Robot Themed Storytime

In preparation for Summer Reading I have been doing a robot themed storytime with my some of my school visits.

I read:
Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman

Robots Robots Everywhere by Sue Fliess

The craft: Paper Robot

What you need:

• Cardstock cut into various sized rectangles
• Paper straws cut in half for legs
• Small strips of paper for arms
• Foam stickers
• Pipe cleaner for the head
• Fizz Boom READ sign (optional)
• Glue stick

I had the robot bodies made ahead by the wonderful Mikayla.  She glued the head, neck and body together. Each straw piece had two small slits on the sides and a drop of school glue to fit over the base of the body.  Pinch it closed for a couple of seconds and the legs will stick.  I had the kids decorate their robots with a variety of foam stickers.  Once they were satisfied with their robots they accordion folded the arms and attached them to the body. The spring or hair at the top of the robot is made using one pipe cleaner. You can wrap it around a pencil or the kids can wrap it around their finger to give it a coiled look.  I had two tiny holes punch at the top of each robot, so we simply poked each end of the pipe cleaner through the holes and folded the end up to keep it in place.  All the robots turned out awesome.

Enjoy!

Science Storytime: Liquids/Solids and Of Course, SLIME!

I'm preparing for my Science Storytimes for our Summer Reading Program.  I love this year's theme: Fizz Boom READ!  There are so many fun science things to do at the library.  I've created an hour long program of six sessions for kids in grades 1-3.  Each little scientist will explore different aspects of science through stories, experiments and projects to take home.

The first session will be Liquids/Solids::
Book: Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss

Book: The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra

Activity: Have a variety of objects that are solids and liquids.  Observe the each object.  Make a list describing the objects as a group.

Experiment 1: Make Gloop!
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• food coloring

Combine the cornstarch, water, and a couple drops of food coloring in a small container or bowl.

Poke, prod, pour, shake the gloop and observe how it changes between being a liquid and solid.

This recipe was used from the 2014 CSLP Children's Manual.

Experiment 2: Make Slime (this will be made to take home)

Here are some pictures of our trial run with making slime.  

 Ingredients:

• 4-5oz of Elmer's School Glue
• 1/3 cup Sta-Flo liquid starch
• Liquid water color or food coloring-a few squirts

Recipe adapted from Stephanie.

 Mix the glue and water color together until fully combined.

 Add your 1/3 cup of liquid starch in small amounts.  Stirring till it is completely mixed in each time.

 It will start to look like this....Kinda gross and SLIMY.

 As you can tell by this picture Mikayla found the slime very appealing. 

 Here we have slime.  You will really want to get in there with your hands to mix it together.  Start kneading the lime like dough to help mix in the starch.  

 It will start to form into a nice blob like this.

 Now it's time to play with the slime.

 If you add another splash of liquid starch to your slime it will thicken up to the consistency of GAK.  

With the thicker consistency, you can create bubbles using large straws and have lots of fun with it.

I stored my slime in a zip-lock plastic bag and it is holding up just fine.  I can't wait to make this slime with the kids in storytime. 

Enjoy!