Storytime: Halloween (2s)

With the younger kids I've often done just Pumpkins or Around the Town for Halloween, but this year my 2s storytime fell right on Halloween so we just had to have a party!

Books:
A co-worker found Brooms Are For Flying at another library and it's PERFECT for the little goblins.

Brooms Are For Flying by Michael Rex
Pete the Cat and the Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean
Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino
If You're A Monster and You Know It by Ed & Rebecca Emberley
 
Songs/Fingerplays:

'If You're A Monster and You Know It'
'Itsy Bitsy Spider'
'I'm A Little Pumpkin'
'Where Is Thumbkin/Pumpkin/Ghostie'

Pumpkin Chant (found on 'Jbrary' - go watch it on Youtube for the hand motions!)
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - BREAD
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - HEAD
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - PIE
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - EYE
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - CAKE
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - SHAKE
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - STEW
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin - BOO!

Activities: 
We used the 'clappers' to dance to some Halloween music!

Flannelboard:

Five Little Pumpkins

Craft:
Found this on Oriental Trading and prepped ahead of time. Super cute!

Storytime: Milk & Cookies

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Book Options:

 Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar? by Lass/Sturges
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Songs/Fingerplays:

'The Cow Loves Grass'
'Five Round Cookies'
'Five Currant Buns'
'Milkshake, Milkshake'

2s Activity:

2 activities:
First, I 'hid' cookie and milk cut-outs around the room then had them find 1 of each. Then they got to 'feed' them to Cookie Monster!

We also used the shaker eggs to the tune of 'Milkshake' and a few others shaker songs


3-5s Craft:
We painted cookie shapes with brown paint and then added 'frosting' and 'sprinkles' of course!

Storytime: Chicks & Bunnies (2s)

Books:

Everybunny Dance! by Ellie Sandall
Good Egg by Barney Saltzberg
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Who Hops? by Katie Davis

songs & fingerplays:

I Know a Chicken (Laurie Berkner)
Here Is a Bunny
Bunny Pokey

 Flannelboard:

Ten Fluffy Chickens:
Five eggs and five eggs, and that makes ten
Sitting on top is Mother Hen
Cackle, Cackle, Cackle, and what do I see?
Ten fluffy chickens, yellow as can be!

Activities:

Shaker Eggs (and roll)
"I Can Shake My Shaker Eggs" (Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael)

Summer Wrap!

ROBERT RIVEST KICKED OFF THE SUMMER WITH HIS FUN MIME ANTICS!

WE LOANED OUT A TELESCOPE THIS SUMMER!

MS PATTY & MS EILEEN BROUGHT THE LIBRARY TO THE BEACH!

3 GENERATIONS OF LIBRARY USERS!

IMAGARENA WAS A BIG HIT WITH OUR BUDDING BUILDERS

THE LUNCH BUNCH CREW

OUR FIRST SUMMER OF READ & BEAD GOT OFF TO A GREAT START!

Storytime: Valentine's/Love

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Books:

My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
I Need A Hug by Aaron Blabey
Never Too Little to Love by Jeanne Willis
All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri
Valentine Friends by Janet Schulman
Llama Llama I Love You by Anne Dewdney

Songs/Fingerplays:
'There Is a Shape'
'I Love You, You Love Me'
'Mr. Mailman'

Flannelboard:

Craft:

Storytime: Silly Animals

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Book Options:

Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
Do Lions Live on Lily Pads? by Melanie Walsh
Peek-a-Zoo! by Marie Cimarusti
The Wide-Mouth Frog or The Long-Nosed Pig by Keith Faulkner
I Need a Hug by Aaron Blabey
Never Feed a Yeti Spaghetti by Kali Stileman
What Color Is Bear's Underwear? by Todd Doodler
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Songs/Fingerplays:

'I Am In-Between'
'Mr. Crocodile'
Itsy Bitsy Spider'
Seals on the Bus'

Flannelboard:

2s Activity:

Time for the Story Cube! Have them act like whatever animal they role.

Storytime: Trucks

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Book Options:

Fire Truck by Peter Sis
Little Blue Truck's Springtime by Alice Schertle
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia
Trucks: Whizz! Zoom! Rumble! by Patricia Hubbell
I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges

Songs/Fingerplays:

'Where are Trucks?'
'Windshield Wiper'

Flannelboard:

2s Activity:



















3-5s Craft:
Garbage Truck Craft Collage

Storytime: St. Patrick's Day / Green

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Book Options:

The End of the Rainbow by Liza Donnelly
Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Little Green Peas by Keith Baker
One Sheep, Blue Sheep by Scholastic
Red Pepper, Yellow Squash: A Book of Colors by Scholastic Rookie Toddler
Where Is the Green Sheep? by MemFox

Also can add for 3-5s:
Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss
Lizette's Green Sock by Catharina Valckx
Small Green Snake by Libba Gray

Songs/Fingerplays:

'Mr. Sun'
'5 Plump Peas'
'I'm a Little Leprechaun'

Flannelboard:
'Five Little Shamrocks'

2s Activity:
Before the 'Five Little Leprechauns' flannelboard, I passed out a shamrock on a stick to each of the kids. They could play and hold it while we did the rhyme. At the end, it asks them to bring the shamrocks up to me so I had them stick them in the side of a green basket so it looked like a garden!

We also played a game I call 'Hula Frogs' with beanbag frogs (we pretended they were all green). I put a hula hoop in the middle of the floor and we listened to Laurie Berkner's Five Green & Speckled Frogs. They were supposed to toss their frog in the 'pond' when it indicates that in the song but we had frogs leaping everywhere! A few of the kids wanted to get in the pond themselves! But they loved the beanbag frogs so it was all good!

They also practiced their jumping skills after when I lined up the hula hoops. Some wanted to bring their 'frog' with of course. ;)

3-5s Craft:

You can find a million rainbow crafts on Pinterest, but this one seemed doable for a large group without a great deal of intervention from me. This is from Michelle at Crafty Morning.

Rainbow Circles

Storytime: Bathtime (with 2's)

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Books:

Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Bathtime for Little Rabbit by Jorg Muhle
scrubba dub by Nancy Van Laan
The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems

More Ideas:
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
Time To Get Out of the Bath, Shirley by John Burningham
Five Minutes Peace by Jill Murphy
Time for a Bath by Phillis Gershator
Bubble Bath Pirates! by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Animal Baths by Bob Barner

Songs/Fingerplays:

'I Had a Little Turtle'
'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'
'Itsy Bitsy Spider'
'After My Bath'

'I Had a Little Turtle'
(adapted from Miss Lucy hand rhyme)

I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap.
And now he's sick in bed, with bubbles in his throat!

Check out the great hand movements from this Youtube link to a Jbrary video:
Jbrary 'I Had a Little turtle'

Flannelboard:
Instead of the flannelboard, today we used the wipe-off dogs I made from the book Dog's Colorful Day. Depending on what you laminate with, you can use dry-erase markers or crayons to have the kids draw the spots on Dog as you read the story, or after.

2s Activity:

First we had to blow bubbles!

Then, using the song "This is the Way We Wash Our Hands", we played with scarves and pretended to dry off after the bath. Here are the lyrics and movements from the King County Library System:
This is the Way We Wash Our Hands


3-5s Craft:
bubble-wrap prints

Storytime: Cats & Dogs

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Books:

Doggies by Sandra Boynton
No No, Jo! by Kate and Jim McMullan
Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean
Stretch by Doreen Cronin

Found Dogs by Lois Ehlert

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel

Rrralph by Lois Ehlert

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

More Ideas:
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up? by Bill Martin, Jr.
The Doghouse by Jan Thomas

Songs/Fingerplays:

'The Paws on the Dog' (to Wheels on the Bus)
''Five Little Kittens'
'Three Little Kittens'

'Three Little Kittens'

One little, two little, three little kittens (count on fingers)
Were napping in the sun.
One little, two little, three little puppies said
 "Let's have some fun!" (count on other hand)
Up to the kittens the puppies went creeping (quiet voice)
as quiet as could be (have the puppy fingers creep to the kitty fingers)
Woof! Meow!
One little, two little, three little kittens
Went scampering up a tree! (have kitten fingers climb up)

2s Activity:

We used a fun bin full of plastic puppy finger puppets and had a blast!

Crafts:
2s: There's a million ways to use this awesome book by Emma Dodd. These laminated 'dogs' have been colored on, playdoughed on, even markered on! This time, I had the 2s place the color circle on different parts of Dog as I told the story (our copy of the book was out so I winged it and it was totally fun!)

3-5s: We used our bingo daubers to make dots on them!