Baby Bugs

Lots of librarians say they like school age programs best because they'd prefer that the parents aren't in the room with them, but I'm the opposite! Baby programs are my favorite programs of all, and it's mostly because I love being with the parents!

Baby Bugs was a simple, bug-themed, stories and songs program for the youngest of kids and their grown ups. This was my plan (red = ipod, blue = song I sing, green = book):

1. A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff
2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (with storytime prop kit) *
3. Buzz Buzz Buzz by Laurie Berkner (with shakers)
4. Itsy Bitsy Spider  (+ Great Big Spider and Teensy Weensy Spider)
5. Hello Bugs by Smriti Prasadam-Halls **
6. Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me ***
7. Ants Go Marching by Ralph Covert (parachute + mini bugs) #
8. Colors Over You (parachute + mini bugs) ##
9. Thunder and Lightening (parachute + mini bugs) ##
10. Blow a Kiss by Laurie Berkner (mini bugs + bubbles)

* I've written about our wonderful Very Hungry Caterpillar kit in the past before, but it's truly one of my favorite storytime props of all time! It consists of signs with each of the things the caterpillar eats through, all with giant holes in the middle, and a fun caterpillar puppet that turns into a butterfly. Here is a picture I found of it.  When I use this kit, I distribute the signs from it to the kids before I read the book. Then, as I work my way through the story, I make the caterpillar puppet chomp through each child's sign, tickling them a little as I do. The kids LOVE this. They shriek with glee when they get tickled!

I didn't take any pictures while we were reading this book and using this kit, but here are a few pictures that I took two years ago, of kids holding up the signs:

** I have a class set of the board book, Hello Bugs by Smriti Prasadam-Halls. This is such a great book for babies because it has mostly black and white pictures, shiny parts on each page, and really simple, repetitive language. I passed out the books to the parents and babies and they had about 3-minutes to read them together. Then we read it again together as a group.

*** Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me can best be explained by Dana of Jbrary:

# Ants Go Marching by Ralph Covert was the song I used for the babies to play on top of the parachute. I dumped out some butterfly and firefly finger puppets (these and these, both from Folkmanis) and let the babies and parents play with them together while we all shook the parachute around them and listened to the song. I showed the adults that the fireflies actually lit up if you squeezed them, but it was hard to see in the bright library lights.

## Colors Over You and Thunder and Lightening were bonus, not-bug-related parachute songs. They're two of my favorites and I was only planning to do them if there was time at the end. There was!

What worked least: Eh, when push came to shove, Buzz Buzz Buzz wasn't as lively of a shaker song as I'd imagined it being. It was fine and worked for the theme (and I am always very partial to Laurie Berkner songs!), but I just prefer something that's super super SUPER upbeat with babies and toddlers, as well as something with a simpler beat that easier to shake the shaker along with.

What worked best: I started off really strong with, what I perceived was the best part of the program-- The Very Hungry Caterpillar book and props. These props are such a great way to read this slightly longer book to really young kids without losing them (even babies!) and it really makes the story come alive! It is literally ALWAYS a hit!

Sadie's Top 5, 12-18 months

While, yes, this post is coming a couple of days early, I can't believe we're just a couple of days away from a year-and-a-half! Where does the time go? I cannot BELIEVE how fast the past 6-months have gone!  Since Sadie's birthday, she's gotten SO much better at sitting through books and will even sit for several books in a row! Some of her very favorites are still some of her past picks (A Kiss Like This by Mary Murphy, Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia, Sneak-a-Peak Colors by Roger Priddy, Five Little Elves by Dan Yaccarino, and the Margaret Miller Look Baby! books), but in the interest of variety, I've set my rule about only posting books one time each and I'm sticking to it! So with that, here are Sadie's Top 5 for ages 12-18 months, which have not been posted in past lists:

Three Little Mermaids by Mara Van Fleet-- and also the similar Little Color Fairies, Night-Night Princess, and Mama's Pajamas (also all by Mara Van Fleet)-- have all really piqued Sadie's interest on the later end of this age bracket. I tried a few of these with her when she was about 10-months-old and, while she certainly enjoyed them even then, she is really the perfect age for them now, at 18-months. In fact, Sadie is intrigued by these books from the moment she sees the pull-tabs on the covers! She is constantly handing them to me to read to her. They are each SO interactive; the pull-tab covers are just the start! On the first page of Three Little Mermaids, for example, there is an octopus holding a fun, sticky lollipop that Sadie likes to touch over and over again. The book also has fuzzy seals, bumpy star fish, flaps to open, and--best of all--MORE PULL TABS! What's crazy is that, while these stories themselves seem like they'd be too long to be interesting to a child this age (in Three Little Mermaids, all the sea friends help the mermaids prepare for a tea party), I think Sadie is actually focused on the stories! Even when we come across a rare non-interactive page, she still seems engaged. It's so crazy! We can read any of these four selections over and over, or switch between them, and she's happy for a while. So thanks, Mara Van Fleet, for letting this very pregnant momma sit for a few minutes while her active toddler actually interacts with a few books in a row!

Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean has been a hit in our house since Sadie was a newborn, but only now has it become one of our solid, regular go-to's. Or should I say, one of Sadie's solid, regular go-to's. She is always yanking this one off her (fairly tightly packed) bookshelf and handing it to me to read to her. She'll sit nicely in her chair while I sing The Wheels on the Bus song (with some fun variations thanks to Pete) over and over, and occasionally point out things like the bird, the dog, and Pete's guitar. Sadie definitely learned the word "guitar" because of Pete the Cat. She's even just begun to mimic The Wheels on the Bus hand motions that I try to do along (as I also hold the book). This is one we're gonna read again and again for a long time in our house!

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is a CLASSIC that I have been just waiting for Sadie to be old enough for. And now she is! In fact, I think this book has helped Sadie hone in on some of her animal sounds. She's mastered the elephant noise, lion noise, and snake noise, I'm certain, thanks to Dear Zoo. If you're unfamiliar, the premise of this story is simple. The narrator wrote to the zoo to send him/her a pet and each pet that comes back is unfit. The elephant is too big, the lion is too fierce, the frog is too jumpy, etc. But, at the end, the zoo sends a dog (finally!) and it's just perfect! Sadie loves to lift the flaps as we read and she has an easier time finding which end to lift from in this book that in other books. (If you look carefully, there's a small, half-circle cut out next to each flap that guides little fingers to the right spot and I think it really helps!) Just like the dog at the end of the story, this book is perfect for us!

This exact "Slide and Find" version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle is a book that Sadie keeps migrating toward, especially toward the second half of this age-range. She lovessssss to slide the little tabs to reveal the animals underneath. Then, when we finish reading it, she almost always asks for, "More?" so we read it again! Also--here's something crazy-- her favorite animal in the book is not an animal at all but the teacher on the second to last page! She LOVES the "chee chee!" Maybe it's the glasses? Who knows! Another classic book, making our top 5 list today!

That's Not My Kitten by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells is a favorite from the earlier end of this age range-- one that Sadie still definitely enjoys now but really stood out as a favorite when she was about 12-14-months-old. The first time we read this, the day after her birthday, I pointed out all the "touchy-feely" spots in the book for her and then every time we've read it thereafter, Sadie's felt the spots herself, without any guidance. The "plot" is simple. Each spread says something like, "That's not my kitten, its ears are too soft," or "That's not my kitten, its bell is too shiny," or "That's not my kitten, its paws are too rough" until the last page, when we finally find the narrators kitten and it has a big, soft belly! This is another one I am able to read to her a few times in a row without her getting too antsy. Side note: Sometimes (often), when I read this, I change the word "kitten" to "cat" because  I feel like it makes things simpler for Sadie, but I'll probably stop doing this soon.

Next up... Sadie's Top 5 as a TWO-YEAR-OLD. 😳

Stories in the Garden

My blog hasn't been getting much attention this summer because, instead of exciting-looking, blog-worthy parties and crafts at work, I've been hosting weekly simple programs for lots of different age groups: Musical Kids, Stop In Stories, and--new for this summer and the subject of today's post--Stories in the Garden!

My library is on a busy main street without any outdoor space whatsoever so it's really a special treat to have any kind of program out of the building. When I found out that my coworker arranged for us to be able to borrow the garden from the church across the street, I was SO excited to be part of it! (To be fair, it was March and I was still wearing boots, so it's possible that that played a small roll.) I wanted to make sure we fit lots of different age groups into the outdoor fun, so I did one session for ages 6-16 months, and one for ages 17 months-5 years. 

The big challenge with this program was that, since there were no outlets, I didn't have access to any recorded music--something I tend to rely heavily on in most of my programs for this age group. This meant that I had to come up with some new material: New songs, new parachute games, and--the most dramatic of all--a new hello and goodbye song! (Anyone who's ever stepped foot in one of my programs knows that I have been a loyal fan of Big Jeff's A New Way to Say Hello and Laurie Berkner's Blow a Kiss for what feels like forever).

The program, other than having totally weird-for-me hello and goodbye songs, went really well. On rainy days it was held inside and even then it was still fun, albeit slightly less well-attended. 

Here's me, barefoot (a nice perk), and ready to sing Five Little Ducks:

Since, above all else, this was a storytime, I'm going to list all the books that were read over the course of this program.

B = Baby class (6 - 16 months)

T = Toddler class (17-months - 5-years)

Are You My Mommy? by Mary Murphy (B)

Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz (B, T)

Baby Faces by Margaret Miller (B)

Baby Parade by Rebecca O'Connell (B, T)

Baby Pets by Margaret Miller (B)

Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton (B, T)

Breathe by Scott Magoon (B, T)

Cat the Cat, Who Is That? by Mo Willems (B, T) *

Elephant and Piggie: Elephants Cannot Dance by Mo Willems (T) *

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger(B, T)

From Head to Toe by Eric Carle (T)

Hello Lamb by Jane Cabrera (B)

Hi Pizza Man! by Virgina Walter (T)

Jump by Scott M. Fischer (B, T)

Peek-a-Boo Zoo! by Jane Cabrera (B, T)

Pete the Cat: I Love My While Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin (T)

Pouch! by David Ezra Stein (B, T)

Say Hello Like This by Mary Murphy (B, T)

Toot Toot, Beep Beep by Emma Garcia (B, T)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (B, T)**

* Mo Willems' books are PERFECT for two-librarian storytimes! Andrea (of Disney Princess Tea and Mall Storytime) and I have totally mastered these! Reading Elephant and Piggie: Elephants Cannot Dance with Andrea feels like straight up acting, which is kind of fun, and Cat the Cat, Who Is That? has a sort of "call and response" feel, which flows a lot more naturally with two readers. Lately I try to work a Mo Willems book in every time I know there will be another librarian able to read with me.

** I've written briefly about our wonderful Very Hungry Caterpillar kit in the past before, but it's truly a wonderful storytime prop! The kids love holding up all the signs and "feeding" the different things to the caterpillar puppet throughout the story. They also like sticking their heads through the giant holes, as seen below.

Doing a storytime outside was SO much fun with both age groups, and coming up with a new hello and goodbye song turned out to be easy enough. Thanks to Jbrary (as usual), here is the song we used:

We Clap and Say Hello/Goodbye (to the tune of The Farmer In the Dell):

We clap and say hello
We clap and say hello
With our friends at storytime, we clap and say hello
We stomp and say hello
We stomp and say hello
With our friends at storytime, we stomp and say hello
We nod...
We jump...
We wave...

(I altered the actions a bit on a whim if it felt right for the group.)

Here's a picture of my baby group (and three moms) melting in the sweltering sun one week:

What worked least: Relying on the weather is something I'm not used to doing for a program. There was really only one week (the last week) where the weather was REALLY good, not to hot, not too wet. And actually, one week, it was so insanely stormy out that, even though I held the program it inside, nobody came to the baby class.

What worked best: The parachute, always! And what's more fun that the parachute OUTSIDE?! Hint: Not much.

Mall Storytime

Starting this past weekend, the Walt Whitman Mall began hosting its last-Saturday-of-the-month storytime in the mall's Center Court. Each week, this storytime is run by one of 8 Huntington-area libraries, rotating around from library to library, and guess what? I got to do the first one ever!

I was super excited and, of course, a little nervous. It's always a bit overwhelming when a storytime is open to all ages and you have no idea if you'll get 4 kids or 40 kids. Luckily, I wasn't in it alone. My coworker, Andrea, and I got to man this storytime event together.

What we lacked in ability to plan, we made up for in quantity of books. Since we just had no idea what to expect, we brought quite a stack along with us--20 books to be exact. Here is our pile:

We tried to pack books for every scenario: a group of moms and babies, a group of antsy pre-schoolers, a really large group of antsy pre-schoolers, a quiet and focused group of pre-schoolers, school-age kids, a group with a mix of older and younger kids...any scenario that was possible, we had the books for it!

What wound up really happening was that we had a core group of three really attentive, 4-year-old girls + a few other kids who came and went throughout the storytime (including Andrea's two sons and one of my Musical Kids regulars!).

We crammed a lot into 30 minutes. Here's what we did:

1. Jump! by Scott M. Fischer

2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (with this activity kid)

3. Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean

4. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

5. Five Little Monkeys (with the monkey mitt)

6. Elephant and Piggie: We Are In a Book by Mo Willems

7. If You're Happy and You Know It by David A. Carter

8. Can You Make a Scary Face by Jan Thomas

9. What Pet To Get by Emma Dodd

What worked least: All things considered, this storytime went pretty well. I asked Andrea her thoughts and she agreed that it really worked. Sure in an ideal world, we'd have been able to do a bit more prep work, but for not knowing the ages of the kids or how many of them we'd have in attendance, we pulled this off nicely...if I do say so myself.

What worked best: I think we both agree that The Very Hungry Caterpillar activity kit is like gold. This is one of my longstanding favorite storytime props and one of Andrea's also. The kids love holding all the different signs and "feeding" the different things to the caterpillar. As the caterpillar eats through each piece of fruit in the story, I use the puppet to "chomp" through the holes in the signs as the kids hold them out, half scaring/half tickling each kid. They all shriek with glee at this! It's a sure-fire win time after time and definitely was yesterday also.

Books n Play for Pre-K 5/27/15

Hi! I wasn't going to write about Books n Play for Pre-K again for a while but since every session is so different, I felt inspired today. Last week my theme was dinosaurs and it included digging for "fossils" in a sandbox, which was really fun! This afternoon the theme was food, which is a theme I've done before but haven't done often or in a long time.

First, I read Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter. An oldie but a goodie... a greatie even. I've found this book to be successful every time I have ever used it in storytime. Parents like it too and most of them haven't ever heard it before. Then I followed it with the classic Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean, which I guess isn't really that food-ish of a book, but kids aren't too critical about stuff like that... especially when it comes to Pete the Cat.

Next we sang "Picked a Strawberry" which tied in nicely with Pete the Cat, as seen on Jbrary below:



I started this song off by asking the kids what the first two things Pete stepped in were and I was happy that they remembered both strawberries and blueberries! Once we sang about picking those fruits, I asked what other berries we could pick and was met with raspberries, watermelon (we picked these from the ground), bananas, grapes, and apples. Berries shmerries, right? (Shout out to the awesome moms who jumped in and reminded me that bananas grow on trees. Shoulda brushed up on my fruit knowledge ahead of time! Also, shout out to the awesome kids who made sure to point out that we do not wash bananas.)

After the two books and the song, I had the kids break off to play at the craft table and the toy table.

Here's what was at the craft table:
1. Paper pizza collages. (See below)
2. Fruit and vegetable stamping. (See below)
3. This vegetable coloring sheet and crayons.

Here are the pizza collages:

And here is the fruit and vegetable stamping:

This is what was at the toy table:
1. Plastic fruit that velcros apart and together similar to this in a plastic "shopping basket."
2. A plastic scale that we had floating around and an assortment of foods from home for comparing weights. (See below)
3. This matching game I printed out from Life After C's "Free Food Pre-K Pack."

This is the scale and my array of food for weight comparison:

(Special thanks to my husband who didn't look at me too weirdly when I asked if I could borrow his grapefruit for work this morning.) And here are some of the kids learning that the can of corn always weighs the most:

I timed everything out really well today. I was able to cram so much in after toy/craft time. First I played the song Today is Monday by Greg & Steve as I showed them the the book Today Is Monday, by Eric Carle. I was afraid they'd get distracted for this but it was just the opposite. I can't believe how incredibly captivated they were as we looked through this book and listened to the song. They were like perfect, model three-to-five-year-olds. Maybe it was the book+song combo; I'm not really sure. But whatever it was, it worked great!

After this we did the Milkshake Song by Anne-Marie Akin (from the Wiggleworms CD), which was fun except that I'm pretty sure none of the kids were actually familiar with the concept of a milkshake.

Usually I like to end the class with both The Hokey Pokey and then my usual Goodbye Song (Laurie Berkner's Blow A Kiss) but this week I had a little extra time so I threw Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in there also. By request, we did it again faster and then once more faster still. They're a funny age.

What worked best: The book Hi, Pizza Man! This book is great because it's funny, clever, and interactive. It gets kids to first greet the pizza man (Hi, pizza man!), then the pizza woman (Hi, pizza woman!), and then an assortment of animals who all deliver pizza while also looking super-posh (Meow meow, pizza kitty!, Mooooo, pizza cow!, Ssssss, pizza snake!, etc.) Overall this is a really great storytime book. Here's the pizza kitty:

What worked least: Probably the Milkshake Song, although I wouldn't call it a total bomb or even write it off as something I'm going to stop doing. It fits into the food theme and provides some variety, but it isn't a song that really gets the kids excited like Rocketship Run (Laurie Berkner) does or even the way Picked A Strawberry did this afternoon.

That's it for today! But on a finding-the-silver-lining note: The regular moms have continued (still!) to tell me that I was missed during my time out on disability. I think the whole incident has not only made them super-appreciative of what I do, but it's made me super-appreciative of how supportive and kind they are. I'm a lucky librarian! Until next time!

Books n Play for Pre-K 5/13/15

A few days ago I had my first week in a new session of one of my favorite weekly programs: Books n Play for Pre-K! I do this program about every other month in three or four weekly sessions, each 45-minutes long. The kids are ages 3-5 and I do a different theme with them each week. Generally, the time is broken down like this:

~15-20 minutes: Hello song, two books/three books, two/three songs
~15-20 minutes: Open play with toy table + craft/coloring table (with music)
~5-10 minutes: One more book or song, Goodbye song

This week, I decided to make bugs the theme even though I'm not exactly a fan of bugs. However there are just so many great bug books that it would be a shame to pass them over! Plus we happen to have a small supply of awesome buggy-type toys floating around the library, allowing bugs to be a really good and fleshed-out storytime theme.

My books were:
1. The Very HungryCaterpillar by Eric Carle (with this activity kit)
2. Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! by Mem Fox
3. Big Bug, Little Bug by Paul Stickland

If you've never read Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug!, it's a super-fun book for kids of this age. Here's a page from it.  It's like Where's Waldo for storytime! Can you find the ladybug?

It's a challenge even for adults! (Hint: She's in a yellow car.)

This book mesmerizes the kids as they stare at the spreads, searching for that tiny, red ladybug. It's so cool and kind of under-appreciated in the library-world (but may not work with a group of more than ten kids).

We also played shakers to Laurie Berkner's "Bumblebee" and then the kids broke off to play at the toy table at the craft table. Here's what was there:

Craft table:
1. Pre-cut butterflies folded in half with the bottom glued to yellow paper. This allowed the kids to finger paint one side and then fold in half to create symmetry (See below).
2. These cute ladybug counting and number writing practice sheets from Child Care Lounge.
3. These Very Hungry Caterpillar coloring sheets from Eric-Carle.com.

This is the pre-cut butterfly for finger paint symmetry:

And for the toy table (such good stuff this week!):

1. Kiddie microscopes with bug viewing-blocks (See below).

2.  This Bee Hive sorting game, which is good for sorting and fine motor skills and fun to boot!

3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar board game.

4. Bugs-eye-view kaleidoscopes (See below). 

As I'd predicted, the kids really liked the microscopes:

And here's a symmetry butterfly and a ladybug counting worksheet:

What worked best: The Very Hungry Caterpillar activity kit. I gave the giant drawings of fruit out to the kids and I kept the caterpillar puppet for myself. When I got to the part about the caterpillar eating through each piece of fruit in the story, I took the puppet and "chomped" through the holes as the kids held them out, half scaring/half tickling each kid. They all loved this! They all shrieked with glee! Then I collected the fruit pictures back as I went along. I will totally be doing The Very Hungry Caterpillar with this kit again.

What worked least: Me trying to explain the concept of opposites (for Big Bug, Little Bug) without planning out what I'd say ahead of time. It's not that easy! I hate awkwardly stumbling!

Like I said in an older post about Books n Play For Pre-K, this is the kind of program that almost 100% depends on the kids who sign up. The group is usually on the smaller side (5-10 kids) so each child really helps create the mood and vibe of the room. It's always a good time though! What are your favorite buggy books for pre-k?