Virtual Program: Zoo Animal Storytime

One of my virtual programs for September was a Zoo Animal Storytime. This came together really well, was a whole lot of fun to film, and had a lot of books and ideas to chose from to put together. 

I ended up reading a total of three stories, making this a longer video but I added the two books at the end of the video so that parents could stop the video after the first story and craft demonstration. 

Typically, our videos have been anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, with 15 minutes being the average. It's tempting to make longer videos but we do have to be conscious of little one's attention spans and screen times. 

I started off storytime by reading Lori Degman's silly book 1 Zany Zoo. It's laugh-at-loud funny and really brings out the zoo theme. Afterwards, I did a rhyming color flannelboard story using elephants and then we jumped into our next book.

Our next book was Warning: Do Not Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt. Another funny one that was a pleasure to read out loud. 

I wanted to add an animal song to this storytime and was able to add animal pictures to the background to help kids follow along with the help of my husband. 

After our song, it was time to show my virtual audience the swinging monkey craft they could try at home using construction paper and a straw. I thought the kids would enjoy playing with their craft and having their monkey swinging from the trees. 

At this point, I ended storytime for those who might not be able to sit still at the computer for another story, but did mention if they could to stay for Jory John's Giraffe Problems. I just couldn't pass up reading this one! It's one of my favorite books to read for a zoo storytime.  If you haven't read it, please do! It will not disappoint. 

Book of the Month: Cuddle Monkey

Cuddle Monkey by Blake Liliane Hellman with pictures by Chad Otis is July's Book of the Month because it's a cute book to read to any "cuddle monkey." 

Summary: Lewis loves to cuddle. He cuddles his favorite book. He cuddles his stuffed animals. He even cuddles a puddle, just because it rhymes. Cuddling the bus driver, however, turns out to be a little dangerous. Cuddling at dinner is too messy. And cuddling his new baby brother is wiggly and squiggly. But it turns out a cuddle doesn't have to be perfect for it to be just the cuddle you need.

Ages: 4-8 years

"I LOVE to cuddle!" said Lewis. "WE KNOW," said his mama and papa together.

This is just simply a sweet, cute book to read to your child during bedtime. Monkey fans, big brothers, and cuddle culprits will enjoy hearing this book read to them. Make sure to end reading this short book with a cuddle!

 

Family Storytime: New Books!

We kicked off Family Storytime this spring with the theme of new books! Even though this is a great way to promote new books in the library, I was a bit hesitant with this theme because there are so many wonderful new picture books to choose from and because I thought it might make it difficult to come up with flannel board activities that matched the books. Despite my concerns, this was a great storytime thanks to the group!

After we followed along to the bean bag song, I dived right into our first story, Still a Gorilla! by Kim Norman. This was a silly story about a gorilla who wanted to be different animals, but always stays a gorilla. This is a great story that allows kids to participate in answering the question if Willy the Gorilla becomes another animal. All-around good storytime book that allows participation, learning of animals, and silly fun. 

Since our first story was all about different animals, I used different flannel board animals and handed them out to the group. I called for them to bring up their certain animal and then had the group make each animal noise. The group had fun and the loudest response was the lion's roar. 

It was after our animal sounds that one child in the group brought up a book from the display table to read. Since our theme was new books, all the books on the table were new to the library. I was happy to see an eager reader, so I quickly abandoned my lesson plan and got to reading. Well sure enough, all the kids wanted to choose a book from the display so we all had a turn to have our book read! 

I felt the kids were paying extra attention because they chose the books and I felt this was a good way to encourage them to read and let them know they have the choice of what book they can pick for both storytime and at home. 

Throughout my library career, I have seen parents express disappointment in what books their child has chosen to read, but I believe it is a good thing to see them reading, regardless of what the content is about unless of course it is age-inappropriate. I would rather see a child pick up a comic book, a book on vampires, a Harry Potter book than not pick up nothing at all. By letting a child choose what book they want to read, you are developing a future reader who knows his or her interests. Wasn't one of the worse things in school was having been assigned a book to read that you just couldn't get into? 

Because of their eagerness to read the books they chose, I was able to read a total of six books! I was thankful that most of the books on display happened to be shorter ones so that they all could each choose. I had a family or two come in late, but they were happy to just sit and listen to the stories that were previously picked.

We read The Magic Word by Mac Barnett, Pete Likes Bunny by Emily Arnold McCully, The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat, Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer, and Sweet Competition by Elizabeth G. Reed. 
 

What happens when Paxton C. Heymeyer says "the magic word?" It's not the magic word you're thinking of...

Pete has a crush on Bunny and the other kids tease him in class.

Four animal friends, but only three cookies...it's a fiasco! A fun math story.

What happens when you visit your alien friend's home? This is a sequel to Your Alien.

Unique illustrations paired with a story about competition among desserts.

Out of all these books, Pete Likes Bunny and Sweet Competition seemed to have fallen short for the group. The most fun to read out loud was The Magic Word and The Cookie Fiasco.

We ended our storytime with a bookmark craft. I had stickers and different shaped foam cutouts for them to glue on and we beaded the yarn to make a pretty bookmark.