Going on a Picnic

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Angela

I love to sing. Not everyone loves it when I sing, but that’s okay. My son likes it when I perform the tune “Going on a Picnic” by Lynn Freeman Olson, which is known as a zipper song. What is a zipper song? I am glad you asked! A zipper song is any tune where you take out one word and “zip” another one in. This word-swapping is entertaining, the possibilities are endless and the fun can go on FOREVER. Give it a whirl:

Going on a picnic,
leaving right away.
If it doesn’t rain,
we’ll stay all day.
Did you bring the (sandwiches)?
Yes I brought the (sandwiches).
Ready for a picnic, here we go!

When singing this song, my family likes to keep listing all of the words we’ve added in the previous verses, trying to remember the order, going from the newest item to the oldest. What a workout for your brain! If you are not sure of the melody, stop by the library, and I will sing my off-key version. Or you can just check out Raffi’s performance of this song on “The Corner Grocery Store” CD.

Check It Out: Life Under The Sea

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Angela

Did you know that octopuses, or octopi (as I like to call them), have beaks? They are also very good at hiding. Sea stars don’t have eyes; they have eye spots. Where did I find these fascinating facts? I learned this information and much more from two nonfiction books on our new books shelf at the library. The Life Under the Sea series has six titles written by Cari Meister:

“Dolphins”
“Seals”
“Walruses”
“Octopuses”
“Whales”
“Sea Stars”

The colorful pictures and the easy-to-read text make it a snap for younger kiddos to learn facts about life in the ocean. The books even include a picture glossary at the end to explain more about what was just read. A simple table of contents and an index at the end of each book introduce kiddos to using these important parts of nonfiction books. Sea life not your thing? Try the Animals on the Farm series and see what you and your kids can learn! (We have a soft spot for the baby goats - so cute!)

Get Trucking

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Hilary

Turn an egg carton into a dump truck, add some traffic signs and get trucking! We’ve tested the following activities on the bookmobile and received enthusiastic thumbs up.

To make the trucks:

We used DLTK’s pattern for the dump truck. We suggest you skip the paint and use markers instead. Markers allow your kiddos to custom detail their trucks. You can geek out adding specialty headlights and chrome wheels, but honestly, we got excited about drawing passengers and drivers. (One’s a hedgehog.) If you aren’t ready to hand your child markers, try stickers.

We also attached the truck bed with masking tape so that it can be raised and lowered. We think you will be impressed with this upgrade. Continue reading →

KidCare Corner: A Rainy Day Bag of Tricks

Posted on April 23, 2013 by BarbT

April Showers are upon us! I used to love those first cozy rainy days with the kiddos in my day care. And maybe the second. But by the third muddy day, we were a little more crazy than cozy. If you need a new rainy day trick, or a whole new bag, consider picking up a Little Red Reading Bag the next time you are in the library!

There are 12 different themes, and each Little Red Reading Bag contains books, a DVD, a music CD and a couple of awesome toys. Bags also include a skill sheet with suggestions of activities to support early literacy skills. (But don’t tell the kids – they just think it’s fun!)

Let’s say we check out Little Red Reading Bag B: Classic Tales. Inside we find four puppets. Maybe they are the characters from “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”! Let’s turn a table on its side…instant puppet theater! Continue reading →

Early Literacy Skills: Tell Me a Story

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Angela

You have read “Goodnight Moon” 500 times, and you know it by heart. Your child loves the book so much that he can tell you the story without even knowing how to read. While this repetitiveness may seem like torture to you, it actually is a good thing. Narrative skill, or the ability to tell stories, is one of the tools your child needs to start reading.

Knowing that stories have a beginning, middle and end, and the ability to talk about activities in a sequence are important to developing narrative skills. Want to make a story more fun? Act it out! Acting out a story helps your child understand and remember the order of events in the story. One of the favorites in our household is “Mud Puddle” by Robert Munsch. I love to pretend to be the mud puddle and get my son “completely all over muddy.” Continue reading →