Dr. Seuss - fun for preschoolers and early elementary age kids, two librarians shared ideas!
- Seuss Photo Booth - boas, hats, large glasses of different sizes and styles, wigs, large shirts with funny patterns that kids could put over their clothes, fake mustaches, picture frames, etc. I had a volunteer (thank goodness) who helped take photos and we collected email addresses to email the photos to parents (those without email addresses got a computer printed photo).
- Daisy-Head Mayzie hats with large strips of paper, feathers, foamies, chenille stems, and streamers.
- Rhyming Egg Scavenger Hunt where the children found eggs with rhyming words on them (the children who were old enough to match up rhyming words were encouraged to and the younger ones just enjoyed finding the eggs).
- Two games set up for the children to play: Pin the Heart on the Grinch, and Reading Stars (musical chairs except with Sneetches stars on the floor and instead of music. I read from a Dr. Seuss book and when I quit reading they had to get a star).
- Snacks and Extras- Hop on Popcorn - 3 different kinds of popcorn mixed together in small cups and Who Pudding - kids were able to add food coloring to vanilla pudding. I also had lots of Dr. Seuss trivia sheets, coloring sheets available for children to take with them. I offered a door prize for a family (a Seuss book and Thing 1 & Thing 2 puppets). Every child went home with a small goodie bag with Seuss pencil, bookmark, eraser, notepad, and stamper. I had a lot of new faces show up for this year's which is always nice to see.
- Obstacle Course - we turned one of our rooms that we share with the village, into a huge Seuss obstacle course, it was amazing.b
- Interactive Reading - A volunteer (that we adore) read a Seuss story. She went above and beyond, letting the kids pick the book, and then she even let them take turns reading, which not only got them involved, but they were distracted enough, that the time flew by.
Bubbles - During story time breaks, we run simple programs at the usual story time days and times. I'm talking simple. The bubbles program just involves us going outside with the Library's octopus bubble machine (found at Target) and bubble stuff for the kids to use. The kids run around on the lawn, chasing and blowing bubbles. another popular one is parachute play in which we pretty much just make waves for 30 minutes. Anne Clark mentioned the popcorn game in her blog that was a big hit for my groups.
Mother-Daughter Tea Party - a story time every year in May. It is for preschool as well as elementary aged, however, it tends to be more of the preschool age crowd. We have done tons of different things...make rings, bracelets, the year of the Royal wedding we made fastinators. We start with a few stations to do crafts, then I read several books, usually Fancy Nancy, and or Pinkalicious, but I always read "Tea for Ruby" by Sarah Ferguson the Duchess of York. It is always tons of fun!
May Baskets - I have attempted to do a May Basket workshop for preschool and the school age set. I have the local florist donate some pansy seedlings. We decorate chinese take out containers that have either ribbon handles or pipe cleaner handles. Usually there is a ribbon to thread through the May Basket. I tell a story that an older friend told me about delivering May baskets as a child. We talk about the traditions surrounding May Baskets. I have always loved this tradition and do it myself for my neighbors. Attendance has been spotty in the past, but after taking this class I think I may make it a drop-in program the week preceding May Day.
Teddy Bear Sleepover - It was so much fun taking pictures of the teddy bears doing some fun things at the library. We did have a few children that did not want to leave their teddy bears we just gave them one of our own but for the most part they thought that it was great to leave at the library overnight. I think it was a success because it was held at the library at night and the animals got to stay at the library when we were closed. It was also something we haven't done before so it was fresh and new and it was something the preschoolers were interested in. Of course they got to wear their pajamas and there were blankets on the floor, they could bring their pillows in if they wanted to. They also could bring little sleeping bags or blankets for their teddy bears and of course there was milk and cookies.
May Baskets - I have attempted to do a May Basket workshop for preschool and the school age set. I have the local florist donate some pansy seedlings. We decorate chinese take out containers that have either ribbon handles or pipe cleaner handles. Usually there is a ribbon to thread through the May Basket. I tell a story that an older friend told me about delivering May baskets as a child. We talk about the traditions surrounding May Baskets. I have always loved this tradition and do it myself for my neighbors. Attendance has been spotty in the past, but after taking this class I think I may make it a drop-in program the week preceding May Day.
Teddy Bear Sleepover - It was so much fun taking pictures of the teddy bears doing some fun things at the library. We did have a few children that did not want to leave their teddy bears we just gave them one of our own but for the most part they thought that it was great to leave at the library overnight. I think it was a success because it was held at the library at night and the animals got to stay at the library when we were closed. It was also something we haven't done before so it was fresh and new and it was something the preschoolers were interested in. Of course they got to wear their pajamas and there were blankets on the floor, they could bring their pillows in if they wanted to. They also could bring little sleeping bags or blankets for their teddy bears and of course there was milk and cookies.
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