At my library, we do storytime every Saturday, but with Summer and staffing shortages, sometimes we need to cancel, which is never fun. Because of this, my branch decided to have some back up "Storytime Stations," that we could use when needed and I used my first one a few weeks ago.
These stations are based on the 5 early literacy tools: Read, Write, Sing, Talk & Play. Each tool has an activity, set up on a table and our patrons can go from table to table and still get the feel of storytime, but self led.
Here's what I planned:
READ:
Find a comfortable spot and read Nancy Tafuri’s: Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails.
As you read together, try asking questions about the text and pictures on each page. Point to unfamiliar words and don’t be afraid to add in your own fun animal sounds and farmyard noises!
Nancy Tafuri is the much-loved creator of more than thirty books for young children, including the Caldecott Honor Book Have You Seen My Duckling? and I Love You, Little One.
Want more books by Nancy Tafuri? Check out our collection here: (QR code)
SING:
Get ready to make some music and sing it loud!
Grab some shakers and use the lyrics below to sing all about your favorite farm animals, with this childhood favorite: Old MacDonald Had a Farm.
OLD MACDONALD HAD A FARM
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o
And on his farm, he had some cows
Ee i ee i oh
With a moo-moo here
And a moo-moo there
Here a moo, there a moo
Everywhere a moo-moo
What other farm animals can you think of? Pigs—oink-oink ; Ducks—quack-quack; Sheep—baa-baa
DID YOU KNOW: You can use American Sign Language to finger spell the letters “E” “I” “E” “I” “O”
TALK:
Gross Motor Cubes are great tools to make learning fun!
Today, we will combine our early literacy tool of “Talk” with gross motor activities.
What are Gross Motor Skills? Gross motor skills are skills that involve movements that work your large muscles, like running, jumping, bending and stretching.
Pick up a cube and let your child roll it on the ground. Look at the image that is face up. Talk to your child about the image they see. What is it? What color is it? Does it make a sound? Talk about where we might find these items. Have you seen them before? Make it more fun by trying to act out what you see.
PLAY:
We’re breaking out the puppets today to tell our own farmyard story! Using the puppets provided, act out the following rhyme:
An oink, a moo
A cockledoo
Who's in the barnyard
playing peekaboo?
(Repeat this rhyme with every puppet you use)
DID YOU KNOW: Repeating words, a concept or a skill allows your child to form an understanding and even attempt to imitate it. Repetition helps to improve speed, increases confidence, and strengthens the connections in the brain that help children learn.
WRITE:
Color the picture of the farm animal listed below and then try copying the letters to practice writing the animal's name.
How'd it go:
Our volunteer who monitored the program said that things went really great. And now that we have the set up and outline figured out, it should be fairly easy to create more themes for future use. Super fun and no one missed out on storytime activities!
That's all for now!
-M-