Boo! It's Halloween!

I changed books the day before this storytime because I just wasn't satisfied with what I had pulled, and the books that I had requested weeks ago were not turned in in time for me to use them. Everything went well though, and the kids had the most fun with our last book. I'm now conducting preschool and toddler storytimes instead of family storytime and here is what we read today:

We sang the rhymes “Five Little Pumpkins,” “Monster, Monster,” “Flutter, Flutter Little Bat,” and “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” while dancing with scarves. I used the flannel boards Skeleton Dress Up and Halloween Farmer in the Dell. Storytime ended with a Halloween sensory tub and a toilet paper tube monster craft.

Days of the Week

And we're back! Fall storytime season started this week and I'm looking forward to the themes to come. Here is what we did for a "Days of the Week" storytime:

I used the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" flannel board and we sang the song "7 Days in a Week" song using American Sign Language. It is amazing how quickly kids pick up sign language! The kids made a hungry caterpillar craft from here (the 2nd and 4th ones on the page put together): http://welcomebabyuc.blogspot.com/2013/04/playgroup-very-hungry-caterpillar.html
We ended with a week color match sensory and educational activity. The idea came from here: http://b-inspiredmama.com/2013/08/learning-the-days-of-the-week/

Sensory Items This Summer

This summer I decided to add a sensory/play element to my storytimes. Here is what we have done so far. I have my last summer storytime next week and we will be playing with a magnetic fishing game.

Beach Day

It wouldn't be summer without the beach! Here is what happened in storytime last week:

Great for bilingual storytime as well!

We also used the flannel boards "Five Little Seashells" and "Five Little Sandcastles."
The flannel board pieces for There Was an Old Lady came from here: http://makinglearningfun.com/themepages/OldLadyShell-FeltBoard.htm.

We made a beach book using a template from The Mailbox as our craft. I created two sand and seashell sensory boxes for kids to play with at the end. They enjoyed seeing the different kinds of shells and would hold them up to their ears to hear the ocean.

Ocean Friends

First summer storytime! Always an interesting mix of regular patrons and lots of people there for the very first time. Our library's summer reading program theme is "Make a Splash: READ!" So, all of this summer's storytimes will be based on this theme. First up: Ocean Friends. I'm trying very hard to incorporate sensory and play items after learning all about it at ALA this spring. Here is what we read:

The flannel board story "The Hat" and flannel board rhyme "Five Little Ocean Friends" were used.

We also made a moved along with egg shakers, made a jellyfish craft and played with an ocean sensory item. The sensory idea came from this blog: http://homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com/2012/11/o-is-for-ocean-and-octopus.html