Fabulous Fish

There are so many great books about fish and the ocean for kids that it was hard to decide, but for this storytime I went with:

The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark by Deborah Diesen
Rainbow Fish Finds His Way by Marcus Pfister
Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck
Hooray For Fish!  by Lucy Cousins

We used two flannel boards tonight: Fish With a Deep Sea Smile and Slippery Fish. We finished storytime with a craft: paper plate fish.

Sharing and Giving

This storytime was a bit challenging in that I had to find books that talked about sharing in a short and simple way. No long discussions or boring story lines, as I find some books that are trying to teach lessons can be. Here is what I came up with for family storytime this week:

Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney
Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson
Martha Doesn't Share! by Samantha Berger
Dot and Dash Learn to Share by Emma Dodd (This is two short stories in one book, best for younger children. To plump it up I asked which type of animal each character was and had them explain why they are named "Tall" (giraffe), "Small" (mouse), and "Big" (elephant).)

To fit with the giving part of this theme, I made and used a version of "My Aunt Came Back" based on the book My Aunt Came Back by Pat Cummings.

We finished with tissue flowers made from dum dum pops and tissue paper. Find instructions here.

Snow

As it so happens, we had snow just this morning, making for a perfect storytime theme! Here is what we read:

Snowbots by Aaron Reynolds and David Barneda

Snowmen at Work by Caralyn Buehner

A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann

Scholastic video version of Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

We used two flannel boards from the library previously made by other children's librarians: "Five Little Snow Pals" and "All You Need for a Snowman." A good description of both of these can be found here: http://www.teaching-tiny-tots.com/toddler-books-five-little-snowmen.html

We finished with a stick snowman craft. I painted the sticks beforehand and put all of the pieces in individual bags so each child could pick up a bag and a box to complete their craft. At my library, we use small supply boxes with crayons and glue inside and the kids use these each time they come. Sometimes I will add scissors or tape to the boxes depending on what they need. I found the inspiration for this craft on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/pin/208080445255126723/

Alphabet

The Spring storytime season has begun! Today we kicked things off with an alphabet themed storytime. 

Books:

Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth

Agent A to Agent Z by Andy Rash

LMNO Peas by Keith Baker

and the Scholastic video version of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

We sang APPLE to the tune of BINGO using pieces on the flannel board for visual help, and did an Alphabet Soup flannel board rhyme. Our craft today was a hand magnet with a wooden piece in the middle with the first letter of the child's name on it. I gave them crayons and they had a great time decorating the hands!