Hello everyone! We hope you are all excited for Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen! Leanna and I have put together a bunch of fun activities and crafts for the little ones. Starting on Monday, September 21, the kits will be available to pick up for our online storytime."Library Lion" by Michelle KnudsenMiss Merriweather, the head librarian, is very particular about rules in the library. No running allowed. And you must be quiet. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to

Want to offer programming for the youngest patrons? Here's a simple lesson plan for hosting a baby storytime @ your library!

Don't let a short schedule keep you from providing engaging library programming. These 30-minute library lessons are perfect for librarians!

Best Storytime Ideas for Preschoolers Do you have daily storytime with a classroom of kids? Do you run story time at your library? Do you just enjoy reading stories and doing book inspired activities and songs with your child? If you answered YES to any of these questions then these ideas are for you! Our […]

This storytime was for a preschool-aged group at my library. Today's storytime was brought to you by the letter "U." So on the board when the kids walked in was: Read Aloud Books One Big Pair of UnderwearWritten by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld There's one pair of underwear, but two bears. Or only two salty snacks, but three yaks. This counting book has amazing rhymes and teaches all about sharing. This was a great book to start with because it is on the longer side, but I'm glad it teaches more of a lesson instead of just looking at underwear. Of course, the kids just laughed and laughed at the size of underwear... Polar Bear's UnderwearWritten and illustrated by Tupela Tupela Polar Bear can't find his underwear. So his friend mouse has decided to help him. They certainly find a lot of other animal's underwear, but Polar Bear's is a mystery. This one definitely incited a LOT of giggles and, of course, Polar Bear was the star of my flannel and craft (see below). So needless to say, I enjoyed this book. And so did the kids and parents. Vegetables in UnderwearWritten and illustrated by Jared Chapman Different vegetables in all different kids of underwear. I actually ran out of time before I read this one since I spent so much time on the flannel, but I wasn't heartbroken about it. It would be another giggly one, though, for sure. Songs & Rhymes Hello Song Song: The Grand Old Duke of York Oh the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, They were neither up nor down! Fingerplay: Opposites Up and down, round and round put your fingers on the ground. Over, under, in between-- Now my fingers can't be seen! Hands in front, hands behind, now my hands I cannot find. Here's my left hand, here's my right, Hands and fingers back in sight Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and UNDERWEAR! Head, shoulders, knees and UNDERWEAR! Head, shoulders, knees and UNDERWEAR! Eyes and ears and mouth and UNDERWEAR! Head, shoulders, knees and UNDERWEAR! Goodbye Song Games & Activities Flannel: Polar Bear's Underwear Polar Bear has just done a wash with ALL of his underwear in all its colorful glory. I asked for volunteers and went around to the kids so they could pull out one pair of underwear from my handy-dandy washing machine prop (I built mine from foam core, but you could just use a tissue box or the like). Then we helped Polar Bear by organizing by color. I called out each color and whoever had that color of underwear would put it on the board... I then asked questions like, "What color does he have the most of?" "What color does he have the least of?" and we counted to make sure. Then, to be extra helpful (after giving Polar Bear a pair to wear), we planned his week for him. First we did a different color for every day. Then, we practiced patterns. "If Polar Bear where's purple on Sunday, then red on Monday, what will he wear Tuesday to repeat the pattern?" and so forth. Math questions are a great way to get kids ready for school and ready to learn. Any kids who didn't get a turn pulling out a pair initially helped me during play time at the end. It was a long flannel, and you could certainly just do one or the other (organizing or planning). But we just had so much fun with it! Craft: Unique Underwear From Polar Bear's publisher, I found some activity sheets to use for our craft. I had the kids design their own unique pair of underwear for Polar Bear with crayons, stickers, and glitter glue. There were some pretty cute creations! Other Book Ideas Aliens Love UnderpantsWritten by Claire Freedman, illustrated by Ben Cort (Freedman has a whole series of underpants books!) The Underpants Zoo Written and illustrated by Brian Sendelbach The Underwear Book Written and illustrated by Todd Parr

PreK Library Lessons can be fun and educational. I'll show you how in this blog post!

How to create a retell literacy center in kindergarten. Plus a list of 20 famous stories and retell props (with printables) to complete this center.

50+ storytelling ideas for kids. You'll find story starters, activities, tips, and more!

Sharing activity inspired by Should I Share My Ice Cream by Mo Willems! Perfect for homeschool, classrooms, or family fun. Includes a free printable!

Even as an adult, children's books are still one of my favorite things. I have many fond memories of “story […]

Summer is a great time to go camping with the family and explore the world of nature on a hike. Granted, if you are in Texas right now, it m...

Discover the joy of creating captivating felt/flannel storyboards. Cut through the dread of the process as you learn the secret to effortless felt cutting.

We had 14 kiddos today! What fun! Today we focused on fruit. Welcome Songs The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli Music Activity: I changed up "Apples and Bananas." Instead of changing vowel sounds, we did actions with scarves. We pretended the scarves were different kinds of fruit "mine is a blueberry! mine's kiwi!" and sang the song. The actions were: I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas.... I like to shake shake shake apples and bananas.... I like to twist twist twist apples and bananas... I like to wave wave wave apples and bananas... I like to throw throw throw apples and bananas... (doesn't that just sound hilarious!!) I like to sit with apples and bananas. Handa's Surprise by Eileen Browne Hungry Little Monkey by Andy Blackford Using a cut up pool noodle, we told the story Ten Apples Up on Top together. I had two stacks of "apples" going at the same time. Each kid had an "apple" and when it was their turn, they came up and added their apple to the stack. One stack kept falling down after about 7 apples, which caused a RIOT of laughter :) We kept the other stack going (I had a bin of apples next to me so I could finish the story) and ALMOST made it to the end of the book. The apples and book are now available on our playtable for families to play with. We ran out of time for Go Go Grapes! by April Pulley Sayre but many kids chose to look at it after storytime. Goodbye Songs and Bubbles Next week we will do water books and a water activity!

The Plan Books Foxy by Emma Dodd Mouse’s First Day of School by Lauren Thompson Pete the Cat: Rocking In My School Shoes by Eric Litwin Wow! School! by Robert Neubecker Extension Activities Flannel…

Zoo Fun - Printables, crafts, games, kids activities, animal yoga, scavenger hunt, snacks... everything you need for a summer day of fun!

Affiliate DisclaimerWe sometimes use affiliate links in our content. This won’t cost you anything, but […]

This week’s Flannel Friday is a folder story from the Storytime Katie archives. I made this years and years ago when Anne of So Tomorrow first posted about the amazing Scat the Cat! Anne has …

A StoryWalk® is a fun activity that places laminated pages from a picture book mounted on posts along an outside path, in store windows, around a playground or park, or anywhere else you can imagine it! The StoryWalk® concept was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and was developed with t

Over the last several years, I've done at lot of change up our library space at Stewart. Here's some of my tips to help you rethink your library.

Teen librarian Karen Jensen also shares where she gets her tween and teen craft ideas for programming in part 2 of this discussion

These free printable apple orchard themed dot marker pages are fun for your fall theme or apple theme!

Engage your students with some this wonderful book study to correlate with the cute book We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins.

Download our free printable cut and paste pumpkin craft and design your own Jack-o-lantern perfect for Halloween.

Kindergarten blog for teachers in the classroom. Ideas for homeschooling as well. Free files to your with your students.