Polar Bear Snow Globe

Here is a sneak peak at one of my crafts for Winter Evening Storytime.  I wanted to do a polar bear theme again, but wanted to switch up the craft.  The globe and stand are made out of cardstock.  The bear and die-cut tree are made out of regular paper.  Add some white pom poms and you have yourself an adorable snow globe.

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!

Ice Cream Themed Storytime

I got a little ambitious with my last Spring Evening Storytime session this year.  I wanted to have something really fun that the kids would remember and talk about for a long time.  So I decided to have an ice cream themed storytime and make ice cream.  It was crazy, loud, and a whole lot of fun!  I had a few parents stay in the room with us which proved to be extremely useful.  THANKS!
Because of the time factor in making the ice cream I only read one story.
Here's what we did:

We made an ice cream craft:

I used the template from here and added a cute little ice cream poem and a red pom pom as the cherry on top.  The kids had fun deciding what flavors they were going to color each scoop of ice cream. We used glue sticks to put everything together.  I had the kids start this craft as the came into storytime.

We read:
Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems

The kids went wild when they saw we would be reading and Elephant and Piggie book!

Then we made our ice cream.
Here's what I used: YayLabs Play and Freeze Ice Cream Ball.  I had two pint sized ones for the kids to use.  We followed the instructions for the vanilla ice cream.  Each kid was able to add an ingredient and mix our ice cream mixture.  We all helped fill the ice cream makers with ice and then we played some games.

These little guys have to be rolled/shaken for 20 minutes with a break half way through to scrape the sides down.  I played the Freeze song by Greg and Steve.

I had the kids sit in two circles and each group was given one ice cream maker.  They rolled the ball between their circle until the music stopped.  Whoever had the ball in their hands when the music stop had to pick it up and give it a good shake until the music started again.  This was a lot of fun for them.  We played the song on repeat a few times.  When we grew tired of the song I had the kids pass the ball and give it five shakes and pass it to the next person.  They got creative and came up with their own games to keep the ball moving.  Then we had some delicious ice cream sundaes to end out storytime.

*This is an extremely messy activity, but well worth it.  Just plan on some extra time for clean up.

Enjoy! 

Beach Storytime and Felt Board

For my evening Storytime this week I decided to do a beach theme.  The kids loved it.  I pulled out my coconut and pineapple bowling set for the beginning play time and the kids couldn't get enough of it!  I had a hard time narrowing my book selection for this one but I got it down to three books and a poem.  

The books:

 

I found the poem Five Little Seashells  and made a printout for the kids to color and take home.  You can print your own copy here.

I turned it into a felt board as well.  Below is my quick attempt at an ocean wave.  

I found pictures of shells on the internet to trace onto felt.  

For our craft we made a seashell wreath.  I cut out paper plates and tied a ribbon to the top.  The kids used glue sticks to add squares of tissue paper to the plates.  I had the kids pick out 6 small seashells and used glue dots to attach them to their wreaths.  The glue dots were perfect for this craft.  I didn't want to pull out the hot glue gun for this project and school glue takes to long to dry.  If you don't have glue dots go get them.  They are wonderful for crafting!

Here is my sample wreath.

Enjoy!

Umbrella/Rain Felt Board

I decided to do a rain Storytime this spring and came across some adorable felt board stories in my search. I will be using 10 Little Raindrops by Storytime Katie and 5 Umbrellas by Christine at Felt Board Ideas.  There are so many cute flannel board ideas for rain!

Here are my pieces.  I couldn't resist adding a little glitter to the raindrops.  I think I might have a problem with glitter.  I want to put it on EVERYTHING.

I also made a sheet for kids to color and take home.  You can print it out and use it.

I plan to read some of these books.  I haven't quite decided which ones yet.  They're all good!

The Thingamabob by Il Sung Na

 Rain by Manya Stojic

This Is the Rain by Lola M. Shaefer

 The Water Hole by Graeme Base

Confetti Bird Story and Craft

I'm working on my Spring Evening Storytimes and came across the Confetti books.  I will be using Roly-Poly Egg  Snack Time for Confetti by Kali Stileman. 

What you will need:

• Blue yarn
• Blue pipe cleaners
• Brightly colored paper
• Scissors
• Hole punches in different sizes
• Wiggly eyes
• Liquid glue

I found a fun and easy way to make Confetti out of yarn and a pipe cleaner. One of my oh-so willing Pages made large pompoms out of blue yarn.  My first attempt I used a large store bought pompom, but it didn't look fluffy enough.  I folded a blue pipe cleaner in half and then fold the ends to create feet and glued it to the bottom of the pompom.  Using two different sized hole punches I punched circles out of  brightly colored scrap paper.  I made the beak by cutting a diamond shape out of orange card stock and folding it in half.  Then I glued the eyes (I used two different sizes), paper dots, and beak to the pompom to create Confetti!  Isn't he cute?  The kids will have fun making this little bird and the stories are adorable.

Here's a closer look at Confetti:

Enjoy!

Five Green Shamrocks

I found some really cute poems and stories to do the next two weeks for St.Patrick's Day in Storytime.
This week I will be doing a green theme using the books Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Where Is Green Sheep? by Mem Fox.

I will be using the felt board for the rhyme: 5 Green Shamrocks.  This rhyme can be found on narrating tales of preschool storytime.  I decided to make coloring sheet with the rhyme on it for kids to take home.   

 You can print it here. 

The other flannel board story that I will be using next week is called Leprechaun, Leprechaun, What Do You See? It is based off of  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

You can find the whole story here at Storytime ABC's

Here's my felt creations for the story, minus the sun.  I will just use a sun from another story.  I mixed felt and clip art for my leprechaun.  He looks pretty cute to me!

Enjoy!

Lorax Craft

Saturday March 1st the library will be celebrating Dr. Seuss with Lorax Day.  I do a Lorax themed craft and we watch the movie.  It's a simple program that's lots of fun. Here is the craft I will be doing this year.

Lorax planter with a Truffula tree

What you will need:

• Small planter pots-I used ones that are about 2.5" x 3"
• Googly eyes
• Yarn
• Orange pompoms
• Large pompoms in various colors
• Small wood dowels cut into 8" lengths
• White paint-to paint the dowel
• Black marker to add the squiggly lines to the trunk
• Dry floral foam cut into 1.5" blocks
• Liquid glue or glue dots

Here's what I did:

    First, make the mustache.  I used a scrap of card board about 4" wide and wrapped the yarn around it 10 times.  Then cut the ends and tied one strand around the middle section.  

Glue the eyes, nose and mustache to the planter pot.

Next add the Truffula tree.  Place the floral foam in the bottom of the pot with a little bit of glue on the bottom to help keep it in place.  While that is drying take a black marker and add squiggled lines around the dowel.  Take a large pompom and use glue to attach it to the top of a dowel.  Once the pompom is attached to the top of the dowel stick the newly made Truffula tree into the floral foam as centered and as straight as you can. And that's it.

Enjoy!

Mouse Mess Craft

I'm doing a mouse themed Storytime next week and one of the books I will be reading is Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley

I decided to have the kids make a craft based off of this book.

What you need:

• Small paper plates
• Mouse picture ( I made mine ahead of time at home with a Cricut machine)
• Small pictures of food for the kids to color
• Crayons
• Glue sticks
• Pop-up glue dots

Have the kids color all the food pieces and then glue them at random onto the paper plate.

Put two pop-up glue dots on the back of the mouse.  I put one behind the head and one behind the belly.  Have the kids place their mouse on the plate.  And you're done. Mouse mess!

Enjoy!

Puzzle Heart Valentine's Day Craft

Here's a fun craft I will be doing with my evening Storytime kid's in a couple weeks.  It's great for Valentine's Day and it uses some old puzzle pieces I saved years ago.  

With a little prep work this craft can be done in a short amount of time.

What you will need:

• Popsicle sticks (12 each)
• Puzzle pieces
• Cardstock cut into hearts (about 3" big)
• Ribbon
• Paint
• Hot glue gun
• School glue
• Ribbon
• Permanent marker

I made the popsicle frame ahead of time using hot glue.  This is also a good time to add a piece of ribbon to the back of the frame for hanging.  

Hint:  Glue the puzzle pieces onto the heart and paint them before gluing to the frame.  My first attempt above was glued to the frame before I painted it.  It was a disaster.  

Use school glue to attach the puzzle pieces on the heart and then paint them.  Once the painted heart is dry (I will be reading a story during this time) use the glue to attach it to the front of the frame.  With a permanent marker write: "Love You To Pieces".  I'm going to let the kids write it out on their own-it will look so much better than mine!

Enjoy!

Hanging Moose Craft

I decided to do a moose themed Storytime this winter and wanted a cute moose craft to go with it.  You can print out what I made here.  I found the moose head picture here.  

What you need: 

• Card stock
• Crayons
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Beads (with large enough holes to fit the yarn through)

Print out and cut the moose pieces.  Have children color in their moose.  

Punch a whole in the top of each piece.

Cut a piece of yarn.  It does not need to be too long.  Each moose will need two beads.  I did not use the beads shown in the picture above.  They were too long and made the moose appear floppy.  Instead, I used round ones that were about half that length.  String the legs of the moose, bead, body, bead, and then the head.  Tie the yarn together and now you have this cute little moose.

Moose books to share:

Moose Tracks! by Karma Wilson

 If You Give a Moose a Muffin  by Laura Numeroff
This Moose Belongs To Me by Oliver Jeffers
 Duck Duck Moose  by Dave Horowitz
 The Invisible Moose by Dennis Haseley
 Z Is For Moose  by Kelly L. Bingham
Making the Moose Out Of Life by Nicholas Oldland
Moosestache by Margie Palatini

Moose On the Loose by Kathy-Jo Wargin

Enjoy!

Winter Craft Round Up

Here is a round up of some of my favorite winter crafts from the past couple of years:

Click on the pictures below to learn how to make each craft.