Wild Sendak Rumpus Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

• Opening - "A Tooty Ta" from Dance Like This by Mr. Al

• Shape literacy activity flannelboard - Shape Identification

I passed out a felt circle, triangle, or rectangle to each child. We then talked about how many lines and corners each shape has. Then they brought up their shapes to place on the board. 

  

• Book #1 - Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

• Stand-up activity - "Monster Boogie" from Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner

• Activity - Alligator Pie (fingerplay I found somewhere, I have seen it on numerous websites)

Alligator, alligator, alligator pie
If I don't get some
I think I'm gonna cry
You can take away the grass
Take away the sky
But don't take away
My alligator pie!

• Book #2 - Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak

• Book #3 - Bears by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

  

 

• Art experience - Color with pens and cut out paper monster feet

• Reflection - This storytime was pulled together at almost the last moment.  I needed to quickly substitute for another librarian.  I'm not sure if I would do this line up of books again.  It didn't seem to flow very well.  The art activity turned out really cute, especially once we figured out how to make the foot hole larger on the paper feet. 

Take Your Child to the Library Day

Celebrated on the first Saturday of February, this yearly event is a great way to advertise all the services and fun programs going on at your library on Saturdays.  At my library, we keep this library event simple.  In the morning, we promote our weekly Saturday Lego building brick storytime.  We schedule one of our therapy dogs to make a visit sometime during the day. In the afternoon, we include a passive art creation table.  Nothing too staff intensive.

This year, at the art creation table we decorated craft foam bracelets.  The bracelets are leftover from a Día celebration a few years back. Recycling the leftover pieces from a past event actually made this a zero cost day for us. All of our supplies were sitting in our art supply closet.

Art table, bracelet supplies:

• Craft foam bracelets (I think we originally bought these from Oriental Trading)
• Sticky craft foam letters (they came with the bracelets, they peeled and stuck like stickers)
• Color pens
• Yarn (a few balls will do the trick, a small length of yarn is needed to tie the ends of the bracelets together)
• Scissors (to cut the yarn, unless you have the yarn pre-cut)

Overall, I enjoy celebrating Take Your Child to the Library Day. It is an easy way to add a little more fun to a normal Saturday at the library.  More information about Take Your Child to the Library Day can be found at Connecticut Library Consortium.  

Springtime Fun Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

• Opening - "A Tooty Ta" from Dance Like This by Mr. Al

• Color literacy activity flannelboard - "Bluebird, Bluebird Through My Window" flannelboard song

• Book #1 - Mud by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Lauren Stringer

• Stand-up activity - "If You're Happy and You Know it" action song from Wee Sing Children's Songs and Fingerplays

• Activity - "Shakin' Like a Leafy Tree" action song from Racing to the Rainbow by The Wiggles

  

 

  

• Book #2 - Splish, Splash, Spring by Jan Carr, illustrated by Dorothy Donohue

• Book #3 - Kite Flying by Grace Lin

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

  

 

• Art experience - Decorate a paper plate kite with crepe paper streamers and stickers

Number Counting Preschool Storytime

Storytime for 3 to 5 year olds:

• Opening - "A Tooty Ta" from Dance Like This by Mr. Al

• Counting literacy activity flannelboard - Make a graph of favorite colors. Each child brings up their chosen color and places it on the board in the corresponding column. Then we count each color. Which color has more?  Which color has less?

• Book #1 - One Is a Drummer: A Book of Numbers by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Grace Lin

• Stand-up activity - Two Little Hands (action rhyme)

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap

Two little feet go tap, tap, tap.

Two little fists go thump, thump, thump.

Two little legs go jump, jump, jump.

One little body turns around,

And everyone sits quietly down.

 

 

• Book #2 - Snappy Little Numbers by Kate Lee and Caroline Repchuk, illustrated by Derek Matthews (pop-up)

• Book #3 -  Three Little Mermaids by Mara Van Fleet (pop-up)

• Closing - Dance with scarves to the song "Silly Dance Contest" from Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes by Jim Gill

• Art experience - Coloring sheet with crayons