Duck Storytime

This week we did a duck theme in storytime!  There are so many great books out there about ducks and the kids always seem to love them.  I’ve been waiting and waiting to use the book Stuck By Oliver Jeffers along with the magnetic board I made.  I made the book fit the theme this week because a duck gets stuck in the tree (I know, I know, it’s a stretch).  Well, this week probably wasn’t the best week to use this.  Storytime was insane!  Lately I’ve been having a lot of younger siblings come with the appropriate aged kids (3-5yrs) and it just makes it tough because I want them to feel included too.  And they want to do everything their older sibling does.  Which is to be expected!  So needless to say the room gets a bit…noisy.  And none of the kids were really paying attention when it was their turn to put a piece on the magnet board.  BUT they did seem to have fun, so I guess that’s all that matters!  Soooo, to be used again at another time with a smaller crowd.  Here is my handout!

Duck Storytime Handout

 

Here is the fun craft we did, the kids all LOVED it and giggled when I showed it to them.

Butterfly Storytime

Last week my storytime was supposed to be a butterfly themed one but it didn’t happen.  I had to cancel storytime because I didn’t have a babysitter for my wee little ones.  I guess that’s motherhood   Anyways, I figured I would still share what I was going to do since I already had it all prepared.

Butterfly Storytime Handout

Here is the craft we were going to do.  Coffee filter butterflies with a pipe cleaner, easy!

Color Storytime

This week we did a color theme, one of my favorites!  There are so many great books out there to fit this theme but I have some favorites I like to use.

Color Storytime

For our craft we did one to go along with the story, Dog’s Colorful Day.  I tell the families to try and remember how he got each spot.  It really gets them talking and interacting with each other.  I love it!  Here is one of my past posts about Dog and his colorful day.

 

 

Frog Storytime

This week our theme was frogs!  It was a blast and everyone loved all the jumping.  Here is my handout:

Frog Storytime Handout

We did a very simple craft.  I used the Ellison machine and cut out frogs and lily pads and had the kids glue them on some white paper.  We even made them pop up frogs!

Pig Storytime

This week I decided to do a pig theme!  This is my first storytime since I have been back from maternity leave and it went really well.  I even used a puppet at the beginning to introduce our theme and went around and let all the kids pet him.  They loved it so much!  Here is my pig storytime handout:

Pig Storytime

Here is the craft we did.  Seth came up with it a while ago and it’s just so darn cute!  It’s great too because most of the pieces are cut from the Ellison machine.

Bunny Storytime

I always like to do a bunny themed storytime around Easter but I never make the storytime itself about Easter, just cute little bunnies   Here is my Bunny Storytime handout!

Bunny Storytime

Here is the craft that goes along with it.  I chose this one because it had most of the pieces cut out from a long time ago.  The less prep time, the better!  It’s a bunny made from all different shapes.  Enjoy!

Transportation Storytime

Here is my transportation storytime handout!

Transportation Storytime Handout

Here is the craft that I used with it.  Sometimes I stray a bit from the actual theme and do a craft more based on one of the books.  I like the kids to use their imagination sometimes and incorporating The Pigeon is the perfect way to do that!  This craft is based on the book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus By Mo Willems.

I used this craft today in storytime and it went so well!  Here are some examples the kids came up with:

Don’t Let the Pigeon…play with the tea set.

Don’t Let the Pigeon…babysit.

Don’t Let the Pigeon…eat the candy.

Don’t Let the Pigeon…fall in the fire.

Don’t Let the Pigeon…have a hot dog party.

Don’t Let the Pigeon…get a shot. (Not GET SHOT as Seth thought I said)

Don’t Let the Pigeon…eat the crayons.

I was so surprised they all came up with their own and no one copied mine, that never happens!

Monster Storytime

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday but I don’t usually like to do a Halloween themed storytime, only because I never know what families celebrate it or not.  Instead, I usually do a monster themed storytime which still goes with Halloween without saying it.  Here is my Monster Storytime handout!

Monster Storytime

Here is the craft.  It’s a really easy one because it’s mostly made from die cut pieces.  Anything to make things easier!

Grumpy Storytime

Here is my grumpy storytime handout!

Grumpy Storytime

For the craft, I couldn’t quite think of anything to do, so I decided to make this happy/sad mask.  I figured the kids would have fun drawing the faces and coloring them.

Fall Storytime

Here is my fall/autumn storytime handout!

Fall Storytime handout

I give the children die cut leaves to glue onto their fall tree, very simple!