Here's one last look at Summer Reading 2013! We had such a great summer!

We're starting up with our regular programming this week!

Friday, August 16 @ 10:30 or 11:30am - Mother Goose on the Loose for children birth through 3 years old and a caregiver

Tuesday, August 20 @ 10:30am or 1pm - Preschool Story Hour for children ages 3-5. Children attend the first half on their own and are joined by the caregivers for a short video and craft.

Thursday, August 22 @ 10:30am - Toddler Time for children ages 2-3 years and their caregiver.

Thursday, August 22 @ 4:30pm - Cool It! for children in grades K-5. We're making ice cream and having other "cool" fun!

Wishing for Spring

So far this month, we've seen lots of spring-like themes for our programs.

Last week, Preschool Story Hour had stories about all the colors of the rainbow. We would have liked to have seen a rainbow. Instead, that night we got our biggest snow of the winter! The children especially enjoyed these books, though:

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle
Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin
Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd



We also did a rainbow version of Hap Palmer's "Rock and Roll Freeze Dance," using our brightly colored scarves, watched Harold and His Purple Crayon, and made rainbow-maned lions.

For Toddler Time today, Miss Linda did stories about kites and wind, as well as talking about St. Patrick's Day.

The children enjoyed the story of "The Three Little Pigs."

And The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins is a fun, cumulative story that the children can retell later.


For a craft today, the children colored and decorated paper kites. And if the wind is just right, they can fly!

Still to come this week:

Friday, March 15 and 10:30 or 11:30am, Mother Goose on the Loose for infants to 35 month olds and their caregiver.

Catching up with the Babies

February and March have made our program schedule for the 3 and under crowd a little unusual. Since both months started on a Friday, we've had Toddler Time and Mother Goose on the Loose in the same week.

The February 28th Toddler Time focused on Winter. Miss Linda shared two stories with the children.

Bear snores on by Karma Wilson

The mitten : a Ukrainian folktale by Jan Brett

Both books offer wonderful opportunities to learn new words and are good for having the children retell the stories.

The children also played with parachute and created a snowstorm in the children's programming room! They finished by creating their own mitten, complete with animals to practice retelling the story.

Join us this week for these programs:

Thursday, March 14 at 10:30am: Toddler Time for 2-3 year olds and their caregiver

Friday, March 15 at 10:30 OR 11:30am: Mother Goose on the Loose for infants to 35 months and their caregiver.

They're on the Loose!

Mother Goose on the Loose is always a fun program with the babies. Seeing the changes in how the children interact with each other and with me is a great experience. And our group is growing again! We had several new families join us last week... Hooray!

Part of our session concentrates on body rhymes. For example:

"Fingers Like to Wiggle Waggle"
Fingers like to wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle.
Fingers like to wiggle waggle on my.... head!

Then we repeat with other body parts such as toes, knees, elbows, and, everyone's favorite, tummy!

Lots of giggles and grins and the children are learning vocabulary while singing a fun song. I heard that one little girl was persuaded to get out of the car by the promise that the fingers could wiggle waggle on Daddy's tummy when she got inside!

A favorite part of Mother Goose on the Loose is our music section. This week, we used maracas and danced to Laurie Berkener's "I Know a Chicken."


This age group is full of energy and likes to move. The half hour often flies by before I realize it. And even when they're this little, they look forward to their storytime. And they're (hopefully) developing an important love for the library and books that will help them when it comes time to learn to read.

Mardi Gras Fun!

Our Saturday family crafting program this month was a Mardi Gras/Carnivale party... done on a very family friendly level!

Children created masks, made crowns, and  decorated king's cupcakes. Everyone got Mardi Gras beads, too. We had our biggest Saturday craft program yet and had so much fun!

Upcoming Programs:

Thursday, February 14 at 10:30am: Toddler Time for children ages 2-3 years old and a  caregiver.

Friday, February 15 at 10:30 or 11:30am: Mother Goose on the Loose for children from birth to 35 months and a caregiver. (Yes, it's the same week as Toddler Time. Unfortunately, the month started on a Friday, so it's a bit confusing!)

Preschool Valentine's Day

On February 5, we did Valentine's Day with the 4 & 5 year olds. This is always a fun program!

Our most popular stories were:
Guess how much I love you by Sam McBratney

  The day it rained hearts by Felicia Bond

We also did a couple of Valentine "Skip to My Lou" songs and danced to Hap Palmer's "Rock and Roll Freeze Dance":

The children also made hearts showing something that they love:

 

This is such an easy project to do at home!
Start with a heart shape drawn on the paper. Have your child draw a picture of someone or something that she loves. Then help her write "I love ..." If she can form letters, let her write it herself. Otherwise, be sure to point out what you are writing and use her words. Finish up by coloring and cutting out the heart. If your child is old enough to cut safely without hurting herself, let her. It's valuable practice and helps to develop those crucial fine motor skills! It won't be smooth at first, but that adds to the charm of a child's art project. The project also works on writing skills and talking (or narrative) skills as you talk about what is being drawn.

We also used the DVD of "The Pigs' Wedding" for our video of the day.

The programs keep going this week:

Thursday, February 14 at 10:30am: Toddler Time for children ages 2-3 and a caregiver. Celebrate Valentine's Day at the library!

Friday, February 15 at 10:30 or 11:30am: Mother Goose on the Loose for children from birth to 35 months and a caregiver.

Upcoming Programs!

Join us  for these programs!

Friday, January 4 @ 10:30 or 11:30am - Mother Goose on the Loose for children from birth to 36 months old and their caregivers.


Thursday, January 10 @ 10:30am - Toddler Time for children ages 2-3 years and their caregivers.

Saturday, January 12 from 10am-noon - Snow Much Fun craft day for children of all ages!

And our winner is...

The votes have been counted and our winner by a landslide is:

Check out Pigeon's display by the checkout desk, take home a book, and do one of the activities.

 

 

Upcoming Programs and Activities:

Fri., Nov. 16 @ 10:30 OR 11:30am: Mother Goose on the Loose, ages 0-36 months old

Also, stop by our Thanksgiving Bounty of Books table and let us know your favorite books.

Mother Goose on the Loose

Our babies met last week for Mother Goose on the Loose. The babies and their caregivers enjoyed singing, doing rhymes and dancing with Miss Holly.

BUT we have a problem! 

We have sooooooo many babies coming that we don't have time to do everything! So, we are going to add another session.


On the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month, we'll have our normal 10:30 am session. Then, at 11:30, we'll do it all again!

So, if your child likes those early morning naps and you feel bad waking him up, you may find that 11:30 will work better for you. Or if mornings are just chaotic and you find that you run a little late for that 10:30 session, join us at 11:30. We aren't asking you to pick one session for all time, either.

We're just hoping to make the library experience as good as we can for all our babies and their grown ups!

I often wish that I could remember the words to a song I heard. But by the time I get home and get busy, I tend to forget. So, we're going to start posting one or two rhymes after every session.

Old Mother Goose

Old Mother Goose, when she wanted to wander,

Would fly through the air on her very fine gander!

Two Little Blackbirds

Two Little Blackbirds sitting on a cloud,

One named Soft, the other named LOUD!

Fly away Soft, fly away LOUD!

Come back Soft, come back LOUD!

Join us on September 21 for our next session! Remember... 10:30 OR 11:30 am!

 

Cool Kids Have a Library Card!

 

September is National Library Card Sign Up Month!

Every child, through age 14, that gets a library card or shows us their card during the month of September will receive a small prize and be entered into a drawing for a Target gift card at the end of the month!

Be sure to check out the programs this week!

Tuesday, Sept. 4 @ 10:30am or 1:00pm - Preschool Story Hour for ages 3-5.
Thursday, Sept. 6 @ 4:30pm - Lego Mania for all ages
Friday, Sept. 7 @ 10:30am - Mother Goose on the Loose for ages 0 to 35 months and a caregiver.