Summer Reading Kick Off Party

The summer reading party we held at the end of May featured three crafts, two games, sidewalk chalk, a local dance troupe, lots of snacks (including uneaten apple slices) and a trash-talking game of hopscotch. We attracted about 30 summer reading sign-ups and nothing, and I mean NOTHING, went according to my plan.

But that's okay. The kids seemed to have a really good time and I'm the only one who knew that things didn't turn out quite right.

Here are some of the ideas that I really liked; ideas that I'll revisit when I have more time to give actual instruction to the kids instead of running off every other minute to make sure that no one was taking more than their fair share of snacks, or stealing the digital camera.

 What's Your Dream?

This was a last minute station, thrown together before story time on Thursday morning, and it proved to be one of the more popular ones. On separate sheets of poster board I drew three dream jobs; a basketball player, a rock star and a doctor. With cut-outs where the head should be, we could see the kids be transformed into their future selves just like that!

I also had three blank pieces of poster board with a hole cut out from the center so the kids could draw their own dream job if the prepared ones didn't interest them. No one made their own drawing, but I think it could be a pretty successful stand alone program.

Picture Frames

The picture frames were supposed to go with the What's Your Dream station. Ideally, we would have taken pictures of the kids with the picture props and they could have decorated picture frames to put them in. I made the picture frames out of foam, with a simple cutout to put the pictures behind. I put out glitter glue and foam stickers for decoration and kind of let them go wild. 

We are now out of glitter glue.

Lisa Frank Scratch Boards

None of my kids know who Lisa Frank is. Which makes me sad, but it was also a great opportunity to introduce my favorite Lisa Frank product, the Scratch Board! Now in DIY form. Since I knew I wouldn't be around to explain the process to every kid who showed up, I made this handy 4 step guide to making your own scratch board.

Did the kids bother to read it? Nooooooooo. They just used the paint on the butcher paper that I had lying out as a drop cloth.

So they got that when they could have gotten this...

We'll try again later.

Seriously though, if you think you might be interested in making your own scratch board (which I think turned out really well) it really is that easy. The only points of interest not included on these instructions are to use a manilla folder or the shiny side of poster board as your paper so that the Popsicle stick won't rub off the paper when you scratch later, and to add a few drops of dish detergent to the paint so it will adhere to the waxy crayons better. The original tutorial where I got the idea is here, but I found it worked better when I used tempera paint instead of acrylic and didn't measure the exact proportions of soap to paint.

Flannel Friday: Mouse's First Summer

I'm a big fan of using flannel boards to add dimension and interest to otherwise too-long picture books during story time. I was a big fan of K's version of Little Mouse's First Spring at Storytime ABCs and couldn't wait to try my hand at Lauren Thompson's summer entry in the Little Mouse series. It went over reallllly well, and I can't wait to try flannelizing some of Little Mouse's other firsts.

When Mouse and Minka go out on a summer day they discover...

Juicy, red watermelon

bold, black ants

green grass

Bright, blue sky

An orange kite (Don't let go!)

Tart lemonade

Crumbly white bread that flips over to reveal... an open-faced peanut butter and jelly sandwich

(I took some liberties with this one)

Lightening bugs

Fireworks

Put it all together and Mouse and Minka say "Hooray for summer!"

Theme Thursday: Summer Reading Kick Off!

Last Thursday was our Summer Reading Kick Off party for elementary and high school kids; we couldn't very well leave out the story time crowd! I think it's a tad bit silly to give the 2 year olds the same spiel I give to the 4th graders so I mostly glossed over the actual summer reading program and theme, but we still had a great time talking about all the cool (or hot) things that come with summer.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Flannel: Alphabet Soup- SUMMER

Rhyme: Big, Big, Big

Finger Play: 2 Little Blackbirds

Book: It's Summer! by Linda Glasser

Flannel: Chomp Like a Shark

Song: Move Your Body Along

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Flannel: Let's Go Out On a Summer Night

Book/Flannel: Mouse's First Summer by Lauren Thompson

Song: Turn Around from Getting to know Myself

Make and Take Craft: Paint Chip Cities

As I mentioned above, our elementary and high school kick-off party was the same day as story time and I was so busy stressing out about that program that I completely forgot to prep a craft for story time! I ended up adapting a craft I had been saving for the older kid's kick-off party. As we wrapped up story time and I introduced the craft, I told the kids that we had talked about a lot of the great things about summer and all the different places we go during the summer, but that one of my favorite places to be in the summer was the city at night. I saw a lot of parents nodding their heads.

Supplies: 

-glue sticks

-crayons (markers won't work)

-paint chips (and scissors to cut the paint chips into shapes beforehand)

-construction paper

Process: My local hardware store may be considering banning me from the paint section; start with A LOT of paint chips (they're free but it does require some forward planning on your part) and cut them into several different building shapes. I left some flat and gave others antenna towers and just triangle roofs. After story time pass out the construction paper, crayons (markers won't stick to the paint chips), glue sticks and paint chip buildings. The kids had a great time gluing the buildings down and coloring in the backgrounds while the parents/care givers helped with the more intricate window and door details.

Time: Prep took about 5 minutes and the craft took 15 minutes.

Make Your Own: 3 Dimensional Sign

A few weeks ago I decided to make a bulletin board to advertise our upcoming programs. We have fliers, which are all well and good, but very few kids actually look at them. And then everyone is surprised when they walk in after school and we have something set up for them to do. In order to draw attention to my beautifully constructed bulletin board, I created a 3-D sign to go with it. And now you can too, in 10 simple steps.

Step 1) Glitter the bejesus out of some poster board letters. I like to get the right side up all glue-sticky and then rub it around face down in a plate of glitter. The glue stick spreads evenly and doesn't let the glitter clump like regular Elmer's does.

Step 2) Mod-Podge over the glittered letters. Don't worry, it'll dry clear and the mod-podge seals the whole thing so you won't constantly be vacuuming up falling glitter.

 

Step 3) Cut out your sign. I went with the comic book Ka-Pow shape and I chose to use contrasting colors. I also made the piece that's going in the back slightly larger than the top one for more flair.

 

Step 4) In which we create the dimension. Using poster board, card stock or a manilla folder cut out at least 3 fat strips. Score, evenly, both sides of each strip.

The space between the blue lines (and the cuts) is how tall the 3-D sign will be/ how much it will stick out.

Step 5) Bend the scored poster board in alternating directions. By the time you're done, it should be able to stand up by itself.

 

Repeat until all your strips have been scored and folded.

 

Step 6) Using strong glue ( used tacky, but hot glue would probably work best if you can move fast enough), glue the strips to the bottom/back piece of the sign. The scoring should allow for the pieces to bend and form a more or less complete circle around the board. Take care that the circle isn't bigger than the smaller top piece.

 

Step 7) Let it dry. Completely.

Step 8) After putting glue on the tops of the folds, carefully lay the top piece down and use your fingers to squish the poster board and the folds together.

Step 9) Let it dry. Completely.

Step 10) Affix your letters to the top of the board. I used a glue stick for this, but stronger glue would have been better.

Here it is in action, hanging next to the coming soon board on the wall as you come up the stairs into the children's room.

And here's a shot of the actual board. I ended up going with a plain background that I attached tightly pulled ribbon to. Using paper clips I'm able to easily put up and take down upcoming event advertisements without having to make a new board every week. These two, almost completely different, boards were done within 1 week of each other. As soon as something is over I can take it off and make room for the next event.

Flannel Friday: Let's Go Out On a Summer Night

I first saw this flannel in 2010 when I was doing an internship at the Arlington Public Library in Arlington, VA. I thought it would be perfect for the summer reading theme this year, but couldn't find the lyrics (or what I remembered of them) anywhere on the internet. A friend who is still at Arlington found the original set, scanned it for me and sent it on so I could make my own. I love librarians, they're the best.

The song is called Let's Go Out On a Summer Night (Or Starry Night, if you want to do it year round). It's sung to the tune of Go In and Out the Window and the original flannel is credited to a Diane Marton, who I never got the chance to meet. If you're out there Diane, please know how much I love this flannel and how much I look forward to using it all year long!

Let's Go Out On a Summer Night

Let's go out on a summer night

Let's go out on a summer night

Let's go out on a summer night

To see what we can find

Where oh where is the crescent moon?

Where oh where is the crescent moon? 

Where oh where is the crescent moon?

On a summer night

Where oh where are the green stars?

...

Yellow stars...

Orange stars...

Purple stars...

Blue stars...

Where oh where are the lightening bugs?

...

Where oh where are the black bats?

...

Where oh where is the brown owl?

...

We went out on a summer night

We went out on a summer night

We went out on a summer night

And saw some beautiful sights!

This is another flannel where I hand out the pieces to the kids before we sing the song and have them come up and put the flannel pieces on the board when their piece is mentioned. You can hand out as many or as few pieces as you need and if you're like me and can't stand to throw out scraps, a lot of these pieces can be made from colorful leftovers.