Gnome Away From Home

 

We have a fun program at the library called "Away From-Home Gnome". We provide a picture of a gnome printed on cardstock. Kiddos color in their gnome and cut him (or her? are there girl gnomes?) out. When they go someplace fun like vacation, to the park, or to a friends house they take a picture of their gnome. They bring their picture back to us at the library and we will display the pictures. This is a picture of my gnome in my garden smelling my beautiful basil. I haven't gone on vacation yet so my gnome took a "staycation" in our back yard :-)

The Campfire Pokey

Molly and Emmett's Camping Adventure
by Marylin Hafner

Ruby's Sleepover
by Kathryn White

Camping Day
by Patricia Lakin

Maisy Goes Camping
by Lucy Cousins

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee
by Chris Van Dusen

Stella and Roy Go Camping
by Ashley Wolff

Bailey Goes Camping
by Kevin Henkes

Fancy Nancy Stellar Stargazer
by Jane O'Connor

You put your marshmallow in
You take your marshmallow out
You put your marshmallow in
And you shake it all about
You do the campfire pokey
And you turn yourself about
That's what it's all about!
   hotdog, corn, popcorn

* A big thanks to Flannel Friday

Five Little Piggies Flannel Board

Five Little Piggies
Five Little Piggies running about.
One fell down and broke his snout.
The farmer called the doctor and said,
"No more piggies playing in the shed"

 

This post is featured on Flannel Friday. Click here Flannel Friday for more information.

Ornament Painting Party

Who doesn't love paint, glitter and a little holiday cheer? Well yes of course I do!! We had a wonderful time at our Ornament Painting Party.

Impressive huh? Our little artists worked very hard painting glittering their ornaments. Fun was had by all!

Fairy Tales: More or Less



The Three Bears
by Byron Barton

 Even though this book is an early reader and small in size the simplified version works well for my family story time. The kiddos that were really interested cam up in front and got to see the pictures. I was surprised how much the enjoyed the story.

The Princess and the Pea

Mo Willems never disappoints and the latest, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs is no exception. The story is hilarious. The kiddos love the sneaky dinosaurs and the parents laugh at all the righ places. 

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
by Mo Willems

Getting the crowd to huff and puff with you and try to blow down the pigs' houses is fun. Especially when we can't blow down the 3rd pig's house and we get a fun surprise! I love a happy ending.

Huff and Puff
by Claudia Rueda

Three Little Kittens
by Paul Galdone

Fairly Fairy Tales
by Esme Raji Codell

The Usuals
Wheels on the Bus
Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi
Shaky Eggs
Count felt kittens and dinosaurs
Rock-A-Bye Your Bear by the Wiggles

Beary Good Story Time

I love to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear! Most of the time the kiddos know the story and will say/sing it with me. It is always a fun read-aloud.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear
by Bill Martin

Where's My Teddy is an adorable story and the kiddos love to look for the teeny tiny teddy bear when the giant live bear is holding it. Cute story and a crowd pleaser.

Where's My Teddy
by Jed Alborough



Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
by Michael Hauge




The Usuals
Tiptoe Teddy Bear Song Teddy Bear Tunes CD by Georgiana Stewart
Wheels on the Bus
Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi
Shaky Eggs
Count felt teddy bears
Rock-A-Bye Your Bear by the Wiggles

Courageous Story Time

Learn About Values: Courage
by Cynthia A. Klingel

Courage
by Bernard Waber

Pepito the Brave
by Scott Beck

Pedro the Brave
by Leo Broadley

Brave Mouse
by Michaela Morgan

Tippy-Toe Chick, GO!
by George Shannon

Kiki's Blanket
by Janie Bynum

The Usuals:
Wheels on the Bus
Shake My Sillies Out
Shaky Egg Song
ABCs
Counting
Rock-a-Bye Your Bear

When I Grow Up Story Time

Fireman Small
by Wong Herbert Yee

Teacher: Sharing, Helping, Caring
by Patricia Hubbell

When I Grow Up
by Tina Louise

When I Grow Up
by Colin McNaughton

I Can Be Anything
by Jerry Spinelli

The Usuals:
Wheels on the Bus
Shake My Sillies Out
Shaky Egg Song
ABCs
Counting
Rock-a-Bye Your Bear

Shooting Star

Shooting Star

1. I created a few cardboard templates of a large star for the kids to cut out their own star from construction paper.
2. Decorate your star.
3. Tape coloful streamers to the back of the star.
4. Enjoy your shooting star.

Dreamcatchers

Dreamcatcher

We are making dreamcatchers today for Crafty Friday at he library. 

1. Take a paper plate and cut out a circle.

2. Punch 7 holes around the inner circle and 3 holes on the bottom edge of the paper plate.

3. Take a long strand of yarn and weave it through the holes around the circle.

4. Take 3 shorted strands of yarn and tie them to the 3 bottom holes on the paper plate.

5. Tie beads to the 3 bottom strands of yarn.

6. Glue feathers to the bottom of the sterands of yarn hanging from the bottom of the plate.

7. Hang your dreamcatcher near your bed and let all of your bad dreams flow into the dreamcatcher and enjoy.

Hard at work making dreamcatchers.

Raccoons in the Library

Raccoon masks made out of paper plates were a hit!! Thanks to  Pinterest and this Family Education Blog I was able to whip up a really cool craft for Crafty Friday. I wrote out instructions as well as made cardboard templates for the parts that must be traced and cut out from the black paper.  We didn't use googlie eyes, just yellow or white crayons. Everyone enjoyed this craft.

Cloud Craft: What Do You See in the Sky?

Kids enjoyed creating their own cloud. Aside from monitoring cotton ball usage the program went off without any hitches. The kids would come to the desk to show us their clouds. They were very proud of their creations!

Bats in the Library

Bats in the Library, YIKES!!! This Friday we will be cutting out and coloring bats for our craft.  I encourage the participants to use their imagination when coloring their bats. We used crayons and colored pencils.  After gluing the bat to the midnight black paper we used chalk to write a little message and sign our work.

Foam Picture Frames

We hosted a stuffed animal sleepover where kids come to our Pajarama story time with a stuffed friend and their Pj's (of course). They leave their stuffed friend overnight for a sleepover. We take pictures of the little critters having fun and getting into trouble in the library.


Our first craft for Crafty Friday was a continuation of The Stuffed Animal Sleepover. I set up tables with foam stickers and all kinds of fun things to decorate a picture frame. Each child was given 1 5 x 7 piece of foam and they traced a 4 x 6 rectangle in the middle of the frame (this is where they will glue their picture.)

Here is where the creativity begins. The kids decorate the outside of the frame however they want. They come back the next day to pick up their stuffed friend and their picture. It is so much fun to see the kids reactions to what silliness their stuffed friends have gotten into. Some were naughty and needed a time out and other were well behaved, quietly reqding books.

The parents and the children have fun and really appreciate it every time I do this program.

Pirate Scavenger Hunt

A great way to introduce parts of the library to children is through a scavenger hunt. Who doesn't love the change to win some "booty"? For an entire month I set up 9 signs with interesting pirate information. Each child gets a list of the items them must look for in the children's department. Children can look for a word or a picture and must write the corresponding number of their sheet. When they find all 9 they win a gold coin.

The children are so excited about this scavenger hunt. They race around the children's department searcing for their treasures. I am so glad I have the gold coins to give them. the kids treat them like real pirate booty!

We are half way through the month of July and alomst 200 kids have completed the scavenger hunt!!

Crayon Tree Party

We celebrated the holiday with an afternoon of fun at the Tredyffrin Public Library. Children ages 4-6 joined us for a story, coloring pages, and snacks. All children made their very own crayon tree to take home. We started with a paper towel roll that was painted green, decorated with glitter and had 8 holes punched in it. Each child was given a new 8 pack of crayons. The crayons were inserted into the holes to make the tree.

Now the fun really started when everyone began to decorate their trees with stickers, feathers, pipe cleaners, ribbon, and much more.

*Librarians Note: This was a labor intensive craft regarding preperation. But well worth the preperation. I painted all paper towel tubes, added the glitter and punched all of the holes. I also sprayed each tube with a clear gloss spray to help the glitter to stick.

Princess Parties Never Fail

Apparently the recipe for a successful program for toddler girls is to throw a Princess Party. Tell them that they can come dressed as their favorite princess and you most certainly will have instant success. Does it matter what we do? I'm not sure. The girls are so excited to get dressed up and twirl that I am inclined to think it does not matter. Regardless, reading princess stories, dancing to princess music while twirling with streamers, coloring pricess pages, and coloring beautiful tiaras were the activities at my last Princess Party.

If numbers show success then this party was a blowout with almost 250 in attendance; we were rocking the princess house! The ages for this party were 6 and under. Next time we will hold 2 parties and break up the ages 2-4 and 4-6. Hopefully I will not need the services of my trusted "bouncer" Miss Kate who helped keep everyone in line.