Sara's Storytimes

Storytime - Pirates

2013-04-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long period in between posts. I have a new job and I'm super busy and distracted. Several months ago I did a pirate-themed storytime. Kids love pirates (a topic I feel like adults never think about unless reading about Somali pirates or watching Pirates of the Caribbean). There were so many books to choose from, but I ended up with these two that we enjoy at home. And, of course, we had Pirate's Booty for a snack (which the kids loved).

The first book is How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon (author of the "David" book series). My son loves this book and its fun to read out loud. I love kid's books where kid's can imagine themselves in the story and this one fits the bill. The kids enjoyed it.

I also read Pirate Pete by Kim Kennedy. My son loves this book, but its a bit long in my opinion (and repetitive, not in a good way). The kids enjoyed it but they were definitely getting antsy by the end of the story, so it was craft time immediately after.

I did something a little different this week, and we did a group craft. We built pirate ship by Alex's Toys. Each of the kids decorated part of the ship and then we put it together (using tape instead of glue). It was fun and it now lives at the bookstore for everyone to enjoy.

Fun storytime and fun theme! There's so much to do with pirates, I expect to do another pirate storytime soon.

Great Quote

2013-03-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”

― Anna Quindlen

Storytime - Winter

2012-12-15T17:54:00.003-08:00

The first week in December, I facilitated a winter themed story time. We read some fun books, talked about hibernation, had a "snowball" fight and made marshmallow snowmen. We had a ball!

The first book we read was Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buchner. This is a popular book - several of the kids were familiar with it. Its a fun story about all the wacky adventures snowmen have while we are asleep, explaining why they sometimes look different than how we left them the night before. This is a fun book for all ages.

The next book I read was Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner. I LOVE this book! The story is about a boy and his dad cross country skiing, and the animals they pass over who are hidden and hibernating in the snow. Its beautifully illustrated and the kids had lots of fun finding the animals in the snow.

The hardest part about story time is getting the kids to sit still for several stories. I tried something new this week - an indoor snowball fight! The kids LOVED this!! We had a parents vs. kids snowball fight and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely! It was fun, got everyone moving, and was a needed break for the kids in between stories. Honestly, if you are looking for something fun and safe for the kids on long winter days, I can't think of a better way to spend $15. The snowballs are made of a super soft - injury proof!

For a craft, we made very simple marshmallow snowmen. This ended up being easier and less messy than I was expecting and, of course, the kids loved making them and eating them!

When our snowmen were complete and ready to eat, we all sat back down for another story, Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows. This is a cute story about a train full of animals getting ready to hibernate.

Everyone had a great time with this theme! I'll leave you with some advice from the bookstore:

Storytime - Halloween

2012-10-29T17:06:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was the last market of the season for Fenton Street Market (aside from the special holiday markets). We wanted it to be extra special, so Megan and I brainstormed and came up with the idea to have trick or treating at the market along with a Halloween story time. We had a beautiful day that was, quite literally, the calm before the storm (the storm being Hurricane Sandy). With this Halloween being up in the air, quite a few kids took advantage of the 75+ vendors at the market with treats. It seemed like most of the vendors got a kick out of it.

I really love Halloween and monsters, so this story time was a fun one for me. My son loves all the books I read and we've been reading them at bedtime in preparation for Halloween. The other kids got a kick out of the gross, spooky and silly books, too.

The first book I read was Halloween Night by Marjorie Dennis Murray. This one is about a house full of monsters preparing for a Halloween party, but the "guests" of the party are too terrified to stay. Lots of gross and creepy things in here, with beautiful illustrations. The kids thought this book was very funny.

Next up was In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting. This one is about a girl and her dad who visit a haunted house...but only one of them enjoys being scared. This is a quick read, with lots of spooky illustrations.

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler and S.D. Schindle was the next book I read. This one is my favorite of the group - the illustrations are hysterical! The book is about a skeleton who tries conventional means to get rid of his hiccups (drinking upside down, eating a spoonful of sugar), none of which are successful because, well, he's a skeleton after all. The kids loved this.

The last book I read was Scary, Scary Halloween by Eve Bunting. This one is a little stranger than the others (although all the "monsters" prove to be kids in costume at the end). One of the costumes is a devil, which all the kids asked about and I had no interest in attempting to explain (I just said a devil is a monster).

My friend Kim took a bunch of pictures during the story time, which was great!

Here's my boy getting ready to hear the stories...

Sharing is caring

For a craft, we made reflective Halloween necklaces. These were a bit more complex than I expected, since they require a great deal of gluing rather small pieces. All the kids made them, some with more success than others.

After story time, we went trick or treating and came home with tons of yummy treats! Fingers crossed the Hurricane Sandy doesn't cancel Halloween for us this year!

Storytime - Owls

2012-10-17T18:50:00.003-07:00

The theme of storytime this week at Novel Places Bookstore was owls. There are TONS of kid's books about owls, so it was easy to find some fun ones to read at storytime. My 4 year old informed me a week or so ago that owls are "creepy because they're always going off with witches" so I made sure to read books about non-creepy owls.

I started off by asking the kids what they could tell me about owls. They said "they live in trees", "they say whooooo", "they sleep in the daytime" and "they eat snakes." Nothing about witches, thankfully!

The first book I read was Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan. The illustrations in this book are ridiculously cute! The book is about the various things a young owl sees on his nighttime adventures - lots of other cute animals are featured in the book. The kids really liked this one, and pointing out things in the illustrations (like a bear sleeping with a fish in his paw).

The next book I read is a favorite in our house, Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood. This book is about a little owl who stays awake during the daytime one day and sees lots of beautiful new colors that he normally misses at night. Great for teaching colors and just in general, its a good book about seeing the beauty in things we take for granted.

Next up was Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. All the kids already knew this one - its pretty popular. The book is about baby owls who wake to find their mother "missing" but soon find she just went to get them some yummy snacks. I think this one is especially popular with working moms, since it reinforces the idea that mom always comes back. The illustrations are adorable.

At this point, we took a break and made our craft, owl masks from Oriental Trading Company. This was a good craft - it was easy enough that all the kids could do it themselves and the masks were fun to wear.

The last book I read was Owls by Gail Gibbon. This book has tons of factual information about owls, but, having read it to my son several times before, I knew I would need to skip some sections and paraphrase others. By far, the favorite parts of the book were those detailing owls eating habits (slurping up a snake) and digestive abilities. This storytime was all boys and they love to hear the gory details.

Saturday here in Maryland was very cold, but we were all cozy at the bookstore learning about owls!

Current Favorite Story - Kel Gilligan's Daredevil Stunt Show

2012-09-09T18:46:00.002-07:00

I always like to pass on when I find a gem of a children's book, and this one is our new favorite! Kel Gilligan's Daredevil Stunt Show by Michael Buckley is about the brave Kel Gilligan and the amazing stunts he performs without fear...stunts like using the potty and getting dressed on his own (and my personal favorite, letting his mother finish a phone call uninterrupted). The book is very funny (and full of events my 4 year old can relate to) and a lot of fun to read aloud. We're really enjoying reading it at bedtime in our house!

Storytime - Empathy

2012-08-16T18:30:00.001-07:00

Last month I decided to do a storytime with a theme that is very important to me - empathy. As a parent, I feel there is no better lesson I can teach my child than to treat others with caring and kindness. However, if any of you have parented a four year old boy before, you know this is easier said than done. I used these books to teach the lesson as best I could.

The first book I read was Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman. I really love this book. It's a sweet story but funny, too and perfect for little boys. The story is about a boy who finds a robot in the woods but believes the robot and is sick and attempts to nurse him back to health. The robot later tries to do the same for the boy. Very cute story about caring for others, friendship and reciprocity.

Next I read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. In retrospect, this story is probably a bit grim for younger kids, although none of them seemed bothered by it. This is the story of the Three Little Pigs, as told by the misunderstood "Big Bad" Wolf, who is a victim of sensationalism by the media. This is actually more graphic than the original story, but it offers an interesting perspective for kids - there are 2 sides to every story.

The next book I read was One by Kathryn Otoshi. This book is about how to stop bullying and the importance of standing up for ourselves and our friends. With the added benefit of teaching colors and numbers, the book focuses on the power of ONE - what one person can do to help another. Great book, great lesson. One of the kindergartners at storytime told me they read it in his class at school.
The last book I read (after craft time) was Hurty Feelings by Helen Lester. This is a book about a hippo who may be considered a bit of a cry baby. The book is humorous, with a focus on understanding the hippo's feelings. The kids enjoyed it (especially the dramatic crying bits).

There were lots of ideas I kicked around for craft time, but I think one of the most important ways to create empathy is to listen and get to know other people. So I asked the kids to pair up with someone they didn't know well and "interview" the person. This required some help from parents for the younger kids, but the kids asked each other what colors the other liked, what their favorite things are, etc. The kids each then created a craft for each other based on that discussion. Ideally, this would work better with older kids, but its never too early to teach kids to listen and how to get to know each other better. Here's a couple pictures from craft time.

I'm hoping to explore this theme with another storytime in the near future.

Storytime - Sea Creatures

2012-07-10T18:30:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I had my second storytime at Fenton Street Market. We changed locations and utilized a tent to try and minimize the heat and sun. At one point or another, we had about a dozen kids there, which was a good turnout. This storytime had a theme about some of my favorite things - sea creatures!

The first book I "read" was Flotsam by David Wiesner. I know, I know, I read this one all the time, but I LOVE IT! It's a great story, the pictures are gorgeous and fun, and it gets the kids engaged in the story and using their imaginations. It really is my favorite children's book.

The second book I read was I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry. What a fun book! This one is about a giant squid who compares himself to various sea creatures, until he encounters one that is bigger than he is. Even the parents were laughing at this book, which is always a good sign. We all really enjoyed this one.

Before our last book, I had a fun activity for the kids. I had a small bucket filled with a layer of sand and a layer of blue plastic pony beads (to give the impression of water). In between the layers, I had hidden various (plastic) sea creatures. I had the kids close their eyes and reach in the bucket to find a sea creature (which they got to keep). They all enjoyed this (even the bigger kids).

The last book I read was Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae. I hate to be negative on this blog...the purpose is certainly not to put down any authors or books. However, this is one of the few books I've read that I didn't like (certainly not for reading aloud). I got this book for storytime after reading positive things about it but it didn't work for me at all. The first issue was that it has a strange cadence to it...I could not pick up the appropriate cadence to get the book to rhyme. The other issue was that is used the word "dumb." I always change words like "stupid", "dumb" or "fat" when reading aloud, but its hard for me to understand why an author would include negative words in a children's book to begin with. This book does have cute pictures and the kids loved shouting out the names of the sea creatures on each page.

For arts and crafts time, I got a few different books of Dover stencils ,some blue construction paper, some paint and foam brushes and let the kids make their own underwater pictures. This was fairly messy, but we were using washable paint and I put newspaper down to minimize the mess. I love to see how creative some of the kids are...

Like this picture on the left, where the little girl added bubbles into her picture of seahorses. Love it!
And here's a shot of my boy shopping at the market. He got this foam sword - he LOVES it!

Storytime - Father's Day

2012-06-21T06:30:00.002-07:00

I wanted to do a special storytime for Father's Day and I decided to do it on Father's Day so moms could get the kids out of the house and entertained while dad relaxed. I had a smaller turnout than I expected (Sundays can be tricky) but we still had a good time.

The first book I read was The Daddy Book by Todd Parr. I've mentioned before that I love Todd Parr books...they are all about celebrating diversity and acceptance, with silly pictures added. My son loves them, too.

The next book I read was Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer. This is one of the "Little Critter" books, which my husband and I both remember from when we were children. The language is very simple, but my son loves all of these books and this one was about special dad/son time, so its a cute story.
The next book I read was I Love My Daddy by Sebastian Braun. Again, this was a very simple book, but the illustrations were gorgeous - dreamy, ethereal pictures of an adorable bear and his Daddy. The kids enjoyed the pictures in this one a lot.
For crafts, I had the kids decorate picture frames for their dads. I had paint and some "dad" stickers - sports stickers, monster trucks, etc. They came out cute.

This is my son's minimalist frame for his Daddy.

The kids asked me to read another story after their crafts, and I can't refuse requests to read! I read When Dads Don't Grow Up by Marjorie Blain Parker. This is a very cute book - all about the ways in which dads are fun and relate to kids. The kids could relate to some of the dad-behavior in the book, so they enjoyed it.

I'm sure all the dads enjoyed their Father's Day gifts!

One of Our Favorites...

2012-06-11T18:51:00.004-07:00

As you can imagine, my son has accumulated a decent size library of books. Every night, I let him choose what he wants me to read at bedtime. He generally picks a different book (or two...or three...or four) every night. Tonight, his pick was The Crown on Your Head by Nancy Tillman. This is one of my very favorite books. The author also wrote On the Night You Were Born and both books have a beautiful theme - celebrating each child as a unique gift. The Crown on Your Head also recognizes the special qualities that every child has (all have their own "crowns"). The illustrations are amazingly beautiful - ethereal pictures of children living in a fantasy world with exotic animals as playmates. I just love it! For Christmas last year, I gave some of my son's special friends a copy of the book along with a crown of their own. I loved giving gifts that said "you are special and you are loved".

Storytime - Eric Carle Stories

2012-06-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

This week was my first storytime in Novel Places new location (upstairs from where it was previously). It was great - there's a dedicated room for the kids books and a table already set up for crafts. Plus, the kids loved looking out the windows from the second floor!

The first book I read was a new one that Marino and I found at Fenton Street Market called Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth. I hadn't heard of it before but we both love it. The story is about an adorable sloth and his slow ways. The sloth gets some insults from other jungle creatures but he explains that he is just being himself. Its a quick read and a cute story.

Next, I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We had recently read this one (during our "Bugs" storytime), but its a classic! The kids actually read it to me this time, which was very cute. I love to see children excited about reading!

I gave the kids some choices of what to read next and they wanted to hear Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?. All the "What Do You See" books are so fun - the kids love seeing the animals and guessing what's next (and remembering the names at the end of the book).

I let the kids pick the next book and the wanted to hear The Grouchy Ladybug. This is another one we read during our "bugs" storytime, but the kids LOVE this one and are always very animated about the more threatening animals. Plus, I love how the ladybug is knocked into shape at the end (literally and figuratively).

For craft time, I let the kids pick out a picture from The World of Eric Carle Coloring Book to decorate. The book has great pictures from various Eric Carle books and gorgeous stickers, too. I had lots of crayons, colored pencils, pom poms and feathers to let the kids be creative in decorating their animals and bugs. It's always fun to see them express themselves in a creative way - everyone's pictures turn out so different.

Storytime - Moms

2012-05-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

I had a great time last weekend doing my first storytime at Fenton Street Market. Since Saturday was the day before Mother's Day, and the market is a great place to pick out gifts, the theme was Moms. There were some older girls (age 7 or 8) there and it was fun to have them participate - they were all very sweet and articulate.

I started out asking the kids who had the best mom in the world (all of them, even the adults, raised their hands). Then I asked the kids to tell me something they love about their mom. The responses were all sweet, ranging from "I like the way she gives me hugs and kisses" to "She lets me have dessert for dinner." I don't think there's anything more pure in the world than the love between a mother and her children.

The first book I read was The Mommy Book by Todd Parr. I love Todd Parr books - he has a great way of explaining things to kids (The Peace Book is one of our favorites) and the rudimentary illustrations are fun. The kids enjoyed this one, and definitely recognized bits of their own mommies in the book.

Next I read If Mom Had 3 Arms by Karen Kaufman Orloff. My son loves this one; this is one of our favorite bedtime stories. The kids likes this one, too, although they said the multi-armed mom was a little strange looking. The story fantasizes what if the old "I only have two arms!" mom-ism weren't the case.

The last book I read was Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. This is one of my favorites, mainly because the baby owls are so adorable! The story is about 3 baby owls who wake to find their mother missing and they worry about whether she will return. Of course, she soon arrives - moms always come back! It's a sweet book and the kids related to the emotions of the owls.

After stories, we worked on special crafts for mom. Since this was my first time at Fenton Street Market and I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of ages, surfaces, etc, I wanted to keep it simple. I had foam hearts, foam flowers, foam letters and foam paint for the kids to decorate hearts for their moms. It went over well but, note to self: foam paint is messy!

Cathy Burt is a used children's book vendor at Fenton Street Market. She is very passionate about children's literacy and books in general. Marino and I got some perfect condition hardcover used books from her for a great price!

My friend Megan, Fenton Street Market's Manager, took a few pictures of me reading to the kids.

Look at all those sweet faces!

That afternoon, Olivia Mancini played at the market. My boy just loved her and told me "I just want to stay here and listen."

I'm looking forward to going back to Fenton Street Market to do another storytime next month (and visiting the market to shop!).

Storytime - Bugs

2012-05-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

My most recent storytime theme was bugs. There's soooo many fun stories, songs and crafts centering around bugs; I actually had a hard time narrowing down what to use.

I started out by asking the kids to share their names and their favorite bugs. Next we sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", which even the older kids seemed to like (the hand movements make it interactive and fun).

The first book we read was Bugs, Bugs, Bugs by Bob Barner. This was my first time reading this book, but it was perfect - it covered characteristics of various bugs, it rhymed and had cute pictures.

The next book I read was one of my son's favorites, The Grouchy Ladybug. This is an Eric Carle book and very similar to The Very Hungry Caterpillar (but a bit edgier). I was surprised that my son was the only child there who knew the story, but they all really enjoyed it. The premise of the book is that a very crabby ladybug approaches various threatening animals and asks them if they want to fight, but when they agree, she dismisses them with "you're too small" reply. That is until a humpback whale puts her in her place (literally and figuratively). Its a fun book, with great illustrations.
Next, we played the "Mystery Box" game, which is inspired by my librarian friend's blog. This is always a big hit with the kids; even if the "guessing" part is easy, they love to see what's inside the box. The week's mystery box was filled with Melissa and Doug Sunny Patch Bugs (which are also a lot of fun to bury in the sandbox and have my son find them). This game was a bit of a challenge, though. I'm not sure how much younger kids know about the characteristics of different bugs, so there were a lot of wrong guesses before we got the right ones, but ideally that means the kids learned something (I can hope, right?).

The last book I read was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Even the parents enjoyed hearing this story, that many remember from their own childhood. All the kids knew the story but still got excited at the end when the beautiful butterfly appeared.

This week's craft involved making these fun little bugs. I gave the kids the option to use finger paint and use their finger prints as the bug's bodies or to use dot markers for the bodies. Most of them used both. The "bugs" below are the ones I made as examples. The kids seemed to really enjoy making the bugs (and making a mess).

New Favorite Bedtime Book - Sea of Bath

2012-04-24T19:20:00.002-07:00

I always love to share when I find great children's books. This book, Sea of Bath, by Bob Logan, is my boy's new favorite bedtime book. He insists I read it at least three times before we go to bed every night! It's a fun, quick read with great illustrations. In the book, the Captain ponders the strange elements of his "sea" (a child's bathtub). Very cute book - great for bedtime (the Captain falls asleep at the end of the story).

Storytime - Visual Storytelling

2012-04-18T19:24:00.003-07:00

This week's theme was visual storytelling/picture books. I was happy to "read" some David Wiesner picture books. The first two were wordless. The last one, Art and Max, has some words but the pictures are much more important to the story than the words. I stumbled upon these books at the public library with my son one day and fell in love. The pictures are AMAZING and the stories, told so clearly by the illustrations, are whimsical and thought-provoking.

I asked the kids to tell me what they saw in the pictures and we would sort of summarize the story as it went on. The first book we read was Flotsam. The story is about a young boy who finds and underwater camera at the beach, develops the film inside, and finds all kinds of amazing pictures of what goes on under the sea. They were very excited about the story and what they saw in the pictures. If you haven't read this book yet, get it! It's really a treasure!

The second book we read, also by David Wiesner, was Tuesday. This was definitely the favorite of the day and perhaps one of the best received of all the books I've read since I started storytime. They thought this book was hysterical! The adorable illustrations tell the tale of one late Tuesday night, when frogs are able to fly around town on their lily pads. Mishaps and hilarity ensue. Every page I turned the kids would explode with giggles and point out what they saw. The kids loved it and I loved seeing their reaction to it.

As I've mentioned in other posts, I like to be fluid with my storytime, and its small enough to accommodate the kids' wishes, to an extent. One of the regular attendees asked me to read her favorite book, Bently & Egg by William Joyce, since its illustrations reminded her of the last book we would be reading (Art & Max). Honestly, this book was a little strange to me, there was a lot going on and some of the language choices were unusual, but the plot was cute (frog must save a bunny egg) and the kids listened intently to the relatively long story.

The last book I read was Art & Max. The plot is a bit complicated to explain with words...but one lizard attempts to paint another grouchy lizard with initially disastrous results, but beauty reins by the end. Its a fun story and the illustrations and use of color are just breath taking. The kids liked the story and got very excited over the pictures and the different colors in the book.

All the David Wiesner books are among my very favorite children's books and I really enjoyed sharing them with the kids. He has authored a number of other picture books and I'm looking forward to incorporating them into another storytime.

Normally, I do a craft after reading, but this week I decided we should play charades, keeping with the theme of visual storytelling. I was surprised - none of the kids had ever played before (even the older kids...up to age 6 1/2). There was a bit of a learning curve, but they loved it and didn't want to stop playing. Initially, I was giving them ideas to act out (reading a book, sleeping, riding a bike, walking a dog) but once they got the hang of it, they started thinking up their own ideas to act out. The kids would have been happy to play charades all day! I am going to think of ways to incorporate the game into other storytime themes, since it went over so well. After sitting through a few books, the kids are definitely ready to get up and moving out of their seats.

Storytime - Springtime

2012-04-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

This week I wanted to talk about Spring, although here in Maryland, it's felt like Spring for the past month! I asked the kids to tell me something special that happens in Spring when they introduce themselves. They said cute things, like baby birds are born, flowers grow, the Easter Bunny comes. Of course, my son said that the Grinch comes in Spring. Poor guy. Easter Bunny, the Grinch, its all the same :)

The first book I read this week was Spring is Here by Will Hillenbrand. This is from a series of stories about a big bear and his woodland friends (a mole is the other main character of this story). In this story, Mole tries different tactics to wake the bear out of his hibernation slumber until he finds bears sweet spot (and tires himself in the process). The kids thought this one was very funny and they all enjoyed it (in fact, my son and I reenacted the story later that day).
The second book I read was A nd Then It's Spring by Julie Folgiano and Erin Stead. Wow, the kids LOVED this book! Essentially, the book is about the long wait for plants to grow, and imagined perils to the plants in the meantime. The illustrations are gorgeous and the kids loved combing through the pictures to identify what was growing and all the silly things happening in the pictures. In fact, they spent the whole story huddled around me pointing to things in the book. It was adorable; I love to see the kids get excited over a book!

I had planned to read a third book (about the Easter bunny) but it didn't arrive in time and reading the second book took significantly longer than I expected due to the kids' enthusiasm, so it worked out for the best.

This week's craft I had bought on sale at Michael's a few months ago with this theme in mind. The kit came with everything needed to make 10 each of 2 different crafts (ladybug and daisy). The kids enjoyed making these (all they required more glue than I expected) and were happy to take them home.

Storytime - St. Patrick's Day

2012-03-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

This storytime Saturday actually fell on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day! There's lots of fun things to do with the holiday and I tried to take advantage of them. My maternal grandmother was very into her Irish heritage and she'd always call on St. Patrick's Day to make sure we were wearing green. I like to think she would have appreciated this particular storytime.

This storytime was a half hour later than I usually start (11:30), so I brought snacks, assuming the kids would be hungry. Playing on the theme, I made a green fruit salad - kiwi, green grapes and honeydew melon. This was a big hit, although I incorrectly assumed the kids would eat the fruit with their fingers. Nope! They all insisted on forks, so we had a little delay finding forks for the fruit salad.

The first book I read was The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever by Teddy Slater. It was a very cute book about leprechauns and how they celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Then I read St. Patrick's Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting and Jan Brett. I really liked this one...it was the perfect length and had an easy to understand plot. The little boy in the story defies expectations by secretly accomplishing what his family had deemed him "too little" to do. All kids relate to that plot! And there was a dog pal in the story - that always goes over well.

I wanted to save plenty of time for this week's craft, since it was a little more involved that usual (and required more parental assistance). We made popsicle stick picture frames. I had colored popsicle sticks and shamrock stickers and green glitter glue to decorate the frames. While we waited for the frames to dry and the glue to set (this took longer than I expected), I took pictures of the kids in a leprechaun disguise. I later emailed the pictures to their parents to print out and put in the frame. The kids really enjoyed getting their picture taken. I really think the snack at the beginning helped keep them focused.

After storytime, I invited everyone to join us at a local park for some playtime. It was a gorgeous spring day and we were definitely tired when we got home!

Perfect Books for Easter Baskets!

2012-03-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Novel Places has these adorable book/toys by Peter Lippman on display right now and they are perfect for Easter baskets! The kids love them and immediately flock to them after storytime.

Best of all, they are all less than $10!

How adorable are these?
The kids call this one "the scary house" book and this one might be my favorite.

This school bus book is adorable!

This one is perfect for girls obsessed with princesses!

The boys all love the ones with wheels, like this fire truck book.

The ice cream truck book plays music (this is definitely a favorite of the kids at storytime).

You can find more on the Novel Places website. Just search "Peter Lippman."

Interesting Washington Post Article

2012-03-18T17:52:00.002-07:00

The Washington Post had an interesting article this weekend regarding the importance of early literacy and the unconventional methods local libraries are using to encourage parents to read to their young children.

Read the article here.

Storytime - The Lorax/Tree Hugging

2012-03-13T19:17:00.001-07:00

I wanted to do something to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday, but I was out of town the first weekend in March. I decided to plan a belated tribute to Dr. Seuss and also celebrate the opening of The Lorax movie. And, of course, I love to incorporate a lesson into my storytimes when possible, and The Lorax is a great way to discuss the environment.

For introductions, I had the kids tell me their names and their favorite things about trees (most mentioned birds and flowers). I try to be as adaptable as possible during my storytimes, and I always stop to ask the kids questions about the books (I think reading comprehension is the most valuable skill to teach!) and let them make comments or ask questions about the book. However, this made The Lorax, which is already a fairly lengthy book, very long. The kids enjoyed the story and were pretty animated about it, but they were ready to do the craft by the end of the story. Though I planned to read 1-2 more books, I gave that idea up and introduced the craft.

The craft this week was similar to the trash themed craft. I gave the kids tree coloring pages. I had cut out pictures of many of the wonderful things that trees contain: birds, nests, monkeys, flowers, fruit, hammocks, etc. The kids enjoyed the craft and were very proud of their trees.

Here's how my boy's picture turned out...he wasn't particularly motivated.

My little buddy Landyn made this one and gave it to me. So sweet!

The kids hard at work...

Storytime - Trash and Recycling

2012-03-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

This storytime was a lot of fun, and it gave the kids a chance to get up and moving after the stories. They all really enjoyed the craft, too.

I like to start out storytime with introductions. For this storytime, I asked them to tell me their name and tell me something that stinks.

The first book I read was I Stink! by Kate McMullen. My son and I love this book and in fact, we have all the other Kate McMullen books, too. This is also a really fun book to read aloud! The kids loved it and thought it was hysterical.

The second book I read was Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash! by Barbara Odanaka.
The kids enjoyed this one, too. The rhyming is a lot of fun and the book ends with kids playing with their own garbage trucks, so the kids can relate to it.

The final book I read was The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Alison Inches.
Full disclosure here, this book was a bit over the kid's heads (parts of it were over my own head!). The kids who come to storytime have an average age of 3.5 and this book went into the complex process of recycling. It was also long and I ended up needing to skip parts of the book. However, its a cute book (I would just recommend it for kids 6 or older).

After the stories, we had a brief discussion about what recycling is, what kinds of trash can be recycled and what kinds of trash need to be put in the regular trash. Then I asked the kids to hunt for "trash" in the bookstore. The "trash" consisted of things like (unused) napkins and tissues, plastic pretend food, plastic bottles, etc. I had the kids collect the "trash" and then decide whether to place it in the trash can or the recycling container.

For a craft, I had coloring pages of trash trucks or recycling bins for the kids to choose from. I had spent this night before cutting out pictures of different items that are recycled and thrown away - bottles, newspapers, diapers, moldy food, etc. I had the kids paste the cut out trash items with the correct picture (trash or recycling). They came out very cute and the kid's were happy with them.

Here's my boy's picture below.

Jazzy Storytime

2012-03-07T18:57:00.008-08:00

Storytime on February 25th had a Jazz/Mardi Gras theme. I had planned to do this theme the weekend prior to Fat Tuesday, but ended up too sick to speak, let alone do storytime!

I started out by playing the kids the song "When We're Human" from the Princess and the Frog soundtrack as a way to orient them to the concept of jazz music. I talked a bit about Mardi Gras and New Orleans. I read This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt (this is one of my favorite books to read my son), which I first learned about on the Confessions of a Real Librarian blog (great resource for storytime ideas). I then played the audiobook of CD of Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub and "read along" using the physical book. The kids LOVED the Jazz Fly CD and they all got up and started dancing as it played. It was really fun to watch them get so excited!

After the stories, I played the rest of the Princess and the Frog soundtrack, and we made Mardi Gras masks using random art supplies I had (plastic masks were sold in 3 packs at Michael's). I had feathers, foam stickers, glitter glue and pom poms for the kids to use for their masks. They really enjoyed the craft, and showing them off when they were done.

Here's a few pictures of some of the kids and their creations.

I was really impressed with how interested the kids were in jazz and how well they responded to the music. I plan to do another music themed storytime soon - playing music really seems to get everyone energized and social.

About Me & My Part-time Storytime

2012-03-06T06:30:00.001-08:00

I'm a full-time working mom to an amazing (almost) 4 year old boy. Since having my son, I discovered the joy of reading aloud and found an opportunity to facilitate a storytime on the weekends at a very cool local independent bookstore. I have no budget and not a lot of extra time to prepare, so these storytimes are a good challenge to my creativity!

Thanks for reading!