Birdy Books!

April 29, 2014

Birdy Books!

A storytime devoted to all of our fine feathered friends!

Books:

Purple Little Bird by Greg Foley
Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert
Sylvie by Jennifer Sattler
Roly-Poly Egg by Kali Stileman

Songs:
Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: If You're Happy and You Know It - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3: Skiny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singable Songs for Kids

Song 4: 3 Blue Pigeons - Wee Sing Animals

Song 5: Little Bird - Wee Sing Animals

Song 6: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 7: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Your Hands - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt/Magnet Board:

 

 No - we did not get to do our magnet board today as the kids were a little bit too excited to sit still for very long. BUT - we still intended to do one and made a beautiful one at that so... here it is! I had the hardest time finding WHERE I found this little rhyme, but I finally tracked it down to Notes From the Story Room.

Five Colorful Birds

The cardinal is a bird that is colored bright red,
He has a crest of feathers on his head.

A squawking jay's feathers are blue,
She calls out loudly to protect her babies so new.

A hummingbird has feathers that are green,
He moves his wings so fast they can hardly be seen.

The finch has feathers that are bright yellow,
Indeed he thinks he's a handsome fellow.

Bright orange are the feathers of the oriole,
She sings a song telling winter to go.

I found simple, free clip art pictures of the five birds and printed those out - glued them to thick poster paper - and attached our handy dandy magnet circles onto the backs and PRESTO! A magnet set!

Craft:

Today we made another paper bag puppet - this time we made an owl. This one is very simple - it's only 1 page and two very simple shapes to cut out. I originally found this craft linked to a Pintrest account, but going back today to hunt it down - I just can't find it! I did, however, manage to find to original

Quack Quack!

April 22, 2014

Quack Quack!

A storytime devote to ducks and ducky things!

Books:

One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
Outfoxed by Mike Twohy

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Sinagalong Songs for Kids

Song 3: Shake Your Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 4: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 5: Put Your Little Foot - Wee Sing Fun 'N Folk

Song 6: If You're Happy and You Know It - Kimbo

Song 7: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt/Magnet Board:

5 Little Ducks!

We did a telling of the nursery rhyme Five Little Ducks for this week's magnet board. We simply printed out five little ducks and attached magnets to the back to tell the story:

Five little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only four little ducks came back.

Four little ducks
Went out one day
...
But only three little ducks came back.

Three little ducks
Went out one day
...
But only two little ducks came back.

Two little ducks
Went out one day
...
But only one little duck came back.

One little duck
Went out one day
...
But none of the five little ducks came back.

Sad mother duck
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
The sad mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack."
And all of the five little ducks came back!

Craft:

Today, we made a duck picture! We used a pond coloring page for the background and then had the kids assemble and glue the duck craft on top of it. Worked like a charm and the kids really enjoyed assembling the duck!

Bunnies!

April 15, 2014

Bunnies!

A storytime devoted to the cutest cotton-tails around! In preparation and celebration of Easter, we read bunny books and sang bunny songs.

Books:

Little Bunny Foo Foo by Paul Brett Johnson
      As told by The Good Fairy, this is a retelling of the song "Little Bunny Foo Foo" that we all love.

The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen
      Katherine Tegen has quite a few tellings of our favorite holiday mascots; this is the story of the Easter Bunny. It tells of the Easter Bunny learned his trade and took over the giving of Easter baskets from an elderly couple in the village.

Piggy Bunny by Rachel Vail
      This is an adorable story of a little piglet who wants to be an Easter Bunny when he grows up! With the help of his grandparents, a little practice, and an Internet order - his wish can come true!

Songs:

Opening Song: Thumbkin - Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Song 4: Dance Your Fingers/Clap Your Hands - Wee Sing for Baby

Song 5: The Bunny's in the Grass**

Song 6: The Green Grass Grows - Favorite Songs for Children - Baby Genius

Song 7: If You're Happy and You Know It -Kimbo

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt/Magnet Board:

Today we did The Story of the Enormous Easter Egg! Never heard of it? Neither had I, but it's very cute! The basic story goes like this:

 

One day, the Easter Bunny was out gathering eggs to color for Easter when he saw an Enormous Egg and he though "Oh! I must have that for Easter this year!" So he dumped out his basket and took the Enormous Egg home with him.

First, he stopped at Grandpa Blue's house and asked him, "Please, Grandpa Blue! Please come help me paint this Enormous Egg!"
Grandpa Blue told him, "Oh no! I don't have enough paint to paint that big egg! You'll have to find someone else!"

Next, he stopped at Mrs. Red's house and asked her, "Please, Mrs. Red! Please come help me paint this Enormous Egg!"
Mrs. Red told him, "Oh no! I don't have enough paint to paint that big egg! You'll have to find someone else!"

Then, he stopped at Mr. Yellow's house and asked him, "Please, Mr. Yellow! Please come help me paint this Enormous Egg!" Mr. Yellow told him, "Oh no! I don't have enough paint to paint that big egg! You'll have to find someone else!"

Next, he stopped at Grandma Green's house and asked her, "Please, Grandma Green! Please come help me paint this Enormous Egg!"
Grandma Green told him, "Oh no! I don't have enough paint to paint that big egg! You'll have to find someone else!"

Then, he stopped at Miss Orange's house and asked her, "Please, Miss Orange! Please come help me paint this Enormous Egg!"
Miss Orange told him, "Oh no! I don't have enough paint to paint that big egg! You'll have to find someone else!"

Finally, he stopped at Baby Purple's house and asked her, "Please, Baby Purple! Please come help me paint this Enormous Egg!"
Baby Purple told him, "Oh no! I don't have enough paint to paint that big egg! You'll have to find someone else!"

Then Baby Purple looked around and saw all the bunnies with their small pots of paint and had an idea!

"Why don't we ALL paint the Enormous Egg!!We can do it TOGETHER!"

So all the bunnies came with all their different color paints and they all painted the Enormous Egg together and made the Enormous Egg into a beautiful and colorful Enormous Easter Egg!!

THE END

Craft:

Today, we made a very simple (easily printable) rabbit paper bag puppet! Thanks to the good people at First School.

Nursery Rhymes

April 8, 2014

Nursery Rhymes
A storytime devoted to the good ole classics!
Books:

The Great Nursery Rhyme Disaster by David Conway
     When Little Miss Muffet decides she's bored of being scared by that spider, she decides to infiltrate her neighboring rhymes and havoc ensues!!
Hey Diddle Diddle by Eve Bunting
     This book showcases all kinds of animals playing all kinds of instruments in a music box setting.
The Little Red Hen by Byron Barton
     The classic story of the Little Red Hen who toils with growing, harvesting, and grinding of flour to make a loaf of bread. Does she share it with those who refused to help her along the way? Yeah - she does...but we changed that little bit to show it's always a good idea to share.

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin?  -  Kimbo

Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink  -  100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Song 3: Shake My Sillies Out  -  Raffi

Song 4: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me  -  Wee Sing for Baby

Song 5: Put Your Little Foot  -  Fun N' Folk

Song 6: Eensy Weensy Spider  -  Wee Sing Together

Song 7: If You're Happy and You Know  -  Kimbo

Song 8: Wheels on the Bus  -  100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Felt/Magnet Board:

 

 

 

This week we used our handy dandy felt board packs to tell the story of Little Miss Muffet and Hey Diddle Diddle. I put the pieces on the board one by one and tried the have the kids guess which Nursery Rhyme we were looking at - then we recited them together.

Craft:

 This week we did a simple, printable, Humpty Dumpty finger puppet craft. We lovingly borrowed this craft from the good people at DLTK-Teach.

Grade 2 Tour

April 9, 2014

We had a group of second graders come through the library! Admittedly, that through us for a loop! We're used to having kids too young to be in school not the old, wise, and mature members of the second grade! So, we dug up some more "older" audience books for a mini storytime.

Books:

The Three Little Rigs by David Gordon
Jungle Drums by Graeme Base
The Three Billy goats Gruff by Paul Galdone

Songs:

Yes! We even managed to get the kids to SING SONGS!

Opening Song: Shake Your Sillies Out -Raffi
And the Green Grass Grows -  Favorite Children's Songs by Baby Genius

We found we had to be a LOT more animated when performing with the second graders than with our regular kids. A lot of arm movements and a lot of loud clapping went a long way!

We also showed the kids TumbleBook which they really enjoyed! It's called Lobo and the Rabbit Stew by Marcia Shwartz.

The story incorporated English and Spanish words seamlessly for easy learning and the animated is amazingly well done.

Overall, we survived and I think a lot of the kids really enjoyed our little program!

K Tour Group

April 8, 2014

Today, we had a very LARGE group of Kindergartners come in for a tour of the library and storytime. So, we threw our best of the best together to keep them entertained!

Books:

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
How Do You Hug a Porcupine? by Laurie Isop
Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
This is the Place for Me by Joanna Cole
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin?  -  Kimbo

Second Song: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink  -  100 Singalong Songs for Kids

Third Song - Shake My Sillies Out  -  Raffi

Fourth Song - Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me  -  Wee Sing for Baby

Fifth Song - Put your Little Foot  -  Wee Sing Folk N' Fun

Sixth Song - Little Bunny Foo Foo  -  Wee Sing Silly Songs

Seventh Song  -  If You're Happy and You Know It  -  Kimbo

We also showed the kids some TumbleBooks and Videos online - a database of electronic picture books that are narrated and animated.

  

We showed Always by Allison McGhee

And Several Videos from National Geographic

The kids were tickled by our book choices and enjoyed all the computer stuff we showed them. It turned out well!!! A roaring success!

Magical Stories!

April 1, 2014

Magical Stories!

A storytime devoted to the use of magical devices: spells, magic hats, and enchanted frogs abound! Yes, it's true - we may have missed a major opportunity with out storytime falling on APRIL FOOL's - oh well, we told magical tales instead of pulling well meaning jokes on our kids.

Books:

Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by Kimberley and James Dean
Beware of the Frog by William Bee
Anton Can Do Magic by Ole Konnecke

Songs:

Opening Song: Where is Thumbkin? - Kimbo

 Song 2: Skinny-Marinky-Dinky-Dink - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids

 Song 3: Dance Your Fingers / Clap Along With Me - Wee Sing for Baby

 Song 4: Shake your Sillies Out - Raffi


 Song 5: Put Your Little Foot - Wee Sing Folk N' Fun

 Song 6: If You're Happy and You Know It - Kimbo

 Song 7:Wheels on the Bus - 100 Singalong Songs for Kids



 Felt/Magnet Board:

This week we ATTEMPTED to do The Frog Prince or the Princess and the Frog depending on which version you're reading. The kids were a little too excited to sit through most of the story - which is surprisingly complicated. We pulled a straight interpretation of the Grimm tale off the shelf - one translated by Eric Blair:

  

 Did you know she doesn't kiss him in the original? She actually gets sick of the frog pestering her to be friends and she throws him against the wall. THEN he turns into a prince. THEN she says "Ok, let's get married." I don't quite get the moral of the story. But we tried it anyway!

Craft:

We made Magical Crowns this week and the kids loved them! We had the help of a volunteer (all praise the volunteers!) cut out about 20 of the magical crowns and bands to pass around and we still needed more! Anyhoo, we passed around gem stickers (very similar to those peel and stick earrings you wore as a kid) and sticky-backed foam shapes in place of jewels and gemstones. Easy peasy!!