Sadie's Top 5, Ages 3-6 months

It's already time for installment two of Sadie's Top 5! Six months old today, I have learned that there are books that hold her interest enough to read over and over and over, and books that she can barely stand to look at at all. In the end, I feel a bit on the fence about her top 5 this go around, but these are my best guesses. Presenting, Sadie's Top 5 for ages 3-6 months:

1. 1 2 3 Counting by Maxine Davenport and Cindy Roberts is ALL about the super high-contrast pictures + stand up combo (as is #2 on this list!). Due to a birth injury, we have to work extra hard with Sadie on gross motor skills and, physically, this book is a wonderful motivator for her when we're doing so! I don't even have to read it sometimes! The pages fold out like a fan, rather than turn like a traditional book, which allows it to stand and also allows lots of pages to be on display at one time. Then, between each page, there are black-and-white checkered borders that I swear are like baby eye magnets. (Click the link above to see what I'm referring to.) The combination of everything is just absolutely perfect! This book has it ALL. Even at the older end of this 3-6 month age range, we're big fans in my house!

2. Black & White by Tana Hoben is essentially another version of the book above. In fact, Tana Hoban's collection of high contrast books were most likely the inspiration for 1 2 3 Counting. Like 1 2 3 Counting, the pages of this book open up like a fan so it can stand up by itself and motivate Sadie during her exercises. The first half of the book has pictures that are black silhouettes on a white background; the second half has white silhouettes on a black background (while 1 2 3 Counting uses bold, bright colors in addition to black and white). Of all the pages, Sadie seems the most drawn to the picture of the butterfly, which also happens to be the picture with the most detail.  Overall, this is another really easy-to-look-at book for Sadie, although (according to her) just slightly less cool than the book it most likely inspired. This one might have even worked better as a 0-3 month book (but we were too busy reading and re-reading Sneak-a-Peek Colors to notice).

3. Counting Kisses by Karen Katz means LOTS of kisses from mommy. If you're not familiar with it, this book markets itself as "a kiss & read book," and it really, truly is. The book counts down from "ten little kisses on teeny tiny toes," "nine laughing kisses on busy, wriggly feet," all the way down to the one last kiss on baby's "sleepy, dreamy head." The illustrations are vibrant, sweet, and just seem to reflect love. Sadie's personal favorites are the toe kisses, feet kisses, and belly button kisses. Sometimes I cheat and give her a few extra on those (Don't tell Karen Katz!)--although lately she prefers to have her feet and belly "chomped on" instead. This book is AWESOME for mommy-baby giggles!

4.  Toot Toot, Beep Beep by Emma Garcia is all about the noise-making, so it needs to be read with a lot of enthusiasm. Each page asks the reader to make a silly car noise (such as, appropriately, "Toot toot," and "Beep beep") and, even though I've used this book in storytime for years, I've never seen a small baby's reaction to it until I read it to Sadie. Her favorite noise is the first in the book--"beep, beep"--but even the other noises don't seem to elicit the exact same reaction, the entire book is really engaging for her. Each page says something like, "Beep beep goes the little red jeep. And off he zooms," and "Vroom vroom goes the sleek black sports car. And off he speeds." So there are lots of opportunities for noise making! The vibrant colors, short text, and different tones of voice really seem to be the right combination for her. Maybe she'll be one of those kids who really likes cars. Maybe I am fostering a love of cars in her right now.

5. I had a hard time settling on a #5 for this list but ultimately realized that the answer was Sophie la Girafe: Colors from DK. This was a book that I (naively) assumed was just a marketing ploy to sell more Sophie toys (which, naturally, we own). While, yes, it may be that, it's also a book that Sadie genuinely seems to love. The text of the book says, for example "Who's hiding behind Sophie's green boat?" then you open the flap and see that it's "Margot the turtle! She loves green. She's resting on her green towel." Then at the end, the book recites all the animal friends and their favorite colors again: "Gabin loves blue. Josephine loves  yellow. Kiwi loves red. Margot loves green. Lazare loves orange. Sophie loves purple." I don't know what it is exactly, but there's something really engaging about this book. There's the usual simply drawn illustrations and bright colors, but what I think it is mostly are the really thick, cool, colorful lift-the-flap pages that Sadie is really into grabbing. They're not the ordinary thin, glued on flaps we're all used to, but almost like mini doors on each page. Like page within a page. They're so enticing! So, marketing ploy? Maybe. But enjoyable board book? Absolutely.

And that's it! More of this again when Sadie hits her 9-month-mark!

Musical Kids (for ages 30-months through 5-years) 3/17/17

It's time for another good ol' Musical Kids post! Can you ever have too many of these? Possibly, but we're not there yet!

If you haven't been to my blog before, allow me to briefly explain Musical Kids: This is a reoccurring program done in three 30-minute sessions per week: 6-16 months at 10:00, 17-29 months at 10:45 (this used to be 17-35 months), and 30 months-5 years at 11:30 (this used to be 3-5 years). We did a bit of age group modification recently due to overcrowding in the middle group--not a bad problem to have! This all goes on for 3 or 4 weeks in a row, takes a week or so off (or sometimes doesn't!), then starts again for another 3 or 4 weeks in a row. I love Musical Kids and, even more that, I love the relationships that I've formed with the patrons who attend it! I am so so lucky to get to work with such wonderful kids and parents regularly.

Today I'm writing about last week's session with my oldest crew, the kids who are 30-months through 5-years-old.

Here is my playlist from that class: (red = ipod, blue = sing)

1. A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff
2. Wave Your Scarf  (scarves) *
3. Row, Row, Row Your Boat by Rob Newhouse (scarves)
4. Anyone Can Sing by Playdate (shakers + cat puppet)
5. Rocketship Run by Laurie Berkner (rockets) **
6. One Little Froggy Goes Hop (drums) ***
7. Yellow Submarine by The Beatles (drums)
8. My Ball Rolls Over the Ocean (parachute) #
9. Stop & Go by Greg and Steve (parachute) ##
10. Wheels on the Bus (parachute) ###
11. Blow a Kiss by Laurie Berkner

* Wave Your Scarf comes from, you guessed it, Jbrary! It's to the tune of London Bridges and goes like this:

Wave your scarf up and down, up and down, up and down
Wave your scarf up and down, wave your scar-arf.
Wave your scarf left and right, left and right, left and right
Wave your scarf left and right, wave your scar-arf.
Wave your scarf fast and slow, fast and slow, fast and slow
Wave your scarf fast and slow, wave your scar-arf.
Wave your scarf around and round, around and round, around and round
Wave your scarf around and round, wave your scar-arf.

** I write about Rocketship Run every time I blog about my middle or oldest Musical Kids group. It's an absolute essential with these kids. I can't do the class without it. When I do this song, I hand out rockets-on-sticks (which I made, probably, three years ago at this point) for them to zoom around with, and then also, I hold up signs for all the places that we "travel" to. Here is a picture of my gear:

When I hold up a given sign, the kiddos all run up and touch their rocket to the sign, like they're really "going" to the sun/moon/etc. I'VE NEVER TOLD THEM TO DO THIS, and yet every week, it happens. It's so funny! They totally invented it and it's continued on from week-to-week and from class-to-class. For years! Additionally, this song always gets the loudest end-of-song cheer from both the children and the adults. A++ for Rocketship Run! Here are a few pictures of the kids last week as they "traveled" to the sun:

*** One Little Froggy Goes Hop is a song I stole from this video (at the 9:30-mark):



I didn't have access to the recorded song above so I just sang it myself. It was SO GREAT. It was especially good for getting the kids to work on paying attention and following rules. I told them we were going to "make a big deal" about the word "stop." And encouraged them to not only stop playing the drums when I sang "stop" but to also to freeze. And if there's one thing a 4ish-year-old likes, it's a freeze dance song. (You want kids in silly poses? Freeze dance!) Unlike with the recorded version, singing the song myself also allowed me the luxury of varying the spaces of the pauses. It's fun to throw a really silly, long pause around occasionally.

# My Ball Rolls Over the Ocean is a variation on My Bonnie. In the song, we rolled the ball around on the parachute from person to person. It was my first time trying it. The idea came from the video below and can be seen at the 4:33-mark:



It was fun, but hard. The grown ups were better at the actual ball rolling than the kids and the kids seemed a little competitive about grabbing up the ball every time it fell off the parachute. I think if my group was even a little bit brattier, this may have lead to a problem, but luckily they were a fairly easy going bunch who shared and didn't complain when other kids took a turn with the ball. That said, it was fun to try to roll the ball around from person to person... even if it was slightly more fun for the grown ups than the kids. Here's a picture of me explaining what to do:

## This was the first time I used Stop & Go as a parachute song and all I have to say is: What took me so long? Is there any combo better than freeze dance and being under a parachute? I don't think so! Folks, if you need a new song to do with the parachute and you don't already do a freeze dance song, DO A FREEZE DANCE SONG. It works.

### My parachute version of Wheels on the Bus is a song where the kids get to go on top of the parachute. We lay the parachute down flat on the ground and the kids crawl into the middle and sit down flat. There are usually 1 or 2 kids who are either afraid of this or who would just prefer to stand outside the parachute with the grown ups, but the majority of the group likes this part the best of all! When the kids are all seated in the middle, the grown ups pull up from the parachute's handles and we all walk around in a circle, giving the kids a ride as we sing the first verse of Wheels on the Bus. We do 4 verses in total: 

1. The wheels on the bus go round and round (walk around counter clockwise)

2. The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish (swish the parachute around the kids)

3. The doors on the bus go open and shut (pull the parachute down then snap it closed around the kids on the word "shut")

4. The wheels on the bus go round and round (walk around clockwise)

The kids love this and, of all the on-top-of-the-parachute songs in my (rather small) repertoire, Wheels on the Bus may be the overall favorite, since it includes several different actions for the grown ups to do around the kids.

What worked least: My Ball Rolls Over the Ocean was, I guess, the least successful song of the day, but it was still fun for a change and the kids definitely got a kick out of using the big ball (aka "chasing after the big ball").

What worked best: This was a super fun playlist full of successes. I'm going to call it a three-way-tie between Rocketship Run (which is always a favorite), Stop & Go, and Wheels on the Bus.

Musical Kids (for babies 6-16 months) 2/24/17

Hi! I want to start by saying that I am NOT ignoring my blog; I'm just not working as much right now (I'm still on partial maternity leave) and thus, not doing as much to blog about. The truth is, I think about my blog all the time. I feel bad for neglecting it! So here I am, finally writing an entry, and writing it on my long-time-favorite program--Musial Kids.

The last time I blogged about Musical Kids was October 4 (just ten days before my sweet daughter was born) and I chose to blog about my baby group. Now today, I'm writing about the babies again, because, well, they're just fun! And it's my blog and I can write about whatever I want to!

For those not in the know: Musical Kids is a reoccurring program done in three 30-minute sessions per week: 6-16 months at 10:00, 17-29 months at 10:45, and 30 months-5 years at 11:30, for 3 or 4 weeks in a row. They're probably the most well-attended programs in the department and I seriously love the relationships that I've formed with the patrons who attend them. Musical Kids is part of the reason I consider myself so lucky to work where I do.

Here is my playlist from this morning's baby class: (red = ipod, blue = sing)

1. A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff
2. The Happy Song by Imogen Heap (shakers)*
3. Yellow Submarine by The Beatles (drums)
4. Row, Row Your Boat by Dr. John (drums)
5. Bell Horses by Kathy Reid-Naiman (bells)
6. The Owl Song by Playdate (bells + owl puppet)
7. Exercise to the Beat- Twinkle Theme by Lynn Kleiner (parachute) **
8. The Grand Old Duke of York (parachute) ***
9. Toast in the Toaster (parachute) ****
10. Slow and Fast by Hap Palmer (parachute)
10. Blow a Kiss by Laurie Berkner

* The Happy Song by Imogen Heap is a song that, according to LifeHacker, was scientifically designed to make babies smile. The song "encapsulates everything babies like in music:" Consonance, the female voice, a major key, a quick tempo, a simple, repetitive melody, drum rolls, key changes, rising pitch glides, and plenty of opportunities for anticipation and surprise. In short, it's a good song. And it really is! It's super catchy, all-around sweet, and it successfully made me smile. So I was super excited to debut it for the first time today in Musical Kids.

Well, it didn't work. At all! In fact, I challenge you to find one smiling child in the pictures below:

** This video is filled with amazing baby program ideas, including the seventh song I used during today's class: Exercise to the Beat- Twinkle Theme. The song starts around the 6-minute-mark (and zooms in on that super-cute little guy in the front at 7:05. Sooo cute!).

If you don't feel like watching the video, Exercise to the Beat- Twinkle Theme basically, involves lifting and moving baby's arms and legs like a little aerobics routine. It worked ok. There were a number of babies who were small and calm enough to really benefit from it; then there were a number of babies (the walkers) who were just too restless for it. Clearly the babies in the video above are both younger than my crowd and also more well-trained.

Side note: Last week I tried the first dance seen in the video above, "Folk Dance," and it worked pretty well! Explaining the steps felt a bit intimidating at first, but once we got going, everyone picked it up and got the hang of it quickly. Enjoyed it even! I'd give it another shot going forward. Also, my four-month-old baby LOVES when we do the Folk Dance into the mirror.

*** I found this parachute version of The Grand Old Duke of York from The Kids Music Experience YouTube channel (although I modified it a little). It's fantastic! And actually, so is this entire video:

**** If you've ever so much as glanced at my blog you know I think the ladies over at Jbrary are geniuses. I love their Toast in the Toaster rhyme, but actually, I've enjoyed it more as a parachute song with little beach balls for the "toast."

We all shake the balls on the chute for the rhyme, then when we get to the word "pop," we try to shoot the balls up into the air, like popping toast. I always do this twice and, while it's sometimes messy the first go-around, everyone definitely gets it and enjoys it the second time. (Fun side note: In my oldest group, one of the regular girls asked her mom if she could have toast when they got home. Inspiring snacks since 2017!)

What worked least: The Happy Song by Imogen Heap was a total disappointment! If it wasn't for my excitement (as well as extended introduction about how this song was scientifically proven to make babies smile), it would have worked as well as any other song, but all things considered, it was kind of a dud! I would, however, try it again with a smaller group, or in a one-on-one scenario.

What worked best: The Owl Song by Playdate is not only a great song (by a great band that's lead by Greg Attonito of The Bouncing Souls), but the baby group always responds particularly well to the use of puppets. When whatever the puppet-of-the-week is comes around, the babies transform into a super cute combination of friendly, shy, affectionate, and surprised. It'll melt your heart! Seriously!

Sadie's Top 5, Ages 0-3 months

Hi! I'm back from maternity leave and, while I love and even kind of missed my job, it's incredibly difficult to be away from my daughter for so long. So I've decided to start a new feature on my blog that's inspired by her! It's called "Sadie's Top 5" and I'm going to do one of these posts every three months.

Sadie and I read a lot of books together and I've very quickly built her quite an extensive home library. I've never done reader's advisory on my blog before (because, honestly, I think it's the hardest part of my job), but now that I have my own little 3-month-old authority, I'm going to recommend her personal favorites! So today... Sadie's Top 5 for ages 0-3 months:

1. Sneak-a-Peek Colors by Roger Priddy taught Sadie how to lift up her head. For real. This is her absolute favorite! It was the first book I could really get her to focus on and, in fact, she focused on it so hard that I was able to lure her to lift her head up to see it! What you can't see from the picture above is that each colored ring on the cover of the book is actually the perimeter of a hole. So as you turn the pages, the holes get smaller and smaller until you finally reach that all elusive, super-awesome, shiny mirror at the end. That mirror freakin' rules. Sadie is happy just staring at it for several minutes in a row. This book is basically a MUST for one-on-one reading with tiny babies! Sadie recommends it highly.

2. My Soft-and-Cuddly Animals by Xavier Deneux is a close second for Sadie's favorite book. It's got both bold, black and white images and touch-and-feel pages, making it a really great pick, sensory-wise. Sadie is able to find the animal shapes and reach out and touch them on the pages (with some help from mom). I do have one little bone to pick with this book, which I feel the need to mention: The rabbit has white fur on a white page and I'm not sure her eyes can see the outline of the shape yet. But bone aside, this book is awesome and Sadie loves it! She even tries to help me turn the pages sometimes. Each page has just 1 or 2 words ("A cat," "An owl," "Bears") and the outline of that animal in black or white. I like that every animal (except the butterflies) is soft or hairy. We recently read another touch-and-feel animal book and half of the animals had no texture! Or they had a texture so subtle, even I could barely feel it. My Soft-and-Cuddly Animals is consistent and super simple. It even has a few "lesser seen" creatures like a bat, mole, and wolf. A fantastic choice, according to Sadie.

3. See The Year by Joan Walsh Anglund, published in 1984, was one of my favorites as a kid. In fact, what I've been reading to Sadie is actually my childhood copy. When I found the book at my parents' house, I decided to save it for my own children and now, here I am, sharing it with Sadie and she absolutely loves it! I think a large part of her affinity comes from the book's size. It's teeny and "baby sized," definitely the smallest book we own but it's certainly got lots of other redeeming factors too: bright (yet somehow also soft) colors, super chunky "grabbable" pages, and a sweet and concise message. On each page, there is a month and something that represents it. Examples: "January, See the snowman," "May, See the flowers," and "November, See the turkey." Super cute little book! And it's kind of a collectible!

4. Pete the Cat: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by James Dean includes all five verses of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which I'll admit, I didn't know existed before opening this book. But maybe Sadie will grow up knowing them all equally! Anyway, the book recites the (beautiful) text of the Twinkle Twinkle poem and pairs it with typical, fun Pete the Cat illustrations. It's become our nightly ritual to read this book as I put Sadie down in her Rock n Play and hope she falls asleep within a reasonable time frame. Actually, I thought she wouldn't appreciate it until she was old enough to understand Pete the Cat's appeal, but that's not the case! She really does love it! I imagine that she must just be drawn to the really vivid illustrations, or it's possible that she just loves my singing voice. Probably the latter.

5. Five Little Elves by Dan Yaccarino has the best, bright, vibrant colors. Sadie loves staring at the bright green elves and dark blue sky on each page. Even after Christmas, I had to keep this book in our rotation. Sadie's orders! The text of it is a version of Five Little Elves that I wasn't familiar with but it lends itself to using funny voices, which I think Sadie will appreciate when she gets a tiny bit older. Maybe it'll even appear in her top 5 again one day!

So, that's it! More from Sadie at her 6-month mark!

Musical Kids (for babies ages 6-16 months) and Last Post Before I Have My Own Baby!

It has been exactly one year since the last time I blogged about my baby group of  Musical Kids!

As pretty much everyone ever knows, I love Musical Kids. I have blogged about this program many times in the past but it's continued to be my favorite part of my job. Since I am leaving for maternity leave next week, I wanted to do one last Musical Kids post, before I go. And since it's been exactly one year since, why not have this post be about the babies (6-16 months) again this time?

The lowdown on Musial Kids, for those not in the know: This is a reoccurring program done in three 30-minute sessions per week: 6-16 months at 10:00, 17-23 months at 10:45, and 3-5 years at 11:30, for 3 or 4 weeks in a row. They're probably the most well-attended programs in the department and I seriously love the relationships I have formed with our core group of regular parents and children. Today I am going to write about my baby group (again) who I see first at 10:00 because, for the first time, they were my biggest group. Also, they've been so so SO wonderfully sympathetic through my pregnancy and I kind of just love them.

Here is my playlist from last Friday morning: (red = ipod, blue = sing)

1. A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff
2. This Land is Your Land by  Josh Levine (shakers)
3. I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner (shakers + chicken puppet)
4. Mix a Pancake (scarves) *
5. Scarf Version of Early in the Morning (scarves) **
6. Wheels on the Bus (with big book)
7. She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain (lap song) ***
8. Can't Buy Me Love  by The Beatles (tambourines)
9. Whole Lotta Lovin' by Fats Domino (tambourines)
10. Grand Old Duke of York (parachute) ****
11. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Kathy Reid-Naiman (parachute) x2
12. Blow a Kiss by Laurie Berkner

This was the first time in a long time (or possibly ever) that I didn't use the drums in a class of Musical Kids! I was a little worried about it because I feel like everyone has kind of come to expect them, but nobody seemed to miss them at all! Plus I included the tambourines instead, which are also really fun. So I guess a little instrument variety is ok after all.

As usual, this program was made better because of good ol' Jbrary, specifically, their Babytime Story Resources playlist, which has pretty much everything you could ever need for a successful baby program.

* Mix a Pancake is thanks to (of course) Jbrary, although using it with scarves was my idea! Here it is:

** I actually can't remember where I got the Scarf Version of So Early in the Morning from (apologies if it was you!) but it goes like this:

This is the way we wash our arms, wash our arms, wash our arms. This is the way we wash our arms so early in the morning... (and we pretend to use our scarves as a wash cloths).

Then we go through and sing it over and over with other body parts. Popular on-the-spot body part choices for me are knees, elbows, head, feet, and belly.

*** I got this wonderful version of She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain from, you guessed it, Jbrary! It's pretty no-fail and everyone usually enjoys it (minus a few complaints about tired arms):

**** I found this parachute version of The Grand Old Duke of York from The Kids Music Experience YouTube channel (although I modified it a little):

When I first started doing Musical Kids (about 6 or 7 years ago as a librarian trainee helping another librarian), I did not care for this baby group one bit. The idea of a singing and dancing program with babies intimidated me because, well, babies can't sing or dance. It took me a LOT of time (like, 5 years) to get comfortable with this group and even longer to actually enjoy it. But I started to really dig this age group once I figured out one key thing--with babies, you get to do an entire category of songs you can't do with the older crew: lap songs! Once I found my lap songs rhythm, I started to love the 10:00 group! You can do so much with them that you can't do with the walkers. They're actually really fun! Plus they're just totally wild for the parachute.

Anyway, last note, regardless of how little they are, it's always important that babies be exposed to music and rhythms early! Here are the reasons why: 

1. Singing helps children to hear the smaller sounds that make up words, because each note gets its own sound.

2. Moving, marching, clapping, and playing instruments helps with children’s motor skills.

3. Singing helps children build vocabulary through song lyrics. For younger children, “naming songs” where you are singing a list of animals, foods, or any other objects are beneficial. 

4. Singing different pitches helps children think spatially because the notes of the melody move up and down. 

5. Singing different rhythms helps children think mathematically because the beats are timed and precise. 

6. Singing with young children helps them to learn critical communication skills such as reciprocal dialogue, speech sounds, and how to associate sounds with objects, events, and feelings.

I can't muster up a "What worked best" and "What worked least" for this post. Musical Kids always feels like a success for me and racking my brain to come up with a "worked least" just seems pointlessly negative.

Anyway, I'm going to sort of sign off here for the next 2-3 months. I'll be back at work and back to blog posts in no time, but for the next bunch of weeks, it's time for me to have a baby and love a baby. <3

Books n Play for Pre-K 9/28/16

I haven't written about a session of Books n Play for Pre-K in SO long, and since this week's class was my last one for a while, I decided that it was time for a post.

I've written about this program many times in the past, but I've never blogged about my dinosaurs theme before! Coincidentally, this week's theme was just that... dinosaurs! A real crowd-pleaser, I must say. My group was small--only six kids--but they were a really great, attentive, and rule-following six kids (unlike how they were the last time I blogged about Books n Play for Pre-K), so I was happy!

As usual, I opened the program with our Hello Song (still, as always, A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff), and then I moved on to books and songs. The first book I read was The Super Hungry Dinosaur by Martin Waddell (which I read with a raspy, throat-hurty dinosaur voice, obviously), and then Dini Dinosaur by Karen Beaumont. The kids liked both, definitely, but I'd actually go as far as to say that they loved The Super Hungry Dinosaur. The whole room was completely attentive as I read it, totally engaged!

Then we sang a song that I found online called All Around the Swamp. Basically it's a dinosaurs version of Wheels on the Bus. I modified it a tiny bit and this is what we wound up singing:

The Pteranodon's wings went FLAP, FLAP, FLAP… All around the swamp.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex said GRRR, GRRR, GRRR… All around the swamp.
The Triceratops’s horns went POKE, POKE, POKE… All around the swamp.
The Stegosaurus tail went SPIKE, SPIKE, SPIKE… All around the swamp.

The kids were very eager to move onto our crafts and play time. I had a lot of good stuff for them this week, if I do say so myself. As usual, this part of the program lasted for about 20-25-minutes. Here's what I had out:

The craft table:

1. "Fossil" making (aka play dough and a bunch of shells) *
2. Construction paper, crayons, and colorful, foam dinosaur stickers to make a prehistoric scene (see picture below)
3. Stuff to make the Stegosaurus Puppet from this set of free printable dinosaur puppets on PagingSuperMom.com.
4. Trace a Dino Footprint free printable, also from PagingSuperMom.com

And here's what was at the toy table:

1. Sand box and dinosaur fossils to dig up**
2. Dinosaur puzzles
3. Dinosaur "eggs" + matching sheets and crayons ***
4. Dinosaur bones kit + matching and measuring cards ****

* Fossil making with play dough and shells is one of my favorite prehistoric activities. It's a true process over product kind of craft and I like how it's just totally different from the usual coloring or drawing. For this, all I put out were shells, play dough, and paper plates (which you don't really even need if your tables are covered). It's pretty self-explanatory, I guess:

The kids liked this and I think the little siblings might have liked it even more. Plus, it's a good sensory activity!

** I've used the sandbox (and other sensory bins) a bunch of times before in Books n Play for Pre-K and usually, the whole program basically revolves completely around it. Like, the kids eye it before the play time starts and pretty much have to be peeled away from it after it ends. Thank goodness we have covers for these bins or I would have no control at all in the room. Here is some quality dino diggin':

Coupled with the sandbox, I used this Dino-Dig Excavation Kit from Lakeshore Learning. Because our sandbox isn't exactly huge (and neither was our group of kids), I only buried 8 dinosaur skeletons for the kids to dig up and, since they're so young, I didn't even bother with the paint brushes.

*** The dinosaur “eggs” I had are a total mystery to me. I seriously have no idea how they were made (or why they smell kind of funny), but I got them on loan from our county library system and they're really cool! Basically, they're colorful plastic dinosaurs living inside Easter egg-sized, clear plastic homes, with a texture similar to that of an un-started bar of soap. To go with them, I made some match-up sheets to encourage the kids to examine the eggs and play with them a little. I think it worked pretty well, although only one or two kids wound up doing it.

Some "egg-xamining" in action:

**** The dinosaur bones kit + matching and measuring cards were also a loan from our county library system. They're super-cool, but didn't get a ton of attention during the program (but, to be fair, they were competing with a sand box). Basically I received a canvas bag filled with pretty realistic-seeming (both in weight and in texture) dinosaur bones and some cool cards to match them up with to make different dino parts or measure the different bones. STEM central.

At the end of play/craft time, I wrapped up with one more book: Dinosaur Vs. The Library by Bob Shea, which went over ALMOST as well as The Super Hungry Dinosaur, but nottttt quite.

What worked least: I don't know if there was really anything in this program that I'd say "didn't work", per-say. It was really a great group! However, I think for the amount of time and brain-power that I spent trying to find and learn All Around the Swamp, it wasn't super-appreciated. Mostly the kids were ready to move on to the toys and crafts at this point. But now that it's in my repertoire, I'm happy to have it. So no big deal!

What worked best: The Super Hungry Dinosaur by Martin Waddell was SUCH a hit! I highly recommend it for the ages 3-5 crowd! They seriously adored it.

Back(packs) to School

A few weeks ago (before school actually started), I did a program called "Back(packs) to School." There's not a lot to say about; it almost isn't even worth a blog post... except that despite how completely simple the whole thing was, it went really, really well!

This was for kids entering grades 1 through 5, and the books I picked were PERFECT (if I do say so myself). I read two of them: Frankie Stein Starts School by Lola M. Schaefer (a story about fitting in but from a cool, kind of gothy, monster perspective) and Jake Starts School by Michael Wright (a story about first day jitters with super funky illustrations and, BONUS!, it also includes a fart).

The kids seriously loved both books. They didn't even try acting bored to be cool (which at least a few kids usually do in this age group), but fully embraced the storytime! It was awesome.

Then we moved on to the craft: decorating canvas backpacks (these, from Oriental Trading) with fabric markers. Simple, no frills, and a crowd-pleaser!

Here are a few of the finished products:

Aaaaand the last finished product pictures I want to share can be seen at the top of the post. I did take a picture of this sweet kid (who also has a sweet family) solo-- but then he specifically requested a selfie with me. And even though I am 8-months pregnant and haven't seen a picture of myself that I've liked since Valentine's Day, I had no choice but to oblige. How do you say no to a selfie like the ones above?

What worked least: Nothin'. This was easy to do, easy to set-up, and the kids genuinely had a great time! I always worry that I'm going to have lots of clothing disasters when I use fabric markers, but with a steady record of firm, pre-craft warnings under my belt, so far so good. Hopefully I didn't just jinx it!

What worked best: Again, this program was so simple that there weren't a ton of elements that could go wrong. The books worked and the craft worked! A+ for Back(packs) to School!