This was inspired by passive programs to write letters to Santa.

 

 Truth time. 

 I hadn't planned to do a tutorial of this so the pictures aren't as explanatory as I'd like. 

Books themes are characters who are imposters or pretending to be something they're not,  who-dun-it's, murder mystery types and mistaken identity. 

Here's my simplest method of making characters stand up for book displays.

 What's a Presidential Election if there's no run-off between literary characters at the library?

 

For a virtual Columbus Day program, the Christopher Columbus stand-ups were made for a re-telling of Columbus's discovery of the Americas.

They include, the Santa Maria, Columbus, Portugal and Spain. As an activity for the kiddos, I made printable copies for them to take home and complete. 

 

Johnny Appleseed was supposed to get a biographical retelling with fun props, similar to the Columbus Day story .... However, that didn't happen due to timing issues. 

So this post is more of a dump of undeveloped ideas and intentions that you might can work with and build on. 

Characters and visuals made from construction paper were going to be used in the storytelling process, much like in the Columbus Day storytime and a script was written using library materials. 

Here's a copy of my write-up!

Books I used to write this up were.... 

Johnny Appleseed by Marianne Johnston

Who Was Johnny Appleseed by Joan Holub

Johnny Appleseed by Patricia Demuth

Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend by Will Moses

 

This was a poem/ action rhyme that I wrote. 

My thought for actions was tossing a pretend bag over your shoulder, putting on a hat, walking in place, and pretending to rest then shaking your finger "no". 

Again, severely under-developed, but I wanted to share, nonetheless so my efforts wouldn't be wasted. Y'all get it 😃

 Cleaning up and reorganizing My Documents and my USB and stumbled across this YA display from last September when everyone wanted to storm Area 51.

Notice the prime spots go to one of my favorite YA series, The Xenith Trilogy Chani Lynn Feener. 

Two new alien books that have come out in 2020 are It Came From the Sky by Chelsea Sedoti and Sia Martinez and the Moonlight Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland.

This is an English fairy tale about an old woman who can't get her new pig to go over a stile. It's getting late, she's in a rush to get home before dark and asks the other animals for help. The way she asks for help is by getting each animal or object to be unkind to the other. For example, she wants the stick to beat the dog because the dog won't bite the pig to make him go over the stile. 

It gets to the point where she wants the cat to get the rat because rat won't gnaw the rope. Rope won't lasso the farmer and the farmer won't punish Ox. She wants Ox to drink water because the water won't quench the fire. Fire won't burn the stick and stick won't beat the dog, who won't bite the pig. In the end, the cat asks her to do a favor and it all works out. 

Originally I found this story on Project Gutenberg in a book called "Boys and Girls Bookshelf" published in 1920. It's full of old rhymes, stories and songs. 

Click HERE for my pdf. It includes the original text from the "Boys and Girls Bookshelf" and my rewrite. 

Click HERE for the pdf of my characters. These were pulled off google images for the most part. The stile and stick were free-handed so no template on those. 

Here's my giant disclaimer: This has been my first flannel story to create from scratch. The characters were made with construction paper, laminated and felt was glued to the backs so they would attach to the flannel board.

They're a little heavy though and don't hold very securely to the board. I'm sure there's a better way to do them with paper, but I don't know what that is. 

Happy storytelling!  

 

 

 

I'd forgotten how fun Bingo sheets were to make until this summer. Click the links for Buffy Bingo and Pokemon Bingo!

There are two different storytimes we do during a normal library week: PreK storytimes for ages 3+ and Book Babies for ages 3 and under.

Around age 3 we encourage families to try out both programs and see what works best for them. Even attend both of them if they like!

This program was originally planned as a virtual Book Babies program but on paper, it looks more like a storytime. It hasn't yet been filmed but I thought I'd go ahead and share it with you anyway.

One thing that I will say about my storytime notes is that I have to write my segues out. The other children's librarian at our library was an early elementary teacher for several years so she's able to do storytimes like that [insert snapping motion here].

That's not always the case with many of us and that's alright. At the risk of looking like an utter LOON, I'm going to include my little segues into this post. It helps me so much when I read other people's script-like prompts that I want to share a little of mine.

Ok, enough with my gibbering. Let's get some work done!

Intro Song: The More We Get Together...

This was originally done by Raffi and is to the tune of Did You Ever See A Lassie? Book Babies and Storytime each get different Welcome Songs and this has been the babies Welcome Song for several years.

Song: Good Morning Mrs. Perky Bird

Out Mrs. Perky Bird tweets when she's squeezed. The kids love it about as much as I love this song!

Today we're going to share some songs and books about frogs and bugs. Can you think of any types of bugs? Bugs are sometimes tiny and can be found outside but sometimes they can get inside your house. 

Is Mrs. Perky Bird a bug? I've got a book to share with  you that's all about bugs and I want you to pay special attention to all the different types of bugs. Then I'm going to ask you again if you think Mrs. Perky Bird is a bug or not.

Book: "I Love Bugs!" by Philemon Sturges

There are so many types of bugs! Maybe your favorite bug was in the story but now for the question: Is Mrs. Perky Bird a bug? No, she's not. She's a bird. 

But there were some bugs that flew in the story. Do you remember what they were?

Before butterflies grow into beautiful bugs with big beautiful wings, they're called caterpillars.

Song: Little Arabella Millar

Song/ Flannel Story: Five Green Speckled Frogs

There are 2 ways we do this song. One can be done with the flannel story or another way is with the glove. This glove has velcro on the fingers and on the backside of the frogs, so they attach securely. As you sing, with the glove on your hand, remove one frog from a finger as the frogs jump into the pool in the song.

 I think those frogs enjoyed jumping into the water, don't you? Should we practice some jumping of our own?

Song: And We Walk and We Walk....


This song comes from Mother Goose On The Loose and it a great action song. I couldn't find any good videos of but here's one where you get an idea.

Everyone walks in a circle while one person leads the song. "And we walk and we walk and we walk and we stop" When we hear the word "stop" everyone stops in place.

Repeat 3 times and then sing the next verse. (Walk, Skip, Jump)

For an extra interactive element, pass out musical instruments so the kids can play instruments while marching in a circle.

I've got a book about jumping animals to read next. Anytime I read the word "jump", I want you to jump up from where you're sitting.

Book: Jump! by Scott M. Fischer

Action Rhyme: Jack-in-the-Box

This is also from Mother Goose on the Loose. In this rhyme, you pretend to be a Jack-In-The-Box.

So grab your giant imaginary box from behind you, place it in front of you. Climb in and squat down.

(Slowly at first, while winding your box)
Jack-in-the-Box, sitting so still
Won't you come out?
Yes, I will!  (Stand up and raise your arms up high)

 

⬇ Updated 4/15/2021 ⬇

 

This song was written for a frog story time where "Tad" by Benji Davies was read.

Song: In The Water Of A Shallow Lake (original)

In the water of a shallow lake (crouch on the ground)

A tiny egg begins to shake (shaking)

A tadpole hatches out and it looks like this (stand with feet together)

With a giant head, that's hard to miss. (arms in circle overhead)

But then...

Two Legs... (jump feet apart)

Two Arms (lower arms)

And his tail disappears (shake your tail)

What animal is it? It's a frog!

A simple printable card template for kids. Print it out, color it and cut it out! Doesn't get much simpler than that, does it?

This printable unicorn card was inspired by Simple Everyday Mom's DIY Unicorn Card Craft For Kids. While hers is AMAZING, it required too many steps for our library kids to do so I designed this one.

There's not much to it, so without further ado...

Printable Unicorn Card PDF

For best results, print this out one card per sheet. I experimented with 2 ponies per card but they were too small and harder to cut out.

This entry will contain templates to one weaving and two feather crafts. These are Native American inspired and were used in our Covid-19 summer to-go craft kits in lieu of our in-house programming.

The story that went along with these was "When Turtle Grew Feathers" by Tim Tingle. This is a Choctaw version of Aesop's "The Tortoise and The Hare".

Crafts were prepped and packaged in brown paper sacks. They were set out on tables for families to come in and pick up. During this time, we also began curbside service so families could call in to ask for a kit and have it delivered to them outside of the building.

Crafts aimed at tween aged children and would be good for a school-aged book club.

 Paper Weaving

The Choctaw Indians used river cane to weave baskets for everyday use such as storing food, carrying items and trapping animals during hunts. Many women used natural dyes to add color and patterns to their baskets.

This craft lets kids practice their own weaving skills.

Print out the template on paper - I used cardstock for the base and construction paper for the strips.

There are 2 sheets on the PDF. The first sheet with the turtles is the base and the second sheet is for the strips of paper.

Instructions: Print out pages. Cut along the thin black lines on the page with turtles. Do NOT cut the thicker lines at the top. Weave the paper through so that the turtle images are covered. This is the basic foundation of weaving.

Instructions aren't on the PDF, just the printable pattern. This can also be done with regular copy paper.

Click here for the Paper Weaving PDF


Feather Quill 
Original idea comes from Krokotak.com and was actually used last year during our Harry Potter Finale last year. In fact, we were able to use our leftover supplies from that.

All that's needed is pens and/or pencils. Print the template onto construction paper, color it, cut it out and attach it to your writing utensil.Tape or glue works fine.

Easy peasy.

This was the template used (...I like to squeeze as many things onto a page as I can) but visit the link above for the original template!

Feather Bookmark

This was partially swiped from my coworker who has been focusing on crafts for 2nd grade and
under. She had found this adorable feather template for her kiddies to color and I loved it.

Supplies for this craft were colored cardstock, these feathers printed onto copy paper, clear contact paper, and ribbon (optional). Then of course scissors and coloring utensils were used by the kids to complete.

The contact paper should be more than double the width of the bookmark.

Each kid received 1 feather, 1 bookmark sized piece of colored cardstock ( sized to be larger than the feather) precut ribbon and pre-cut contact paper.

Step 5

Instructions: 
1. Color feather before cutting out. 
2. Attach feather to one side of the cardstock using tape or glue. 
3. Flip bookmark over and attach ribbon to top of cardstock.
4. Using clear contact paper, fold sticky side around the front and back of your bookmark. Make sure you do not trap your ribbon inside the contact paper! You want it to dangle out of the top so that it will stick out of your marked book.
5. Cut excess contact paper from sides  

There were two crafts for our Knights and Dragon weekly summer kits: Dragon Paper Chain and a Knight's Shield. It also included a writing prompt and shield templates to design your own crest on. Unfortunately, this kit wasn't as creative as some of the others, but this is what I've got!

Dragon Paper Chain

This printable dragon paper chain template, as pictured above, is very straightforward.

Dragon face comes from Mr. Printables.com. Originally it was a face mask, but I've scaled it down to purpose and blacked out the eyes.

On the PDF, the face has been outlined to be the same thickness as the wings... which were free handed with a Sharpie.

The body of the dragon is has 2 parts and should be printed front and back if possible.

On one side are scales to color and on the other side are prompts to answer. "If I had a time machine...", "I'm currently reading...", "My favorite book is..." things of that nature.

Click here for Printable Dragon Paper Chain PDF

The 2nd page is intentionally left blank.

Knight's Shield 

These were made with hot glue, cardboard, aluminum foil and a cutting tool.

I free handed a template that was 5½ inches from top to bottom. These were traced onto cardboard, cut out, wrapped in aluminum foil.

The final product can be seen in the beginning picture (that's a cat, btw).

On the back of the shield is a little handle to hold it. It fits just one finger and is a strip of cardboard, warped to create a shape. The tops and bottoms are hot glued to the back of the shield.

This was our prompt...

 Knights would have had colorfully decorated images called a coat of arms carved into their armor and embroidered onto clothes and flags. This helped identify who they were or who they supported. Being able to be
identified on a battlefield through a coat of arms would have been very important years ago. 

These emblems might have elaborate or simple geometric shapes, animals, flowers or other defining features. 

Certain objects or animals would mean different things: foxes symbolized intelligence, a lion meant courage and an elephant represented strength. 

Think about what defines you and create your own emblem based on those things. Take a moment to draw out your coat of arms on a piece of scrap paper.


 Here's the template that I made to trace on to my shields.

In addition to this, we also passed out a page with other shield shapes, as pictured in the beginning picture.

Click here for a PDF of those templates. 

In full disclosure, my coworker found those off so I have no idea where they came from!



Writing Prompt

Since our Summer Reading Program is all online, we've got more than a few reading logs from CSLP

Sideways? Blogger, why do you do this to me?

that we don't know what to do with!

We were able to give out reading logs for our writing prompt in these craft kits.

If you've read my DIY Journal post, this prompt might sound familiar to you!

I was sitting in class, day dreaming about all the things I'd rather be doing when I looked out the window and my jaw dropped. A giant Ender Dragon was circling the skies of our school! I raised my hand to tell the teacher when it suddenly it landed in the school yard. I knew what I had to do.

ago and the White Rabbit. This is the only front and back activity.
Click here to read more about the board

"The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, is a nonsensical poem in Through the Looking Glass, one of the books in the Alice series. Many of the words are made-up words but the poem describes a beast.

There were really 2 separate prompts for this poem specifically. Kids were encouraged to read the poem, paying special attention to the words describing the beast and then draw a picture of what they think the Jabberwock would look like.

Then we turn our eye to similes and metaphors. In the poem, there is only one of these. Kids were tasked with finding it and then identifying it as either a simile or metaphor.

After doing that, they get to practice writing their own!

Unlike other passive participation bulletin boards, this one required a little bit of effort on the part of our library users.

Passive Program
The concept of this board was to have patrons write both a simile and metaphor about either the
library or reading.

Kids were sent home with this worksheet included in our Alice in Wonderland To-Go Craft kit during the summer.

Because of Covid, crayons were not made available in the room so this activity had to be taken home.

The sheet prompts kids to write their simile/metaphor on the droplet and decorate it using library logo colors. Then bring it back the next week or email us a picture to put on our board.

Here are some pictures of some participation we've gotten so far!





Pieces of the board were free handed onto poster board. They were colored using pastels and outlined with a thick sharpie.

For Alice, I actually had a little a lot of trouble getting her proportions correct so I ended up printing off a picture of her. I cut this picture out and traced her silhouette onto the poster board.

Letters were cut out using the Cricut Everyday Fonts cartridge.