Color Your Own Flower Pot and Storytime

 I thought having a flower pot craft and flower storytime aligns pretty well with our summer reading theme, so I went with it. There's tons of flower picture books and who wouldn't enjoy decorating and planting their own flower seeds?

Our celebration of flowers started with the book Lucy's Blooms by Dawn Babb Prochovnic. Lucy enters a flower contest only to get disappointed, but quickly learns that it's the joy of caring for her flowers and someone and something that is the most special. I like how this book touches upon the patience and process of growing and nurturing something. 

The next and final book I read was What Dos Bunny See? by Linda Sue Park. This is just a sweet and simple book that rhymes and is about flowers and colors. Perfect for this theme. 

I was able to find plastic flower pots on Oriental Trading that allowed the kids to be able to color and design the paper that was inside of it. The paper had flowers so the kids could color them in, but there was also an option of just having blank sheets so they could color any design they wanted. I definitely liked this option for a supply bag and maybe would have done terra cotta pots and paint if in person. 

I enjoyed this program because it mixes stories, the summer reading theme, and nature and planting seeds all together. 

Toddler Art: Andy Warhol

During Toddler Art: Andy Warhol, we read a short board book story called Andy Warhol's Colors by Susan Goldman Rubin, introducing Warhol's artwork and the concept of colors.

Afterwards, there was craft time. The first craft was making a Warhol inspired flower portrait using black card stock, green paint, and die-cut flowers. Painting and gluing were part of this craft.

The last craft was making another Warhol-inspired craft with colored square construction paper, die-cut hand shapes, and stamping hand prints on them to get the full pop art effect.

The family enjoyed the story and had fun painting together.

Other Books:

ABC Pop! Rachel Isadora

Other Craft Ideas:

-black and white picture and markers

-yarn warhol face craft

Toddler Art: Monet

This was a smaller group for Toddler Art, but with new faces to the library. We read our short board book story, A Picnic with Monet by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober, that had pictures of Monet's artwork along with a sweet rhyme throughout.

Our first craft of the day was to make Monet's water lilies painting using a paper plate, blue paint, and pink and green cupcake liners. The toddlers spread and tapped their paint onto the plate by using a sponge and glued on their cupcake lily pad flowers.

The second craft for the program was making Monet's peonies painting. The group was given blue construction paper, green crayons, and red paint. They drew lines down their paper to make the flower stems and then used pom poms attached to clothespins dipped in red paint to make the flowers.

This was good practice socializing, listening, and using their fine motor skills with painting.

Afterwards, we had a little playtime with toys and music.

Toddler Art: Vincent van Gogh

This was another great group and some new faces. They listened very well to the board book, In the Garden with van Gogh by Julie Mergberg and were excited to get to their crafts. The book was perfect for this age group because it rhymed and showed his paintings, although I wish it would have been bigger for the kids to see the pictures better. There are more in this book series that I have a feeling I will be using for future programs. 

For the first craft, we did some process art and finger painting. I pre-made foil taped onto cardstock for the kids to use blue and white paint to mix and swirl their colors like van Gogh's Starry Night. I also provided q-tips and pom poms with clothespins for those to try out a variety of ways that would work for them. These turned out pretty because of the foil, but this craft's main focus was on having fun with it in the moment and using their motor skills.

The second craft was inspired by van Gogh's sunflower paintings. Each in the group were able to make a sunflower using construction paper, yellow tissue paper, and brown paint with q-tips. This gave them extra painting time and they had fun doting their brown paint on the middle of their sunflowers.

At the end of craft time, we had play time and the group really enjoyed this part and did a great job with sharing toys and interacting with each other.

Preschool Picasso: Vincent van Gogh

This program usually has a great turnout, but today's was even better. We read a short story on Vincent van Gogh called Vincent's Colors that had his paintings and his words and then we did two painting crafts inspired by his art.

Our first craft was painting a sunflower portrait. I printed out a sunflower coloring page that looked like van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and they had green, yellow, orange, and brown paint to paint their sunflower portrait. This gave them practice for painting inside the lines, but the kids could paint anyway they liked and blend colors.

Our second craft was making our own Starry Night painting. They were given a blank cardstock paper and blue, yellow, and black paint colors. They painted and blended with their colors and then I showed them how to use a fork to make van Gogh's swirls like in his painting. The kids liked the idea of using the fork.

I really enjoyed this one and announcements were made about the Lunch in the Library program.

Other books:

In the Garden with Van Gogh Julie Merberg

Katie and the Starry Night James Mayhew

Vincent Can't Sleep Barb Rosenstock

Van Gogh and the Sunflowers Laurence Anholt

The Artist and Me Shane Peacock

Toddler Art: Nature

My original idea for this Toddler Art was to incorporate nature into craft making like I did with Preschool Picasso, but I wasn't finding too many ideas that would be easy enough and safe for toddlers so I went a more traditional craft route.

We read The Whole Wide World and Me by Toni Yuly. This is a short picture book about a girl who notices nature and realizes she is part of nature too. The group listened very well to the book and then it was time to get to our crafts.

For their first craft, they made dandelions using their finger tips or q-tips and white paint on a pre-printed piece of blue construction paper.

For their second craft, they used tissue paper and glued that onto their paper to make a flower.

Both of these crafts used their fine motor skills and gave them different options with paint and tissue paper.

I had a few new children and they did very well with listening to the story and their crafts.

Other Books: 

Because of an Acorn by Lola M. Schaefer

Preschool Picasso: Nature

Instead of doing a spring theme, I decided to go along with a nature theme for both this month's Preschool Picasso and Toddler Art. There were quite a number of excellent books to use for this theme, but The Weaver by Qian Shi was the best fit for nature and our crafts. The Weaver tells the story about a spider named Stanley and how he collects all these things in nature for his web.

Our first craft tied in perfectly with the story since we made nature sun catchers out of contact paper, paper plates, and dandelions and leaves from nature. This craft was a bit much prep wise, but it was well worth it to have a unique craft that everyone enjoyed.

For our second craft, I used card stock, die-cut flowers, and paint. The group used their fingertips to add paint to their flower petals and painted grass, leaves, and stems. I originally had the idea to use dandelions to paint with, but they wilted too quickly for my liking.

I think the most difficult part of this program was gathering the leaves and dandelions and pre-sticking the contact paper onto the paper plates so the parents only had to add the second layer of contact paper when their child was finished decorating. It was a little stressful worrying about if the leaves looked wilty and if we had enough, but everyone enjoyed the craft and I had enough supplies.

Other books:

Finding Wild Megan Wagner Lloyd

A Web Isabelle Simler

Tiny, Perfect Things M.H. Clark

A Funny Little Bird Jennifer Yerkes

Family Storytime: Spring

Seasonal themes are always fun and a great hit with the storytime crowd and it also gives the kids a chance to learn more about the changes in seasons and their differences.

We did our bean bag song and then read Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson. The group enjoyed this one and it kept their attention.

Next, we did a flannel board based on the book, Fran'sFlower. The group was able to try and feed our plant all sorts of things, such as hamburgers and dog bones, but found out that sunlight and rain is what made our plant grow into a beautiful tulip.

We jumped right into our next book, When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes. I love the simple, but pretty illustrations in this book and the kids seemed to notice the pictures as well, talking about the cats and flowers.

We needed to get rid of some of our sillies, so we sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" and then we went into our last book, Hurray for Spring! by Patricia Hubbell. This went well with the last lyric of our song and it was short enough just to get one more book in before our craft.

The kids are always eager for their craft, and this time we had them plant a green bean seed in a cup using potting soil. They also had a spring coloring page to color.

Other books:

And Then It's Spring Julie Fogliano

Splish, Splash, Spring Jan Carr

Let It Rain Maryann Cocca-Leffler

Other Activities:

Five Tulips

Mushroom in the Rain

Bunny Tales

5 Little Ducks

The Spotted Caterpillar

Colorful Butterflies

5 Little Bunnies

Walter the Waltzing Worm

Toddler Art: Watercolors

This group is always well-behaved, but today was exceptional! They were so attentive and quiet during storytime, I was able to read two board books and I was proud of them for their sharing skills too.

We read One Rainy Day by Tammi Salzano and Listen to the Rain, a Rookie Toddler Scholastic board book. 

Our theme was watercolors, so I read books on rain and got to our crafts. For our first craft, we discovered resistant art. I used white crayon and drew raindrops onto their sheets of white watercolor paper. Then they used thick paint brushes to paint their paper blue with liquid watercolor. This made the raindrops appear. The toddlers got a surprise to see the raindrops and they also had practice holding a paint brush.

Their second craft was experimenting with the watercolor palette. I put out clothespins with pom poms and they got them wet and then dipped them into their watercolors. They could paint however they wanted, but all of these turned out beautiful and with a sunset feel. This gave them a chance to just play with watercolors. They also could glue on a tulip die-cut to their paper if they would like.

Afterwards, we had some playtime and the group was so good with sharing the toys!

This was another fun one!

Toddler Art: Flowers

This was a class made up of mostly regulars and I really enjoy having this group. We read a short, rhyming flower story by Eve Bunting called Flower Garden and did two easier crafts. Both the book and crafts paired well with their age, but I felt like the parents rushed through these crafts more today. 

 

The group enjoyed painting their cupcake liners to make flowers and had fun playing with the texture of the paper grass and tissue paper. Both of these crafts were great for the kids.

For the cupcake liner flower paint craft, the group had to glue stems, petals, cupcake liners, and paper grass to make their flower scene. Then, they painted the cupcake liners anyway they liked.

For the tissue paper flower die-cut craft, they glued on two different types of flower die-cuts to a half sheet of light blue construction paper and added tissue paper on the flower petals to make their flowers more colorful.

 

Drop-In and Get Crafty: Mother's Day

This was a good drop-in craft program that was held a little earlier than previous years to accommodate Spanish families and their separate Mother's Day date. The turnout was pretty good, but I did notice that I might make it a little later next time.

For our crafts, we had a variety to choose from thanks to leftover crafts from previous programs. I had a flower pot craft that was new and a new card craft idea using tissue paper and construction paper with "Happy Mother's Day" printed inside. The extra crafts were Mother's Day crowns, frames, and magnets that were purchased from Oriental Trading.

Everyone had a fun time with their crafts and I was happy to see some older kids getting involved. Everyone's crafts turned out very unique and I love how they add their own touches to them.

Happy Mother's Day!

Preschool Picasso: Flowers

This is always a fun group and today was no different. Our theme was flowers, so we read My Garden by Kevin Henkes. This is about a young girl who helps her mother with her garden, but quickly imagines how her own garden would be, complete with jelly bean bushes and growing sea shells. The group liked this book and it's one of my favorites to read for a flower theme.

For our crafts, we started off by making sunflowers out of paper plates, construction paper, and mixing red and yellow paint. We also made a tulip flower scene using forks, q-tips, and paint. 

The first craft was challenging for the kids because they had to have some patience to let the paint dry and practice their cutting for the flower pedals. It took more time, but the kids did great and I think they liked their end result.  

They also had fun using forks pressed in paint to make their tulip flower scene. The crafts turned out well and went a bit longer than usual, but it was good to see the kids taking their time and practicing their cutting and other fine motor skills. 

I had a program survey filled out that said, "Miss Denise is amazing" which was really nice and made my day! 

Family Storytime: Spring

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!

Toddler Art: Flowers

I have been keeping the same theme for Toddler Art and Preschool Picasso each month to simplify things and carry one craft over that I think would work for both age groups. We had more flower fun in Toddler Art this week!

Our first craft was making hyacinth flowers using our thumb/finger prints and purple paint. This craft allowed for the kids to get used to the sometimes icky feeling of paint, pressing using their hand-eye coordination, and using repetition for practice. They also glued their leaves and stems onto their construction paper.

Our second craft was to make a colorful flower using tissue paper and a template. My group loves working with tissue paper and they had fun separating the green tissue paper from the other colors to be used for the flower pedals. These all turned out beautifully different with some kids scrunching up the tissue paper or simply laying it on their paper. 

Our last craft was a re-use from Preschool Picasso, the 3D flower using Popsicle sticks and cupcake liners. This seemed to be the popular craft out of the three. They enjoyed coloring their stem sticks and picking out their pedal and cupcake colors. It's a nice craft to give as a gift.

Onto choosing a Mother's Day craft for an upcoming program and coming up with the theme for next month's Preschool Picasso and Toddler Art programs.

Happy Spring!

Preschool Picasso: Flowers

April showers bring May flowers...in Preschool Picasso! We had a flower theme for this month's class. 

For our story, I read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. What a great classic picture book for our theme. It was the right amount of time I needed for a story and was perfect for explaining the life cycle of a flower. My group listened well and enjoyed this Eric Carle book. 

After our story, we started with our crafts. For our first craft, we made a sunflower using bent toilet paper rolls, yellow paint, and some construction paper pieces. The kids did a great job using the toilet paper rolls for stamping. This was great for strengthening hand-eye coordination skills and thought the repetition was helpful too.

For our final craft, we made a flower out of cupcake liners, petal cutouts, and Popsicle sticks. It was interesting to see what color combinations they each picked out for their flower. 

I decided not to go with a sensory bin this time around, but story time and craft time kept everyone happy and busy. 

Keep blooming!