This one time...at storytime!

Friday, November 3, 2017

Pumpkin Party (Preschool through Elementary)

It's that time of year again! Time for our annual pumpkin party! Every year we have a party filled with crafts, games and food. It's open for ages preschool through elementary. The kids are welcome to come dressed in costume. This year was a good turnout, with 54 kids and 46 adults. All of the crafts went over great, except for the monster weaving. Not sure why, but that happens sometimes. All of the food was eaten very quickly, we didn't have hardly any left! Off to plan for next year!

Food:

Credit: Pretty Providence

Credit: Shaken Together

*I found a great deal on a skull cookie cutter, so I had to make skull brownies! I just cut out the brownies, dusted them with powdered sugar and added candy eyes. I bought the wrong size icing, so the mouths of the skulls didn't turn the way I wanted. The tip was way too big. But they all got eaten very quickly!

Crafts:

Credit: I Heart Crafty Things

Credit: Make and Takes

Credit: Easy Peasy and Fun

Credit: Glued to My Crafts

Games:

*Mummy bowling that my fabulous co-workers made for me!

*Musical tombstones. I was very lucky to find these fabric chair covers on vacation one year. The kids go crazy over this game! It's just like musical chairs, and whomever wins will get a prize!

*Halloween Bingo
Credit: Crazy Little Projects

Decorations:
My boss made all of these wonderful wall hangings, which I love! Don't you?

This year I was Little Miss Muffet. I wanted to try and wrangle my curly hair into a spider. Let me tell you, that was not easy! Kudos to my mom who made this happen!

I is for I Spy (Two's and Preschool)

Unfortunately, I was sick to present this two's storytime, but my wonderful co-worker stepped in for me! Below is what I had planned out, thank goodness for planning ahead!

Time for Two's Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Song: If You Want to Hear a Story

Book: My First Peek-a-Boo Animals

*I was really excited to use this book, plus it's from Eric Carle, which always makes it a winner in my book! After I read a page, I planned on having the puppet pop up behind me.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Hunting Game

To change up what he hunt, we looked for a little duck behind the barns. Also, there were other items hidden behind the barns, for a little added surprise.

Credit: Ms. Kelly at the Library

Fingerplay/Action: I see something that is green..

I see something that is green. Do you see it too?

I see something that is green.

HOP there if you do.

With a hop, hop here.

And a hop, hop, there.

Here a hop, there a hop.

Everywhere a hop, hop.

I see something that is green. Do you see it too?

(Have puppets pop up: snake and alligator.)

*This is a great fingerplay to get the kids up and moving. I have no idea where I found it, so if it's your idea, please let me know so that I can give you credit!

Book: I Spy on the Farm

Fingerplay/Flannel: “I spy with my little eye…

…an animal who’s big, brown and furry and who loves honey (bear).

…an animal who’s long and green and slithers on his stomach (snake).

…an animal who’s white and who has long ears, and loves carrots (rabbit).

*The two's are crazy over puppets, so after I read a line I like to feed them food! It's not only a fun way to help teach the kids what animal they are seeing, but also to help teach them what animals eat. I place the food on my flannelboard and have the kids tell me what food to feed each animal.

Fingerplay: Animal Action Cards

Book: Meet My Feet!

Our craft today was a cute little cat! I tried to give credit for this, which I found online, but I couldn't find the website to link this to. Below is what our cats looked like.

Extra Books:

Preschool Storytime:

*We had very low attendance...bad weather could have been factor? A lot of kids might have been sick too, possibly. We had 12 kids and 12 adults. But I have to say, once the kids got settle in, they all seemd to have a great time!

Opening: Big Books

Book: What Does the Bee See?

*I love using this book, and most of the kids figured out right away what the bee was seeing. But they all still enjoyed guessing along with me!

Fingerplay/Action: I see something that is green..

I see something that is green. Do you see it too?

I see something that is green.

HOP there if you do.

With a hop, hop here.

And a hop, hop, there.

Here a hop, there a hop.

Everywhere a hop, hop.

I see something that is green. Do you see it too?

*The kids love jumping up and down, and when the alligator and frog popped up behind me, just an added bonus! I have no idea where I found it, so if it's your idea, please let me know so that I can give you credit!

Book: What Am I? By N.N. Charles

*This is a really fun guessing book, and the kids enjoyed it.

Fingerplay/Flannel: Hunting Game

To change up what he hunt, we looked for a little duck behind the barns. Also, there were other items hidden behind the barns, for a little added surprise. The preschoolers

Credit: Ms. Kelly at the Library

Book: What Am I? By Trapani

*The kids loved guessing and having the animal pop up behind me!

Fingerplay/Flannel: “I spy with my little eye…

…an animal who’s big, brown and furry and who loves honey (bear).

…an animal who’s long and green and slithers on his stomach (snake).

…an animal who’s white and who has long ears, and loves carrots (rabbit).

…an animal who’s brown, likes to eat carrots and neighs (horse)

Our craft today was a cat! The preschoolers did a wonderful job!

Saturday, October 28, 2017

H is for Happy Halloween! (Two's and Preschool)

Today we had our Halloween party! I dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood, but I didn't think about the hood scaring the two's. I think that combined with my friendly monster on the bulletin board behind me made the two's a little apprehensive. But I still had a good crowd and they seemed to enjoy all my books, especially when the puppets came out to visit. I made sure that my costume didn't have a mask, because I know that scares them. But I wasn't thinking that my cape and hood would. I will remember that for next year.

Time for Two’s Storytime

Opening: Big Books

Fingerplay: “If You Want to Hear a Story”

Book: “Tickle Monster”

*I absolutely love using this book, and it's so much fun to make a flannel out of. Right away the two's pointed out the big monster up on my flannelboard.

Fingerplay: Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed

*To print out not too scary monsters to use on your flannelboard, click here!

Credit: Sunflower Storytime

Book: Little Blue Truck’s Halloween

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Bat Hiding Game

*Today we hunted for little bat who was hiding behind a witch's hat!

Credit: Early Learning Ideas

Fingerplay/Flannel:Halloween Flash Cards

*For this, I just made my own Halloween flash cards. For instance, one said stomp your feet like a monster. You can find many versions of these online. But we ran out of time to do these.

Today we had food and juice, along with games! For our games we played pumpkin putt-putt, monster knockdown, and pumpkin pom-pom. I will have pictures posted with the preschool summary below.

Extra Books:

Preschool Storytime:

Opening: Big Books

Book: There’s a Monster In Your Book

Fingerplay/Flannel: Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed
*To print out not too scary monsters to use on your flannelboard, click here!

Credit: Sunflower Storytime

Book: Tickle Monster

*The kids caught on very quickly what our monster was turning into. This was so much fun to read today!

Action: Halloween Movement Cards

*For this, I just made my own Halloween flash cards. For instance, one said stomp your feet like a monster. You can find many versions of these online. But we ran out of time to do these.

Fingerplay/Flannel: “Make a Jack-O-Lantern”

*I had so much fun doing this with the kids today. I put up a plain orange pumpkin and tell them I want to turn this into a jack-o-lantern. When I go to put eyes on it, I will put up something silly before the traditional black triangle eyes. I will repeat this a couple of times before I get it right. Then I will do this again with the nose and mouth. The preschoolers always enjoy telling me that I am doing this wrong and that I need to change it!

Fingerplay: Ghost Changing Colors

*We ran out of time for this really cute story, but you can find a picture of it here. I didn't come up with this fabulous idea, but I sure do love it!

Fingerplay/Flannel: Little Bat, Little Bat

*Today we hunted for little bat who was hiding behind a witch's hat!

Credit: Early Learning Ideas

Tablet Game: “Shadow Guessing”

*There is a wonderful guessing game that you can download to your tablet, which let's the kids guess what the shadows are. We didn't do this game today, but the kids really enjoy playing it.

Today was our party! We had yummy food and we played games! I have included picture below of our games. Happy Halloween!!!

We played mummy bowling. Kudos to my co-workers for turning all the bowling pins into awesome mummies!

We had pom-pom push. I took an old box, put jack-o-lanterns on the front, and cut out the mouths. Then my volunteer made pumpkins out of pom-poms and pipe cleaners.

Credit: Early Learning Ideas

Another game that was fun, but probably the least played was shape monster!

Credit: The Imagination Tree

Our last game is monster knockdown! I think the kids probably enjoyed this one the most, just because they could knock something down! All I did was cover empty boxes with paper, and add the monster faces I made. That's it!