Flannel Friday: Five Birthday Candles

I haven’t done a flannel Friday in months, so I figured it was time.  I needed to make a Five Birthday Candles candles flannel for my upcoming storytime anyways.  I have to say, I am very proud of how it turned out!  I did all of it freehand too!  The sprinkles are made with puffy paint 🙂

Five Birthday Candles

5 birthday candles, wish there were more, blow out one (blow), and then there are 4

4 birthday candles, pretty as can be, blow out one (blow), and then there are 3

3 birthday candles, mother bought them new, blow out one (blow), and then there are 2

2 birthday candles, birthday cakes are fun, blow out one (blow), and then there is 1

1 birthday candle, a birthday wish is fun, but blow out one, then there are none!

 

And here is a pic after we blow out all the candles!

Library Tours

Tomorrow I have to do a tour for a local daycare/school and I was trying to search the net for blogs or websites that talked about what others do during their tours.  Since I couldn’t find anything, I figured I would write a post myself!  Maybe it will inspire others to write ones about their libraries as well.  I don’t know about you, but library tours can get a little  monotonousness for me.  I’ll admit they definitely aren’t my favorite.  Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching kids about the library, it’s just different when they are only coming here because the school is making them.  I do have to say that by the time they leave, even if they weren’t excited at first, they usually had a good time and are excited to visit again ( so I guess I did my job 🙂 ).  Even so, I would love to hear if any of you have any fun ideas or activities to spice things up a bit.  Here is a quick rundown of what I do:

We all gather in front of the reference desk at the entrance to the children’s area and I begin to explain where the kids area and adult areas are.  I ask them if this is their first time here and if they have library cards.  I walk them through the department pointing out and explaining things as I go.  Reference desk, librarian, self check, catalog, different collections, computers, and then we go into the storyroom.  I do what I can to break things up a little so it’s not just me talking and asking questions.  In our storyroom we have ceiling tiles that have moons and stars on them, so I usually point that out.  This is where I generally read a few books to them.  It’s usually a mix of ages so I like to pick books that I know will go over well with most ages.

I always end with I Took My Frog to the Library so we can discuss proper library behavior afterwards.  It’s a nice transition.  Then I ask them if they have any questions, which usually turns into comments hahaha, you all know what I mean.  So that’s basically it! Simple!  I’d love to hear if any of you do anything different, games/songs/activities!

Thumbprint Art!

I decided it would be fun to do a thumbprint art class for a program.  I bought some giant washable ink pads from Lakeshore Learning and checked out Ed Emberly’s Thumbprint art book and got some great ideas.  I knew this would be something the kids would love.  Making art and getting messy, such a great combination!  Here are my examples that I made to show them how to make thumbprint art.  The best part about it is that there are no rules, just use your thumbs and finger to make art!

Clean up in between colors was a breeze using baby wipes (I love those things for crafts!).  I was really surprised at how good the kids were at not mixing the colors!  All 40 of them had a great time.  The best part about such a flexible program was that the age range was 3-11 years old, so most families could have all their kids participate.  This would even be fun to do for a storytime craft!  Hope you all had a much reading this as I did making the art.  It’s very therapeutic!