Art Explorers - Modern Mona Lisa

This was a really nice program celebrating the birth month of Leonardo da Vinci, who was born on April 15, 1452. I had good registration for this program, but some had to cancel the day before.

PROGRAM BASICS

• For children ages 6 through 12 years
• Must register prior to program due to limited space.
• If space allows, children can walk in day off. 
• 1 hour in length

THEME 
Modern Mona Lisa

PROJECT EXAMPLE 

INTRODUCTION 
Many of the children already were familiar with the Mona Lisa so I decided to give them some interesting facts to make them think. For example, she did, in fact, at one point had eyebrows! (Source: here and here). I also shared info about Leonardo da Vinci, especially about everything he did from being an artists to an inventor to being a scientist! The children were fascinated with his Mirror Writing.

INSPIRATION 
I found the idea of the project while searching the web and Pinterest. These two websites were my main source of inspiration for the project:

• Art with Mrs. Seitz - Mona Lisa Parodies
• http://artwithmrsseitz.blogspot.com/2013/02/mona-lisa-parodies.html?m=1

• Art Projects for Kids - Fun with Mona Lisa
• https://artprojectsforkids.org/make-a-mona-lisa-free-download/

HOW TO MAKE IT?
Supplies 

• Art Paper 
• Print out copies of Mona Lisa's head, hands, and arms (color or black & white, your choice)
• Glue sticks 
• Scissors 
• Pencils
• Crayons
• Markers 

Instruction
Step 1: Cut out Mona Lisa's head and hands (you can use just the hands or have hands with the arms attached). 

Step 2: Sketch/draw your overall design of how you want your Mona Lisa to look (pose her doing something fun, like skateboarding!), and add a background!

Step 3: Add coloring using crayons and/or markers. I did both for this project. Markers were used to make bold color accents and the crayons for a softer colors.


HOW DID IT GO?
Attendance: 8 children, 6 adults
The children did a great job! I used the inspiration prompt like "What would she be doing when she wasn't having her portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci?" and "What would she look like if she was...?". Some artists drew and colored a modernized portrait of her while others showed her being comfy in her bedroom. One boy showed her practicing black bet karate, which was so cool! In other drawing there was an illustrated love of eating "Chez Doodles"! This was a fun program because you got to see the imagination flow.

Art Explorers - Van Gogh Sunflowers

This was probably one of the coolest art program that we did this past year. Unfortunately, I was sick on program day and I had to have a fellow Children's Librarian lead the class. All reports and photos from the day showed that it was awesome!


PROGRAM BASICS

• For children ages 6 through 12 years
• Must register prior to program due to limited space.
• If space allows, children can walk in day off. 
• 1 hour in length

THEME 
Van Gogh Sunflowers

PROJECT EXAMPLE 

INTRODUCTION 
There was a brief overview of Vincent Van Gogh is for his style of painting before introducing his Sunflowers. It is said that Van Gogh painted many of his sunflowers to right before his friend Paul Gaughin arrived in Arles (source: here) 

INSPIRATION 
I found the idea from seeing instructions on how to paint easy fireworks from the following websites, and I thought that making flowers would be fantastic!: 

• Learning 4 Kids - Painting Fireworks
• https://www.learning4kids.net/2015/12/27/painting-fireworks/ 

• Dayna Bayna - Easy Fireworks Painting 
• https://www.danyabanya.com/fireworks-painting/

• The Parenting Patch - Patriotic Toilet Paper Roll Fireworks Paint Crafts 
• https://parentingpatch.com/patriotic-toilet-paper-roll-fireworks-paint-craft/

HOW TO MAKE IT?
Supplies 

• Tempera or acrylic paint
• Mixed Media paper 
• Toilet Paper Tubes, with a line, 1.5 inches from the edge, drawn around
• Safety Scissors
• Paint Brushes  
• Water cups 
• Plastic or paper plates for the paint 
• Paper Towels 
• Aprons 

Instruction
Step 1: Like in the Inspiration websites/videos, children will cut little slits up to the 1.5 inch line around the toilet paper tube.

Step 2: With paint(s) on a plate, dab the tp tube applicator in the paint then then dab the paint on the art paper. Twist the tube around to get carrying colors and flower pedals. Repeat until desired look and number of flowers.

Step 3: Using a paint brush, paint a vase and flower stems. Add a background if you want!


HOW DID IT GO?
Attendance: 20 children, 11 adults
This was very well attended program! Paint tends to be a big draw for children, as well as Van Gogh. The children quickly went to work and painted amazing works of art!

Art Explorers - Picasso Portraits

This was a really fun program. I'm in love with my portrait, even though I think the eye for the blue part of the face could down a little (I just didn't want to freak the children out too much!). I love so much, in fact, that when I was taking pictures of the blog I could not find it anywhere! Panic! I eventually found it out in another pile safe and sound. Whew!


PROGRAM BASICS

• For children ages 6 through 12 yrs
• Must register prior to program due to limited space. If space allows, children can walk in day off. 
• 1 hour in length

THEME 
Picasso Portraits

PROJECT EXAMPLE 

INTRODUCTION 
As I typically do, I give a brief overview of the artist's life and works of art. I had printed out a bunch of portraits (non-nude ones) to show the progression of Picasso's portrait styles.

HOW TO MAKE IT?
Supplies 

• Multi Medium Paper 
• Acrylic Paint  
• Pencil
• Black Crayon 

I started out using a pencil to draw my portrait. It helped a lot having an example of how to make it. For example, I saw these online over at Deep Space Sparkle and Studio Sprout. Once I got the basic outline of my portrait done I went over the pencil with a black crayon. Then it was onto painting! I did my best to mix up the colors and make it appear to have two faces in one head. I gotta say that it was pretty cool! The key here is to make sure to go with the flow an it does accept that it does not have to be perfect looking! Why? Because it's so funky cool and Picasso-y!

HOW DID IT GO?
Attendance: 16 children, 4 adults
This was one of my more popular programs. Pretty much I find when a project can potentially be very messy, it means that it's going to popular! The children did a really great job creating their portraits and painting! Love!

Art Explorers - Matisse Collages

 The goal of this program was to not only promote the famous artist who made awesome collages in his older years, but also to help me with the all the construction paper scraps from my old storytimes.

PROGRAM BASICS

• For children ages 6 through 12 yrs
• Must register prior to program due to limited space. If space allows, children can walk in day off. 
• 1 hour in length

THEME 
Matisse Collages

PROJECT EXAMPLE 

Do you see any animals in the lower green collage?
I made the purple deer by pure luck.
So I decided to add in more.

INTRODUCTION 
What's awesome is there is a LOT of books about Henri Matisse that range from artist biographies to educational picture books: Matisse's Garden by Samantha Friedman, Blue & Other Colors with Henri Matisse, Matisse: The King of Color by Laurence Anholt, and Colorful Dreamer: The Story of Artist Henri Matisse by Marjorie Blain Parker. I shared info with the children about he was a great painter, but after he had fallen ill he started to cut out painted paper to make large collages.

HOW TO MAKE IT?
Supplies 

• Construction paper - both new sheets and scraps 
• Scissors 
• Glue sticks 

 It's very basic. Pick out a base, which is a new sheet of construction paper. Then use the paper scraps to cut out random shapes. A lot of Matisse's shapes were not completely representational so I tried my best to make everything not represent anything exactly, but it just so happened I cut out a shape that that looked like a perfect deer head. So I added in other animals to help give an example to the children that they can add in some things. Matisse did make an apple shape, which always looked like a radish to me.

HOW DID IT GO?
Attendance: 8 children, 5 adults
This was a good program. It was small in attendance, but not my worst. Some children did have difficulty listening to me about using the paper scraps instead of new paper. Also, these children did had some trouble understanding that we were making collages and not giant paper crafts that look like Spongebob or a flag. The lesson here is to just go with it and try to encourage them, but if they don't do it right then just leave them to their work (especially if their parent is in the room). All the other children in the group did a great job working on their work of art, and were proud of their results. Initially I was worried I didn't have enough scraps, but because of the group size I had the perfect amount.

Construction, Construction - A Storytime Outline

Another new theme for me! The children really liked it. I had a lot of fun.

This storytime season the children have loads of energy. So, now, before I do "Open, Shut Them" I have the children get their wiggles out by wiggling, jumping, turn around and doing jumping jacks. In fact, I also did a quick thing of that after we did the "Construction Worker Song."

BOOKS
Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site written by Sherri Duskey Rinker and illus. by Tom Lichtenheld 
This is such a cute little book. The children wanted to read this one first (we typically vote for at least one book). The children started acting like the construction vehicles and would fall asleep. They'd wake up and act like the next vehicle. 

Who Made This Cake written by Chihiro Nakagawa and illus. by Junji Koyose 
The children love anything with birthday cakes. At first they thought the little workers were normal human size and were just baking a giant cake. But some of them realized they were itty bitty workers who baked the cake.

SONGS & RHYMES
Open, Shut Them
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Construction Worker Song 
(Make actions to each tool used) 
This is the way we pound the nails,
Pound the nails, pound the nails
This is the way we pound the nails
So early in the morning

Other lyrics 
Saw the woo
Turn the screwdriver
Drill a hole,
Stack the brick,
Stir the pant
Paint the walls
Source: Storytime Katie

 Touch Your Nose
follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

FLANNEL BOARD
N/A

ACTIVITIES
Memory Block 
I had a tape measure in the box and picture of tools.


Name Box 
This time around I put the name tag shape in their craft box so that they could put it in the box after their craft. This worked out better than me handing them out.


Hard Hats 
I have two hard hats from my grandpa. I let the children try on the hats after their craft. They looked so cute with their little tool belt craft.

STEAM ACTIVITIES
How Many Books Read/ Stories Told 
The children are getting better at their math skills.


Today's Weather 
We've been hit with crazy hot weather again in the middle of September. When asked the children were excited to tell me that it was Sunny and Super Hot!


Building Blocks 
I have a bin of wooden blocks that were donated to my library. I brought them out and let everyone help build a fort for Abner the Owl. Pretty much it was only two girls who ended up playing with the blocks, which was awesome!


CRAFT
Tool Belts 
I saw this craft idea over at Project I.Am.Amy (link here for a picture!) that included a downloaded printable for tools, which were so cute! I printed the tools on white card stock for the children to color. Then for the tool belt I used craft foam rectangles that had slits for the tools to be slipped into. I also hole punched the top corners so that we could tie some strings to it.


Images of the book covers were found on www.goodreads.com here and here.

The Three Little Pigs - A Storytime Outline

This was a fun storytime! I basically found various versions of the tale "The Three Little Pigs" to introduce the children the idea that there are different ways to the tell the same story. I started out with our memory box then telling the classic tale with puppets before we went to our first book.


The children really liked this program. In fact they wanted to not do any in-between activity songs or rhymes. We pretty read through all the books before the craft. The last book The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs did take some time, and the children were losing interest, we didn't end up doing the the STEAM activity - building blocks. Oh well.

ORAL STORY
The Three Little Pigs 
I told this story with puppets. Three adorable pig puppets, which all the children cooed over and an awesome wolf puppet. The children were given props, which were pictures of a wolf (laminated) an glued to a craft stick to help them act the "And I'll huff, and I'll puff and I'll blooow your house down" parts of the story.

BOOKS
The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale written and illus. by Steven Guarnaccia 
Surprisingly, the children wanted to read this one first! Which was great because I wanted to as well.

The Three Horrid Little Pigs written and illus. by Liz Pichon 
As I mentioned before the children wanted to skip our in-between-books song and go straight onto another story. So we read this one next. The children understood that the pigs did not have very nice manners at first.

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs written by Jon Scieszka and illus. by Lane Smith
The majority of the children wanted another story before our craft. So we read this one, which was a bit too long for the end. I sped through the book because the story was long and I wasn't sure if the children were understanding it.

SONGS & RHYMES
Open, Shut Them
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Touch Your Nose
follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

FLANNEL BOARD 
N/A

ACTIVITIES
Memory Box 
The item that was inside the box was one of my cute pig puppets. 

STEAM ACTIVITIES
Watch Me Grow in Storytime 
This is one of my new STEAM elements for storytime. I made a growth chart from a free printable I found through Pinterest (link to blog post here). The children love it! I used my die cutter to make little blue birds for the children to wright their name on. Then we measured everyone to see how tall we are at the beginning of the storytime season.

Name Box Color Sort
I got this idea from a coworker who provides toddler and preschool storytime at her branch location.  She has been working on my Early Literacy elements for her program, and one of her ideas was having the children work on their writing skills. They would do this by writing their name on a shape and dropping into a name box. I added more to this idea by making different colored slots on my box and the children were given different colored shapes. They have not only write their name but they have slip their shape into the corresponding colored. 

How Many Stories Read/Told
I've been doing this for the past year. I have the children work on their math skills by counting the number of books we have read and the number of stories that were told without a book and add it to last week's total.

Building Blocks 
I didn't do this because we ran out of time. But! The plan was to have the children work on building a house for all our piggy puppets. I know that some child would probably take the wolf puppet and plow down the house after it was built, but that may be to be expected.

CRAFT
"The Three Little Pig" story sequence pictures
I found this via Pinterest - a link to Kindergarten Nana (link here) who shared a scan of a printable page that had six panels that told the story of the three little pigs.The children liked this craft a lot. Some needed a little help, my looking at my example, to get their sequence right. However, that being said, everyone got it right without help!

Book images were found on www.goodreads.com here, here, and here.

Food! - A Storytime Outline

FOOD! I love you! Who doesn't love food. Seriously? There were several ways I could've gone with this program, such as a "Big GULP!" type theme. But in the end, I had a mixture of books that I love (the best way to go, in my opinion), and it turned out great!

BOOKS
Creepy Carrots! written by Aaron Reynolds and illus. by Peter Brown 
This book is amazingly awesome, especially if you read it in a very dramatic and suspicious way. The children loved it! 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illus. by Eric Carle 
How can you have a Food-themed storytime and not read The Very Hungry Caterpillar?

Stone Soup written and illus. by Marcia Brown 
I didn't have another version on hand - not that it matters too much. The story is pretty much the same. This version was a little long for my children so I paraphrased most of it and had the children put the flannel pieces on the board. 

The Watermelon Seed written and illus. by Greg Pizzoli 
Another read that has to be done with some drama. Some of the children thought - yes, indeed, a watermelon will grow inside of you. While some explained that you would have swallow dirt, water, and sunlight in order to have a melon grow inside of you.

SONGS & RHYMES 
 Open, Shut Them
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Pizza Man, Pizza Man
Pizza man, pizza man, turn around
Pizza man, pizza man, touch the ground

Pizza man, pizza man, smell a rose
Pizza man, pizza man, touch your toes

Pizza man, pizza man, touch the sky
Pizza man, Pizza man, wave goodbye

Pizza man, pizza man, turn around
Pizza man, pizza man, sit back down

Pizza man, pizza man, shake your head
Pizza man, pizza man, go to bed
Source: SurLaLune Storytime

Bananas Unite
Watch the video linked before for the actions! 
Banana Unite!
Peel, bananas, peel, peel, bananas,
Peel, bananas, peel, peel, bananas

Chop, bananas, chop, chop, bananas,
Chop, bananas, chop, chop, bananas,

Mash, bananas, mash, mash, bananas,
Mash, bananas, mash, mash, bananas,

Eat, bananas, eat, eat, bananas,
Eat, bananas, eat, eat, bananas,

Go, bananas, go, go, bananas,
Go, bananas, go, go, bananas,
Source: Jbrary 
Note: For this group, I went over the actions, and made sure they knew what to do with going bananas. We did three time, each time a little faster. This group loves doing speedy stuff!

Touch Your Nose

follow actions

Touch your nose

Touch your chin

That's the way this game begins

Touch your eyes

Touch your knees

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

Aaachooooo!

Touch your hair

Touch one ear

Touch your two red lips right here

Touch your elbow where it bends

And that's the way this touch game ends.

ACTIVITIES 
"Pizza Man, Pizza Man" pizza box balancing
To make the "Pizza Man, Pizza Man" ever more interactive, I used pretend pizza delivery boxes that I made last year. They were out of square pieces of cardboard. To decorate them, so that they are recognized as a pizza box, I simply glued on a piece of paper that had a logo printed on them. The children loved doing the rhyme while holding the boxes in one hand.You can read the original description and see the photo here.

FLANNEL BOARD 
Stone Soup 
I really wanted a flannel board for this program, and my totally awesome Library Assistant Jennifer suggested this. I could believe that my library system did not have a flannel version of the Stone Soup story. Wow! So, with inspiration from Miss Mary I set Jennifer to the task of making me a flannel board. She did an amazing job and totally matches what I had envisioned!

Flannel Boar, Stone Soup, created by Jennifer,
WPCC 2014.

CRAFT 
Creepy Carrots 
I found this craft over at Miss Meg's Storytime blog and new it was the perfect craft for my group. I freehand everything - from the carrot body, the leafy tops, the eyebrows, mouths and teeth. For the eyes I simply used some of eye stickers I had on hand. At the end of the program we had an entire crop of creepy carrots!

Craft, Creepy Carrot
created by Dorothy, WPCC 2014.

MORE BOOKS 
Fast Food written by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Jamberry written and illus. by Bruce Degen
Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant written
The Doorbell Rang written and illus. by Pat Hutchins
Whopper Cake written by Karma Wilson and illus. by Will Hillenbrand

Book images were found at www.goodreads.com. 

Colors! - A Storytime Outline

The night of this storytime was, well, dark, but it had been a dark gray day to begin with. It was so old, rainy that the program was rather small, but that was OK. We still had fun!

BOOKS
Mouse Paint written and illus. by Ellen Stoll Walsh 
This was book was just about right in level for the group we had. I made sure to ask the children to guess/announce what color would be made when the mice danced and stirred and mixed the paint puddles together. One boy didn't know that you could make the color green by mixing blue and yellow together! I also use the library's big book version cause the other book is so small!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! written by Karen Beaumont and illus. by David Catrow
You have to read this in rhythm, and for the older kids, you have to ask them what body part rhymes with the words before.

Press Here written and illus. by Herve Tullet 
I love this book, and this was the second time that I used it in a storytime. To make this more interactive I gave each child an activity page that had four dots (it really should be five) that they had to press instead of having them individually press the dot in the book. The children totally got into it!

A Color of His Own written and illus. by Leo Lionni 
This was a good book to end the program with because it was so simple and it has a happy ending.

SONGS & RHYMES 
Open, Shut Them
follow actions
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap
Creep them, creep them up to your chin
Open your mouth wide, but don't put your fingers in!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a big clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Lay them in your lap.

Color Game 
Take red, put it on your head.
Take blue, put it on your shoe.
Take black, put on your back.
Take yellow, put it on your elbow.
Take white, put it on your right.
Take brown, put it all around.
Take the color of a rose, put it on your nose.
Take the color of snow, put it on your toe.
Take the color of sand, put it on your hand.
Take the color of cheese, put it on your knees.
Take the color of jelly, put it on your belly.
Take the color of bubblegum, put it on your thumb.
Take the color of your skin, put it on your chin.
Take the color of hair, wave it in the air.
Note: See below for details of I mixed this up a bit.
Source: by Jim Gill via Narrating Tales of Preschool Storytime

ACTIVITIES 
Color Game 
Since I could not sing the song very well, I decided to just make it into a rhyme. Each child got a little packet of colored squares. They would find the right color and follow the actions. When it came to have them pick the color of a rose, cheese, bubblegum and the likes I let them pick whatever color they think matches. It was great to see them think an decide on their color choices! They were all different! This was such a good activity that I would like to laminate the squares and maybe loop them on a ring so that they could be used more often.

Press Here 
As I mentioned above the each child had an activity sheet to use during the reading of Press Here. To create this I simply used Microsoft Publisher. I had four dots on the page, two yellows (one on the right and one on the left), one red, and one blue. I really should consider adding a white dot (a black outlined circle) to the sheet, but so far I have lucked out and have been able to get the children to press the white dot in the book - one by one. The children did a great job participating the pressing, tilting, and shaking of the their activity as it corresponded with what I had to do with the book. One boy was in complete awe at every change that would happen. I loved his reactions!

Family Storytime, Press Here activity sheet,
created by Dorothy, WPCC 2014.

CRAFT
Mouse Paint Pattern Coloring Sheet 
I discovered the coloring sheets online at First Grade a la Carte. Following the prompted patterns were a little hard (I messed up two times while prepping my example!) and time consuming, but the children did a good job at trying! They at least understood the concept of AB, AAB, ABB, and etc. patterns!

Family Storytime, Mouse Paint coloring sheet,
colored by Dorothy, WPCC 2014. 

MORE BOOKS 
little blue and little yellow written and illus. by Leo Lionni
Lemons Are Not Red written and illus. by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Monsters Love Colors written and illus. by Mike Austin
A Rainbow of My Own written and illus. by Don Freeman
Mix It Up! written and illus. by Herve Tullet

Let's All Go to Hawaii! - A Storytime Outline

I had initially called this storytime "Going on Summer Vacation," but since it's close to the end of summer I was tired of doing the same ol' stories, songs, and rhymes. I needed something new. Something different. Something exciting! During my daily Pinterest vegging, I came across a Hawaiian/Tropical storytime from a fellow blogger. I found my inspiration! At first I was worried that I didn't have enough books to go with the theme, especially for the toddlers, but it all worked out in the end. I even got to dress up in a grass skirt and a flower lei (thanks to the party section at my local craft store!). In the end, this became one of my most favorite themes so far this summer and perhaps ever!

 Even Strawberry the Tiger got to dress up! 

LETTER OF THE DAY 
Vv is for Vacation 
I used the letter V for storytime because you don't see V a lot in other letters. Describe the letter, two straight lines that leaning to the side a little bit and only touch at the bottom. What are other words that start with V? Well... violin, van, volcano, vacuum, volleyball, vest, and veterinarian. 


BOOKS
Hula Lullaby written and illus. by Erin Eitter Kono (T) 
I had to ILL this book, but it was so worth it! The lullaby is all about cuddling and looking, listening, and feeling the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of hula dancing and storytelling. Hawaiian words are laced into the book, which is great. There is an Author's Note that talks about the traditions and the words used. If I had rhythm sticks or little drums I would have had all the children play them while I read. This book would be good for preschool children too. 

Penguin On Vacation written and illus. by Salina Yoon (T) 
This book is uber cute and simple enough for toddlers. Even though this is about a general beach vacation trip, I tied it to Hawaii because Penguin is wearing a flower lei. 

Froggy Goes to Hawaii written by Jonathan London and illus. by Frank Remkiewicz (P) 
I love this book! So do the kids! When you read it, make sure you sing Froggy's vacation song and totally hold that "Hawaiiiiiiii" note because everyone thinks it's so funny! The preschoolers also thought it was gross and funny that Froggy had to wear his dolphin underwear to go to swimming! 

Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale from Hawai'i written and illus. by Gerald McDermott (P) 
This was a good book to read. I told children that this story came from Hawaii as a legend/ folklore and is about a magic pig, which they understood. I had forgotten parts of the book mentioned Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, who I had to explain to worried children that she was a "princess of volcano lava." Just remember, Pig-Boy is a magic pig! There were also some Hawaiian words that I stumbled on or gave up trying to say in the middle (children weren't the wiser). A caregiver visited with me after the program to tell me I did a wonderful job and she taught me how to say the humuhumunukunukuapau'a (whew!), which is the name of the state fish.

SONGS & RHYMES
Open, Shut Them (T, P)

Open, shut them,

Open, shut them,

Give them a little clap.

Open, shut them,

Open, shut them,

Lay them in your lap.

Creep them, creep them,

Up to your chin,

Open your mouth wide,

But don't let them in!

Open, shut them,

Open, shut them,

Give them a really big clap!

Open, shut them,

Open, shut them,

Lay them in your lap.

My Hands Say Hello (T, P)

My hands say hello, (wave hands)

My hands say hello,

Everytime I see my friends,

My hands say hello.

Additional lyrics:

Feet (stomp feet)

Nose (wiggle or tap nose)

Ears (wiggle ears) 

Tongue (stick that tongue out!) 

A-L-O-H-A (aka The Aloha Song) (P)
Sung to: Bingo
In Hawaii, you hear a word, and this word is aloha!
A-L-O-H-A
A-L-O-H-A
A-L-O-H-A
Aloha means hello.
continue signing, but remove a letter each time and clap instead. 
Source:  The Mailbox

Touch Your Nose (T, P)
Touch your nose,
Touch your chin,

That's the way this game begins.
Find your eyes,
Touch your knees,

Now pretend you're going to sneeze!

AA-CHOOOO!

Touch your hair,

Touch one ear,

Touch your two red lips right here,

Can you blow a kiss good-bye? (blow a kiss!)

Touch your elbow where it bends

Can you touch your other elbow?

And that's the way this touch game ends.

FLANNEL BOARD
What Will I Take on Vacation? (T, P) 
One thing that I really liked from my original vacation theme was the idea of asking the children what they would bring on vacation with them. I made a felt suitcase from my collection of felt-by-the-yard and used our die cutter to create the shapes of all of the items that one may pack. For Toddler Time

What Will I Take on Vacation? Flannel Board,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2014.

A-L-O-H-A (aka The Aloha Song) (P)
This was a simple flannel board for me to make because all I had to do was use our alphabet die cut to create the letters. I also made little hands (another die cut) that I would place on each of the letters when we had to clap instead. If you can't make a hand, you could use a flower instead, which would be easier to make by hand or with a die cut.

A-L-O-H-A flannel song, created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2014

ACTIVITIES
Hula Dancing (T, P) 
What's a Hawaiian storytime without hula dancing? I downloaded the songs "He Mele No Lilo" and "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" from the movie soundtrack for Disney's Lilo & Stitch animated film. All the children got to have at least one movement scarf and we tried to dance from side to side and moved our arms like a hula dancer. Remember to say that boys can also hula dance (it's not just for girls!). During the songs I also let them jump and move anyway they wanted. For Toddlers I also did a freeze dance.

Introduction to the Ukulele (T, P)
I decided that it was time to bring out my ukulele. I've had my uke for a while, but am an extremely slow learner (aka a slow learner of strumming and rhythm - it's so different from violin and piano!) and have been too nervous and inexperienced to bring it out for a storytime. However, when in Hawaii... you must play some music. I didn't play any songs, but I did let the children all take a turn strumming it. I helped them hold it and even used the frets to make different cords. The children loved it! The caregivers loved it! It was all good!

CRAFTS
I am bringing on vacation... coloring page (T)
I saw a similar craft on Pinterest and loved it instantly. If I had done a regular vacation storytime I would have done this for all ages, but with a Hawaiian theme I decided that it'd be perfect for toddlers still learning about the concept of vacations. The suitcases were made from construction paper, and the clip art that the children had to glue and color to their suitcase I got from The Mailbox. Idea source: House of Baby Piranha.

"I am bringing on vacation...", Toddler craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2014

Flower Lei (P)
Everyone needs to have a lei when in Hawaii! To make this I used a die cut to create the flowers. My hole punch couldn't reach the center of the flowers so I had to take an x-acto knife and sliced a star in the middle of each one. I also chopped up some straws. The preschoolers got three flowers and two straws and they had to alternate each and thread them onto a length of yarn. When I told the children that they would make a lei I got cheers of excitement!

Flower lei, Preschool craft,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2014

Kite Flying - A Poetry Break

INTRODUCTION
Do you wish that you could just get away? Do you dream of going and visiting other places? Or do you prefer to stay put? Do you need a little nudging and encouragement to do something? I know that I'm all of the above at different points in time. This wonderful little short poem illustrates a great imagination (is it really possible for a kite to take you away? Boy, I wish it could!), but also shows that even though you did not plan on going somewhere or doing anything that you can learn to love it.




POEM

I flew a kite down by the sea,
until, that is, the kite flew me!
It tugged me high into the sky.
I held on tight and learned to fly!
I felt so free, so featherlight,
flying the world, just me and Kite.

CONNECTIONS

• Ask the children if a kite could really take them away somewhere? Is this poem an example of using your imagination? 
• Ask the children where would they go if a kite took them flying? What city? What state? What country? To see someone? And ask them why?
• Ask the children to name their traveling kite. Why did they chose that name? 
• Let the children create their own kite: 
• Paperbag kite from I Can Teach My Child!
• 20-Minute Kite from Disney's Spoonful

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Outside the Box: A Book of Poems written by Karma Wilson and illus. by Diane Goode. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division). 2014. ISBN: 9781416980056.

Squirrels! - A Storytime Outline

Families and I celebrated the little land creature - squirrels! At first I was a little apprehensive with the theme because I didn't know if I would be able to find enough stories or activities that would be great for my storytimes.  But I did! The programs were a huge success! The books were a great choice. The songs were fun.

LETTER OF THE DAY
 Since we squirrels was a the theme the Letter of the Day was "S." I asked the children to name words that begin with that letter. I had answers like "shark," "sun," "sky," "seed," "sea," "sandcastle," "spider," "snowflake," and "snake." I had some pieces from other flannel boards to help enhance the answers.

BOOKS
Nuts to You! written and illus. by Lois Ehlert (T)
I was wondering how the families would react to this story since the text is very simple and the illustrations were so close up. But, I was wrong! They loved it, especially when I shouted "Nuts to you!". 

The Busy Little Squirrel written and illus. by Nancy Tafuri (T)
To get the toddlers more into the story I asked them to help me identify each of the animals and make their animal noise.

Scaredy Squirrel written and illus. by Melanie Watt (P)
I find that reading this story you have to very dynamic and funny. The children loved this book! If you have the time - make props!

Erroll written and illus. by Hannah Shaw (P)
This story went better than I expected. They thought it was funny and silly, especially at the ending.

Ol' Mama Squirrel written and illus. by David Ezra Stein 
I had planned to read this during Preschool Storytime, but we were having so much fun with the other rhymes and stories that we didn't get to it. It happens. This is a fun book too. I was going to have the children make the "chook, chook" noise!  

SONGS & RHYMES 
Open, Shut Them (T, P)
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Give them a little clap.
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Lay them in your lap.
Creep them, creep them,
Up to your chin,
Open your mouth wide,
But don't let them in!
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Give them a really big clap!
Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Lay them in your lap.

My Hands Say Hello (T, P)
My hands say hello, (wave hands)
My hands say hello,
Everytime I see my friends,
My hands say hello.

Additional lyrics:
Feet (stomp feet)
Nose (wiggle or tap nose)
Ears (wiggle ears) 
Tongue (stick that tongue out!) 

Grey Squirrel, Grey Squirrel (T, P) 
Before you begin, have the children practice sharking and swishing their pretend squirrel tails! 
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your bushy tail!
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Wrinkle your funny nose!
Hold nuts between your toes (dance on tippy toes!)
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel
Swish your bushy tail!
Shake your bushy tail!
Mix up the actions to make it a suspenseful yet fun action rhyme!
Modified from Grey Source: Small Town Story Time Lady

Five Little Squirrels (T, P) 
Tune: Five Little Ducks 
1 little squirrel went out to play
Up in the branches one autumn day.
He had such enormous fun,
He called for another little squirrel to come.

2 little squirrels...
3 little squirrels...
4 little squirrels...

5 little squirrels went out to play
Up in the branches one chilly day.
They had such enormous fun,
Then all scurried home 'cause winter had come.
Note: you can change the season if you need to. I switched it to Summer and they went home because it started to rain (we had a really rainy morning we had our storytime).
Source: Storytime Stuff  

Touch Your Nose (T, P) 
Touch your nose,
Touch your chin,
That's the way this game begins.
Find your eyes,
Touch your knees,
Now pretend you're going to sneeze!
AA-CHOOOO!
Touch your hair,
Touch one ear,
Touch your two red lips right here,
Can you blow a kiss good-bye? (blow a kiss!)
Touch your elbow where it bends
Can you touch your other elbow?
And that's the way this touch game ends.

FLANNEL BOARDS
Five Little Squirrels  (T, P)
This rhyme is so much fun because you're counting UP and not down, which is typical for counting rhymes. I made simple squirrels for this rhyme by using the template created by Melanie Fitz that was shared on the Storytime Stuff blog. I didn't make a tree branch or anything to go with the the squirrels, but I did place them on the lower portion of my flannel boar and moved them up when another one joined in on the fun.
Source: Storytime Stuff 

"Little Squirrel, Little Squirrel" Guessing Game (P)
I really wanted a guessing game rhyme like "Little Mouse, Little Mouse," and I essentially made one. However, I could not come up with a rhyme to go with it. So! All I did was have the children recite, "Little Squirrel, little squirrel, where are you?" before I asked them if a squirrel was hiding behind a certain felt item. This game was a HUGE hit with the preschoolers. Whenever they found a squirrel the room would erupt in loud cheers of victory! Awesome!

When it came to making the felt pieces (tree, bird feeder, bird bath, acorns, and leaves) I mostly drew everything by hand. The leaves was the only thing that came from a die cutter. For the bird feeder I used a piece of scrap laminate and some bird seeds from home to create an "authentic" look.

"Little Squirrel, Little Squirrel" flannel board,
created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2014.

ACTIVITIES
Movement Scarves Dancing (T)
Instead of the usual egg shakers I had the toddlers dance around with the movement scarves. I played one song on the iPod to get them loosened up. Then we played Freeze Dance. This was the first time that I have ever done Freeze Dance with Toddlers, and I was very happy with the result... they knew what they were doing! Yay! The families loved it!

"Little Squirrel, Little Squirrel" Guessing Game (P)
See above.

Tree Hopping (T, P) 
I came across this simple activity while searching the web for more interactive things to for the children to do. This was perfect (especially since my Room of Requirement had two hula hoops handy). I taped die cut leaves to the hoops to make them more tree-like. For Toddler Time I had the little ones jump from one "tree" to another after they picked their craft bag. Since the Preschool Time program was very large (34 children total!) I couldn't do that. So! Instead, they tree hopped as they left the program room after they finished their craft. I even had a couple of parents jump from tree to tree too!
Source: Twiggle Magazine

CRAFT 
Ss is for Squirrel Activity Page (T, P)
Since it's summer I really wanted a simple craft (Hey! There's a lot of S's in that sentence!). So I created an activity sheet that the children could color, glue a letter S to, and, for the older kids, answer questions. The body of the squirrel came from a Mailbox image and I erased the tail. The letter S was created by die cutting, and it was glued to the squirrel to be its tail. I typed out a few words that began with the letter S and left empty spaces for the children to write their own words. Several of the children did a really good job at doing this. I also had a little question tucked down in the corner of the page: What do squirrels eat? A couple of children new the answer (acorns or nuts). The is was a perfect craft for everyone!

Squirrel Storytime Craft, created by Dorothy WP-CC, 2014