Toddler Time

The toddlers enjoyed these stories last week:

Trashy town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

Walking through the jungle by Debbie Harter

Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz

Children love to say "No!" without the risk of getting in trouble, so the Pigeon book is always popular. For that same reason, they also enjoyed "No!" by They Might Be Giants.

Using popular books, such as Mo Willems, makes children want to read, which is Print Motivation, which is so important when it's time for children to learn to read. Trashy Town introduces new vocabulary, as well as lending itself for children to act out the "Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy Town!" refrain.

At craft time, the children created a garbage truck of their own using simple shapes. Recognizing the shapes helps to build letter knowledge. And the coloring and gluing develops fine motor skills, which helps in writing as the children get older.

Preschool Story Hour - Shapes

School is back in session, so we are back to our regular program schedule. On Tuesday our preschoolers had a program with lots of shapes! Shape recognition is an important part of getting ready to read, as well as an important part of math. Our letters are largely composed of simple shapes, combined to make our letters. For example, A, V, and W are triangular. O, C, and G are mostly circular.


Last spring we got this fun book which was the inspiration for the day:

Windblown / Édouard Manceau

Colorful paper shapes are found and we don't know whose they are. Several animals (created from those shapes) claim ownership until eventually the wind gives them to us, the readers. After reading the book, we recreated the creatures, using felt pieces. And for the craft, the children were given their own set of the paper shapes to make whatever picture they wanted. They could add lines to complete their shape. We could have added some science in by talking more about the wind.

We also enjoyed these books:

Cowlick by Christin Ditchfield
Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert
Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodds

We watched A Picture for Harold's Room. I'm  always amazed at how, with just a few simple lines, Harold and his purple crayon are able to create a whole world.

There are some simple ways that you can explore shapes with your child:

*Look for shapes in everyday objects. What shapes does you child see when she looks at a house or a fish?

*Use cut out shapes to create a picture. The shapes can be as basic or complex as you choose.

*Talk about what they are seeing and creating. This builds a child's vocabulary.

One last note: We'd love to see what your child creates! Feel free to let them bring in their artwork and tell Miss Holly and Miss Linda all about it!

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.

Shopping at the Library

At our last Preschool Story Hour, the children enjoyed shopping books. We took a shopping trip, choosing from a board of food and then the children had the chance to fill their own shopping carts, but choosing items from the sales papers. It was fun to see what caught their eyes and to hear their reasons for their "purchases"! Most of them chose toys, but a few made sure to include treats for their pets and some food.

This shopping craft would be easy (and fun!) to do at home together, too. This time of year, our mailboxes overflow with sales papers and catalogs. Let your child "shop" the papers and talk about their choices. Another twist could be to have your child find items on your shopping list. This one simple activity can work on so many levels. Cutting out the pictures works on fine motor development, which helps in writing. Seeing a shopping list connected to the pictures works on Print Awareness. Talking about the purchases helps to develop narrative skills. And the fact that they're playing a game reinforces the fact that learning can be fun!

Check out these books that we shared during storytime:

Llama Llama mad at mama by Anna Dewdney

To market, to market by Anne Miranda