Sadie's Top 5, 3-Years-Old

At the end of my last "Sadie's Top" post, I wrote the sentence "Hopefully I will have enough non-TV/movie character books for another post around Sadie's third birthday!" At the time that I wrote it, most of the books Sadie gravitated toward were books based on TV and movie characters-- Paw Patrol, Moana, Frozen, etc. We were in a not-so-great reading phase and I was sad about it. Now, at three-years-old, Sadie definitely still does enjoy those character books, but she has totally come back around to reading other things! She asks me to bring home new books constantly! And, even though our bedtime has changed, we're back to reading books together at night! Hooray!

Once again, I'm going to omit the books based on TV and movie characters (although, FYI, she's REALLY into this specific Frozen book with a spinning Elsa in the middle.) because the reason those books are hits are because of the recognizable characters, not because of the quality of the writing or the story-line. So, those books aside, here are Sadie's Top 5 books, as a sweet, big-girl, three-year-old:

Little Bear Needs Glasses by Bernd Penners is super fun. It's about Little Bear, who, as the title suggests, need glasses. He asks to try on all his friends' pairs but none are quite right. The cool thing about this is that you can actually try each pair of reusable sticky glasses on Little Bear's face! It comes with 5 plastic, reusable stickers! So it's totally interactive! In the end, Little Bear does find the perfect pair (spoiler alert: It's the red, circle pair that none of the other animals are wearing) and everyone is happy! Also, if you like this and your kid is really into the whole reusable sticker thing, try All Better! by the same author. This one is the "original" removable sticky story book and has pretend bandaids instead! Both great!

Hi, Pizza Man by Virginia Walter is a storytime favorite of mine! I have been using it for years in programs and I'm so excited that Sadie likes it now too! The story is about waiting for pizza and greeting whoever brings it. The first pizza deliverer is a human man, so we say "Hi, pizza man!" Then it's a human woman, so we say "Hi, pizza woman!" Then we say things like "Meow meow, pizza cat!" and "Ssssss, pizza snake" when a super formally dressed cat (including a cape!) and a friendly snake in three bow-ties and a top hat deliver the pizzas. There are a total of 8 greetings and then, finally, the pizza comes! Who's going to deliver it? It's a surprise! I love this book because it includes animal sounds and silliness, plus a gentle nod to children having to wait patiently from time to time, even though it's difficult.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems-- Yay! We're finally reading Mo Willems! Even though sometimes Sadie immediately allows the pigeon to drive the bus the very first time he asks to, every time we read it, it clicks a little more in her brain. In case you're not familiar with it, this book is about a pigeon who's begging the reader to allow him to drive a school bus. The book very specifically starts off with the bus driver asking the reader to keep an eye on things for him until he gets back and to make sure NOT to let the pigeon drive the bus while he's gone. So then, as soon as the driver walks away (on page 2), the pigeon pokes his head in and says "I thought he'd never leave." Then he asks, "Hey, can I drive the bus?" (to which the reader is supposed to answer "Nooo!"). His pleading with the reader gets more and more dramatic until he explodes about halfway through the book with, "LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!!!!!!!" Other pleading attempts include "I bet your mom would let me," "I'll be your best friend," and "How 'bout I give you five bucks?" It's a great storytime book and a great one-on-one book and is probably good for kids until, at least, first grade. I'm even inclined to say that there is no upper age limit, except that there comes a point where kids would find reading picture books super uncool. Also, FYI, there are a ton of other Pigeon books like Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, so there's no shortage of chances for kids to have control over the character in the book while giggling along the way! I can't wait to introduce other Mo Willems books to Sadie soon!

Rock-a-bye, Baby by Jane Cabrera ticks all the baby love boxes for Sadie. I'd say that this book is probably great for kids a lot younger than she is, but Sadie really enjoys it too. Maybe she finds it comforting. It's the classic song we all know, but re-imagined with lots of woodland animals and extra verses. For example: "Rock-a-bye Squirrel, high in the tree, in Mommy's arms, cozy as can be." I always sing (instead of say) the whole book and when I do, Sadie always pretends to scoop up and rock all the different animal babies on the pages in her hands. Then she goes "Awwww! So cute!" while pretending to pet them. She really loves babies and therefor, she really loves this book!

Can You See What I See? Seymour Makes New Friends by Walter Wick is one of many search-and-find books and magazines (hello, Highlights!) that Sadie enjoys. She seems to like these particular ones best because they're a little easier than some of the others that we've tried. Like, she can actually find the stuff. I think that they're better for her age. There's even a little story about Seymour along the way, although that part is totally lost on Sadie and even kind of lost on me. This was the first Seymour book that we tried and was, possibly, her favorite one, but all of them are great... and basically the same familiar thing!

Quick aside: I just had a patron ask me for potty books for her daughter and it reminded me of the potty book that really really sealed the deal for Sadie as far as potty training books go. I figured I'd recommend it here in case anyone else is looking for a great potty book recommendation. It's called A Potty For Me by Karen Katz. There are a lot of potty books out there, and a lot of other great ones too, but this is, by far, the one that Sadie always both enjoyed reading the most and the one that, absolutely, made using the potty a feasible and relatable experience for her. This book was a game changer for us-- and we read a lot of potty books!

Anyway, Sadie's Top 5 will be back in 6-months with her 3½-year-old faves!

Toddler Tales 3/13/19

Toddler Tales! I've been on a super traditional toddler story time kick lately and this one, for ages 2-4 at our branch library, was tons of fun! It was a 3-week-session with a different theme each week. The first week we did animals, the second week we did food, and the third week we did bugs. Today I'm blogging about week 2 and my all-time favorite storytime theme-- Food!

First we started with the book Little Green Peas by Keith Baker, which is great for this age group because it gets them to name colors and it's also super silly! Peas flying kites? Peas sailing boats? Peas living in royal castles? So silly! 

Then we moved on to the (loosely food related) Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin. I use this book, basically, as often as I can get away with. It was also on Sadie's Top 5, Ages 18-24 Months list. This one is a favorite for SO MANY kids. If you're not yet familiar, this is the story of cool cat Pete who loves his white shoes so much that he sings about them. The book has singing, color recognition, and lots of silliness! Plus, there's a super-cool, positive message at the end. It makes for a big hit with a pretty large age group. Pluuuuuuus it ties really nicely into this great, simple food song called Picked A Strawberry, thanks to Jbrary!:

When I sing Picked A Strawberry with Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, I usually have us pick strawberries first and blueberries second. This follows along with the order of the berries in the book. Then I have the kids name other things we can pick. For this particular storytime, we wound up picking apples, peaches, oranges, carrots, and bananas. One kid also suggested chocolate! If only!!

Last, we read Hi, Pizza Man by Virginia Walter. This is a great one because a lot of kids don't know it and a lot of parents/caregivers don't either. It's about waiting for pizza and speculating who will bring it. Will it be a pizza man? A pizza woman? A pizza dog? A pizza cat? A pizza snake? Once again, this book has great repetition and lots of silliness. And, instead of having the kids name colors, this time they get to name animal sounds. A little variety!

Then we sang one last song, P-I-Z-Z-A, another perfect tie in, and also taken from Jbrary:



I had all the letters, P I Z Z A, hung up so I could pull them down for a little visual as we sang. See the photo above.

Then it became craft time! We all marched down the hall to the small, sunny craft room to make paper plate personal pizzas (that's a lot of P-words!).

This was a fun craft that required a lot of prep on my part! Each pizza has crayon sauce (I only put out red and orange crayons), collaged paper toppings (This was the majority of my prep work. I cut piles of yellow cheese, red pepperoni, and green peppers.), and tissue paper crust (I cut brown tissue paper squares, thinking the kids would ball them up before they glued, up but some just glued them on as is-- that's ok too!). Here are a few delicious looking finished products:

What worked least: While the pizza craft worked, I had some anxiety about it going in. I worried that it would be too fast. Like, I was afraid that it would only take the kids 5 minutes to make. But actually, it was totally fine! In fact, a craft that took any longer probably wouldn't have held the interest of the kids in this age range anyway. So, aside from the prep work and somewhat obnoxious clean up, all was well!

What worked best: It's a tie between Pete The Cat and Hi, Pizza Man! While Pete The Cat is kind of a guaranteed success, Hi, Pizza Man! is also a fun title that most people don't know, and that gets the kids involved and participating. Overall, basically, this was a storytime worth blogging about.

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!