Beach Terrariums - Family Program

 

I was looking for a family craft that loosely fit the "Ocean Adventure" theme for our last week of summer reading, which had the overall CLSP theme of "Adventure Begins In Your Library", and somehow the idea of a beach-themed terrarium popped into my head, though it took me a little bit to figure out exactly how it was going to work.

Ages: Family, all-ages

Budget: About $3.75 per terrarium. This was one of my more pricey programs, but I also had some really inexpensive ones, so it evened out.

Time: This was one of the faster programs, taking only 40 minutes or so (which made up for my treasure hunt program the week before involving secret codes and hidden messages that ran WAY over, at an hour and a half!)

Materials:

• terrariums - I got spherical plastic ones about 4" in diameter from DollarTree for $1.25 each, larger and cheaper than what I could find elsewhere, total of 34
• air plants - $55 for 50 plants, Amazon (there are many different options available). I bought more than I needed because it would have been the almost the same price for fewer, and I figured some would die in transit (only 2 did), soaked in water for 30 minutes the day before the program
• resin figures - packs of 3 for $1.25 at DollarTree, assorted (sandcastles, bucket of sand, coral, flip-flops, lighthouses, shells, starfish), 12 packs.
• tiny shells & starfish - $12 on Amazon, came with 50 starfish and a jar of 800 shells
• larger shells - these were from my personal collection from a long-ago vacation
• sand - we already had play sand that I use for the sensory bin that I got from Lowe's for $5/50lbs
• glue - from our stock supplies
• craft sticks - from stock supplies
• paper bowls - from stock supplies
• small dixie cups - from stock supplies
• measuring cup
• forceps - left over from previous owl pellet dissection program
• air plant care sheet
  (I ended up with about a dozen plants, 3 resin figures, about 12 starfish, and maybe 2-3 tablespoons of the tiny shells leftover)

How-To:

1. I had them pick up the following supplies as they came in: terrarium, paper bowl, craft stick, forceps, dixie cup with 1/2-1 Tablespoon of small shells, and a few of the larger shells if they wanted. Glue and a small amount of dry sand were placed at each table.
2. Next, I called them up a few tables at a time to get sand in their bowls, roughly 1/4 Cup.
3. Add about 1/2 Tablespoon white glue to sand, and mix until it comes together, adding more glue if needed (this is to prevent the dumping of loose sand in the car or home; you could also use kinetic sand if you want to spend a lot more or have a small group).
4. Press sand & glue mixture into bottom of terrarium, sprinkle just a little dry sand on top, and arrange shells as desired.
5. While they were completing step 4 I went around and had them pick one resin figure out of a bowl without looking, to be fair, and they added the figures to their terrariums.
6. Then they selected their air plants (there were a few different types) and added them to their terrarium, being careful to just set them on top of the sand, not pushing them into the sand.
7. And for the final touch, I went around the room and gave everyone a tiny starfish to add.
   

How It Went:

This was a super popular program! So popular that I had to turn away 3-4 families due to all the terrariums being taken, which I really felt bad about, but I had purchased all I could find at all 3 stores in my area (not available online). I've never had this many show up for a craft program before! I had included "while supplies last, first come-first served" in my description (registration just doesn't work for us) and those I had to turn away at least seemed understanding. There was one other hiccup; UPS lost the package of air plants for several days, but they miraculously turned up the day before the program with only 2 dead out of 50 plants.

Other than that, it went really well, and those attending really seemed to like it. It was so popular, I will definitely do some other version of a terrarium program again in the future!

New Books - Preschool Storytime

 
This was a bit of an "off" week, as it was the week of the Fourth of July. Our numbers are always low for this week, so we back off on the programming a little bit. The holiday fell on the day we would normally have had the elementary program, and instead of booking a performer I just did a very simple family Lego program. There was no weekly theme, and I had a couple of new books that I really liked, so decided to forego a theme for storytime and use them.

We started with a "Hello" song, followed by introductions and expectations, then this month's warm-up song, followed by our lead-in song:

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes.

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose,

Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes.

If You're Ready for a Story?

If you're ready for a story, stomp your feet!

If you're ready for a story, stomp your feet!

If you're ready for a story, if you're ready for a story,
If you're ready for a story, stomp your feet!

(turn around, sit down, clap hands, pat knees, say "shh"...)

For our first book I choose The Wrong Book by Drew Daywalt and Alex Willmore, which starts out as a perfectly normal book, presenting objects/animals/people and saying what they are and what they say. On the first spread, a red apple is shown, and the text reads "This is an apple. And apples go 'Crunch! Crunch! Crunch' when you eat them." However, things soon begin to go hilariously wrong when the book says that a pretty flower smells good and says "Chugga, chugga, Chooo-Chooo!", followed by a puppy that the book says is a bicycle and goes "Buurrp!". The silliness and mis-information continue, much to the consternation of the serious bookmark.

This book is super silly, and super fun to read aloud! It would be even better if done with two readers, one reading the main text of the book, and the other reading the part of the bookmark, which I realized as I was reading it and really wish I would've thought of earlier, in time for a second person to prepare. This would be a great book for elementary classes, too.

After reading such an incredibly silly book and getting our sillies all wound up, it was time to shake them out!

Next up was another new book I ordered primarily to beef up my selection of beach/sand related picture books. The Squish, by Breanna Carzoo, tells about a poor little sandcastle that keeps getting knocked down. He gets stepped on, hit by a frizbee, rained on, wiped out by waves. He tries picking himself up, dusting himself off, and rebuilding himself taller, to no avail; he still ends up getting squished. Will he give up and just stay squished?

This story starts out a little bit funny, a little bit cute, and a little bit sad. The messaging about dealing with trauma felt a bit heavy-handed to me, and I felt took away from what could have been a fun, cute story (which is what I thought I was ordering). But the kids didn't really notice, and it might be a good book for someone who needs that message, and it can be interpreted as dealing with frustration when things don't work the way you want them to and trying again, which is the spin I put on it for storytime.

I decided to stop there rather than attempting another song, book, or rhyme and sing a quick "Goodbye" song, followed by activities and play time.

Activities

Since I expected a very small turnout, I just planned on two activities, figuring I could always pull out more if we needed to.

• Kinetic Sand - I gave each child a couple of handfuls of kinetic sand on a tray, along with a handful of shells, 2-3 mini castle molds, and 2-3 animal molds.
• Sensory Bin - This week it contained rice and several different kinds of beans, along with measuring cups and spoons.
• Soft blocks - we got these out for the one younger sibling who was too little for the other activities.
  
  

How It Went

It was a weird morning, being the day after the Fourth of July. I expected a small crowd, and at start time only one family was there. I waited a couple of minutes to see if others would show up, but none did, so we went ahead and started. After we got going, 3-4 other families trickled in, the last one not arriving until we were almost finished with the storytime part. Other than that, it went well. I think kids that are a little older, 5-8 years old would appreciate the humor in The Wrong Book even more.

Wiggle - Toddler Storytime

 

My toddler storytimes often don't have a strong theme, since we use the same songs/rhymes all month, and I can't always come up with activities that are developmentally appropriate and strongly tie-in with the book, and this was one of those times. Themes can be fun and help give direction, but sometimes it can unnecessarily complicate things, so I don't worry too much about whether I have one or not (for a more in-depth discussion of themes, please see my previous "To Theme, or Not to Theme" post).

This was the first week of the month, so we have new songs/rhymes (other than the Hello/Goodbye and lead-in songs, which only change every few years when I get tired of them). 

Hello

Hello, my friends, hello.
Hello, my friends, hello.
Hello, my friends at storytime;
Hello, my friends, hello!

Followed by introductions, expectations (we have so many late-comers I've started saving expectations for after the greetings and hello song), then a warm-up song with movement, followed by two songs with manipulatives (scarves for this month).

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

 Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes.
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes; knees and toes.

(repeat 2x, faster each time)

This Is the Way....

This is the way we wave our scarves,
Wave our scarves, wave our scarves.
This is the way we wave our scarves,
Because it's fun to do!

(shake, twirl, scrunch, throw, look through)

Popcorn!
(to the tune of 

Popcorn kernels, popcorn kernels,
(wave scarves overhead)
In the pot, in the pot.
(scrunch into ball)
Shake them, shake them, shake them;
(shake)
Until they POP! Until they POP!
(throw in air)

(They LOVE this one so we usually do it three times.)

Then it was time to settle down for our story with our lead-in song:

If You're Ready for a Story

If you're ready for a story, stomp your feet.
If you're ready for a story, stomp your feet.
If you're ready for a story, if you're ready for a story,
If you're ready for a story, stomp your feet!

(turn around, have a seat, clap hands, pat knees, say "shh")

I'm finding it is becoming more and more difficult to find books for storytime, especially toddler storytime, as kids' attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter, but today I settled on an older book that has toddler time written all over it! 

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin and Scott Menchin is a fun read-aloud that is perfect for those shorter attention spans as it encourages the kids to move along with the cute dog that is narrating the story, and it has a very pleasant rhythm and rhyme, which I've observed seems to hold their attention better. Wiggle is part of a movement trilogy, which includes Bounce and Stretch.

After that we worked on our ABCs and 123s with the "Alphabet Song" (to the traditional "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" tune) and "Ten Little Bubbles" (first counting up, popping bubbles, then counting down). Bubble time generally turns into a toddler mosh pit! 

Following bubbles, I announced we were done with the storytime part and would go ahead and sing our "Goodbye" song in case we didn't get to say goodbye to all of our friends later, but that we did have activities afterward.

Activities
I put out a variety of developmentally appropriate toys and activities afterward:

• Busy Boards with various locks and fasteners to open and close
• Puzzles - Chunky, simple wooden puzzles with animals or vehicles
• Foam Blocks
• Sensory Tubes
• Sensory Balls
• Stacking/Nesting Cups
• Paper & Crayons
• Sensory Bin - with a variety of beans and rice with measuring cups and spoons
• Magnetic gears
  

How It Went

Everything went well, though I am finding that now that I am getting steady attendance, those that started as new toddlers a year or two ago are turning 3 (or already have), and I have a new bunch of 1-2 years olds, I feel like the age range (1-3) is too broad and the older kids are taking away from the experience of the true toddlers. 

I have started trying to gently suggest the older kids (who don't have younger siblings) move to the preschool storytime by changing the stated age range for toddler time from 1-3 years to 12-36 months and reminding the group that we have a preschool storytime for ages 3-5 and that it is usually a smaller group and less chaotic, but so far, no one has moved up. I'm not sure if it is a scheduling thing, they just like the toddler storytime better (more songs and movement, and less books than preschool), habit, or what. This is the conundrum I will be trying to figure out how to manage over the next few months.