Window Painting

Very Lonely Firefly

Summer reading club has started at my library. Our theme is Dream Big READ! I got some tips while visiting another library about window painting and tried it. I made the firefly using a transparency projector to enlarge it, tracing onto some bulletin board paper. Then, I taped the paper to the outside of the window and painted it (like a coloring book).

Goodnight Moon bunny

S, age 13, painted this one for me. She drew it freehand, as the illustration is so small. 

The Pigeon

S painted the pigeon, too. "Yawn!"

I plan to do this activity with Bobo at home. To remove the paint, you can use soapy water, if it's on the outside. For the inside, we just scrape it off with a putty knife and sweep up the mess. Oh, I used tempera paints, so I know those come off easily. I may try watercolors at home.

You can use any book to make a window painting. I plan to use coloring books. We have several of the BIG coloring books from the grocery store. If you want to make an illustration into a painting, lay a piece of transparency paper over the book and trace the outline with a dry erase marker. If you are artistic at all, you can freehand a figure directly on the window using markers or paint.

Leave me a comment with your link if you've tried this before or try it after reading this. Thanks!

One World, Many Stories: Africa

It happened, again! The Summer Reading Club is a force of its own. One that demands all of my attention and focus. Now, I'm going to play catch up and finish posting the activities we did this summer.

There are spiders in Africa?!

One of the most famous characters from African folklore is Anansi the spider. Even though I was pretty sure I would have some frightened children on my hands, I still told stories about this trickster.

2s & 3s

Although many children start developing a fear of bugs, especially spiders, at this age, they will always sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." After I read Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric Kimmel, we sang this classic tune. Next, I told the story of The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle with beautiful watercolor laminated figures made by Jo Kay. The children chanted with me, "She was too busy making her web." After sitting for so long, the little ones were ready with some wiggles and giggles. I taught them Criss-Cross Applesauce and partnered them with their caregiver.

Criss-Cross Applesauce

Criss-cross applesauce (parent traces an X on child's back)
Spiders crawling up your back (parent climbs fingers up and down child's back)
Cool breeze (parent blows on child's neck)
Tight squeeze (parent gives child a hug)
Now you've got the shivers! (parent tickles child)

Once all the wiggles and giggles were out, we read The Not So Itsy-Bitsy Spider by Dawn Bentley. I loved this book, but the children were anxious for the next activity. I can't tell if they are always looking forward to the musical instrument/scarf time, or I'm making poor choices in books.

We matched flannel spiders in different colors for the matching game. I used the Ellison die-cut to make 5 different colors of spiders for the children to put on the board. Some of them were even scared to touch the flannel spiders, which I hadn't anticipated. Instead of musical instruments this week, we used the color scarves. I'm always surprised by how much the children enjoy playing with these. We sang our "Wave Our Scarves" together song, which is adapted each week for the activity. Then, we sang "The Spider in the Web" adapted by Miss Angela.

The Spider in the Web
(tune of Farmer in the Dell)

The spider in the web,
The spider in the web,
Spin, spin, oh watch it spin,
The spider in the web.

The spider gets a fly,
The spider gets a fly,
Spin, spin, oh watch it spin,
The spider gets a fly.

The spider gets a _____ (insect name)
The spider gets a ______,
Spin, spin, oh watch it spin,
The spider gets a ____.

Continue naming other insects.

We spun our scarves in circles, then used them to catch the insects flying around (imaginary of course). Last, we listened to Raffi's "Spider on the Foor" and put the scarves on our body parts as he named them. The craft was my favorite part, which doesn't happen very often. We used school glue to draw a spider web on black construction paper. Then, we twisted 4 black pipe cleaners together to form a spider and stuck him on the web. It was very simple and fun with little mess.

Anansi the Spider Story Box Prepared by Angela Garrett, Main Library

4 to 8-year-old Story Time

We learned the word a-HAL-an. This is how they say "hello" in Egypt. I told another frog story. After we were all done for the summer, I was kicking myself for not finding frog stories from all over the world. I really do LOVE frogs!

I told the draw and tell story "Who Saved the Animals" from World Folktales by Jerry Mallett. It was a riddle, but the picture became the animal who was the answer. The older children enjoyed this method of telling. The other story I told was my version of The Leopard's Drum. I made headbands out of leftover bulletin board border by laminating them and sticking Velcro on the ends. Then, I had laminated clipart animals to tape on for the characters. The best part of the story was when I had the "leopard" climb into the "drum." I need a full-time photographer for my programs. Something funny always happens!

For our game, we played "Mummy Wrap" by getting into pairs and wrapping one child with a roll of toilet paper. The first team with one child completely wrapped was the winner. They had a great time with this activity, especially un-wrapping the mummy. The craft was also lots of fun. I found some jungle animal foam stampers. We used paintbrushes to paint the stamper, then stamped paper.



You can't seperate best friends. Alexis and Grace, both age 4, demanded to be wrapped together.

One World Many Stories

We started off the Summer Reading Club with a Bon Voyage Party on Monday, June 6. I don't know if we have official numbers yet, but we were busy the entire 2 hours and had to run people off with sticks at the end.

We had a scavenger hunt where children had to find animals, who were staff wearing animal stickers on their shirts. We had crafts where the children made Eyes of God, Cherry Blossom Trees, and Carnival Masks. The games included a Chopstick Relay Race, Cup Stacking/Card Stacking, Feed the Penguin Toss and Pin the Nose on the Sphinx. Add hot dogs, nachos and slushies to the mix and you have quite a party!

The first week is coming to a close today. We'll add our Thursday Programs next week with performers from the cultures we are studying this summer.

Storytimes and Fun

I started the summer storytimes this week with babies & toddlers, 2s & 3s and 4 to 8-year-olds. The babies & toddlers program was easy to integrate our theme for SRC. I use the Mother Goose on the Loose set-up by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. The legend of Mother Goose started in France in the 1700s, so most of the rhymes and songs I do each week will fall under the category of "Europe." I also found some wonderful multi-cultural versions of Mother Goose in our collection.







For the 2s & 3s we chose a variety of themes: Transportation, Anansi Spider, Families Around the World, Folk Tales, Lullabies, Oceans, Penguins and Music. This past week, we talked about Transportation. I used my normal bag of tricks, but added a couple of extra things. I've added some foreign language to our opening song by teaching different ways to say Hello. The first week we learned "Bonjour" for Europe. We made a sailboat out of shapes.

I went to a Storytelling workshop a couple of weeks ago because I want to incorporate more oral storytelling in my programs. So, for the 4 to 8-year-olds this year, I am telling stories rather than reading from books. The first week, I told the story of The Frog Prince from Germany and The Giant Turnip from Russia. I had volunteers for the turnip story, which would have worked better with older children. All the volunteers were the younger children of the group, and they didn't want to touch each other for the "pulling" part. I had expected the older children to volunteer and the younger ones to watch. It was pretty funny anyway with the little ones adding their own pizazz.

For the craft we made our own frog with a flicking tongue. We painted two paper plates, one red and the other one green. Glued those together, so the colors were facing out. We cut frog legs out of green paper and stuck those in between the two plates and folded the plate in half. We made eyes by glueing cotton balls to the top and cut out small black circles for the pupils. To make the tongue, cut a small slit in the middle of the fold and push a party blower through the hole. Blow to make the tongue go in and out!



Next week we go to AFRICA!

Summer Reading Club 2010

I've had many questions about SRC 2010 already! I know you are all excited about joining the reading club for all ages during the summer. We have fun activities planned for the whole family. We'll kick things off this year at the South Branch with a water-themed party. Wear your bathing suits and bring your own towel because you will be getting wet! The fun starts at 6 on June 7, 2010. You can sign up for the reading club, or just enjoy the festivities. Food will be served while supplies last. I can't wait to see everyone!