Recently I participated in my county’s Toddler/Kid Fest, where local libraries, day cares, and other agencies that serve children have tables with information and activities. I wanted to share something fun and interactive, so I settled on a song with a puppet and flannel board. I saw the idea for this Mary Had a Little Lamb flannel and made it out of felt with a puppet we had.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s Flannel Friday! As a new blogger, it was really fun to host, and see what everyone’s been up to.
Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime has a wonderfully colorful “What Did You Put in Your Pocket?” flannel. I love the painted stitching detail!
Lauren made these adorable pigs AND pancakes for a guessing game that I will definitely be trying.
Emily at Literary Hoots has TWO different mustache-themes flannels! Mr. Lou and his mustache that grew and grew is just hilarious, and the monsters of Mo’s Mustache are too cute.
Katie from Storytime Katie made Five Turtles, and I love the colors on the shells!
Jane at Piper Loves the Library shared this fabulous Pop-Up Craft for National Library Week! I like how each heart is unique, but they all look so good together! I’m definitely adopting this idea for a passive program, and soon.
My contribution was this Mary Had a Little Lamb flannel/puppet that I used for an outreach event. It was easy to adapt the song for different ages and attention spans, and was a lot of fun to sing!
Thanks again for participating and for the fantastic ideas!
I’ve tried a couple of baby programs at my library, but nothing has really stuck. The latest is really working, though! Every Saturday in March I’ve had a session with a few songs and a story followed by open play and exploration.
This was a great chance to talk with families, see what times work for them and what they’re interested in, and show them some fun baby play ideas. I’ve learned a few things:
Look for more posts soon where I’ll talk about each of the four sessions in detail!
I’m finally getting around to posting these little finger puppets! I usually do pretty simple flannels, but every once and a while I just want to actually sew and embroider something.
I have been experimenting with Sunday afternoon programming this month, which is not something that my library has typically done. This one was a success! I held a play dough making workshop for ages 3-8 (and caregivers) and it was so much fun! We used my favorite no-cook recipe.
Our local school gets out early on Wednesdays, so I have school age programs every Wednesday! Fourth Wednesdays are art, so we did thumbprint art modeled on Ed Emberley’s Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. The book gives instructions for how to turn thumbprints into animals, people, flowers, and more by drawing on them with a marker or pen.
I decided that I wanted to add a flannel rhyme to next week’s Hugs and Kisses storytimes, but didn’t really have the time or drive to make something out of felt. Printables and laminator to the rescue! I found this adorable printable playset with cookies, frosting, a spatula, and a baking sheet.
As the only youth services librarian at my library for birth-18, I do all kinds of programs! Currently I provide about one special teen event a month, and January’s was a pizza and game night.
I love seeking out unusual, enjoyable children’s music, to the point that I sometimes listen to it on my own and recommend children’s artists to people who are not and do not have children. But really, I find myself saying, there’s a LOT of good stuff out there right now! There really is. I always planned on having a regular music feature on my blog, but then I found Tune In Tuesday!
The Pop Ups are a great children’s group, and a few of their songs work well in storytimes, including Up and Down, which is my FAVORITE scarf song.
I planned a program based on Guinness World Records, and it was super cheap and low prep, plus a lot of fun! And sneakily educational, to boot. Details below, but first, the saga of my Wednesday afterschool programming and the importance of changing things up.
