Toddler Story Time - Jingle Bells

Jingle bells..  Jingle bells.. Jingle all the way!

We had a great time jingling bells and sharing wonderful Christmas stories this week in toddler story time.  The holiday spirit was definitely in the air and the little ones were full of Christmas cheer!  Fortunately, I had lots planned to keep us moving and shaking our sillies throughout the morning.

Book I read..

Bear Stay Up for Christmas By Karma Wilson

Lovely Christmas story, but there were a few bumps in the road while I read this story.  Lets just say that some little ones heard it (and enjoyed it!) and the rest of the room did not.  It was a little longer than I usually read, but worked okay as the first book.

Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear By Don and Audrey Wood

We loved The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear!  So of course I had to read this Christmas story featuring the same characters. I love the interaction between Mouse and the little ones as I read the story.

Jingle-Jingle By Nicola Smee

I was so excited to use this book because I was already planning to use jingle bells.  It fit so nicely into my story time.  The little ones did a wonderful job jingling the bells with Mr. Horse and his sleigh!

How it went..

We started our Jingle Bell story time off with a couple great Christmas action rhymes to get us in a holly jolly mood.  The first was Santa's Workshop.  The little ones did a great job following the simple hand movements!  If you love it too, you can find the rhyme here! 

Santa's Workshop

Here is a great big Christmas tree, (Put tips of fingers of both hands together)
Trimmed with lights and balls
Here are Santa's little elves, (Hold up ten fingers and wiggle them)
They run when Santa calls.
This is Santa's workshop, (Use both hands to form a house over your head)
Filled with gifts and toys
The elves and helpers fill the sleigh,
For all good girls and boys.

I love rhymes that are cute and helpful!  Santa's Spectacles fit that description perfectly.  THe rhyme and movements were simple and easy for little ones and they (hopefully) ended up with their hands in their laps and ready to listen to the first book.  Christmas shout out to Perry Public Library Storytime and their wonderful story time ideas!

Santa's Spectacles

These are Santa's spectacles (circle eyes with fingers)
And this is Santa's hat (make pointed shape on head with hands)
This is the way he folds his hands
And puts them in his lap! (place hands in lap)

After our first book, we had fun with the finger play Five Little Candy Canes.  The little ones got the giggles at the end when we pretended to eat the last candy cane!  Thank you Susan Dailey for such a sweet finger play!

Five Little Candy Canes

Five little candy canes
Hanging on the door.
Santa ate one.
Then there were four.
Four little candy canes
Hanging on the tree.
Mrs. Claus ate one.
Then there were three.
Three little candy canes
Lying by a shoe.
An elf ate one.
Then there were two.
Two little candy canes
Lying in the dun.
A reindeer ate one.
Then there was one.
One little candy cane
By the chimney.
Santa put it in his bag
And brought it to me. (Yum, yum, yum!)

Time to get up and move a bit with the song Let's All Do a Little Clapping from Storytime Katie.  This song is sung to the tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  My favorite verse was the twirling!

Let's All Do a Little Clapping

Let's all do a little clapping
Let's all do a little clapping
Let's all do a little clapping
And spread Christmas cheer.
...Jumping...bending...twirling...

Onto one more rhyme before the second book!  (I told you this story time was full of excitement!)  This time we pretended to be pine trees.  I'm a Little Pine Tree, is, of course, to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot.  This and other great rhymes can be found here.  The little ones did a great job growing up to be beautiful Christmas trees!

I'm a Little Pine Tree
I'm a little pine tree - as you can see, (crouch down with hands over head like a tree)
All the other pine tree are bigger than me.
Maybe when I grow up - then I'll be
A great big merry Christmas tree! (stand up and be a big tree!)

Flannel Friday this week featured Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  What would happen if his nose wasn't red?  Well, we found out this week!  Thanks to Storytime Katie for the fantastic idea!  Check out our Flannel Friday post with more holiday flannels like this one!

Rudolph, Rudolph

Rudolph, Rudolph, what will you do?
You can't guide the sleigh if your nose is blue.
Rudolph, Rudolph, you're such a silly fellow
Who will know it's you if your nose is yellow.
Rudolph, Rudolph, your way cannot be seen,
Through the wintry weather if your nose is green.
Rudolph, Rudolph, it's time to fly at night
But you can't get through the snow if your nose is white.
Rudolph, Rudolph, it's time to go to town
But you can't help Santa if your nose is brown.
Rudolph, Rudolph, what a groovy glow
Your nose looks a little like a rainbow.
Rudolph, Rudolph, the children are in bed
And now we an get on our way because your nose is red.

Jingle.. Jingle.. Jingle..
It's finally time for some jingling!  I passed out jingle bells to all the little ones for some musical fun.  After reading our last book, it was time for a song or two.  We began with the song, Bells on the Sleigh.  This fun song is to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus.  Another awesome idea from Susan Dailey!

Bells on the Sleigh

The bells on the sleigh go ring, ring, ring (ring bells)
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring
The bells on the sleigh go ring, ring, ring
All through the sky.
(More verses!)
The toys on the sleigh say "Let's have fun!"... (throw hands into air)
The reindeer on the sleigh fly way up high... (hands upward in diagonal direction)
The snow on the sleigh falls gently down... (flutter fingers and move downward)
The driver on the sleigh says "Ho, ho, ho!"... (pretend to drive sleigh, say "ho, ho, ho" in deep voice)

We ended our Jingle Bells story time with (you guessed it!) Jingle Bells!

Jingle Bells

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh - hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh!

And with on last giant shake of the bells, our story time was a wrap!  What a great morning celebrating the holidays!

For those brave moms that wanted to craft with their toddler, we made Christmas tree "stained glass" ornaments.  This craft was so cute and easy to do that several moms were excited about making more at home with their little ones!  How cool is that?!

To Make:
Trace a design on a piece of wax paper.  Ours was a Christmas tree.  Spread glue stick all over the design.  Let your little ones place small squares of tissue paper on the glue.  You could be finished there, but I had the moms spread more glue over the tissue paper and place a plain piece of wax paper on top.  This helps to seal down any loose pieces.  Why dry, cut out the design and punch a hole for some yarn.  Many thanks to Miss Sue for the idea!

Looking forward to 2014 and many more awesome story times!

Preschool Story Time - Jingle Jingle Jingle

There is excitement in the air at the Library Village!  The busy librarians are all crafting their finest story times to bring the children tidings of good cheer.  My preschool story time this week takes flight in a sleigh full of joy and laughter.  Off we go!

Llama Llama Holiday Drama - by Anna Dewdney

Oh dear, the holidays are stressful aren't they?  Everyone loves Llama Llama so I decided to use this book as the ONLY book that I read during this story time.  No really!  The kids are very squirrely at this time of year, so I opened with a book, and then pulled out my huge bag of tricks for the rest of story time.  And as always, I needed to be ready with more material than I actually used!

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore

When I became a children's librarian, a friend gifted me a huge box of professionally made story boards.  It was the equivalent of my mom getting me my first briefcase after I graduated college.  I usually make my own sets now, but look how great these are!  I don't think I could do better, so I was very excited to use them.

Preschoolers are definitely old enough for this poem.  Use your story telling skills and the kids will be rapt!


For Halftime (cue the music - I normally do 'Popcorn' by Greg and Steve so we can stretch and get the wiggles out), I decided to use a Christmas song.  I thought Jingle Bells would be a great choice and it was. We got out the instruments and shook it!

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas  - by James Dean and Eric Litwin

So yes, I read this book, technically, but I also sang it!  After the first verse, the kids were singing too!  I love interactive books.

Did you catch our awesome Flannel Friday Holiday Blog Post???
All three of us posted great flannel board ideas for the holidays.  Check it out!  Mine was this tree that we used to the tune of Old MacDonald.

Old St. Nicholas had a tree
Ho, ho ho ho ho!
And on that tree he had some lights
Ho ho ho ho ho
With a blink, blink here and a blink, blink there
Here a blink, there a blink
Every where a blink blink
Old St. Nicholas had a tree
Ho, ho ho ho ho! 

Then the song continues with the rest of the verses:
Ornaments - glow
Drums - boom 
Bells - ring
Candy Canes - Yum
Star - Shine

Click HERE for more information on how I made this board and how I used it.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell - Lucille Colandro

If you follow our blog, you know I do an Old Lady book pretty regularly.  The kids get excited to see what the Old Lady swallows and what will happen at the end.  I have flannelized almost all of Lucille Colandro's books.  I did NOT flannel this story, however, because I already had two for this story time, but I do sing this book, and prompt the kids to sing along with me.  Another interactive book!

Well, we had to finish story time with a bang, so instead of doing the Freeze Dance, by Hap Palmer, we danced "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with alternate lyrics:
We wish you a Merry Christmas (x3)
and a Happy New Year.
Let's all do a little clapping (x3)
and spread Christmas cheer!
Let's all do a little stomping (x3)
and spread Christmas cheer!
Let's all do a little twirling (x3)
and spread Christmas cheer!
We wish you a Merry Christmas (x3)
and a Happy New Year!

My craft was pretty simple, but I have found that preschoolers love to place things on paper - so anything with stickers, bling, tissue paper squares, or even cotton (as shown here), keeps them happy and focused, and really helps with fine motor skills.  I found this image online (if you Google 'Santa Craft Preschool', you will see a dozen examples of this craft so I am unsure who to credit) and created a template for the face and hat.  Knowing the kids would be excited, I had everything cut out for them so I didn't have scissors in the room.

Happy Holidays from Miss Sue and everyone at the Library Village.  
See you next year!

Flannel Friday Roundup! 12/13/13

Welcome to our very first, and definitely not our last, Flannel Friday Roundup!  Whoot!  Let's get right to the stars of the show:

First up, Jenna from Stories With Ms. Jenna has the cutest Three Little Pigs!  And what a sweet and not-too-scary wolf!  Love them!

Next, Lisa at Thrive After Three shows us a great way to use the book Under My Hood I Have a Hat.  The purple sparklie underwear makes us smile!  Think we need to go check out this book now.  A sweet book and sweet felts!

Anne over at ItsyBitsyMom gives us a flannel board based on Lucille Collandro's I Know a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow.  We are big Old Lady fans, so we have big smiles for this one!

Christine over at Felt Board Ideas offers this 'short but sweet' post about 5 little snowflakes.  GASP!  They are so cute!!

Well, Bridget over at What is Bridget Reading? caught our eyes with this flannel board for The Three Little Fishies and the Big, Bad Shark!  Miss Sue uses this book every year!  We see a set like this in the Library Village's future.

Linda over at Notes from the Story Room offers up this Memory Activity for use with the book The Napping House.  We just love it when we can extend books in story time.  Bet it will be a hit with her kids!

Jane and Piper from Piper Loves the Library are celebrating their love of Denise Fleming and cold, snowy days by reading The First Day of Winter, and with these beautiful wintry felts!  Don't these make you want to bundle up and go sledding?

Miss Kristie here at Let the Wild Rumpus Start couldn't wait to show everyone more about her "What Does The Fox Say?" story time and flannel board.  It was our 50th post too!  How exciting!  These felts are adorable and we can see them being used in many ways.

Finally, we are so excited that our colleague at Let the Wild Rumpus Start has allowed us to create a guest blog in her honor.  Miss Kristen writes about Miss Carol's holiday song with props!  This is a great way to get school children involved with the book Must Be Santa.  We have seen Miss Carol do this song with several 1st grade classes and the kids always have such a great time!

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and everyone who keeps Flannel Friday exciting and fun every week!  If you want more information on how YOU can get involved with Flannel Friday, visit their website!  Don't forget to check us out on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter (#FlannelFriday)!  Have a very Happy New Year!!!

Flannel Friday - Must Be Santa!

Last year our fabulous teen librarian, Miss Carol, came up with a great idea to get a large group involved in the song/book "Must Be Santa."  She made props that each child can hold up!

Her artwork was based on the book Must Be Santa by Tim Moore, illustrated by Pete Whitehead:

The song was originally written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks, and you gotta love the version by Raffi:



So..."Who's got a beard that's long and white? Santa's got a beard that's long and white!"
       "Who comes around on a special night? Santa comes around on a special night!"

"Special night! Beard that's white! Must be Santa, Must be Santa,

Must be Santa, Santa Claus!"

"Who wears boots and a suit of red?..."

"Who wears a long cap on his head?..."

"Who's got a big red cherry nose?..."

"Who laughs this way? 'Ho, ho, ho!'..."

"Who very soon will come our way?..."

"Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh!..."

With about six copies of each prop, we had plenty for our big holiday crowds last year, and the children were delighted!  It is so much fun to involve every child in story time, and we hope to use these props year after year!  Right now they are just are cardstock, so we definitely need to get them laminated soon!

Happy Holidays from Miss Kristen, Miss Kristie and Miss Sue (and Miss Carol!)! This has been a great year for us! Thanks for welcoming us into the blogging world!



Flannel Friday - What Does the Fox Say

In July, three children's librarians started a blog.  Five months later we are celebrating our 50th post!  We appreciate everyone who has visited our little library village.  We are having a great time sharing our story time experiences with all of you.  Here's to the next 50 posts!

And now on to Flannel Friday...

Recently I blogged about my SUPER fun What Does the Fox Say toddler story time.  So.. I couldn't think of any better way to RING-DING-DING-DING-DINGERINGEDING in the new year then show the details of this flannel set.

The animals are from my favorite fox tee from Fablefire.  Aren't they the cutest?  You can rock your story time in this tee too!  Check it out here!

 

I think the great thing about this song (okay I think of lots of great things about this song..) is that there are many different ways you can use the lyrics to fit the age group you are working with.  Because my group was toddlers, I stayed very basic.  Each little one had an animal.  As I said each animal sound, the little one came up and put the animal on the board.  I went in order of the song.   When I got to the fox, we had fun making different guesses on his sound!  With older children, you could add print awareness to this activity by making cards with the animal names or sounds written on them.  The kids could match them to the correct animal.  Super fun! 

 

I made all of the animals on white felt and used markers to color in the details.  Usually I use puffy paint, but these were a bit too detailed for the uncertainty of squeezing paint out of those little bottles.  I think they turned out great!

 

Dog goes woof

 Cat goes meow
 

Bird goes tweet

 and Mouse goes squeek

Cow goes moo

Frog goes croak

 and the elephant goes toot

Ducks say quack

 and fish go blub

 and the seal goes ow ow ow ow ow

But theres one sound
That no one knows
What does the fox say?

 

RING-DING-DING-DING-DINGERINGEDING!

 

 

Have a great holiday season!!

 

 

 

 

Flannel Friday Placeholder for 12/13/13

Well, here we are nearing the end of 2013!!  But before we put aside all of our flannel boards and felt making materials until 2014, we have ONE MORE FLANNEL FRIDAY to celebrate!  YAY!!

Whether it be a holiday flannel board, or not...or a cool rhyme or finger play instead,  we here at the Library Village look forward to creating a great Flannel Friday celebration!  Just post your link in the comments below and we will take it from there.  Submissions will be accepted until Friday night at 10PM EST.

Preschool Story Time - Blast OFF!

Yet another theme I had toyed with for some time, I finally got around to putting it together.  There are just not as many space books as, say, monkeys or any other animal.  I also wanted to avoid aliens or anything too technical that would go over a preschooler's head.  So I stuck with rockets!  The kids really loved counting down and yelling BLAST OFF every chance they could!

Mousetronaut - by Mark Kelly

Meteor is the smallest mouse in the bunch, but his hard work and training pay off in this space mission adventure! Based on a (partially) true story - which was a great lead in for the kids and moms!

My fingerplay is from Stoytime Katie's blog.  She makes two finger puppets - I made 5 little astronauts to use with the rhyme below.  The rhyme is from this website, but take a look at NASA's website for more too!

There were five little astronauts
Going to the moon
One stayed to close the door
And that left only four

There were four little astronauts
Going to the moon
One stayed to make some tea
And that left only three

There were three little astronauts
Going to the moon
One couldn't find his shoe
And that left only two

There were two little astronauts
Going to the moon
One couldn't get her spacesuit on
And that left only one

One little astronaut
Did go to the moon
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
BLAST OFF!
But she didn't like it very much
So she came back home quite soon!!

On The Moon - by Anna Milbourne

Shelved as a picture book, there are plenty of fascinating facts for preschoolers in this book!  The kids were rapt.  We even had a sidebar argument about how long it actually takes to get to the moon!

There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star- Charise Mericle Harper

I have an "Old Lady" book for every occasion, and I have been waiting a long time to do this one.  What I love about this book is how simply stated but true to the rhyme and measure of the original song this book stays.  I decided to go completely off book and whip up some felts.  My outreach classes loved them so I did the same in story time.  These are reversible too - the Bold Lady has to get back home!  Here is my Flannel Friday post about these felts.

Stella to Earth by Simon Puttock

I think I called this book "Earth to Stella" 8 of the 9 times I read it this week - but no matter.  Stella in her Chicken Ship (be very careful saying that quickly) blast off to excellent adventures but keeps in close contact with Earth.  What happens when Earth doesn't reply?  This book was another hit with the kids.

And my craft - well, rockets of course!  I made my own template for the fins and cone and made up dozens of them in various colors - my sample rocket is minimalist, but this give the kids the chance to color, add a face in the window, sticker, or any other bling to their own rockets!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Toddler Storytime - Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! (A little late or really early for next year!)  In the spirit of the holiday, I would love to share my Thanksgiving story time with you.  I would also love to report that it went fabulously, but alas it only had its moments.  Whether it was the pouring rain or the close proximity to the holidays, turnout this week was small.  Some activities just do not go as well without a nice size group of little ones.  But, as always I charged forward and shook my wings and tail feathers.

Books I read...

Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit By Alyssa Satin Capucilli

 

The Five Silly Turkeys By Salina Yoon 

The First Thanksgiving By Nancy Davis

 

Unfortunately, the selection of Thanksgiving books for toddlers is not the best...  But, there are many silly rhymes that hopefully make up for it.

How it went...  (Oh no..)

My usual routine for story time is a couple activities and a book.  I repeat this until we have read all three books.  This normally works great!  But, the group was so small that I had to skip around and omit quite a bit.  Although the group grew a little over the course of the story time, the vibe was just off.  Sometimes story time just doesn't go as planned.  And that is alright!  Little ones have bad days, you have bad days, and all sorts of unforeseen things can happen to throw a story time off course.  I am learning that you just go with it!  The little ones don't know you missed a rhyme or shortened a book!

Here are the highlights:

We had fun with a couple turkey songs/rhymes..

Hello Mr. Turkey

(To the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)
With a gobble, gobble, gobble (hand under chin, wiggle fingers)
And a wobble, wobble, wobble (shake body)
Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you? (clap, clap)

(Thank you Sunflower Storytime for the song!  I love it and used it last year for story time too!  But a word of caution..  Be prepared to wobble like a turkey by yourself if you have a small, shy group.  You have been warned!)

Did You Ever See a Turkey? 

(To the tune of “Did You Ever See a Lassie?”)
Did you ever see a turkey, a turkey, a turkey,
Who struts around the farm yard with feathers so bright?
With red ones and orange ones and yellow ones and brown ones,
Did you ever see a turkey with feathers so bright.
(I managed to make a prop out of popsicle sticks again!  I love them!  I made two different sets of turkey feathers for this rhyme.  The first were red, orange, yellow, and brown.  The second was cow print, rainbow, polka dots, and sparkly.  The little ones loved the turkey with his fancy feathers!  Thank you Miss Sarah for the idea! Turkey clipart found here.)

Turkey Pokey

You put your wing in.
You put your wing out.
You put your wing in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the turkey pokey
And you gobble all around.
That's what it's all about.
…Drumstick……Tail feathers…

(Shout out to Miss Sue for this great version of Hokey Pokey!)

I also had not one but two flannel stories for them during Flannel Time! 

Old Tom Turkey

(When I say gobble, gobble, gobble - tilt your head from side to side! 
When I say quack, quack, quack - flap your arms!)
Old Tom Turkey lived on a hill.                    Quack, quack, quack
Gobble, gobble, gobble                                 Gobble, gobble, gobble.
If he’s not gone, he lives there still,         Goodbye now friend, it’s time to go.
Gobble, gobble, gobble.                                Quack, quack, quack
A duck came by and said hello,                  Gobble, gobble, gobble.

(Thanks again Sunflower Storytime for the idea!  I made this set last year and was excited to use it again this Thanksgiving!) 

Turkey and Stuffing
(To the tune of “Where is Thumbkin?)

Turkey and Stuffing

Turkey and Stuffing.

Pumpkin pie,

Ten feet high!

We were so much thinner,

Before we ate our dinner

Me-oh-my!  Me-oh-my!

(Check out my Flannel Friday post for more about this poem!)

For a special Thanksgiving treat, I planned a turkey craft.  Super simple and toddler friendly, I think these turkeys are adorable!  All we used were paper plates, paint dobbers, stickers, and precut shapes.  Gobble Gobble!

And that was my Thanksgiving Story Time!  With colder weather approaching, I am sure there will be more story times with smaller numbers.  But, we will make the best of it and continue to shake our sillies like we are always a full house!