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 →

Rhyme Time: Mother Gooney Bird

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Hilary

Are the kids bouncing off of the walls? Try to tire them out with this active song.

Mother Gooney Bird

(Tune: Father Abraham)

Mother Gooney Bird had seven chicks.
Seven chicks had Mother Gooney Bird.
And they couldn’t fly,
And they couldn’t swim,
They could only go like this:
Right wing (Right arm bent in “wing” position, flaps up and down.)

Repeat, this time add:
Left wing (Left arm goes along with right wing.)

Keep repeating; add one body part each time: Continue reading →

Guess the Present: A Thinking Game for Kids (and Their Grown-ups)

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Hilary

My four year old buddy Max is a BIG fan of games. BIG FAN! I found a game that only requires your leftover wrapping supplies and smallish objects from around the house. You wrap the objects in different colored paper and then guess what’s inside based on shape, size and feel. Game on!

As with anything you do with a child, the game quickly took unexpected turns when I played it with Max. Check out the original game, then see our adaptations below. We hope you enjoy them.

Stump the Adult
After Max and I played, we wrapped all of the “gifts” again. He loved picking the color of paper in which we should wrap each item. He hated taping his fingers together. Taping quickly became my job.Then, we let his parents guess the contents of the packages. They did an excellent job of modeling their deductive reasoning: “This one feels very square, so I bet it’s the window.” Props for the parental units. Continue reading →

Boredom Buster: My Little Brother Ate a Pie

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Hilary

Whether you want a silly diversion for the dinner table or need an emergency activity to pull out when the grocery store line is extra-long, try this storytelling game. Start by saying, “My little brother ate a pie.” The next person says, “My little brother ate a pie AND a _____.” Continue taking turns, adding on to the list.

If this game tickles your family’s funny bone, you can try different twists:

I went on a trip and packed a____.
We went on a hike and found____.
An elephant dreamed a silly dream about____.

And of course there are many more ideas for boredom busters at your library!