Meet the Mice Family Reading Night

Lilly from Kevin Henkes

Our guest blogger is Jennifer Regan, the Youth Services Coordinator from Manteno IL a community of 10,000 about 50 miles south of Chicago. SHe shares a program and the planning that would go into it!

Target Age Group: 3 – 5 year old and their families

Scheduling Strategy: 6:00 – 7:00 pm. Having the program in the evening allows more working parents to attend the program and allows the school-aged children to attend. This time period falls between dinner and bedtime for most of this age group.

Budget: $10.83+ (if you need to order sunglasses and depending on how many)

$1.89 Quart of Pineapple Juice

$1.25 Quart of Ginger Ale

$1.69 One Pound of Peanut Butter Cookies

$6.00/dozen Plastic sunglasses (Oriental Trading)

Program Description and Plan

“Meet the Mice!” will be an active program targeting preschool age children and their families. It will be held in the evening and run for one hour. We will introduce families to the wonderful world of Kevin Henkes by sharing a few of his books, singing some songs, and then letting the families explore three different stations. A display of Kevin Henkes books will be available for check-out. Kevin Henkes has a fantastic website full of free resources that can be used for this program.

Program Schedule

6:00 – 6:10 pm Welcome, Check-in, Mouse Nametags (www.kevinhenkes.com)

6:10 – 6:25 pm Read books, “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse,” and “Wemberly Worried”

6:25 – 6:30 pm Sing “The More We Get Together” & “If You’re Worried/Happy and You Know It” (Found on www.kevinhenkes.com)

6:30 – 7:00 pm Explore Stations

Stations Description

Make Lilly’s Purse from Teaching Heart website - see purse on the right

Kids will construct a purse from a sandwich bag and pre-cut purple construction paper and glue dots. A preprinted paper square that states “_______’s Purple Plastic Purse” will allow the kids writing practice to fill-in their name. A staff member will be on hand to give out a pair of plastic sunglasses (we have a number of sunglasses left over from summer reading, so we would not incur this expense) and 3 paper quarters (free clip art) for the completed purse.  

Mouse Stick Puppets

From Kevin Henkes website, children will take pre-printed, pre-cut mouse characters, color them and use glue dots to attach them to popsicle sticks. Wemberly, Lilly, Chrysanthemum and Owen are available.

Snack Table

From Kevin Henkes website, “Don’t Cry Over Spilled Punch” and peanut butter cookies (Chester & Wilson’s favorites) will be served.

Preparation Needed

Print out mouse nametags, type & print song sheets so parents can sing along, purchase supplies for punch and cookies, make punch, set out cookies, print name plates and cut out materials for Lilly’s Purse craft, assemble a sample of purse, print out and cut out mouse shapes, assemble a puppet sample. Room set-up: 3 tables set up around the perimeter of the activity room for stations, leaving plenty of room for storytime and singing.

This program will engage children by:

Listening to stories about issues they may be facing (worried about starting school)

Singing songs

Crafts/practicing skills such as coloring, gluing, and writing their name

Eating snacks and socializing with children of the same age group.