Loving You by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. 

Summary: Amy Krouse Rosenthal captures parents' desire to be ever-present in this simple and touching poem offering reassurance of their love. Signs of affection can be found in the natural world around us--from a soft breeze to a shimmering star. ~From Goodreads.com

Age Range: 3 to 7

"That feeling you always have in your heart? That's me loving you."

What originally urged me to pick up this book was the sweet illustration on the cover of a mom sharing an embrace with her child, surrounded by beautiful nature. This is a simple picture book about the love between a parent and a child, with the message being that they will always be loved by their parents no matter how near or far they may be.

This book would work wonderfully for a Mother's Day storytime, Valentine's Day storytime, or a storytime about love. I also think this would be a great picture book to use for a younger child who may have lost their parent too soon. 

Amy Krouse Rosenthal sets out all what she was meaning to do, including writing a touching book that may tug at your heartstrings. I love how nature is used as a symbol of love.

Toddler Art: Valentine's Day

For this month's Toddler Art, all three crafts were centered around Valentine's Day like Preschool Picasso. 

Our first craft of the day was "Heart Shaped Bubble Wrap Painting." I cut the bubble wrap into heart shapes and the kids dipped them in paint and used them for stamping. I pointed out the texture of the bubble wrap and some of the kids had fun popping a few. We also used heart cookie cutters for stamping too.

Our next craft station was "Heart Prints." I think this was the favorite craft of the day. Everyone enjoyed seeing the colors blend and playing with the spray bottles. I cut out hearts from coffee filters and the kids colored them all with markers. They used the spray bottles filled with water to blend their colors and used it to stamp onto a piece of construction paper. The parents kept both the coffee filter and the stamped heart. The coffee filter hearts look beautiful when held up to the light. 

For our final craft, we used puffy paint made out of equal parts white glue and thick shaving cream to make clouds and then added heart stickers for "The Day It Rained Hearts" craft. This is a craft based on the book by Felicia Bond. It would have been a great fit to do this craft in Preschool Picasso so I could have read the story, but it was checked out. The kids had a fun time playing with the puffy paint.

We had the same sensory bin for Toddler Art as Preschool Picasso. I filled up an ice cube tray with water, foam hearts, and pom poms. This time it ended up melting quick, but it still ended up being a good sensory activity. 

 

Family Storytime: Valentine's Day

There are always a lot of sweet books to choose from for Valentine's Day to read during storytime. I try to look for ones with a fun storyline as opposed to just describing what the holiday is about, but those are good too. 

We followed along to the bean bag song and then read How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen. What a cute story with a sweet lesson...that no matter how naughty of a dinosaur you are, Mom and Dad will love you anyway. Dinosaurs are always a hit with my groups and we enjoyed the funny illustrations.

For our first flannel board activity, we played Matching Hearts. I used our die-cut machine to stamp out different colored hearts and then cut them in half. The hearts were broken and we had to fix them. I put up one half of the heart and the child in the group who had the matching color came up to the flannel board and made the heart whole. They always enjoy being part of the flannel board activity, so I really try to find ideas that get the kids involved and up to the board. It also helps those who are shy by giving them the option to participate. 

After our color matching activity, it was time to read our next Valentine story, Valentines for Everyone by Cecilia Minden and Joanne Meier. Herbie Bear's class makes sure to include the new student during Valentine's Day. Another book with a sweet message. 

Since we just got through reading a bear story, I used the flannel board to count 5 Little Valentine Bears. This group is pretty advanced in their counting, but they still enjoyed the activity before our final book. 

What I Love About You by Susan Farrington is one of our newer books at the library. This one was mainly for the parents since it is about all the things you love about your child. Definitely an "aww" book with fun pictures. 

For our craft, we made Valentine's Bears out of construction paper. I let my group choose what to write in their hearts, with some choosing "I love you" or writing their name inside. 

Love is in the air!

Preschool Picasso in February

We had our first Preschool Picasso program held this year in February. Some of the parents expressed an interest in having the group stick with holidays, so we did a Valentine's Day theme. 

Preschool Picasso is much like Toddler Art, but for a slightly older age group. Since the kids are more attentive from ages 3 to 5, we also have fun dancing to a bean bag song and reading a story that goes along with the theme.

I started with "The Bean Bag" song by Hap Palmer. It seems like there is never a child who doesn't like dancing along using bean bags. 

After our movement activity, I read Hugs and Hearts by Toni Trent Parker. This is a picture book with photographs describing what activities are done to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

We jumped right into our first out of two crafts. The first craft was "Heart Cookie Cutter Prints." Different sized cookie cutter hearts dipped with purple, pink, and red paint were used as stamps. The kids quickly caught on how they could stamp a smaller heart inside a bigger heart, making it an educational activity understanding little to big. Some kids chose to use a paint brush to apply the paint to the edge of the cookie cutters.

The last craft we did was "Fingerprint with Love." We used out finger tips or q-tips to make dots around the letter die cuts and then pealed our die cuts off to see the word, "love." Some kids left their letters on, which looked just as good. They also got really creative decorating with paint in all different ways, adding a uniqueness to their art. 

For a sensory bin, I froze foam hearts, felt hearts, pom poms, and other Valentine color pieces inside an ice tray. The kids had fun melting the cubes to get to the trinkets. There was a tad bit of splashing, but once they were told not to splash, they still had a fun time playing in the cold water and melting the hard ice. I got the idea from a pin on Pinterest, but for some reason the glove idea wasn't working too well for me and the ice cubes worked out just fine.

We had the same reporter who visited Toddler Art visit this class and the parents were just as excited. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Drop-In and Get Crafty: Valentine's Day

This was my first drop-in craft program of the year and we celebrated Valentine's Day. I usually make sure I have about forty crafts handy for this program without knowing how many participants there will be and usually have a few leftover crafts. This time around, I had only about five crafts left.

This is a great family program because it is a way for families to come to the library and enjoy a free craft together and for me, it's fun and quite easy to prepare for unless the craft is homemade and has many pieces. It is also a perfect program for eager, young crafters who may not have it in them to sit and listen to a story. 

We had a fun time decorating Valentine's Day bags to use to hold our Valentines or to give to mom or dad as a present. I handed out some Minon Valentines and some chocolate heart candy while we listened to the Despicable Me Soundtrack. The kids had fun using a variety of stickers, foam hearts, and doilies to decorate their white bags. 

One of my regular program friends gave me such a touching Valentine after she was done decorating her bag. It was so sweet and made my day! It was cute to see her tell her mom what to write on the card. That's what it's all about! Thank you, Neve!

Happy Valentine's Day!