Winter Party 2020

I am behind in posting, but we had a winter party last month!  I was so excited to be doing this, and had so much prepared.  Unfortunately, our crowd wasn't what I hoped it would be.  We ended up having 19 Kids and 16 adults.  That being said, the kids that came seemed to have a very good time!  Below are pictures of what we did, so I hope you enjoy!


Crafts:
Little Girl Catching Snowflake
Credit: Crafty Morning

Snowman with Redbird
Credit: https://nontoygifts.com/snowman-cardinal-craft-kids/

Torn Paper Polar Bear
Credit: No link, just a picture.

Walrus
Credit: Simple Everyday Mom

Penguin in Egg
Credit: One Little Librarian

Games:
Penguin Bowling

Tic-Tac-Snow
*For this I made two game boards and multiple X's and O's.  I was worried because I have never made a large scale tic-tac-snow board before.  The kids really enjoyed playing this so I plan on doing another giant version of this game again.

Ice Fishing
*I found this adorable fishing set online and hoped that the kids would enjoy it.  They had an amazing time!  The fishing poles had magnets on the end as did all of the fish that went in the water.  The only thing I would change is to put plastic tablecloths underneath the tubs.  Otherwise the setup took no time and they all had so much fun!

Snowman Bingo
Credit: Crazy Little Projects
*As usual, I always have bingo setup in the back.  It took a little while for the kids to catch on that we had bingo for them to play.  Once they did, they didn't want to stop playing!  Fine by me!

S is for Snowman Shuffle (Preschool and Two's)

I'm so glad to be back to work!  I'm feeling better, but not back to 100 percent this week.  I wasn't super crazy with the books I picked out to read this week, but I guess everybody has an off week, right?  But I thank the Lord that at least I'm back to work, yeah!

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Action: Mitten Match-Up

*Hold up different mittens have kids tell you what’s wrong until you get correct pair. The kids loved telling me that I wasn't matching my mittens up correctly. I love being able to teach them something without them realizing that they are learning something while doing this with me.

Book: One Mitten

*I was so excited to read this book. I even bought myself a pair of yellow mittens to wear as I read this book. For whatever reason, the kids didn't get into this book at all. Maybe this is more a one-on-one book. Next time I think I'll tell "The Mitten" by Jan Brett.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Make a Snowman

*For this, I start out with my snowman on the flannelboard, without any arms or a hat. I ask the kids what he needs, and then proceed to give him the wrong items. Instead of a traditional black hat, I give my snowman a cowboy hat and a big, pink floppy hat. Then I finally get it right and put on the black hat. For arms, I give my snowman big muscle arms and wings. The kids screamed, jumped up and down with such excitement during this. So much fun!

Book:  Ten on the Sled

*The kids enjoyed this one, especially seeing the animals disappear behind me.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Snowman

Snowman, snowman, hat so red, pat your legs and nod your head.

Snowman, snowman, hat so blue, touch your knee, then your shoe.

Snowman, snowman, hat so white, clap your hands with all your might.

Snowman, snowman, hat so green, jump up like a jumping bean.

Snowman, snowman, hat so brown, reach up high then touch the ground.

Snowman, snowman, hat so black, rub your tummy, then touch your back.

Snowman, snowman turn around and sit back down!

Fingerplay/Puppets: “There’s Something in the Snow”

       There’s something in the snow, now what can it be?

       There’s something in the snow that I can’t really see.

       Hear it’s funny sound…OINK OINK

       A pig is what I found!

       Contiunue with: Neigh, neigh, a horse is what I found.

                           Moo, moo, a cow is what I found.

                           Baa, baa, a sheep is what I found.

*For this fingerplay, I used my portable speaker and brought up an app that played farm sounds. One little preschooler caught onto me! He looked at my tablet to see what I was doing and said there's going to be more animals coming! Then he proceeded to tell what animal was next, oh my. You gotta chuckle at that one!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Cat Hiding Game

*I didn't do this cute hiding game, but be sure to check it out!

Credit: Fun With Friends at Storytime

Today our craft was a cute snowman!

Extra Books:

*Next time I read this, I think it'd be cute to have the kids stand up and jump as the bunny is jumping throughout the book.

Time for Two’s Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Mitten

*Loved seeing animals disappear inside my mitten and come flying out at the end.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Cat Hiding Game

Little kitten, little kitten.  Are you under the RED mitten?

*I changed the words to this at the last minute, but check out the original version, it's adorable!

Credit: Fun With Friends at Storytime

Fingerplay/Flannel: Snowman

Snowman, snowman, hat so red, pat your legs and nod your head.

Snowman, snowman, hat so blue, touch your knee, then your shoe.

Snowman, snowman, hat so white, clap your hands with all your might.

Snowman, snowman, hat so green, jump up like a jumping bean.

Snowman, snowman, hat so brown, reach up high then touch the ground.

Snowman, snowman, hat so black, rub your tummy, then touch your back.

Snowman, snowman turn around and sit back down!

Book: Peekaboo! in the Snow

Fingerplay: Make a Snowman

*For this, I start out with my snowman on the flannelboard, without any arms or a hat. I ask the kids what he needs, and then proceed to give him the wrong items. Instead of a traditional black hat, I give my snowman a cowboy hat and a big, pink floppy hat. Then I finally get it right and put on the black hat. For arms, I give my snowman big muscle arms and wings. The kids screamed, jumped up and down with such excitement during this. So much fun!

Fingerplay/Puppets: There’s Something in the Snow”

       There’s something in the snow, now what can it be?

       There’s something in the snow that I can’t really see.

       Hear it’s funny sound…OINK OINK

       A pig is what I found!

       Contiunue with: Neigh, neigh, a horse is what I found.

                           Moo, moo, a cow is what I found.

                           Baa, baa, a sheep is what I found.

*For this fingerplay, I used my portable speaker and brought up an app that played farm sounds. The two's loved hearing the animals sounds! Next time I'd like to feed the animals a snowflake.

*For the two's, we glued down the head of the snowman.  That way it made it a little easier on them.

Extra Books:

New Books for February 2017

Little Penguins

I love penguins already, and the cover of this book is so precious!  Don't you love the penguin stuck in the snow with his feet sticking out?  This book is wonderful for the younger crowd, and it takes you outside as the penguins go romping through the snow.  A delightful read for a snowy storytime.

Plant the Tiny Seed

I was so excited to see this book, and wasn't disappointed after I read it.  Everything is interactive, and each page requires you to do something to get the plants to bloom.  I plan on doing the same thing with this book as I have done with the author's other book "Tap the Magic Tree".  What I plan on doing is have tiny paper cut-outs of rain drops, seeds and flower petals.  After I read and have the kids do the actions that the book asks for, I will have the paper cut-outs rain down on the kids as it is raining inside the book.  Not only will the book be interactive, but this makes it even more fun for the kids.

Is That Wise, Pig?

This book is hilarious!  Pig is trying all throughout the book to add silly things to the soup, but he is stopped every time.  But there is a reason for all of this, and that's because all of his friends have come over to eat the soup!  I can't wait to read this funny book at my next soup or food storytime!

Bee

This book is truly gorgeous!  Each page has a beautiful rhyme, and the octagon that is surrounding the bee slowly disappears as you turn each page.  A wonderful addition to your spring or bug storytime.

Pete the Cat: Five Little Ducks

Who doesn't love Pete the Cat?  This is great take on the well-loved song that we all know.  I am very happy that this came in, because I have an animal countdown storytime coming up, and this will be perfect!

Dig In!

This board book is so precious!  The little mice are working all throughout the book to build something, but what is it?  Pizza, of course!  You can help all the construction vehicles move by turning the parts inside the book, which make it so much fun!

Vroom, Vroom, Trucks!

I love Karen Katz's lift-the-flap books and this one is perfect for SRP this year.  A great board book filled with lots of rumbling trucks!

Winter Wonderland (Two's and Preschool)

Time for Two's Storytime

Opening: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: Bunny Slopes

*I love this book! It's such a great interactive book, and I'm sad the two's didn't enjoy it like I thought they would. I'm going to try this with the preschoolers and hope it goes over better.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Snowman

Snowman, snowman, hat so red, pat your legs and nod your head.

Snowman, snowman, hat so blue, touch your knee, then your shoe.

Snowman, snowman, hat so white, clap your hands with all your might.

Snowman, snowman, hat so green, jump up like a jumping bean.

Snowman, snowman, hat so brown, reach up high then touch the ground.

Snowman, snowman, hat so black, rub your tummy, then touch your back.

Snowman, snowman turn around and sit back down!

*The two's loved telling me the colors of the snowman and doing the actions.

Book: Mitten

*I wasn't sure about telling this story to the two's, but they did really well with it. They enjoyed watching my animals disappear into my mitten and come flying out at the end.

Fingerplay/Puppets: “There’s Something in the Snow”

    There’s something in the snow, now what can it be?

    There’s something in the snow that I can’t really see.

    Hear it’s funny sound…OINK OINK

    A pig is what I found!

    Contiunue with: Neigh, neigh, a horse is what I found.

                    Moo, moo, a cow is what I found.

                    Baa, baa, a sheep is what I found.

*This is my favorite fingerplay to do during the winter, and the kids loved it! On a whim, I fed the puppets snowflakes and it worked great. I found this fabulous idea here.

Book: Snowman Shuffle

*This is a precious board book, and a great read to get everyone moving. We didn't have time to read it today, but I definitely want to use it next time.

Fingerplay: Snowman On My Nose

*As always, the kids love dancing around with something! I found the words for this here.

Action: To end storytime, I made it snow on the kids! Of course, it wasn't real snow, just paper snowflakes, but they still loved it just the same.

Extra Books:

Baby Loves Winter

Bears in the Snow

Hibernation Station

Peekaboo in the Snow

The Snowball by Giuliano Ferri

Our craft today was a bear, hiding out in his cave underneath the snow. The kids got to glue on the snow and the moon. I couldn't get the website to load where I found this adorable craft, I apologize.

Today was our game day! To check out our winter games, please click here. The two's played snowman knockdown with cups and boxes, snowflake soup, and snowman beanbag toss. Lots of fun!

Preschool Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Action: Mitten Match-Up

*For this I hold up different mittens and have the kids tell me what’s wrong until I get the correct pair. The kids loved doing this!

Book: Mitten (With props)

*I love telling this story, and the kids really enjoyed telling me what animal I was holding up.

Fingerplay: “Snowman, Snowman”

        Snowman, snowman, where are you at?

        Snowman, snowman, show me your hat!

        Snowman, snowman, touch the ground,

        Snowman, snowman, turn around!

        Snowman, snowman, pat your knees,

        Snowman, snowman, sit down please.

        Snowman, snowman, reach for the sky,

        Snowman, snowman, wave goodbye!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Make a Snowman

*For this, I made a snowman, and placed him on my flannel, but he didn't have any arms or a hat. I asked the kids what he needed, and of course they told me! When they said hat, I would place a cowboy hat on him. Thankfully they told me that was wrong, so I replaced it with a pink hat, which they told me was wrong. Lastly I put up the right hat, a black top hat. I repeated this with the snowman's arms. The kids always love telling me what I've done wrong, and this was no exception.

Book:  Bunny Slopes

*I love this book! It's such a great interactive book, and the preschoolers didn't enjoy it like I thought they would. The really liked the beginning a lot, with all the shaking and actions, but not so much the ending.

Fingerplay/Puppets: “There’s Something in the Snow”

    There’s something in the snow, now what can it be?

    There’s something in the snow that I can’t really see.

    Hear it’s funny sound…OINK OINK

    A pig is what I found!

    Contiunue with: Neigh, neigh, a horse is what I found.

                    Moo, moo, a cow is what I found.

                    Baa, baa, a sheep is what I found.

*This is my favorite fingerplay to do during the winter, and the kids loved it! I found this fabulous idea here.

Cut and Tell: Snowman

*This was my first time doing the cut and tell snowman, and it was a lot of fun. I found the idea for it on this website, but I decided to change the story. Here's what I told the kids:

It was snowing on the farm, and the animals wanted to give something to the farmer.  But what was it?  Let’s find out!  The wind blew a piece of paper onto the farm.  And the goat  picked it up and started to chew on it.  After a while, the pig said, let me try!  And he chewed for a while.  Lastly, the dog said, that’s not right, let me try!  And he chewed for a while. Finally, they were all done!  Do you know what they made?  Well, let’s open it up and see!  A beautiful snowman!  Great job animals, let’s give them a big clap! (This is a take on our cut-and-tell story Valentine’s Day on the farm.)

The kids enjoyed it, but not as much as when I do the Valentine's Day story.

Book: Winter is for Snow

*I really like this book, and I read it with my volunteer. I think the kids would have enjoyed it more, but they were too restless at this point.

Our craft today was a bear, hiding out in his cave underneath the snow. The kids got to glue on the snow and the moon. I couldn't get the website to load where I found this adorable craft, I apologize.

Today was our game day! To check out our winter games, please click here. The preschoolers played penguin matchup, penguin color matching, snowman patterns, snowflake soup and snowman putt-putt.

Extra Books:

All You Need for a Snowman

Don’t Wake Up the Bear!

If It’s Snowy and You Know It

One-Dog Sleigh

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Snowballs

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!

Wonderful Winter