Sturdy for Common Things

Sugar Sweet Storytime

And Sunday Storytime is back in 2012! To start off the new year, I selected books to indulge everyone’s sweet tooth reading books about deserts that are sugary treats!

Sugar Sweet Storytime Lineup:

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael B. Kaplan, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

After trying chocolate cake for the first time, Betty Bunny declares she loves chocolate cake so much she wants to marry it.

I put in an order request this book in early December because it looked so cute and a nice fit for storytime. When it came into the library, I was a little concerned by the length but it ended up being a perfect read for the kids. Easily their favorite book. And last week Betty Bunny was named one of the New York Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing: Children’s Books 2011!

Five Little Cookies Flannel Board

by Everything Preschool, Adapted by Yours Truly

Five little cookies, With frosting galore.
(Child’s Name) ate the blue one, then there were four.
Four little cookies, Two and two you see
(Child’s Name) ate the green one, then there were three.
Three little cookies, But before I knew,
(Child’s Name) ate the pink one, then there were two.
Two little cookies, Oh what fun,
(Child’s Name) ate the white one, then there was one

One little cookie, We’re almost done,

(Child’s Name) ate the last one, then there was none!

I forgot to take a picture of the flannel cookies I made from felt, but essentially they were brown circles with the coordinating frosting for the rhyme. I took each one down as a child “ate” it. I picked a different storytimer for each cookie.

Maisy Bakes a Cake by Lucy Cousins

The younger kids love Maisy. It’s a fun popup book about baking.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

A classic.

A Birthday for Cow by Jan Thomas

I’ve read Jan Thomas for storytime before and the kids loved her book, so why not do more? It’s a LBD favorite to boot!

Little Mouse and the Big Cupcake by Thomas Taylor, illustrated by Jill Barton

This is a good read-aloud book for all ages and also a good segue into our….

Sugar Sweet Storytime Craft:

Going into the New Year I didn’t want to a craft that took too much preptime but could also be an easy crowd pleaser.

So, we decorated cupcakes.

Didn’t even go through the trouble of making them from scratch. Just a couple boxes of white cake mix and homemade buttercream frosting.

It’s going to be a good year.

And since, once again, I had a variety of great books to choose from…

Here’s a list of honorable mention books that didn’t quite make it into this storytime, but are great reads:

Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington

Cat’s Cake by Richard Fowler

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jane Dyer

Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jen Corace

Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Marcellus Hall

image sources: betty bunny, maisy, give a mouse a cookie, birthday for cow, little mouse

Holiday ‘Sing-A-Long’ Storytime

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a Holiday Storytime. Of course there are hundreds of Christmas books, a handful of Hanukkah books, and the pickings get slim when it comes the Kwanzza and Eid. So, to incorporate all holidays I decided to do a holiday song sing-a-long. A few winter songs and then a song each for Eid, Hannukah, Kwanzza, and Christmas. After each holiday song, we all said the traditional greeting for that specific holiday:

Eid: Eid Mubarek, Eid Sied! (Blessed Eid, Happy Eid)

Hanukkah: Happy Hanukkah!

Kwanzaa: Habari Gani? (What’s the good news?)

Christmas: Merry Christmas!

It was great to see so many people make it out during such a busy season. A perfect way to end the year.

Holiday Sing-A-Long Line-Up:

Frosty the Snowman By Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, Illustrated by Richard Cowdrey

Open with a classic, winter song that everyone knows. Frosty, to this day, is still a crowd pleaser.

This Little Light of Mine Adapted by Raffi, Illustrated by Stacey Schuett

I originally chose this book because this song is occasionally sung during Kwanzaa, but I thought it would make a great opener for all the holiday songs as each holiday uses candles and lights to celebrate. And that along with the celebration of light,  I reminded the kids that a light that shines within each one of them.

Eid Song

By Nancy Sewart, Adapted by Rebecca Dunn

Do you see a crescent moon? (Form a C overhead with one arm)

Do you see a crescent moon?

When you see a crescent moon

We can celebrate Eid

We’ll have a party with our friends (Twirl pointer finger)

We’ll have a party with our friends

We’ll have a party with our friends

and celebrate Eid

We’ll decorate with lots of lights (Repeat opening left and right hands)

We’ll decorate with lots of lights

We’ll decorate with lots of lights

And celebrate Eid

We’ll dress up in our brand new cloths (Pat shoulders)

We’ll dress up in our brand new clothes

We’ll dress up in our brand new clothes

And celebrate Eid

We’ll eat our special food together (Pretend to eat)

We’ll eat our special food together

We’ll eat our special food together

And celebrate Eid

So do you see a crescent moon (Repeat C motion)

Do you see a crescent moon?

When you see a crescent moon

We celebrate Eid

Eid mubarek, Eid sied!

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah Illustrated by Susan L. Roth

A classic song with festive and fun collage work by Susan L. Roth.

Kwanzaa Candle Song

By Gayle Bittinger

Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”

The red candles shine

The red Candles shine

When it’s time for Kwanzaa

The red candles shine

The green candles shine

The green candles shine

When it’s time for Kwanzaa

The green candles

The black candle shines

The black candle shines

When it’s time for Kwanzaa

The black candle shines

The Twelve Days of Christmas Illustrated by Jane Ray

I couldn’t resist using this new book after skimming through the illustrations.

My Favorite Things By Rodgers & Hammerstein, Illustrated by Renee Graef

Because storytime and music are two of my favorite things.

Then for the grand finale, I handed out bells to each child and we all sang “Jingle Bells” in it’s entirety.

Doorbell/Jingle Bell Craft:

This jingle bell craft was a big hit with the kids. When I was looking for winter crafts last month, I came across this one on pintrest and thought it would be the perfect compliment to my sing-a-long storytime.

With more help from co-workers for recycled supplies, I had all the egg cartons needed for 60 bells. To start, I tore out the dividers (5 per carton), and then trimmed them up if needed. Other supplies included paint, bells, yarn, glitter, and glue.

I painted the egg carton dividers with acrylic paint and let dry. Nothing too precise. And only one coat. Took maybe 45 mins tops to cut and paint them all.

Color!

Next, I tied a string of yarn to a bell.

And made another knot so the bell wouldn’t get stuck in the shell.

I don’t have a large yarn needle, so I crafted one of my own with a paperclip.

Poked a hole in the top if it didn’t already have one and then threaded the yarn through with the needle.

Knotted the top and there you have it.

The threading took the most time, but after a couple it went really quickly.

With a little glue and glitter, the once egg cartons are now festive bells.

I told the kids they could hang their bells from their front door and every time company comes over to celebrate the holidays, the bells will ring. Or they can tie them to their bedroom door and the bells can act as an alarm for when their parents go in their room.

This will be the last storytime post for the year.

Looking forward to seeing everyone for storytime next year!

Happy Holidays!!

image sources: pintrest, frosty the snowman, this little light of mine, hanukkah, twelve days, favorite things

Winter Storytime

Snow was in the air for yesterday’s Winter Storytime. We had a great time with the stories and songs and crafting SNOWGLOBES! Chosing books to read was difficult this time through, because there’re so many great winter stories. I’m thinking later this week the honorable mention winter books will have to make an appearance.

Winter Storytime Lineup:

Snowey Pokey

You put your right mitten in, You take your right mitten out,

You put your right mitten in and you shake it all about.

You do the Snowey Pokey and you turn yourself around.

That’s what it’s all about!

Continue with additional verses:

You put your left mitten in

You put your scarf in

You put your right boot in

You put your hat in

you put your snowself in

The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming

I read this book to the tune, “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.

It was such a fun read.

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

Ahhhhhh!!! I love Christopher Silas Neal’s work. And I’ve been waiting and waiting for the perfect time to read this book. It’s easily one of my favorite picture books of the year.

Snowflakes

To the tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”

Snowflakes, snowflakes,

Dance around.

Snowflakes, snowflakes,

Touch the ground.

Snowflakes, snowflakes,

In the air.

Snowflakes, snowflakes,

Everywhere!

Snowflakes, snowflakes,

Dance around.

Snowflakes, snowflakes,

Touch the ground.

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner

An instant comedy act.

I Built a Snowman

I built a little snowman. (make circles with arms)

He had a carrot nose. (point to nose)

Along came a bunny (hold up two bent fingers)

And what do you suppose? (shrug)

That hungry little bunny, (make bunny again)

Looking for his lunch, (hop bunny around)

Ate the snowman’s nose. (grab nose with fingers)

Nibble… nibble… CRUNCH! (pretend to eat carrot nose)

Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer

I’ve had my eye on this book since the summertime. And I’d have to agree…

Snow by Manya Stojic

This book is good for all ages, but especially the toddlers and preschoolers.

Winter Storytime Craft:

Snowglobes!!!

Will and I have been saving jars in our house since October for this craft. Peanut butter jars, olive jars, pickle jars, jelly jars, sauce jars, mustard jars, bouillon cube jars, any kind of jar. With the help of a couple co-workers too, I had just enough for the entire storytime gang yesterday.

The directions I used for this craft were from a doctor’s office magazine, but also found inspiration here and here.

When I found birds for the snowbird craft I also picked up miniature trees and miniature wintry animals from the craft store. I also found ceramic ornaments from the thrift store. All the non-holiday ones were used by the kids yesterday.

To start, we secured florist clay to the inside of the jar lid. The kids picked one or two figurines, depending on how big their lids were, and pushed them into the clay. If they could press more clay to stabilize their figure, they held their place in water a lot better.

After they were finished with that step, they came over the the “Snow Station” where I finished off their snowglobes. On a small cart I had a few pitchers of water, glycerin (which can be found in the face/beauty section of a drugstore), and glitter.

SIDE STORY: When I went to get glycerin at our local drug store, I thought it might be a soap ingredient but didn’t know where to find it. So, I asked the pharmisist and her reply was, “You mean suppositories?”

me: “Ummm… no. I don’t need to poop. I’m looking for glycerin?”

pharmacist: “I think it’s with the laxatives.”

me: “Are you thinking of mineral oil, because I’m not looking for mineral oil. I’m looking for glycerin.”

pharmacist: “I don’t think we have that. Let me ask the cashier.”

We walk over to the cashier and ask.

cashier: “Yeah… it’s with the face wash.”

pharmacist: “I thought it might be there.”

Right.

So back to Snowglobes…

At the “Snow Station”, I poured water into the jar until it was almost full. Added 3-4 drops of glycerin and then depending on how big or small the jar was, about a spoonful of glitter.

Fastened the jar lid to the jar.

And let the snow fall.

A dad mentioned they did this a couple years ago as gifts to grandparents from his children. Today, I made this Santa snowglobe one for a friend.

*All songs and hand rhymes were adapted from Everything Preschool

**image sources: Over and Under the Snow, First Day, Over and Under, Snowmen at Night, Winter is the Warmest Season

Snow Bird Storytime

Some birds have left for the south and some are here to stay for the winter months. During yesterday’s Sunday Storytime session we read books about both.

Snow Bird Storytime Line-up:

Three Little Birds

Song by Bob Marley, Adapted by Rebecca Dunn

Woke up this mornin’, (arms over head to make a sun)

Smiled with the risin’ sun, (point to smile)

Three little birds (flap arms like a bird)

By my doorstep (point down to the ground)

Singin’ sweet songs (hold hands by mouth as if shouting)

Of melodies pure and true, (hold hands by mouth as if shouting)

Sayin’, “This is my message to you-ou-ou:” (point out to person in front of you)

Singin’ don’t worry about a thing, (shake finger out in front)

‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right. (shoulder shrug, palms up)

Singin’ don’t worry about a thing, (shake finger again)

‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right. (shoulder shrug, palms up)

Marco Flamingo by Shelia Jarkins

“What’s snow?,” asked Marco.

“You don’t want to know,” replied Goose.

And so Marco’s adventure begins when one tropical bird decides to fly north for the winter.

Round Robin by Jack Kent

I had never heard of this book, until I started looking for snow bird books. Had the kids giggling the whole time I read it.

Birds by Keven Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek

Oh, so lovely. Especially the illustrations.

Little Bird, Little Bird

Song by Elizabeth Mitchell

Little bird, little bird,

Fly through my window,

Little bird, little bird,

Fly through my window,

Little bird, little bird,

Fly through my window,

Fine molasses candy.

Through my window,

My sugar lump,

Fly through my window,

My sugar lump,

Fine molasses candy.

(Repeat replacing “Little bird” with: “Chickadee”, and then”Jaybird”, and then “Whip-poor-will”)

You can listen to Elizabeth Mitchell’s version of this popular song here.

George Flies South by Simon James

A new book I decided to try out. Originally, I decided not to use it for storytime because I thought it was a book that was better reading one-on-one. But Will encouraged me to read it Sunday and I’m glad he did.

No Two Alike by Keith Baker

Two birds flying around a winter wonderland learning about similarities and differences.

Snow Bird Craft:

I found this craft a couple months ago and it became my inspiration behind an entire storytime devoted to snow birds. Now, I was a little concerned about the younger kids being about to do it, but even the toddlers successfully made one with no trouble.

The prep was easy. I just cut and glued this birch tree clip art to toilet paper rolls.

I picked up these cheap, but cute artificial birds and some fake wintertime greenery at a craft store. The greenery was cut into small branches. After that, everything was ready for storytime.

The kids assembled their birds and branches with craft glue. Anything you have on hand will work. We used an all-purpose glue.

Here’s the fun part. I created a “glitter station” which had translucent glitter, paint brushes, and cups with small portions of glue on the bottom of the cups. When the kids were done gluing their birds and branches, they could go to the glitter station, brush glue on their birch logs and birds with paint brushes, and then glitz up their snow birds with a glittery, finishing touch.

Easily, one of my favorite crafts we have done so far.

This last part isn’t entirely necessarily, but it does help keep the bird upright. In snack sized baggies filled with 3-5 peppermints, we rolled the bags up and placed the sugar booty in the birch logs.

There you have it. A sweet, little, winter bird decoration.

image sources: marco flamingo, round robin, birds, george, no two alike,

Owl Storytime

Hello there! How are you owl doing after the Thanksgiving weekend?

If you couldn’t tell by my cheesy intro, we sang songs and read books about owls for storytime. The kids even made their very own owl to take home with them. It was a small group of storytimers which was kinda nice after the big rush of visitors we had in our house over the weekend.

Owl Storytime Line-up:

Owl in the Tree

(Sung to “Skip to my Lou”)

Owl in the tree says, who, who, who

Owl in the tree says who, who, who

Owl in the tree says who, who, who

Whoooo, who, are you? (Point to a child and have them say their name.)

Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton

A new book that LBD likes. She likes it A LOT. I’m lucky I was able to take it away for the one storytime.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr

I was a little nervous to read this book to such a young age group. It’s longer and slower than the books I usually read, but I wanted to read it nonetheless because it is simply beautiful.  So, I decided to make it more interactive. As I read I prompted the kids to call out the noises as they came up in the story.. train whistles, dog howls, crunching snow, owl whoo’s…  and thankfully it worked.

The Wide-Eyed Owl

A hand motion rhyme adapted from The Land of Nursery Rhymes

There’s a wide-eyed owl (forefingers and thumbs around eyes)

with a pointed nose, (forefinger and thumb together to make a point over nose)

with two pointed ears, (clench hands with forefingers pointing up for ears)

He lives high in a tree. (reach up to the sky)

When he looks at you (circles around eyes again)

he flaps his wings, (hands to chest and flap elbows)

and says, “Who, Who, Whooo.” (cup hands to mouth and hoot)

with claws for his toes. (make hands into claws)

Little Owl’s Night by Divya Srinivasan

The kids loved the pictures in this book… especially the owl character. Another new title added recently to the library’s collection.

Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood

A great book about a little owl that stayed up to witness the daytime.

Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jen Corace

This book produced the most laughs. A silly crowd pleaser of a little owl who wants to go to bed early.

The Owl Craft:

I got the idea for this owl craft from a few different places like here and here. Since I didn’t want to purchase pillow gift boxes, I printed them out on cardstock out using this template and assembled each one. Well, I didn’t assemble them all. My mother-in-law pitched in and helped. And couple of the other visiting guests over the holiday helped cut feathers or wings or whatnot. I used cardstock for the eyes, beak, and feet. The tummy feathers are old wallpaper samples and the wings are from felt I found in the library’s storage basement.

All the kids had to do was glue the pieces to the pillow box.

Cute, right?

image sources: Little Owl Lost, Owl Moon, Little Owl’s Night, Wow! Said the Owl, Little Hoot

Thanksgiving Storytime

Thanksgiving is only 10 days away and since I will not be reading in next Sunday’s storytime, I took the opportunity to celebrate thankfulness yesterday.

Thanksgiving Storytime Line-Up:

Thanksgiving Song

(Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle little star”, Adapted from Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that)

Thank you, thank you, very much
For everything that I can touch.
Thanks a lot for nature’s food.
And for when I’m feeling good.

Thank you, thank you very much.

For moms and dads and friends and such.

I’m a Great Big Turkey Song

(Tune: “I’m A Little Teapot”, By Jean Warren from Preschool Express)

I’m a great big turkey
‘Cause I’m well fed.
Watch me spread my feathers.
Watch me bob my head.

When I strut around
I waddle, waddle, waddle.
And when I talk
I “gobble, gobble, gobble”.

I’m a great big turkey
And I’d love to stay.
But Thanksgiving’s coming.
So it’s time to run away!

 

 

Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes, illustrated by Doris Barrette

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Judith Byron Schachner

I also created a flannel board with the help of a co-worker for this book using an old lady puppet that looked exactly like this. As she would eat an item in the book, I would remove it from the flannel board and put it in her mouth. I think next time I do this, I wouldn’t use the book at all but the illustrations are so great it’s hard not to!

Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell

‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey

An Awesome Book of Thanks by Dallas Clayton (you can read the book online here)

Thankful Turkey Craft:

The “Thankful Turkey” craft we made after storytime was inspired by this idea from Amazing Moms.

For pre-storytime, I glued clothespins onto autumn colored cardstock. Once dry I hole-punched the top corners and tied twine that I found to each corner so that it would hang evenly. I also used cut out turkeys and large feathers/leaves from construction paper.

Using leaf stickers, paper turkeys, feathers, and crayons, the kids decorated their “Thankful Turkey” however they wished.

Once they finished decorating, they wrote or drew pictures of what they were thankful for on the paper leaves. I also recommended finding pictures of what they were thankful for at home and clipping them to their turkeys as well (see first example above).

What three things are you thankful for this year?

LBD is thankful for her mom, dad, and Elmo. Naturally.

image sources: Thanks for Thanksgiving, I Know An Old Lady.., Feast for 10, ‘Twas the Night, An Awesome Book of Thanks

90-Second Newbery Film Festival

“A Wrinkle In Time” In 90 Seconds from James Kennedy on Vimeo.

This was just too ingenious that I had to share…

James Kennedy, author of The Order of Odd Fish, created a national literary film contest for children called the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Kids were encouraged to create a 90-second dramatization of a Newbery winning title (a list of Newbery winners can be found here), upload it to youtube or vimeo, and if chosen, premiered last weekend at the New York Public Library‘s 90-Second Newbery Film Festival screening hosted by James Kennedy and Jon Scieszka! Rebecca Stead and Ayun Halliday were there too! A recap of the event and featured video entries/winners can be found here and here.

This weekend, James Kennedy and his Newbery Film Festival will be visiting Harold Washington Public Library in Chicago.

I picked up The Order of Odd Fish at the library the other day and ironically am in the process of finishing the 2011 winner, Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool. Too bad the deadline for film submissions has past… LBD could have made her debut as Abilene.

Silly Hat Storytime

Aren’t these little owls the cutest? I was going to do owls for storytime this week, but I’m still waiting on a new owl book to arrive. Instead, I decided with colder weather on the horizon, storytime would be devoted to reading books about hats.  All stories read were slightly silly and there were a couple where characters make a unique fashion statement wearing something peculiar on top of their heads.

It was the biggest turnout yet.

A big ‘Thank You’ to those who were able to stop by!

Silly Hat Storytime Line-Up:

Silly Hat Song

(To the tune: This Old Man, Adapted from SurLaLune Fairytales)

On my head, I wear my hat.

It is such a silly hat

I wear my hat here and there and to and fro.

Where else can my silly hat go?

On my foot, I wear my hat.

It is such a silly hat

I wear my hat hear and there and to and fro

Where else can my silly hat go?

On my elbow, I wear my hat

It is such a silly hat

I wear my hat hear and there and to and fro

Where else can my silly hat go?

On my knee I wear my hat.

It is such a silly hat

I wear my hat hear and there and to and fro

Where else can my silly hat go?

Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

A Hat fr Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Under My Hood I Have a Hat poem by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Fumi Kosaka

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (seen before here)

Imogene’s Antlers by David Small

A Boy and His Bunny by Sean Bryan, illustrations by Tom Murphy

The Silly Hat Craft:

This craft was so simple and so fun and of course oh so silly.

For pre-storytime, I picked up a few stacks of old newspapers out of the recycling bin at work and folded and stapled the the hats together using these instructions.

After I made the hats, I went through a bunch of left over craft supplies on hand from previous programs at the library and found all kinds of goodies. Bows, feathers, ribbons, buttons, stickers, pom poms…

When it was time to make silly hats after storytime, kids picked out a pre-folded newspaper hat and decorated them with silly trimmings provided using either liquid glue or staplers (with help from a grown-up) to secure their bobbles to their hats.

The best part? The kids wore their hats all around the library once finished.

image sources: owls from corrella design, caps for sale, hat for minerva louise, under my hood, i want my hat back, imogene’s antlers, a boy and his bunny

Halloween Storytime

Happy Halloween! Have you dipped into the candy stash yet? I have. No shame.

Here’s what we sang, read, and made for yesterday’s storytime…

The Halloween Storytime Line-Up:

Happy Halloween Song

(To the tune: “Mary Had A Little Lamb”, Adapted from Perpetual Preschool)

Here we come to trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat.

Here we come to trick or treat, knocking on your door.

Please give us some candy sweet, candy sweet, candy sweet.

Please give us some candy sweet, and we will say Thank You!

We wish you a Happy Halloween, Happy Halloween, Happy Halloween!

We wish you a Happy Halloween! Now we will scare you……BOO!

Little Goblins Ten by Pamela Jane, Illustrated by Jane Manning (New book!)

Brown Owl, Brown Owl, What do you see?

(Story adapted from: Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do you See? by Bill Martin Jr.)

Brown Owl Brown Owl, What do you see?

I see a White Ghost looking at me.

White Ghost, White Ghost, What do you see?

I see a Purple Bat looking at me.

Purple Bat, Purple Bat, What do you see?

I see a Green Witch looking at me.

Green Witch, Green Witch What do you see?

I see a Black Cat looking at me.

Black Cat, Black Cat, What do you see?

I see a Orange Pumpkin looking at me.

Orange Pumpkin, Orange Pumpkin what do you see?

I see a Jack O’ Lantern looking at me.

(I made these festive characters to go along with the rhyme…)

Halloween Night by Elizabeth Hatch, Illustrated by Jimmy Pickering

“Halloween Leftovers” poem from Holiday Stew by Jenny Whitehead

You’ve sifted and sorted,

You’ve gobbled and hoarded,

The best of your Halloween treats.

What’s left, I’m afraid,

You can’t even trade

With your sister who likes to eat beets.

But throw it away?

It’s still candy—no way!

So what do you do with the stash?

Toss it in a pan,

With corn from a can,

And make leftover Halloween Hash!

Or use candy-corn mix,

And make pot pie for six

In a crust of old 3 Musketeers.

No need to explain,

Your mom can’t complain—

She does it with turkey each year!

Winnie The Witch by Valerie Thomas, Illustrated by Korky Paul

This was one of my favorite picture books when I was a little girl. I thought it was out of print, but it looks like it was re-issued with a different cover recently. You can visit Winnie’s cyber home here.

One Spooky Night: A Halloween Adventure by Kate Stone (New book!)

This was the perfect book leading into the craft for the day. You can take a peak at the cut-art illustrations here.

The Craft:

When I first saw these not-so-spooky-pop-up-houses craft on Let’s Play, I knew it would be great for Sunday’s storytime…. and it was. The kids loved it. And I have to admit, I enjoyed it making them.

Pre-storytime, I pre-cut and outlined the houses out of using old file folders. It’s always a gamble what age groups I’m going to have, so I try and make it as simple as possible for the toddlers.

I also pre-cut little black roofs for the older kids to clue on the top of their houses. Last week, I had quite a few of older kids, so I planned on having water colors along with crayons and stickers, but there was only one or two this time so opted out of the watercolors. The full instructions can be found here.

Have a safe, sugar-filled day!

Image Sources: vintage postcard, Little Goblins Ten, Halloween Night, Winnie the Witch, One Spooky Night: A Halloween Adventure

Pumpkin Storytime

Yesterday’s pumpkin-themed storytime turned out a good crowd! My mom was in town this weekend, so she was able to attend too. The picture above is one of the many documenting a trip to Schaake’s Pumpkin Patch that also occurred over the weekend during her visit. These mini pumpkins were my craft inspiration, which ended up being the main attraction.

Pumpkin Storytime Line-Up:

Five Little Pumpkins Song

One little pumpkin smiling, smiling.
One little pumpkin smiling, smiling.
One little pumpkin smiling, smiling.
One little pumpkin is happy.

Two little pumpkins pouting, pouting.
Two little pumpkins pouting, pouting.
Two little pumpkins pouting, pouting.
Two little pumpkins are grumpy.

Three little pumpkins yawning, yawning.
Three little pumpkins yawning, yawning.
Three little pumpkins yawning, yawning.
Three little pumpkins are sleepy.

Four little pumpkins crying, crying.
Four little pumpkins crying, crying.
Four little pumpkins crying, crying.
Four little pumpkins are sad.

Five little pumpkins laughing, laughing.
Five little pumpkins laughing, laughing.
Five little pumpkins laughing, laughing.
Five little pumpkins are playing.

(Song adapted from Super Simple Songs)

Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer (New book!)

Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas (Another new book!)

“Jack-o-Lantern” Poem from Hand Rhymes by Marc Brown

I am a pumpkin, big and round. (Make a circle with arms over your head)

Once upon a time, I grew on the ground. (Point to the ground)

Now I have a mouth, two eyes, and a nose. (Point to mouth, eyes, and nose)

What are they for, do you suppose? (Curiously scratch head)

With a candle inside, shining bright. (Hold pointer finger out like a candle)

I’ll be a jack-o’-lantern on Halloween night. (Wave hands excitedly.. “jazz hands”!)

Pumpkin Heads! by Wendell Minor

Mystery Vine: A Pumpkin Surprise by Cathryn Falwell (While reading I used a “mystery vine” prop which “grew” as I read the story. A few co-workers created the vine prop a couple years ago using this guide.

The Craft:

Originally, I was going to do this great paper pumpkin mask craft suggested by a co-worker. It was all prepped and ready to go, but on Friday we went to the pumpkin patch (more on that later) and found a great assortment of mini pumpkins, so I went ahead and splurged on them for storytime.

Using this sequin pumpkin idea from The Swell Life, the kids had a blast gluing sequins on their mini pumpkins. And for the younger kiddoes, I bought sparkly Halloween stickers for easier (and less messy) decorating.

I made this one today with the few left over stickers, so you could see an example. I wish I had pictures of the kid’s decorated pumpkins. They did such a phenomenal job.

Image Sources: Pumpkin Cat, Pumpkin Trouble, Pumpkin Heads, Mystery Vine