GROSSOLOGY 101

Hi everyone!  Sorry it’s been such a long time since my last post. I feel like Summer Reading has been nutso! (it really has) This is a program that I’ve been waiting YEARS to do and this summer was the perfect time to finally do it!  I had 19 kids total!  Here is a breakdown of what we did:

Gross facts

Played “BeanBoozled” -We didn’t have a spinner so I just called the kids up 5 at the time and they had to close their eyes and choose a jelly bean and eat it in front of everyone so we could all see their reactions.  They LOVED this. And most of them got yuck flavors and spit them out. It was hilarious to watch.

I was going to read the book THE STORY OF THE LITTLE MOLE WHO WENT IN SEARCH OF WHODUNIT By: Werner Holzwarth but there wasn’t enough time.  This book was introduced to me by my old friend/coworker Bryan. It was his favorite book and he would read it to use at least once a month. I’ve never had a reason to use it in storytime because, well, it’s about poop.

Next the kids got to visit 4 different stations with gross stuff to do/see/eat.

Stations:

1-Feeling station-They got to feel worms (spaghetti), eyeballs (olives), ears (dried mangoes), and brains (jello with pineapple chunks).

2-Booger Station-We made boogers from the Grossology website. I also pulled a few things from the Grossology  book to share.

3-Guess the Poop-I melted 4 different candy bars and put them on toilet paper and the kids got to guess what kind of candy bar each one was. No tasting!

4-Worms and Dirt snack-chocolate pudding, Oreo crumbs, gummy worms, need I say more?

At the very end I had whoopie cushions to give away. I made them all try theirs out before they left, so I figured, why not do it at the same time?! It was a fart fest!  They laughed SO MUCH. But I popped mine…

Overall this was a FANTASTIC program.  I definitely suggest doing something like this at your library. 🙂

 

Flannel Friday: Brown Bear, Brown Bear

The Brown Bear is much bigger than these guys

Okay, so this is more of a storytelling activity than a flannel board.  But I really wanted to share it with you all!  Last week I did a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, so of course everything was bear themed.  I love the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? By: Bill Martin.  I don’t think I know anyone who DOESN’T love that book. I also love to use it because most of the children know the story.  This time around I didn’t want to just read the story, or just use my flannel board, but I wanted the kids to help me tell the story.  When our Outreach Department closed late last year, they had tons of stuff in storage that we were able to use. Kits, crafts, crayons, flannels etc.  Well, I found these great laminated pieces that went along with the story and really wanted to use them.  My idea was to pass one out to each child so that when we came to that animal in the story, they could come up to the front of the room and hold up their animal!  I invited everyone to help me tell the story too.  Of course, I had to make sure I had several pieces of each animal so there would be enough for everyone, but it worked out.  Sometimes we had three ducks and only one cat, it was ok!  By the end of the story all the kids were standing up front holding their animals proudly.  It was a blast!  I will definitely do it again. A few kids didn’t want to come up front, so I told them it was ok to just hold up their animal where they were sitting.  I hope you all can try this next time you tell this story!

Parachute Playtime!

Well, my first parachute playtime is now complete!  I would definitely call it a success.  It didn’t go as planned, but I was prepared for that.  Here is the outline I took in with me:

Parachute Playtime!

Ages 2-5 (18 passes Drop in)

Begin with children sitting ON the parachute and explain the rules and how we use it.

• Always hold with two hands
• There are younger kids so don’t shake it too hard, be aware
• Don’t pull the parachute
• If I ring my bell then you must stop shaking the chute and put it on the ground and put your hands on top
• Take our shoes off
• Don’t lift the chute when someone is on it

Beginning activities:

• Hold it low and high
• Shake it fast and slow
• Walk in circle
• Parents hold chute up high so kids can go under

Songs:

• Itsy Bitsy Spider-Mr Eric
  • STAND-Up & Down
• One Two Three Whee!-Mr Eric
  • STAND-Whee=up/Jump/Shake/Whee
• Rolling Ball-Mr Eric
  • SIT-Big Ball
• Popcorn calling me-Laurie Berkner
  • STAND-Small Balls-Sizzle=Shake it/Pop/Walk Dance Run
• My Ups and Downs-Jim Gill
  • CROUCH-Follow Music up and down
• Old MacDonald-Mr Eric
  • STAND-Cow/Dog/Chicken
• I hear the water-Mr Eric
  • SIT-Make it sound like water by shaking slowly and rock back and forth. Rain-tap the chute

   

Here is what REALLY happened and what I learned:

• The bell actually worked really well.  Any time I rang it, they stopped and did what they were supposed to do so that I could talk.  I’m not sure they listened though 🙂
• I didn’t even attempt to walk in a circles, that just wasn’t going to happen
• I did have the parents hold up the chute, but not til the end.  Then we gathered it together.  It was a good way to end it.
• Most songs I picked worked pretty good
• Popcorn calling me-This was the song I was most excited for. We used those small play balls as popcorn. They were supposed to sizzle then pop.  That didn’t quite work how it was supposed to. They just popped the balls like crazy, but that’s ok!  They had fun!
• I skipped Jim Gill’s My ups and downs.  They were so crazy at this point I didn’t want to explain anything else.
• The last song, I hear the water is SO GREAT. It’s clam and soothing. We left the chute on the ground and slid it side to side to make it sound like water.  Then we tapped it with our fingers to make it sound like rain. It was a nice closing song for sure.

I really wish I could do the program for 2-3 year olds and a separate one form 4-5 year olds, but with our big families that come with multiple kids, I just don’t see that happening.  So for now, I’m just going to leave the ages as they are.  I can’t wait to do it again!  I definitely want to do it around Christmas time with some holiday songs.

Oh, and this was me at the end:

Be sure to check out Kendra and Lisa’s Parachute programs as well!  They have great ideas 🙂

Storytime To Go

Well,  the time has FINALLY come. We have our Storytime To Go Kits!  I talked about them a while back here. It’s taken some time to get everything done, but it was definitely worth the wait.  I’m so excited to see how they do.  I know the parents will love them, they’re just so handy!  None of this could have been done without the brains that thought it all up AND got the grant, Miss Leona 🙂 But also, my fellow coworkers who have helped implement it.  Eventually, there will be a digital video for each kit that shows finger plays, flannel boards, and the book covers. *UPDATE* Here are the online video tutorials from our website!  Kind of like a little storytime tutorial on how to use the kits.  I can post that when those go live.  Here they are ready and waiting to be checked out!

Book Bundles

I found the idea for having book bundles in the library on Pinterest from this blog.  I absolutely love this idea and since I implemented it last week, it has done great.  I love that it’s low maintenance and easy to just pick a theme, 3 books, and bundle!  The best part is that I can have my teen volunteers do it too.

Here are my bundle tags if you want to use them and print them out:

Book Bundles

Here are some themes to get you started:

Book Bundle Themes

Lastly, here is my sign I use:

Book Bundle Sign