Build a Better Truck (Two's-SRP)

Time for Two's Storytime:

(This is the storytime I did for our two's finale.  I have the games, crafts and food listed on another post. I shortened the storytime because we had so much other stuff going on, and this was a good thing because the two's had a very short attention span anyway!)

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Night Light


Song: Wheels on the Truck

Flannel/Fingerplay: Duck in the Truck
I meant to make a dump truck to hide my duck behind, but ran out of time.  Instead, I hid my duck behind a truck.  But I found the adorable idea to use a dump truck here!

Action: Truck Dancing

Extra Book:
Vroom, Vroom, Trucks!

The two's made their own monster truck today!  I found it here.

SRP Two's Finale

It's that time of year, party time!  We ended our two's storytime with a big finale party!  We had food, crafts and games.  Below is a list of what we did, along with links of where I found the ideas.
I didn't want to overwhelm the two's, so we scaled down what we did from our other finale parties earlier this week.

1.) Wrecking Balls:
For this, we just put out Cheetoh Balls!  Easy and fun!


2.) Red Lights:
I love this idea, which I found here.  These are super easy to do, just make rice-krispy treats, cut and add your colors!  If you don't want to use candy, then just use icing instead.


3.) Red Light Craft
I love torn paper crafts, and this one fit in perfectly with our theme!  I found it here.


4.) Red Light Beanbag Toss Game
This is such a fun game, and really easy to make.  I just covered an empty box we had, cut out my holes, and I was done!  Instead of beanbags, we made our own yarn pom-poms to toss.  I found this great idea here!

5.) Car Putt-Putt Game
I wanted to do a putt-putt game, and stick with our construction and car theme.  I decided to make a car, and use the wheels as the holes to putt the ball into.  Instead of putting down green paper, we made a road for the kids to putt on.

6.) Lego Knockdown
The kids love knocking down my empty boxes that I decorate, so today we made them into giant LEGO's!

7.) Photo Props
For photo props, my boss made oversized tools, and I backed them to make them more sturdy!

SRP Elementary Finale

It's that time of year, party time!  We ended our elementary programs with a big finale party!  We started off with a slideshow of all the summer pictures, then we had food, crafts and games.  Below are pictures of what we did, along with links of where I found the ideas.

1.) Lumber Yard Sugar Wafers:
For this, we just put out Sugar Wafers!  Easy and fun!  I found this sugary idea here.


2.) Red Light Brownies:
My original idea was to make LEGO Brownies, which you can see here.  The kids loved the red light treats so much at the preschool party, we decided to turn our brownies into red lights instead.  They were a huge hit!  These are super easy to do, just make brownies, cut and add icing!

3.) Lumber Yard Sugar Wafers
I had no idea sugar wafers would be so popular!  In no time at all, they were all completely gone!


*All of the food went over great, and was eaten very quickly!  Always a good sign!

4.) Toolbelt Craft
For this craft, the kids decorated the front of their toolbelt with crayons.  Below I am wearing a toolbelt so that you can see it.


5.) Legoman Paper Bag Craft
I love this legoman!  I found the idea for him here.


6.) Mater Paper Bag Craft
The kids glued down all the parts for Mater on their paper bag. Anytime we use paper bags, they are always a fun craft!


7.) Planter Craft
My boss came up with this great idea!  We asked all staff to save their empty plastic bottles.  Then we took the bottles, cut the tops off, and put masking tape over the sharp edges.  Slits were cut in the bottom for draining.  The kids put dirt and seeds inside the bottles and were able to take them home to grow their own flowers.


8.) Car Putt-Putt Game
I wanted to do a putt-putt game, and stick with our construction and car theme.  I decided to make a car, and use the wheels as the holes to putt the ball into.  Instead of putting down green paper, we made a road for the kids to putt on.


9.) Lego Knockdown
The kids love knocking down my empty boxes that I decorate, so today we made them into giant LEGO's!


10.) Road Trip Bingo
I just printed out a version of road trip bingo, and the kids got to pick a book out of our prize box if they won.

11.) Guessing Game
I had a jar that we use often for passive programming, and today we filled it up with LEGO's.  The person who came the closest without going over won a prize!

12.) Photo Props
For photo props, my boss made oversized tools, and I backed them to make them more sturdy!


The finale party went great!  We had a wonderful crowd with 55 kids showing up!  All of the games were a big hit.  I didn't list one thing we did, which was place a plastic hard hat on a table, and let the kids sign their name on it.  Everyone seemed to have a great time, and that was our goal.  We are taking a break during August, but I'll still list new books we receive.  I'll be back in September with storytime updates!

SRP Preschool Finale!

It's that time of year, party time!  We ended our preschool storytime with a big finale party!  We started off with a slideshow of all the summer pictures, then we had food, crafts and games.  Below are pictures of what I did, along with links of where I found the ideas.

1.) Wrecking Balls:
For this, we just put out Cheetoh Balls!  Easy and fun!


2.) Red Lights:
I love this idea, which I found here.  These are super easy to do, just make rice-krispy treats, cut and add your colors!  If you don't want to use candy, then just use icing instead.


*A sidenote, I found all the sign ideas on pinterest, and then made my own.  The kids devoured all the food we had out!  It was a huge hit!  I think decorating the table had a big part in helping move the food along.

3.) Shape Backhoe Craft
This craft is super simple, but so cute!  I found this adorable craft here.  I forgot to take a picture of this, but you can view it on the website that I found it at.  They all turned out really cute!


4.) My Toolbox Craft
I found this birthday invitation, which you can see here.  But I  wanted to turn it into a craft for the kids, which we did!  Apparently I forgot to take pictures of any of the crafts!  For this, we took paper and folded it in half.  Then we glued the letters "My Toolbox" on the front.  Next, a handle was glued on, and glued the tools inside.  The kids were so adorable carrying around their very own toolbox!


5.) Mater Paper Bag Craft
The kids glued down all the parts for Mater on their paper bag. Anytime we use paper bags, they are always a fun craft!  For once, I remembered to take a picture! 



6.) Planter Craft
My boss came up with this great idea!  We asked all staff to save their empty plastic bottles.  You toke the bottles, cut the tops off, and put masking tape over the sharp edges.  Slits were cut in the bottom for draining.  The kids put dirt and seeds inside the bottles and were able to take them home to grow their own flowers.  (We didn't do this with the preschool age, but I wanted to include it in my plan.)

7.) Red Light Beanbag Toss Game
This is such a fun game, and really easy to make.  I just covered an empty box we had, cut out my holes, and I was done!  Instead of beanbags, we used yarn pom-poms.  The preschoolers went crazy over this game!  I wanted to use small balls for this, but the pom-poms worked out much better.  I found this great idea here!


8.) Car Putt-Putt Game
I wanted to do a putt-putt game, and stick with our construction and car theme.  I decided to make a car, and use the wheels as the holes to putt the ball into.  Instead of putting down green paper, we made a road for the kids to putt on.  The kids went crazy over this one!



9.) Lego Knockdown
The kids love knocking down my empty boxes. This time we made them into giant LEGO's!


10.) Photo Props
For photo props, my boss made oversized tools, and I backed them to make them more sturdy!


Overall, everything went great for our finale party!  I started off by reading one book to the kids, which was "Old Macdonald Had a Truck".  Next, we showed a slideshow of pictures from all summer, then we set everyone loose on the games, crafts and food.  The only other thing we did that I didn't list was we set out a hardhat for the kids to sign their names on, and it turned out so cute!  We had a great turnout, almost 50 kids, so I am really happy with that.  We are taking a break during August, but I'll continue to post new books.  I'll be back with storytime updates in September!

New Book for July

We got the most adorable new book today, and I had to share!


Don't you love the adorable little dinosaur wearing glasses on the cover of this book?  Precious!  This is such a cute story, and I can't wait to act this one out at my next birthday themed storytime!  Shorty the dinosaur gets extra excited when a package arrives at his house, addressed to him!  He can't wait to open it, but he must!  Or will he?  By the end of the story, he opens the box to find....monkey houseshoes!  Which of course, I happen to own a pair of!  But alas, mine are not near as adorable as Shorty's.  This book is so cute, and I think the kids will love it, especially if I wrap up my houseshoes and act out the story as I read.  

New Youth Services Department....Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's here!  No, it's not a dream, it's finally here!  I haven't said anything on my blog, but we have been remodeling the Youth Services Department since January 2017.  Last week we moved back into our new department, woo-hoo!!!!!!  Can you tell I'm excited?  Yes, I am!  I had to show off some of the awesome new things that we have.  We have lots of other great furniture, adorable seats that have the animals on top to match the end shelves.  A great leaf table with stools, and some beautiful adult chairs that have wonderful fabric on them.  

I do want to say that I am so blessed and honored to be working in this wonderful department.  Yes, I adore the new work space and awesome things.  But the most important thing is, I come to work everyday doing the thing I love!  Instilling a love of reading inside a child's heart.  I have the honor and blessing of doing storytime twice a week and it's an absolute joy to me.  Getting to see the kids smiles and laughter brings such enjoyment to my soul.  I hope that each and everyone of you all have this happiness in your heart, no matter what you do in this world!



This is my new desk, and I am so excited!  I've never had a desk this big or nice before!  I have so much space to work with, and it will probably never be this clean again!  Don't you love the wonderful friends hanging out in the window?


I am in love with this display bookshelf!  We have a woodland theme in the new department, and this is just precious!


Here is a view of two of three of our new bookends, the owl, squirrel and bird.  We have woodland animals on the outer edges, on carpet.  In the middle, on wavy shelves, we have water animals. They are on tile that is blue.  Don't you love the clouds hanging from the ceiling too?


Here is our cute frog!  I love the bottom of the end shelf that has the fly and reeds on it.


Here is the other end shelf with the cute little duck swimming along!  I love the little touches, like the water and fish below the duck.

Build a Better Pajama Party (SRP-Preschool Storytime and Two's)

Preschool Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Book: Sheep Go to Sleep

*I haven't used this book before in storytime, but I'm so glad that I did! What I did was make five two-sided sheep, one side awake, the other asleep.   As I read, I flipped the sheep over that are awake, to show the sheep asleep. The kids loved seeing the sheep flip over and telling me how many sheep were still awake!

Flannel: Five Cozy Blankets

*The kids went crazy over this fingerplay! The kids loved picking out what blanket each animal got to sleep under. You can find this wonderful idea here!

Book: The Bunnies Are Not In Their Beds

*This was another book I've never read in storytime, but it was so much fun to read! I used my big flannel bed, and placed three bunnies on it. My volunteer would "hop" the bunnies out of bed, and I told the kids to tell me when my bunnies weren't in their bed. The kids went crazy hollering at me and helping me make the noises in this book.

Fingerplay: Six the Bed

*I forgot to use actual puppets for this, we used bears that fit in the flannel bed.

Book: Noisy Night

*This is a new book that came out earlier this year, and it's great! You guess what is making the noise on each page of the book, and the kids really enjoyed making all the noises along with me.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Fingerplay: Four Little Stars

Four little stars winking at me, one shot off, then there were three.

Three little stars with nothing to do, one shot off, then there were two.

Two little stars afraid of the sun, one shot off, then there was one.

One little star, alone is no fun, it show off, then there was none.

(From Book: Storytime Magic)

*I only used the last two lines of the fingerplay above.  What I did was place two stars on my flannelboard and had the kids hold up their hands and have them make them twinkle like stars.  After I said the line and took my star off the flannelboard, I then threw out little paper stars onto the kids.  This represented the stars taking off!  The kids went crazy!  Anytime I make things rain down onto the kids they absolutely love it!

For our take-home craft today, the kids got  a pug in it's bed!  I have to admit, I'm partial since I own a pug named Sassie!

Extra Books:

Go To Bed, Monster!

Pete the Cat and the Bedtime Blues

So Cozy

Time for Two’s Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Sheep Go To Sleep!

*I haven't used this book before in storytime, but I'm so glad that I did! What I did was make five two-sided sheep, one side awake, the other asleep.   As I read, I flipped the sheep over that are awake, to show the sheep asleep. The kids loved seeing the sheep flip over and telling me how many sheep were still awake!

Flannel: Five Cozy Blankets

*The kids went crazy over this fingerplay! The kids loved picking out what blanket each animal got to sleep under. You can find this wonderful idea here!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Bo Peep Has Lost Her Sheep (Two’s Only)

*I love using this hiding game with the two's, and they loved it! You can see it here!

Book: Tuck Me In!

*The two's really enjoyed this book today, along with seeing the puppets.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Fingerplay: Four Little Stars

Four little stars winking at me, one shot off, then there were three.

Three little stars with nothing to do, one shot off, then there were two.

Two little stars afraid of the sun, one shot off, then there was one.

One little star, alone is no fun, it show off, then there was none.

(From Book: Storytime Magic)

*I only used the last two lines of the fingerplay above.  What I did was place two stars on my flannelboard and had the kids hold up their hands and have them make them twinkle like stars.  After I said the line and took my star off the flannelboard, I then threw out little paper stars onto the kids.  This represented the stars taking off!  The kids went crazy!  Anytime I make things rain down onto the kids they absolutely love it!

For our take-home craft today, the kids made a pug in it's bed!  I have to admit, I'm partial since I own a pug named Sassie!

Extra Book: Nighty-Nite, Little Green Monster

Build a Better Zoo (Group Preschool Storytime and Two's)

Build a Better Zoo

Opening: Big Books

Action: Guess Zoo Animal

*I used some zoo animal rhymes from a board book and had the kids guess what animal I was describing. Then I held up the animal I printed from clip art to show them.

Book: Mouse Count

*I love telling this story! I use ten finger puppets and a big snake puppet. The kids really enjoyed watching my snake pick up all the mice by its mouth and place them inside the jar.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Silly Bananas

*I really wanted to use this flannel, but I couldn’t find it! You can find the words and example for it here.

Fingerplay: Zoo Animal Action Cards

*The kids loved standing up and acting like zoo animals!

Book: Dear Zoo

*I made my own big version of this book, which you can download here. What I did was laminate the animal, and then cut out the box that goes over each animal, and laminate it. Then I used velcro to place the box over the animal. That way I could pull the box off the animal to show the kids, then place it back to use the next time I tell the story. The kids loved seeing me pull the boxes off the animals to show them what the zoo had sent!

Flannel: Animal Sounds Mix-Up

*I decided to change this up and put the wrong sound with the animals and have the kids correct me.  The kids went crazy telling me what animal belonged with what sound!  We did lion, bird and snake. There is a really cute song listed with this idea that you can sing too. I found this here!

Book: Near and Far

*I was so excited to use this book in storytime, but the kids were not overjoyed with it like I hoped they would be. I still really like the book but probably won't use it again.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Feed Animals Food at Zoo

*Today we fed our bear, monkey and elephant food. The kids loved it!

Fingerplay: Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Snake, Are You Behind the {Red} Cake?

*I ran out of time to do this great hunting game, but you can view it here.

Build a Better Zoo

Opening: Big Books

Book: Peek-a-Boo Zoo

*The kids loved this book and really loved seeing our animal friends visit us!

Fingerplay: Zoo Animal Action Cards

Book: Dear Zoo

*I made my own big version of this book, which you can download here. What I did was laminate the animal, and then cut out the box that goes over each animal, and laminate it. Then I used velcro to place the box over the animal. That way I could pull the box off the animal to show the kids, then place it back to use the next time I tell the story. The kids loved seeing me pull the boxes off the animals to show them what the zoo had sent!

Flannel: Little Snake, Are You Behind the {Red} Cake?

*I love this hunting game, and the kids really enjoyed hunting for our snake! You can see this wonderful idea here!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Feed Animals Food at Zoo

*Today we fed our bear, monkey and elephant food. The kids loved it!

Book: Do You Know Noses?

Fingerplay: Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree

Fingerplay/Flannel: Feed Gorilla

*We ended storytime by dancing around with our bananas and then feeding them to our gorilla!  You can see the adorable gorilla and check out other great ideas to do here.

Extra Books:

Who is Smiling?

For our craft today we made a paper bag zebra!  The kids went crazy making their zebras dance around!  I forget how much the kids love paper bag crafts, but I really need to do more of them.