It just so happened that this week's storytime theme was rain and this always makes things easier when preparing for my individual programs that are independent from storytime because I can research books and crafts and pair them to what works with what program/age group best.
We started off storytime by following along to our opening bean bag song and then we read Puddle Jumpers by Anne Margaret Lewis. This book shows how fun rain can be and all the different ways we can jump in puddles.
For our first activity, I told the story of the Mushroom in the Rain using the flannelboard. I had enough pieces for each child to put up an animal on the board and we talked about how the mushroom was growing and getting bigger and bigger. This is always a fun story for the kids.
Our next picture book was Raindrops Fall All Around by Charles Ghigna. Ghigna's books always are paired with simple, but beautiful illustrations and we learn a lot about the basics of rain in this book.
I thought it was time for a movement activity, so we followed along to the song "Walter the Waltzing Worm" with each of our cutout worms. This works much like a bean bag song except we are putting Walter on our head, shoulder etc. instead of a bean bag.
Our last story of the day was Watersong by Tim McCanna. This is a fun story to read out loud because it's making all the noises rain can make, is short, and has a calming effect.
We colored umbrella-shaped coffee liners with markers and used a spray water bottle to bleed the colors together. Everyone seemed to have loved this craft, but of course some of the kids got a little too much "rain" on their umbrellas.
April showers bring May flowers...
Preschool Picasso was all about celebrating spring. To celebrate spring, we read rain books and did some rain crafts. It was a plus that it happened to be a rainy day.
We started off by discussing our rain theme a bit and then I read Mushroom in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg. The group did a wonderful job listening and they were definitely in a storytime mood.
I made a few program announcements and then explained our two crafts for the day. Our first craft was making our own thunderstorm scene and it was a great opportunity for the group to experiment with foil painting, blending colors (we went over how black and white makes gray) and making their own decision on how their stormy sky should look. They also practiced their cutting by making their own grass out of light green strips of paper.
I think what makes this craft fun and unique is being able to paint on shiny foil.
The second craft gave them different textures to play with using pipe cleaners and cupcake liners. They used the clothespin/pom pom combination to dab blue pain to make their rain and the other supplies were used to make umbrellas.
A handful of kids asked if we could read another story and then more asked so I was able to read a total of four stories! I think reading the stories is the most important part of a youth library program, so I was happy to hear this request. I pulled the display books I had on rain and we read them. Rain on the Roof by Janine Scott and The Rain Came Down by David Shannon. We also read The Three Little Pigs, a book one of the kids brought from home.
I got a lot of nice comments from parents today on my reading style and craft choices. That made my day! Maybe rainy days aren't so bad after all!
