Story Window Storytime Blog: May 2008

Peek inside for storytime ideas! Wilmette Librarians share suggestions for age-appropriate books, rhymes, songs, and crafts.

May 28, 2008

Colors
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

Examining colors and identifying them is very interesting for the storytime kids. Colorful animals pop up on each page in Creepy Crawly Colors, by Robin Koontz. In the big book Freight Train, by Donald Crews, the kids enjoyed identifying the colors and names of the cars on a freight train. Maisy books continue to fascinate the storytime kids, especially with the concept of opposites in Maisy Big, Maisy Small, by Lucy Cousins. The flannel board story, "Little Red House" depicts houses of various colors and sizes.

Posted by Sue at 9:16 AM | TrackBack

May 19, 2008

Our Beautiful Ocean
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

The storytime kids are very interested in ocean creatures, most of which they probably have not yet seen. A bragging squid tells various sea critters that he's bigger than they are, the biggest in the ocean, until a whale eats him up in I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, by Kevin Sherry. Counting digitally created animated fish is amusing in Ten Little Fish, by Audrey Wood. A boy diver has many adventures in his bath tub as he pretends to be in the ocean in Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea, by Jan Peck.

Posted by Sue at 7:46 PM | TrackBack

May 13, 2008

Mother's Day
(For 1.5-2.5 Year Olds)

It's fabulous to have a day to honor our special hardworking, loving mothers! In honor of Mother's Day I read stories about animal mothers and their children. A child pig works hard to make her mother feel special by making her food and getting her flowers while making an occasional mess in A Special Day for Mommy, by Dan Andreasen. Mother animals are shown taking care of their babies in Where Is My Mommy?, by Julie Downing. Classic author/illustrator Eric Carle shows us the various names of animal groups and babies in Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? The storytime kids love identifying the colors of the cute kittens with the flannel board story, "Kittens and Paint".

Posted by Sue at 10:17 AM | TrackBack

May 7, 2008

Spring for Spring
(For 3.5-5 Year Olds)

The temperature is rising, flowers are blooming, and leaves are finally sprouting. It must be spring. To celebrate, we read some vernally themed books in storytime.
In Lisa Cambpell Ernst's Wake Up, It's Spring, animals and a human family shake off their slumber as the season changes. The kids seemed to like the repetition in this joyful tale.

Lucky Song, by Vera Williams, describes a sunny day when everything goes Evie's way.

In Bear Wants More, by Karma Wilson, Bear wakes up from hibernating and eats everything in sight. After every new snack, the kids repeated, "and the bear still wants MORE!"

My favorite action rhyme this session went like this:
If I were a little flower
(kids crouch down)
Sleeping underneath the ground,
I'd raise my head and grow and grow,
(kids stand up slowly)
And stretch my arms and grow and grow,
(kids raise arms high)
And nod my head and say:
"I'm glad to see you all today."

Posted by Janet at 4:01 PM | TrackBack

May 2, 2008

Garden Storytime
(For 2.5-3.5 Year Olds)

This week, we continued to celebrate springtime and all the beautiful growing things in our neighborhood with several stories about gardens.

Fran's Flower, written by Lisa Bruce and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw - Cute book about what plants need to grow (hint: it's NOT pizza!). Perfect for 2 year olds.

The Gigantic Turnip, by Aleksei Tolstoy and Niamh Sharkey - The classic cumulative story. In the future, I'd like to make a flannelboard adaptation of this one. And also bring a turnip to show the kids!

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!, written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by G. Brian Karas - Three wascally wabbits foil Mr. McGreely's every attempt to keep them out of his veggies.

We repeated our flower rhymes, sang "Two Little Blackbirds," and made springtime pictures of flowering trees.

Posted by Lisa at 1:36 PM | TrackBack

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