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

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

Preschool Picasso: Andy Warhol

This was a great Preschool Picasso turnout for the unique theme of Andy Warhol. I'm finding that the parents are excited for the specific artist themes I've been incorporating into this program. As long as I can find age-appropriate crafts and books for both preschoolers and toddlers, the artist-related theme is something I would like to stick to in the future.

We started off Preschool Picasso with our story, Uncle Andy's Cats by James Warhola that explained a little bit about Andy Warhol's life and included a fun story on his cats that inspired his artwork.

Once we finished our story, I explained the two crafts we would have for the day. Our first craft involved paint and green bell peppers. A unique artist requires a unique craft. The kids used cut green pepper and black paint to stamp on a flower-like outline that was inspired by Warhol's flower artwork. Once the outlines were stamped on their colorful neon card stock, they could paint inside with different color paint.

Their next craft was making a Warhol inspired block pop art using different colorful squares and colorful cat die-cuts, inspired by the story. The kids glued on their squares to their paper and added their cats on top to give it that pop art look.

Other Books:

ABC Pop! Rachel Isadora

Uncle Andy's James Warhola

Family Storytime: Hats, Mittens, Scarves

We started off our hats, mittens, and scarves storytime with our bean bag song to get some of the kids' sillies out and then we dove right into our first book, Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London. This is a perfect book for a warm clothes storytime and gets the kids laughing everytime.

Once we were done with our story, we used the flannel board and matched colored mittens. They loved being able to put a mitten on the board and we each counted them all at the end.

Our next book was another adorable book, Little Owl's Orange Scarf by Tatyana Feeney. This book always seems to keep the kids engaged and has simple illustrations.

We used the flannel board to count winter hats using a fun rhyme. We talked about their colors and everyone followed along well.

Our last story was A Hat for Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke. This is another silly story that kept the group's interest.

For our craft, we made snowmen with ear muffs and scarves using styrofoam cups, pom poms, construction paper, and pipe cleaners.

Other Books:

A Mountain of Mittens Lynn Plourde

Do You Have a Hat? Eileen Spinelli (about all hats, not just winter)

Where's Mary's Hat? Barroux (about all hats, not just winter)

Knitty Kitty David Elliott

Whose Hat? Margaret Miller (about all hats, guessing, older pictures)

One Mitten Kristine O'Connell George

Smitten David Gordon

Song Activities:

Johnette Downing Scarf Activity Songs Track 3 "Shake Your Scarves" longer song

H.U.M. All Year Long Track 2 "The Mitten Song" short song with a few movements

Night Train 57 Track 10 "Hats" Short random dancing song

Optional Craft: Decorating cut-out mittens

Book of the Month: One Red Sock

I noticed One Red Sock by Jennifer Sattler while browsing our library's new books and it was too cute not to read! I was hoping that it wouldn't be a long one so I could use it for an upcoming storytime, ant it's the perfect length!

Summary: When a little purple hippo cannot find the mate for her red sock, she tries everything in her sock drawer in order to be fashionable-or at least to match. 

Ages: 5 and up

"In a big pink chair in a room full of dots...sat a purple hippo wearing one red sock."

Jennifer Sattler’s book is a cute, short read with sweet illustrations and a simple rhyme. This book helps kids learn their colors, matching, and acceptance. It also teaches them that it’s okay if things aren’t perfect. A great book for storytime that I’ll be sure to read in the future. 

Playdough Party!

I had another great turnout for this playdough program.

I bought playdough from the Dollar Store and each child had some fresh playdough to create with. Playdough toys and playdough mats were put out and some extra playdough for the kids to swap colors.

We played music and the group had a fun time making things with their playdough. Our next playdough party will be in May. This has been a well-received program. 

Family Storytime: Hibernation

For this week's storytime, we did a hibernation theme. There were some great books on this theme and it was definitely a fun one.

After our bean bag song, I read Goodnight, Grizzle Grump! by Aaron Blecha. This is a story about a bear who wants to hibernate, but the other animals keep waking him up. The group enjoyed this story and followed along well.

For our first activity, we brought different colored flannel circles/balls to Polar Bear for him to play with while the kids learned their colors. Once everyone had a chance to participate, we counted the balls on the board.

Our next story was A Bed for Bear by Clive McFarland. This is another story about a bear having a hard time sleeping, but because he can't find the perfect hibernating spot. The kids had fun identifying the different animals in the story and they paid attention well.

We danced along to The Wiggles "Rock-a-Bye Your Bear" on The Best of The Wiggles cd and the group really did a great job with the movements.

Our last book was Hibernate with Me by Benjamin Scheuer. This was a cute, short story and a good way to end storytime before they got to the craft.

We made a hibernating bear using construction paper, popsicle sticks, cotton balls, and leaf die-cuts for his triangle cave. I liked how this craft incorporated a triangle shape and used cotton balls for a sensory feel. The group did a good job making their crafts.

Other Books:

A Loud Winter's Nap Katy Hudson

Wide-Awake Bear Pat Zietlow Miller

William's Winter Nap Linda Ashman

Bear Has a Story to Tell Philip C. Stead

Chaucer's First Winter Stephen Krensky

Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear Monica Carnesi

Old Bear Kevin Henkes

Bear Dreams Elisha Cooper

Bedtime for Bear Brett Helquist

Time to Sleep Denise Fleming

Sleep Tight, Little Bear Britta Teckentrup

Hibernation Station Michelle Meadows