Pint-Sized Picassos

Almost every Friday our library offers a special program for preschool-age children (ages 3-5): Music 'N Movement, Little Scientists, Preschool Discovery Hour, or Pint-Sized Picassos.

Our newest program is Pint-Sized Picassos, which we did this month for the second time ever; one of my co-workers had been wanting us to start a preschool art program since the beginning of time, and it has finally happened! We try to focus on process-based art projects that allow the kids to really be creative and experiment with different materials.

Typically we have 3 art stations, which the kids can rotate between at their own pace.  Many of our families like to set their art creations on the drying table and then go into the library to check out books and play in our early literacy center as they wait for their items to dry a bit more.

Pint-Sized Picassos Month 1
To celebrate our first-ever Pint-Sized Picassos, we had the little ones each create a small part of a larger masterpiece that we planned on displaying in the library to help generate excitement for the program.  I gave each of the kids one popsicle stick to paint for the library and one popsicle stick they were allowed to take home; I figured this was a good way to avoid any kids getting upset about not being able to take home their creation.

Popsicle art on display at the library.

After the program I put a colorful piece of paper in a cheap frame from Wal-Mart, hot glued the popsicle sticks into the frame, and created a little sign to explain what the art piece was. Not every single popsicle stick made it into the frame (they wouldn't all fit), but I was pretty confident nobody would notice.

A watercolor plastic wrap painting made at Pint-sized Picassos

We also did an activity where we wet a piece of cardstock with a sponge and then painted with watercolors. Afterwards we covered the cardstock in a scrunched up a piece of plastic wrap, which the caregivers were instructed to remove the next day.  A lot of our kids were on the younger end of the preschool-age range (some of them were actually 2-year-olds) and didn't really end up using enough watercolor paint for the activity to work properly, but they still enjoyed using the watercolors.  The idea for this activity originally came from Buggy and Buddy, and they suggest using art paper, which might have worked better.

For our third station, we set out sponge pieces, cotton balls, and pipe cleaners and had the kids paint with the different objects.  Their favorite item to paint with seemed to be the sponges. 

A painting created by one our preschoolers using sponges

Paintings created with sponges, cotton balls, and pipe cleaners.

The program actually didn't end up being quite as messy as I anticipated.  We have large drop cloths that we put down for messier programs, and they only got a little bit of paint on them.  We had a handful of homemade smocks available (men's button up shirts with the sleeves cut-off), but most families brought their own or seemed fine with not using a smock.


Pint-Sized Picassos Month 2

Kids painted with a variety of artificial flowers. 

Our second Pint-Sized Picassos didn't have an official theme, but we did include some art activities to celebrate the beginning of spring.

For one of our stations, we purchased a variety of artificial flowers from Dollar Tree and removed the flowers and leaves from the stems.  The kids dipped the flowers and leaves in paint and pressed them onto the paper to make some fun floral art.

For our second station, we had the kids color a coffee filter with washable markers and then LIGHTLY spray the coffee filter with water.  I have seen some people actually cut the coffee filters into flower shapes, but I figured that coffee filters already look enough like flowers.  Since the coffee filters were REALLY wet afterwards, I had a few pieces of cardboard on hand for families who wanted a way to take them home without getting marker all of their cars.  I would also recommend covering your art table with something plastic, like a tablecloth or garbage bags.

A painting created using artificial flowers.

 For our final station, we did crumpled art painting.  I cut some white construction paper into small pieces (about 4X6 or so), and then had the kids crumple up the paper and paint around the edges.  The idea was they they would un-crumple it, re-crumple it, paint some more, and then repeat the process over and over.  Some of the older preschoolers did fine with this, but the younger kids didn't really get the concept, so the parents just had them paint on the paper laid out flat.  The idea for this activity originally came from Buggy and Buddy as well.

At the start of our Pint-Sized Picasso programs, I explain each of the stations, and I put signs on each table explaining what we are doing for each activity.  We tend to have a lot of latecomers and families who just stumble upon the program accidentally, so stations work better for us than a program with a more rigid structure.  A lot of our kids tend to work at different paces, so they can take as much time as they need or leave the program early if they finish early.

Colorful tie-dye "flowers" made from coffee filters.

Crumpled paper art completed!

Crumpled paper art part-way through.

Thus far this program has proved popular with our families, and it's nice for our busy staff because we can create an engaging program without a lot of prep work.  It's also great to see what the little ones create! 

Library Obstacle Course

How many of us have said time and time again, "Use your walking feet!" to a child racing through the Children's Room?  While running isn't normally allowed in the library, running, leaping, crawling, and diving were encouraged during our library obstacle course program!

Last summer I offered an obstacle course just for tweens that was a huge success.  I decided to try it again over spring break and opened it up to younger school-age kids as well.  A lot of kids at our library are big fans of the show American Ninja Warrior, so I think the idea of an obstacle course was especially appealing.

Having kids work together to design their own obstacle course can be a great way to give them a bit more ownership of the program and to encourage teamwork.  It's also beneficial to allow the kids to run through the course multiple times so they can focus on improving their times.  I wanted to have kids focus on improving their own performance rather than competing against each other because the biggest aim of this program was to have fun with exercise and physical activity.

We are fortunate to have a rather spacious area in the library where we could do an obstacle course, so we were able to spread out.  If you don't have a large space, you could just make an obstacle course that is a bit smaller in size, or you could even move it outside.

I ended up providing a few suggestions to get the kids started, but they really made most of the decisions and came up with some innovative ideas of their own.  I had to veto a few ideas that were very creative but also rather dangerous.   I made sure that we taped down a clear starting line and finish line so that I would be able to time them running through the course.  I timed them on my phone and then shouted out their times when they finished.  After all the kids went through twice, we took the course apart and built a new obstacle course.

I provided the kids with the following materials to build the course:

• Pool noodles
• Mats 
• Hula hoops
• Hula hoop holders 
• Plastic adult chairs 
• Plastic toddler chairs 
• A roll of tape 

Using these materials we came up with obstacles such as:

• Jumping over pool noodles set a foot or so apart
• Doing a "tire race" through the hula hoops
• Crawling under pool noodles set between two chairs 
• Crawling through a row of chairs
• Diving/crawling through hula hoops 
• Weaving between chairs 
• Making hopscotch out of tape on the floor
• Jumping over hurdles made from pool noodles and hula hoop holders (you can easily use boxes or books to hold up the pool noodles instead)  

Most of these materials our library already owned and are used fairly regularly in our programming; for us they were an investment.  I understand, of course, that not all libraries can justify buying all of these items and in some cases might not have the space to store them.
 
Here are a few suggestions if you aren't able to purchase some of these items:

• Try propping up a hula hoop between two chairs and taping it to the floor.
• Pool noodles can be duct taped together to make circles
• Give them any other random items you can think of!  Traffic cones, bean bags, frisbees, a library cart, a sleeping bag....the sky's the limit!  The kids will come up with creative ways to use them.

The kids were excited to see their ideas included in the course, and they were proud when they were able to improve their own times.  They were, of course, also highly entertained when Miss Melissa tried to go through the course (quite unsuccessfully).  I ended up knocking over more of the obstacles than anyone else and was unsurprisingly a lot slower than most of the competitors.  I'm only 5'1", so I joked to co-workers afterwards that this was the first time in my life that I was at a disadvantage because I was "too tall."

When it was time to clean up, there were definitely more than a few shouts of, "Just one more time!"  This is a program I hope to try again in the future, and I'll be excited to see what kind of obstacle courses the kids create!

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

On Leap Day this year we had our second ever Stuffed Animal Sleepover.  While we didn't get as big of a crowd as we did at our stuffed animal sleepover last summer, the kids and stuffed animals who attended all had a great time!

We had a special storytime for the kids and their stuffed animals in the evening, and once the kids left, I ran around taking photos of the stuffed animals getting up to all kinds of shenanigans around the library.

The next morning we had a memory book ready to send home with the kids when they picked up their stuffed animals, but we understood that it might take a day or two for some families to make it back to the library.  While I love the idea of a having a brunch the next morning like some libraries do, it doesn't work well with our programming schedule because we have regular programs almost every morning.  By having the program in the evening, I was also trying to offer an option to working parents with kids who might not be able to make it to morning programs.

Opening Song: "My Hands Say Hello" 
(Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
My hands say hello,
My hands say hello,

Every time I see my friends,
My hands say hello!

Special stuffed animal verses:  paws, tail, furry self

Book:  My Bear and Me by Barbara Maitland 
This is a fairly short, simple story about a little girl and all of the fun she has with her teddy bear in a typical day.  It works well for family storytimes because it holds the attention of the young toddlers and the preschoolers.

Song: "If You're Sleepy and You Know It"
(Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It) 
If you're sleepy and you know it yawn out loud,
If you're sleepy and you know it yawn out loud,
If you're sleepy and you know it and your face will surely show it,
If you're sleepy and you now it yawn out loud.

Additional verses: Stretch real tall, snore out loud

Stuffed Animal Bounce: "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain" (Baby version from Jbrary)
I had observed in the past that when preschoolers came with younger siblings to baby time, they LOVED when I let them borrow a stuffed animal that they could use as their "baby" for the bounces.  So I had an idea: why not give this a try this during my stuffed animal sleepovers?  Some of the very little ones don't quite get it, but a lot of the kids have a lot of fun with it!  It also makes it seem like the stuffed animals are participating in storytime, too!


Book: I'm Not Scared! By Jonathan Allen

This book isn't as obviously stuffed animal themed as some books, but it's a sweet story that deals with a theme familiar to lots of little ones: being scared of the dark.  And of course Baby Owl repeatedly insists that his stuffed owl, Owly is scared, NOT him!

Song:  "Leap like a Leap Frog" 
(Tune: Shake Your Sillies Out)
Leap, leap, leap, leap like a leap frog,
Leap, leap, leap like a leap frog,
Leap, leap, leap like a leap frog and
Hop up an down all day!

If this song seems a little awkward, it's because I made it up on whim when I was trying to find a way to acknowledge that our storytime was happening on leap day (something I failed to notice when I scheduled it).  Our kids were way too young to really understand what a leap day was, but they had lots of fun leaping around the storytime area.


Stuffed Animal Bounce:  "Here We Go Up, Up, Up"
Here we go up, up, up!  (lift stuffed animal into air)
Here we go down, down, down (lower stuffed animal)
Here we go back and forth (lean forward and backwards)
Here we go round and around! (move body in circle with stuffed animal on lap)


Book: The Stuffed Animals Get Ready for Bed by Alison Inches
This book works perfectly for stuffed animal storytime.  A little girl is trying to get her stuffed animals to go to bed, but they just want to stay up and have fun!  Which of course is what our stuffed animals will be doing once everyone has left the library for the night.

Song:  "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"
 A familiar favorite, the kids loved jumping up and down just like the monkeys!

Song:  "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
We sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as a lullaby to help our stuffed animals settle down for the night.  Many of the little ones were used to being sung to at night, so it was nice for them to have a turn to sing someone to sleep!

After singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, we tucked our animals in for the night, which meant tucking them under a big blanket I brought from home.  We came back together for our usual closing song:

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom (clap hands)
We're going to the moon!
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,
We'll be there very soon!
In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...(gradually crouch lower)
Blast off! (jump and blast off)


Alternative books (used at previous stuffed animal storytime):

• Corduroy by Don Freeman
• Bears on Chairs by David L. Walker
• My Best Friend Bear by Tony Johnston

A few tips to help your stuffed animal sleepover go as smoothly as possible:

• Brainstorm a list of places to take photos ahead of time and ideally have someone available to assist you.  I ended up rolling mine around on a book cart just for easy transport. This might be a great activity for a Teen Advisory Group to help out with!
• Encourage families to have kids bring their second favorite stuffed animal.  You will inevitably have some tears from little ones who don't want to leave their stuffed animals.  It's okay if they just want to attend the storytime but not leave their stuffed animal overnight, but encouraging them to bring a different animal to begin with can help make it a happier experience.
• Make photos from the event available in multiple ways: a memory book, through social media, or even a slideshow or short video!
• If you're making a memory book, create a template ahead of time so that can easily drop the photos in and print them quickly.  I spent a lot of time coming up with a rhyming captions, but it's definitely not necessary.
• Make it as clear as possible on all marketing that the stuffed animals are staying over, NOT the kids.
• If you have a large group, you might want to have a "sign-in" sheet where families can write their stuffed animal's name and a provide a description; this will make pick-up easier. 

A few suggestions for photos:

• Copy machine playtime
• Watch a movie on a laptop (spread out popcorn) 
• Play a board game 
• Color a picture or get into the art supplies
• Ride on a book cart 
• Dive into the book drop 
• Sneak into secret staff areas 
• Stuffed animals read together
• Get a snack from the vending machines or staff kitchen
• Leave a message for the librarians 
• Anything else you can think of! The sky's the limit!

Each child received a memory book when they picked up their stuffed animal.

My storytimes have always been stuffed animal themed, but you could also do a bedtime theme or no theme at all.  This is a very popular program and is something that can easily be offered several times a year.  The best part is when the kids come back to pick up their stuffed animal and their memory book.  They are always glad to see their buddy and excited to see what shenanigans happened overnight at the library!

Little Scientists: Winter Wonders

Once a month, we have a Preschool STEM program for ages 3-5.  Even though it's called Little Scientists, we cover a wide range of STEM topics, focusing on a particular theme each month.  We always start out with a story related to the theme, occasionally followed by a relevant song or brief group activity.  Usually this part of the program is fairly brief (less than 10 minutes), and the kids spend about 30 - 45 minutes exploring hands-on stations with their caregivers.  Occasionally caregivers want to stand in the back and just watch their child from afar, but I am always insistent that they explore the stations with their child; the idea is that this will help the child gain more from the activities as they explore and ask questions together. I usually try to post instruction sheets that include a few suggestions for possible questions to ask or things to discuss.

Sometimes we focus on specific concepts or topics preschoolers often learn about, such as weather or colors.  Other times I will use a broad theme to tie together a variety of STEM activities.  In January I took the the broad approach with a winter theme.

We started out by reading Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming.  After reading the book, we talked about animals that hibernate and stuck photos of hibernating animals onto a felt board. Then we split up into five stations, which everyone could explore at their own pace (four stations is probably better, but sometimes I get carried away):

Station 1:  Mitten Matching
For our mitten matching station, my co-worker made mittens with different patterns out of construction paper and the little ones tried to find matching pairs.  Since we knew several kids might be doing this station at once, we had several sets of each pair of mittens.

Match the Mittens!

Station 2:  Shape Snowmen 
For our shape snowmen station, we had lots of white circles in different sizes available, along with different shapes in a variety of colors. We set out glue sticks and encouraged the little ones to make "shape snowmen" and the grown-ups to talk to them about what shapes they were using.  This might seem like a "craft," but it had a specific intention behind it; I wanted the kids to recognize specific shapes but also to think about how they could put shapes together to create something unique.

Make a shape snowman!

Station 3:  "Snowball" Counting

This station promotes both fine motor skill development and counting skills.  We had the kids count out the "snowballs" (cotton balls) using miniature tongs.  This activity can really be adapted in endless ways; they can out pieces of cereal, beans, pasta, or just about anything else!

Count the Snowballs!

Station 4:   Frozen vs. Unfrozen
This idea comes from Julie over at Creekside Learning.  I filled several ice cube trays with a variety of food items from my own pantry: ketchup, cottage cheese, margarine, water, marshmallows, and brown sugar (many other foods could be used, as well). Then I froze half the trays and kept the rest at room temperature, waiting until the morning of the program to add items that might spoil. 

Frozen vs. Unfrozen!

We encouraged the kids to feel the "frozen" foods and compare with them with the "unfrozen" foods.  I made up a chart where the caregiver could write down words their child used to describe the different foods, but this activity could easily be done without the chart. I would recommend having paper towels on hand to clean messy fingers and keeping an extra tray in the freezer in case one starts to melt.  It was actually very interesting to see what happened to the different foods once I froze them, and I would love to try this with other foods as well! My co-workers, of course, saw these ice cube trays in the break room freezer and knew right away they were mine.

Station 5:  Animal Sorting

Sort the Animals!

For our final station, I provided photos of a variety of animals and asked our attendees to sort them into piles according to whether they lived in "cold places" or "warm places."  I created several sets so that more than one child could do this activity at a time  If I did this program again, this is probably the station I would skip. It proved a little bit confusing even for some of our caregivers since some of the animals live in places that are warm for at least part of the year. Hopefully the kids learned the name of a few new animals, at least! You could probably try this with hibernating animals and non-hibernating animals, as well.

Overall, I think the program went well, although a few children had to be reminded not to eat the items in our ice cube tray experiment!

Of course, when you do any sort or program in winter, you always run the risk that it might end up being canceled because of winter weather. For some of our programs like Little Scientists, we send the materials to another branch, and a staff member there does the program, too.   At my branch we were able to do this program without any problems, but my co-worker at the other branch was only able to do the program for 20 minutes before the library closed due to snowy weather. I'm sure all of the kids who attended, however, were delighted to enjoy winter-themed activities followed by actual snow.  The weather outside after all, doesn't always go along with theme of the program no matter what season it is.

Mix & Match Felt Boards

Felt board songs, stories, and games can make great additions to any storytime, but there is no reason kids can't enjoy the fun and excitement of a felt board all the time!  We set out a felt board in our Children's Room that kids can play with anytime they visit the library.  We keep our felt board in a small space near the entrance of the room, but really a felt board could be placed anywhere.

Make a Funny Face!

We have offered a variety of different interactive felt board activities, but the most popular activities allow children to create something unique of their own design.  Kids take a lot of pride in their creations and love to talk about them!  I've overheard many conversations between kids and caregivers about the monsters, snowmen, and other awesome things kids have created.  Kids will often come running into the Children's Room shouting, "I want to make a monster!" or "I want to build a snowman!"  Sometimes parents even have trouble getting their kids to leave; they just want to stay at the library and play with our felt board!

For libraries that don't have early literacy centers, a felt board can be an easy, inexpensive way to offer fun activities that encourage imaginative play.  We received a generous donation that has allowed us to offer early literacy centers at all of our branches, but before we had our early literacy centers, we were always on the lookout for activities to offer that would encourage families to stay and play.  We still are looking for those sorts of activities, of course!  At first we just dragged our felt board back and forth for storytime, but eventually we were able to get a second felt board which definitely made things easier. This also made it easier for kids to play with our felt board before and after storytime.

Make a Monster! Idea from And Next Comes L.

The great thing about a lot of mix & match activities is that you don't have to be a great artist or amazing at drawing to create them.  I've never been great at drawing, so I created most of these felt boards by printing and tracing clip art or simple shapes (tracing is also great for creating displays and is a good way to "trick" people into thinking you can draw). You can also trace the bottom of containers to get a perfect circle.

Typically our felt boards include things like eyes, mouths, hair, antennas, accessories,
buttons, etc. that come in a variety of different colors and sizes.  Inevitably some of the small pieces get lost, but they are fairly easy to replace.  Placing a container near the felt board to keep extra pieces in can make it easier to keep track of the small pieces.  Just be prepared for your container to occasionally be picked up and carried around the room by little hands!

Build a Robot!

I particularly like offering mix & match felt boards that consist mostly of simple shapes because it really encourages kids to think outside the box; I'm always amazed at how they use felt pieces in very creative ways that would never have occurred to me.  And of course it always brightens my day when a child gleefully tells me about what they have created!

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

   

You can also make special felt boards that you put out for a very limited time to celebrate a special day or that you create just for a big program.  We created a R2-D2 felt board for Star Wars Reads Day, and we will definitely bring it back out on May 4th for Star Wars Day!  The emphasis here is on the process; it doesn't need to look exactly like the real R2-D2.

Mix & Match and design your own R2-D2!

 Mix & match felt boards are awesome, but of course there are plenty of other felt board activities you can offer as well.  Activities focusing on letter knowledge, numbers, patterns, colors, shapes, etc. can be a great way to help kids learn about these concepts in a fun, hands-on way.  The most important thing is that your felt boards are interactive and encourage PLAY!