Fantastic Friday (Gr. 3 and younger) - July 8th

We will be doing different art activities than what we did the last Fantastic Friday, so I hope you can join us!

Kids love to get messy, generally. I have seen a lot more kids lately that don't and it worries me! Open-ended messy art allows children the freedom to create, the control to make their own choices and the ability to explore possibilities without the threat of mistakes. Children that are allowed to create on their own develop self-esteem, problem-solving skills, confidence and perseverance. I have often seen a child breakdown and cry because they made a "mistake" with their art project or because their project didn't look like the sample or another person's project. I have seen many parents "take over" the art project or direct the child in what the project should look like. It is very, very tempting for parents to do this because as parents we want our children to be the best they can be and we want to help them. Sometimes the best thing for them is difficult for us!

I absolutely loved our first Fantastic Friday! It was the best program ever! There were so many wonderful parents there that allowed their children to get messy and the kids had fun! Next Friday, we will do some Fizzle and Sizzle Sidewalk Painting, Flyswatter Painting, Potion Making, Koosh Ball Painting and more! 

Make sure to dress so you can be a mess from your head to your toes!

You're a Grand Ole Flag!

We made a special red, white and blue treat today to celebrate America! With our theme, 'One World, Many Stories' we definitely had to include our wonderful country!

We waved our flags and marched around and even had a few 'fireworks'- ooh, aah, ooh, ahh!

Hope you had fun! It's always great to see my LLFs!

Especially with your blue, red and purple tongues!

Fantastic Friday was FANTASTIC!

We made mud pies and mud sculptures and squished our toesies in the mud! We threw paint ball sponges and rolled cars and trucks through paint. We used our fingers to paint and our feet to paint. We used ice cubes to paint and colored water to paint! We even had bubbles!

It was the best program ever for me because I saw so many children just be totally free to be messy and creative! Loved it!

Checkout the pictures on the Children's Department Facebook Page by clicking the Facebook Badge on the right side of this blog. The pictures will tell you the whole story! Love them!

Fantastic Friday will be back Friday, July 8th at 10:30 (Gr. 3 and younger)- weather permitting. Remember- messy from head to toes and everywhere in between- so come dressed appropriately!

Storytime Week 3 - America! Red, White and Blue!

Flag of America, red, white and blue

Flag of America, I love you!

We will start out with a get on your feet and get moving song! Then we will read Scrambled States of America and Tulip Sees America. Using our scarves, we will march around to You're a Grand Ole Flag. We will read I Am America. We will finish with a special American treat and working together to create a beautiful American mural! Hope you can join us!



Lapsitters (Age 2) Week 2- Walking

I had a lot of fun with my LLFs this week. We counted some more with Alice the Camel.
We read I Went Walking and Rosie's Walk. We matched the feet of animals with the correct face. We had fun moving to 2 fun songs- The Walking Song (fun, fun, fun!) and Eric Litwin's Walking Through the Park One Day.

Next week our theme is Families! Hope to see you there!

We Are the Same and We Are Different

My LLFs did a great job today working together to create their World Mural with all the different colors of the skin we live in.

The brown egg and the white egg are the same- smooth, egg-shaped, come from a chicken and different- one is brown and one is white. BUT- take a look inside! They are the same inside.

We tried on other 'skins' and went around the room to meet new friends- some with the same skin and some with different skin and we shared something about what we like to do. It's great to meet new library friends!

I like you, just the way you are.

2nd Week of Storytime- Ages 3-5

We Are All the Same, We Are All Different!
We started off by discussing how people are alike and how people are different. Miss Christina has blonde hair and blue eyes. Miss Debbie has brown hair and brown eyes. We looked at how brown eggs and white eggs are alike and different. We cracked them open to see that they are the same inside!
Then we danced and learned to say Hola, Namaste, Jambo-sana while we listened to Hello, Hello, Hello by Cathy Fink from her cd, Nobody Else Like Me- Celebrating the Diversity of Children.

We read- The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler, Whoever You Are by Mem Fox and One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley.

Jack Hartmann's cd, Hip-hop, AlphaBop, has another wonderful 'hello' song, Hello Around the World. Then, of course, we did our My Aunt Came Back song!

I loved the art work the kids did together- checkout some pictures:

Che Che Kule- Faster Version!

On Tuesday we sped it up a little!

Storytime- Jambo! Africa

Well, we visited Africa this week.

We read these books:
Africa Calling Nighttime Falling by Daniel Alderman
Kente Colors by Debbi Chocolate
What the Animals Were Waiting For by Jonathan London

We learned these animal names in Swahili:
Giraffe- Twiga
Hippo-Kiboko
Monkey-Tumbili
Zebra-Punda Milia
Elephant-Tembo
Lion-Simba
Crocodile-Mamba

We learned to count from 1 to 10 in Swahili:
moja
mbili
tatu
nne
tano
sita
saba
nane
kumi

We sang Che Che Kule and My Aunt Came Back.

Week 1 Lapsitters- Beep, Beep! (Age 2 with adult)

Let's go! We can go in a car, a train, a boat, a helicopter, an airplane or maybe by foot! Vroom, vroom! Beep, beep! Here we go...

We are going to practice our counting with Alice the Camel each week.

We are going to read some great books...do some fun activities with our adult and of course, sing the best transportation song known to preschoolers everywhere- "The Wheels on the Bus".

Hope to see you there!

Week 1 Storytime- Jambo! Africa (Ages 3-5)

We are going to begin our storytime with a great echo song with lots of rhythm- Che, Che, Kule! Let's get the drums pounding and our feet moving!

YouTube video of song

We will go hunting for some rhyming words...Read some great stories... Learn how to count in Swahili from 1-10 and learn animal names in Swahili, too!

We will learn another fun echo song- My Aunt Came Back!

YouTube video of song

Then we will end with some open-ended group art actitivity!

Hope to see you there Monday or Tuesday!

New Series- Rookie Ready to Learn from Scholastic

This series includes a story and 'Let's Learn Together' activity pages to help children be better prepared for school. The additional activity pages provide you with fun ways to reinforce basic early-learning skills and early childhood social/emotional concepts.

Some of the activities include: Sing-along, rhyming, Counting by Twos, Fingerplays and Science Projects. The parents are encouraged to do these activities with their children to reinforce the concepts that were read in the book. These extension activities are all designed to teach important early childhood concepts through hands-on, multi-sensory, fun learning experiences.